OCD theme: CrispPlus

OCD theme: CrispPlus

Description

CRISP_PLUS.DAX is an OrangeCD ¹⁾ theme. It is a modified version of the Crisp theme, and includes a PLAY BUTTON. In addition I have added a few other optional features, and made some minor changes, primarily to the Album page.

I’ve simply added a hyperlinked image next to each track name (

Album Page). When you press the button, the track will be played in your default audio player. The feature assumes that your audio collection is ripped using iTunes (or any other ripping software that uses the same naming convention).

This documentation was written for CRISP_PLAY.DAX v.1.41 (2004-10-12).

Note: When editing the CRISP_PLUS.DAX script in DAXEDIT.EXE, use Tab size=2
(

DAXEDIT: View | Options | Editor | Tab Size )

¹⁾ OrangeCD is a music collection manager created by Firetongue Software.
The CRISP_PLUS theme has only been tested with OrangeCD v.6.0.0.10501. Note: This theme will NOT work with OCD 5.x or earlier versions

How to install

In order to use the theme, follow these instructions:

Unzip the CRISP_PLUS-x.xx.ZIP file, which should contain the following files:

audio_folder.gif
playbtn_beige.gif
playbtn_blue.gif
playbtn_gray.gif
playbtn_green.gif
playbtn_red.gif
crisp_plus.dax

Place the folder image and play button images in the Orange CD program folder (C:\Program Files\OrangeCD).

Image	Image name	Description
	playbtn_green.gif	· audio file checking is turned ON · the audio file has been detected · the OCD track name matches the iTunes file name · the track can be played
	playbtn_red.gif	· audio file checking is turned ON · the audio file has NOT been detected · the file may not exist · there may be a mismatch between the OCD track name and the iTunes file name · the track name may contain a backslash (\) · the track can NOT be played
	playbtn_gray.gif	· audio file checking is turned ON · the audio file has been detected · the OCD track name matches the iTunes file name · however, the OCD track contains one or more 'illegal' characters, most likely the grave accent (`). · the track can NOT be played
	playbtn_blue.gif	· audio file checking is turned OFF · uncertain whether the file exists or not, and whether the OCD track name matches the iTunes file name · the only way to find out is to click the blue play button
	audio_folder.gif	· not used by the script at the moment, but if used in the future it would be to identify tracks that can not be played

Place the modified theme file – CRISP_PLUS.DAX – in the Orange CD template folder (C:\Program Files\OrangeCD\templates).

Use DAXEDIT.EXE to edit the following Album page variables so they
match your configuration:

(DAXEDIT.EXE should be located in your OCD program folder)

var ocdPath = "<Orange CD program folder path>";

Example: var ocdPath = "c:\\program files\\orangecd";

Note: You MUST use double backslashes.

var baseDrive = "<iTunes database drive letter + :>";

Example: var baseDrive = "s:";

Note: You MUST include the colon.

var baseFolder = "<iTunes database folder name>";

Examples: var baseFolder = "iTunesDB";

var baseFolder = "myCDs\iTunes";

Note: Do NOT include leading or trailing backslash.

var trackExt = "<audio file extension>";

Example: var trackExt =".mp3";

Note: You MUST include the dot.

var incTrackNum = "<true | false>";

If the iTunes option "Create filenames with track number" is checked, set this variable to 'true'. Otherwise set it to 'false'.
(

iTunes: Edit | Preferences | Importing)
Example: var incTrackNum ="false";

Note: You MUST include the dot.

var btnBlue = "<blue button image name>";

var btnGray = "<gray button image name>";

var btnGreen = "<green button image name>";

var btnRed = "<red button image name>";

Example: var btnBlue ="playbutton_blue.gif";

Run OCD, click the View menu, and then select Preferences…

Click on the Theme tab, then select CRISP_PLUS from the Theme dropdown list.

Click OK to activate the theme.

Navigate to the Album page of one of your CDs. You should see a play button next to each track number.
Click to play - and enjoy!

Note: If you experience any problems, please read Section 6: Limitations. It may help you solve the problem, or at least explain why the play button won’t work with your audio collection.

File checking

During the ripping & encoding process it can be useful to turn ON the audio file checking feature (by setting the CHECK_AUDIO_FILE variable to TRUE.) Use DAXEXIT.EXE to edit the CRISP_PLUS.DAX file.

This feature unfortunately triggers an annoying security warning (due to the use of an ActiveXObject):

'An ActiveX control on this page might be unsafe to interact with other parts of the page. Do you want to allow the interaction?'

Answer 'Yes' in order to access the file system.

Turn the file checking feature OFF during normal use to avoid the security warning.
The CHECK_AUDIO_FILE variable enables file checking for your entire collection. However, I’ve included an option to enable file checking for a single album, which can be switched on/off from within the OCD program.

I've simply 'hijacked' the Rare Item option ( OCD: Record Properties | General (tab) | Flags (section) ). I personally don’t use this option for its intended purpose. However, if you do, you could try 'hijacking' some other unused option (but you’d have to change the script so it points to the selected option).

Using DAXEXDIT.EXE you can enable the single album file checking feature, by setting the USE_RARE_ITEM variable to TRUE. Once that it done, you can enable/disable file checking for a single album simply by opening the album’s Record Properties and then check/ uncheck the Rare Item option.

