How to start the music player

[Pierre Doré]

Hi,
I installed Rainmeter 4.4 2 hours ago. I have been trying to get the player to play music without success.
All the documents consulted are marvelous for anyone who wants to create skins but, I did not find anything on setups.
Could someone be kind enough to show me where I can find the procedure to associate MusicBee 3.3.7115 with Rainmeter 4.4.0.3338

Pierre

[mak_kawa]

Rainmeter has not "built-in" music player. But you can get many music player skins from the link "Discover" on Rainmeter top page.

For example, music player skin page in DeviantArt is here.

[mak_kawa]

FYI, following skin launches MusicBee and displays the title of the music in play. That's all. No controls for MusicBee at all. But this is a start point for a music player in Rainmeter.

Code: Select all

[Rainmeter]
Update=1000
BackgroundMode=2
SolidColor=128,128,128,192

[mPlayer]
Measure=Plugin
Plugin=NowPlaying
PlayerName=CAD
PlayerPath="C:\Program Files (x86)\MusicBee\MusicBee.exe"
PlayerType=Title
Substitute="":"Stopped"

[mStatus]
Measure=Plugin
Plugin=NowPlaying
PlayerName=[mPlayer]
PlayerType=Status
IfCondition=(mStatus=0)
IfTrueAction=[!CommandMeasure mStatus OpenPlayer]

[meterTitle]
Meter=String
MeasureName=mPlayer
X=5
Y=5
W=200
H=20
ClipString=2
Text=%1

Ps. "PlayerPath" may change with your install condition of MusicBee.

[balala]

I installed Rainmeter 4.4 2 hours ago. I have been trying to get the player to play music without success.
All the documents consulted are marvelous for anyone who wants to create skins but, I did not find anything on setups.
Could someone be kind enough to show me where I can find the procedure to associate MusicBee 3.3.7115 with Rainmeter 4.4.0.3338

As mak_kawa said, Rainmeter is definitely not a music player application, it can't play music (nor movies), but it can be used to control a supported music player.
The "association" of a skin with a supported player is done by the PlayerName option of the parent NowPlaying measure (the NowPlaying measures have a parent - child structure, which means the measure which has the PlayerName=CAD - or WMP, or anything, option is the parent measure and all others having the PlayerName=[ParentMeasure] option are the child ones). If you wanna use MusicBee as player, the association is done through the PlayerName=CAD option of the parent measure.

[Pierre Doré]

Thank you every much everyone for your comments.
Thanks to mak_kawa I changed the player.ini file of one of the skins I downloaded and it works.
The original player.ini is quit different and I cannot find where to add the path to the music player.
Well, it works so, thanks again
Pierre

[balala]

The original player.ini is quit different and I cannot find where to add the path to the music player.

To the parent NowPlaying measure. Do you know which one is that?

[Pierre Doré]

Hi balala,
Thanks for your question, the answer is "NO". I think it is the file "player.inc", but there is no mention of a path in this file.
FYI this is the skin I was using: https://www.deviantart.com/sephirotess/art/SystemS2-VR2-2-813460184

I am now trying the player in https://www.deviantart.com/sephirotess/art/Bridge-VR1-1-741114325.
I manage to start musicBee and display the title of the song, remains only +/- 10 items

I like Rainmeter but I never thought I would have to learn how to create a skin to make one work properly. It is said in the instructions that everyone can use it, I am not so sure of that.

Well this will be a project for the new year

Thanks for your help, it is well appreciated

[balala]

Thanks for your question, the answer is "NO". I think it is the file "player.inc", but there is no mention of a path in this file.

No, wrong, my question was if you do know which is the parent NowPlaying measure, because as described previously the NowPlaying measures should have a parent - child structure. So the parent NowPlaying measure is not a .ini or .inc file, but a measure.

FYI this is the skin I was using: https://www.deviantart.com/sephirotess/art/SystemS2-VR2-2-813460184

In case of Sephirotess's SystemS2 suite, the NowPlaying measures are indeed placed into the SystemS2\@Resources\Measures\Sound\Player.inc file. [Wplayer] is the parent measure (because it has a PlayerName=#Player# option, where Player is the variable stating the used player), while all other NowPlaying measures ([WPArtist], [WPAlbum], [WPPosition], [WPDuration], [WPProgress], [WCover] and [WGenre]) are child measures, they being related to the parent measure through the PlayerName=[Wplayer] option.

I am now trying the player in https://www.deviantart.com/sephirotess/art/Bridge-VR1-1-741114325.
I manage to start musicBee and display the title of the song, remains only +/- 10 items

In case of the BridgeVR1 suite, the same structure is used: all NowPlaying measures are contained into the Bridge\@Resources\Measures\Sound\Player.inc file. The parent measure is [Wplayer] and [WPArtist], [WPAlbum], [WPPosition], [WPDuration], [WPProgress] and [WCover] are child measures. Note that in this case there is one missing measure, [WGenre].
But I'm not quite sure what you mean by:

remains only +/- 10 items

I like Rainmeter but I never thought I would have to learn how to create a skin to make one work properly. It is said in the instructions that everyone can use it, I am not so sure of that.

Be sure, you can learn it. It is not so complicated at all as it seems at the first look. Keep working if interested, as the time passes, you'll be able to develop more and more complex skins. And this will give you a lot of satisfaction. So, keep working and don't hesitate to come back whenever you have questions.