Mini Mods - vbMp3 & XEON vbMp3 Player

vbMp3 Player + XEON vbMp3 Player
See second Message for CMPS Block version for vbMp3 Player. XEON vBa CMPS install instructions are in the XEON package.

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vbMp3 Player designed by Syrus XL
http://www.digitalport.co.uk
IMPORTANT: No longer supported on here - if you require advice or support then this is only available from www.digitalport.co.uk

Requirements: Any vBulletin forum (requires no database to function)


XEON Update:
The Xeon vBmp3 player will be released soon to full vBulletin integration, this means you will able to add tracks to the 5 playlists from the AdminCP, all urls,track titles and playlists are stored in the database.

[high]Supporters:[/high]
If you would like to support my work with this modification please contact me via PM regarding donations, and I will add you to the supporters list. You will receive advanced notice of future beta releases, and also permission to beta test them.

Support: Only given to members that have clicked 'Installed'.

[high]The 'mighty' XEON vbMp3 player now available for download.[/high] Note: XEON is a beta release, replacing the 'Black Gloss' version. There are a few bugs with playlist switching, these will be 'fixed' in an update, hopefully within the next few days. This is a high-quality designed mp3 player and has many new features that the iPod 'lookalike' lacks. If you have the space, I would recommend you update to the Xeon version. The vBa CMPS XEON version is also demonstrated at this address, [high]Click HERE for Xeon vbMp3 Demo[/high], this demo is using the full vBulletin integrated beta version all populated from the vb database.

XML Editing:
To change track data, edit the XML files with Notepad or Wordpad, and enter your own urls and tracks.

XEON Facts & Features:

• 50 mp3 playlist bug fixed, can now hold upto 100 tracks(debugging test environment).
• Multiple Playlist Switching(*see important note below).
• Volume control.
• Panorama (Balance).
• Visual Effects.
• Multiple function display.
• Blue Neon 'Media' effect buttons.
• Larger font display (as requested).
• Player coding updated for future vBulletin integration.
• XEON uses approximately 100 movie clips.
• Protect from Import implemented, to prevent copyright.
• XEON comes with 5 populated example playlists.
• XEON is fully compatible to the forthcoming Pro vbMp3 Player.

XEON To do List:

• Incorporate 'float' coding, enabling the player to 'float' within the main vBulletin forum or vBa CMPS.
• Add 'float' close button to XEON flash player.
• Add Alpha background to flash player (for 'float' to work correctly)

Note: These changes will only affect the XEON mp3 player, it will still remain compatible with the Pro version vBulletin integration.

*XEON Known issues:
1. A bug on XEON means I had to currently release it only in a beta stage. The issue relates to playlist switching, this has been currently set to only 5 playlists, the bug relates to when you click to load a new playlist, you may recieve no autostart upon new playlist load. This 'issue' I am working on, and hopefully have an updated version with unlimited playlists, by deleting the 5-button bank and replacing it with forward and back buttons to skip through playlists. Please note you may experience strange behaviour if you only populate a XML playlist with less than 5 tracks.
2. A sizing problem in the vBa CMPS block requires reversed dimensions.
3. Problem with populating any playlist with over 100 tracks, will cause the player to go into an infinite loop, and become unstable. [high]This was not caught during the 1,000 'dummy' track environment test.[/high]

XEON Fixed Issues:
An issue with the popup window displaying the height and width the wrong size is now fixed.

XEON vbMp3 Player Installation:
The Xeon uses very similar installation code to the vbMp3 Player, full instructions are included in the XEON download package. This player has been tested with the forthcoming vBulletin full integration Pro Mp3 player, soon to be released. For Pro Player details see towards the end of this post.

XEON vbMp3 Player in CMPS:
This is now been added to the XEON package. Full instructions on how to change the background color to match your style is also documented.


vbMp3 Player
This mp3 player is designed as a popup for your members to listen to, while browsing your website. The actual flash mp3 player is designed to read data from mp3 ID tags, or you can enter the artist and tracks manually using the XML file included. The flash player is designed not to auto-start, so you may scroll through all available tracks. All buttons function and you can also select tracks by using the scroll controls and double-clicking a track.

2 sample tracks are already included the playlist XML file {Note: The urls in the example tracks are void, you must replace these urls with your own}.

This modification should function on any vBulletin board from version 3.0 upwards, since only a small piece of javascript is used to create the popup mp3 player window, from the navbar. However, the CMPS block version has only beem tested on vBulletin 3.6 and vBadvanced CMPS 2.2. The planned major addon version will be developed for vBulletin 3.6.1 and higher, since it will require changes to database.

Configuring of tracks is all done in the XML file, do not rename this file because the flash file will fail. Mp3?s can be uploaded to the same server as your site or an external site (just change the complete URL in the XML file). So to add tracks all you need to do is edit the plylist.xml file, and enter the urls and track data (if needed).

NOTE: Using external servers may cause the player to run slower, this can be changed by altering the soundbuffer value of the song/track, in the XML file, which will override the value in the flash file.

Streaming & Sound Buffer parameters in the XML file
There are 2 parameters they may confuse some people so heres an explanation on how they work.
Both can be set in the XML file and set per mp3 track.

Streaming:
If set to 'False' will cause the player to download an entire mp3 before playing.
If set to 'True' will play the mp3 track as soon as the 'soundbuffer' value is reached.

Sound Buffer:
This parameter controls the number of seconds before the mp3 will start to play, obviously it will only work if 'streaming' is set to 'True'.

Using other mp3 Players:
The coding used on this modification can be used with many other free or commercial based mp3 players around the internet, with slight alterations. Please note that the other full integrated version will only work with the players we release, due to the call routines used within the player.


UPDATES:
[high]06/10/06:[/high] + XEON vbMp3 Player released This is a high-quality design, all graphics are vectors, and created in Flash 8.0, all embedding code has been updated for this player. The package contains various versions of the player, and 5 example populated playlists.
[high]01/10/06:[/high] + vbPlayer 1.01 added: Player with AutoStart and Shuffle(randomize tracks) disabled. Some minimal code optimized. Requires either the vbMp3 player download or CMPS vbMp3 Player for additional files to function.
Pop up code updated to show link only to registered members.
+ Alternative vbPlayer added: (autoStart Enabled) requires main download to function. If updating from previous version, you may need to clear your browser cache, before the new version will show. Same vbMp3 player just autoStart enabled.


Click INSTALL to receive notifications of updates of this modification.

vbMp3 Player Installation:
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Requires uploading of 3 files and 1 template edit.

Upload the following files to your forum ?ROOT?

vbPlayer.swf
plylist.xml
ipod.htm



Template Edit:
==============
AdminCP -> Styles & Templates -> Navigation / Breadcrumb Templates -> navbar

Find:

<td class="vbmenu_control"><a href="calendar.php$session[sessionurl_q]">$vbphrase[calendar]</a></td>

After add:

<!-- vbMp3 Player Start -->
<if condition="$show['member']">
<script type="text/javascript">
<!--

function OpeniPod(){
iPod = window.open('ipod.htm','iPod','directories=no,height=430,width=190,location=no,menubar=no,resizable=no,status=no,toolbar=no')

return false;
}

-->
</script>
<td class="vbmenu_control"><a href="#" onclick="return OpeniPod()">vbPlayer</a></td>
</if>
<!-- vbMp3 Player End -->

End of template edits.
================

How to Enable all visitors to see vbMp3 Player
To Enable all visitors to see this link, remove the following code from the above code:

<if condition="$show['member']">

and this

</if>

Enjoy!

Known Issues:
=============
Always have more than one track in the playlist available or the flash file will fail (excludes the new Xeon player).
Place no more than 50 tracks in playlist (excludes the new Xeon player).


Future planned release details
Change name of mp3 player to vBmp3 Pro Player.

AdminCP

• Use of AdminCP to populate flash player via using the vBulletin product plugin system.
• Playlist urls and track details stored in database as opposed to the current XML file.
• Allow playlist to show thumbnails of tracks being played, if available.
• Create multiple playlists to populate flash player.
• Playlist will include stream variable and buffer enable/disable per track.
• Usergroup permissions for use. Good for lowering bandwidth consumption if hosting your own mp3's.
• Allow admin to set if player should popup or use Flash 'float' in page (requires flash button on player).
• Allow admin to set autoStart variable (effectively lowering bandwidth upon false page loads).
• Allow admin to set default variables.
• Allow admin to enable/disable tracks without deleting.
• Possibility to allow users to add tracks to a favorite list.
• Ability to color match the player to the webmasters style.
• Admin can set color 'tint' of player via RGB or hex values, default will be silver.
• Color 'tint' of buttons.

Enhanced Flash Player

• Fix player to use more than 50 tracks per playlist.
• Pre-loader for slower connections.
• Controls for volume, pan(balance), etc.
• Control to enable/disable 'shuffle' of tracks.
• Use buttons to view available playlists.
• Use image slide to view images of tracks if available.
• Incorporate equalizer.
• New player to be created wider to fit CMPS when used in center block.
• Old players will be backward compatible.

DEMO:
=====
Please note the demonstration for this modification is no longer available.

In Development:
2 new skinned players - Both of which are shown below. Both players will have more features than the present skin, and other updated files. Your input is always appreciated, to further enhance this modification.

SCREENSHOTS:
Screenshots below show both the popup and CMPS block versions (see post below for CMPS version).
The other screenshots are players in development (not yet available), enhanced to use the center column of the CMPS.

[Ben Wilkins]

Originally Posted by syrus.xl

It's a bug I have in my ActionScript of the player itself, nothing major really just annoying. What happens is if the swf flash file tries to import the XML file with more than 50 tracks, is it causes a scripting error, which then can crash the browser. I haven't yet tried it on any other browser apart from Internet Explorer 6.0.

Hopefully, I have a fix for this problem soon. And update the package.

HI, when i close the player in IE. It makes my browser crash. Any ideas?

[syrus.xl]

Originally Posted by Ben Wilkins

HI, when i close the player in IE. It makes my browser crash. Any ideas?

Hi,

The actual error you would receive with 'over-loading' the current flash player is a popup with "A script as stopped responding, do you wish to continue?" with 'Yes' and 'No' buttons.

It shouldn't crash your browser unless you have less than 2 tracks in the XML file or more than 50 tracks.

Other issues that can cause this is your internet cache needs emptying or you have spyware (BHO's) in your system.

P.S - Your signature image is too large, if vbulletin staff see it then it will be deleted.

[Ben Wilkins]

Hey, i have 10 songs, and its just when i load up the player, then click the cross. the browser will freeze. It just happens on talkmods.com though

because when i closed it while i was on this site. it didnt crash.

[Ben Wilkins]

EDIT: After i close the player. It takes about 20 seconds for the site to unfreze.

Check it at talkmods.com

[syrus.xl]

Originally Posted by Ben Wilkins

EDIT: After i close the player. It takes about 20 seconds for the site to unfreze.

Check it at talkmods.com

I just checked your site and it didn't freeze on close of the browser window.

The player may cause problems if you use mp3's of varying bitrates, ideally they should be encoded at 128k. The Flash player will still play them but it may sound like they are on a 'fast-forward' speed.

Have you updated your flash player plugin? It should be on version 9, since there are security issues with previous versions.

[Draygonia]

Is there a way I can change that skin? I would like to change it to another one, but I have no idea how to do that

[syrus.xl]

Originally Posted by Draygonia

Is there a way I can change that skin? I would like to change it to another one, but I have no idea how to do that

Hi,

The current skin cannot be changed, it was specifically designed to look like an ipod as much as possible, including all the emulated functions - apart from the volume control. The whole design was integrated with the look, hence the actual look cannot be changed without ruining certain features. I designed it originally for use on myspace.com profiles back in March, but I never actually released it, and it did win an award for best lookalike in one group.

There are numerous mp3 players on the net which sell for around $30 each, but I don't intend to charge for my design - and they allow for different skins. The pro version mentioned in the first post will have many more features than any commercial ones on the net, and packed with a few different players for different usage.

The pro release will have the ability to change skins, change color tint via a HEX value and an alpha setting. However, this version will be integrated directly into the vBulletin database, and not due out for awhile yet.

A 'black gloss' skinned player will be released later this week, with some new features, followed by the 'silver skinned' version.

So, as you can see there is alot planned for this modification - and the current one was just a 'small mod' that I didn't think would attract so much attention.

I will fully support this version and forthcoming versions of this modification, with many new features that have been discussed throughout this thread.

[Draygonia]

Is there a way to configure playlists based on genre or artist? My users keep complaining about all the rap in between thier rock :/

[syrus.xl]

Originally Posted by Draygonia

Is there a way to configure playlists based on genre or artist? My users keep complaining about all the rap in between thier rock :/

I expect you're referring to multiple playlist 'switching' - this version doesn't support that feature.

The one I am currently designing (black gloss) does have multiple playlist switching by using numerous XML files containing your mp3 tracks. I'm not sure yet how many playlists it will be set to, as the number needs to be hardcoded into the player. With the pro version this won't be problem since all the playlists will be held in the database and all tracks entered through the AdminCP.

I wish now I had used the AdminCP panel from the start... oh well, we all learn by our mistakes.

[Draygonia]

I might buy the full version when it comes out, but than again, thats only if my forums actually become popular and I would like to invest that kind of money into them.