Note that if this feature is enabled, it overrides the CHECK_AUDIO_FILE variable setting.

During the file checking process, the script calculates the audio file's kb/s count. An unusually low or high count may indicate that something went wrong during the ripping/encoding process.

What it actually does is check the file size (bytes) and the length of the track (minutes), and then calculates the kb/s count. If this count is lower than the specified MIN_KB_PER_SEC value or above the MAX_KB_PER_SEC value, the kb/s value will be displayed in brackets next to the play button.

You must determine the appropriate MIN_KB_PER_SEC and MAX_KB_PER_SEC for your collection. It isn’t easy because it will vary depending on encoding (mp3, ogg, acc, ...), sampling rate, VBR vs CBR, embedded album cover size etc.

However, here are some min/max values you can try out:

Bit rate kbps	Minimum kbps	Maximum kbps
128	118	138
160	145	175
192	177	207
256	226	276
320	300	340

I've experienced that ripping with CBR (constant bit rate) tends to create larger files than VBR (variable bit rate), especially if the track is very short (< 60-70 seconds) and contains speech.

You can use DAXEDIT.EXE to set default minimum and maximum values. The variables to look for are: MIN_KB_PER_SEC and MIN_BYTES_PER_MAX. You’ll find them in the Declaration page.

The kb/s calculation is only performed if the file checking feature (CHECK_AUDIO_FILE) is switched ON.

Screen shots

Figure 1: File checking feature enabled. Ripping completed for track 1-5
(GREEN play button). Ripping in progress on track 6, kb/s count displayed
next to track 6. Tracks 7-13 not ripped yet (RED play button).

Figure 2: Rip completed, file checking feature still enabled (GREEN play buttons).

Figure 3: File checking feature disabled (BLUE play buttons).

Additional modifications

Here is a complete list of modifications:

Start page:

album, disk, set, track, and artist count, plus total play time added to header (optional) [1]
extended browse options, including date added (optional) [2]
extended album info in the Recent additions section (optional) [3]
album, disk, set, track, and artist count, plus total play time added to Database stats section (optional)[4]
average album length, average track length, and average tracks per album also added to the Database stats section (optional) [4]
Theme info section added – displays theme name + version (optional) [5]
Misc. info section added – displays language, platform, host application, script engine (optional) [6]

Figure 1: Modified start page

Album page:

play button added (optional) [1]
audio file checking feature added, which will detect a mismatch between OCD track name and iTunes audio file name (optional)
Artist section added to simplify artist sort name changes (optional) [2]
section headings (Album, Tracks, Artist ….) have been turned into hyperlinks with tool tip [3]
the track list has been moved from right to left column and organized in a table [4]
the track list includes an optional second row of information per track (track artist, composer,…)
optional compact track list format added – handy for printouts
an optional hyperlink to the album’s audio file folder [5]

Figure 2: Modified album page

Track page:

extended track info added, incl. display of a small cover image (optional) [1]
section headings (Album, Tracks, Artist ….) have been turned into hyperlinks with tool tip [2]

Figure 3: Modified track page

Limitations

Please note the following limitations:

Neither album title, album artist, track title nor track artist may contain the backslash (\) character:

\ backslash, reverse solidus ASCII 092 \

If any of them do, the play button for that specific track will not work, and your browser will most likely return an error message stating: "The page cannot be found ..... HTTP 404 - File not found.".

However, if the file checking function is ON, you will not receive an error message. File checking will determine that there is no audio file that matches the OCD track name. So the play function will be disabled for that particular track, and the track will display a RED play button.
If you use a default character set other than Western European, you may encounter problems with some special characters. The script has not been tested extensively with other character sets.
( OCD: View | Preferences | Database | Languages)
The script will not work properly if your audio file collection is scattered all over your hard drive. Your audio file collection must reside in one main folder.

In iTunes you should activate the 'Keep iTunes Music folder organized' option. (This option 'Places song files into album and artist folders, and names the files based on the disc number, and the song title.')
( iTunes: Edit | Preferences | Advanced).
And then consolidate your collection by running Advanced | Consolidate Library….
The script is based on a single audio format collection. If your audio file collection contains a mix of formats (mp3, acc, wma, wav, ogg etc.) the script will only work for the one, single format you’ve specified in the theme script variable trackExt.
A workaround would be to register the audio file format in an album or track related OCD field. At the album level it would probably be natural to choose the Format field (<--[Format]-->), or possibly one of the Custom fields <--[CustomX]-->. At the Track level however, there really is no relevant field available, so you would have to select one of the fields that you presently don’t use, like for instance the Soloist field. Then the correct extension for each track could be identified by using the <--[TrackSoloist]--> variable.
The script also relies on a consistent naming policy. It will not work properly if you’ve included track numbers in some file names but not in others.
In iTunes you should either activate or deactivate the 'Create filenames with track number' option for your entire collection.
( iTunes: Edit | Preferences | Importing).
And finally, the script will only work properly with an audio file collection that follows the iTunes naming convention:

fqn = <DBdrive>:\<DBfolder>\<ArtistName>\<AlbumTitle> \ [[<VolNum>-] <TrackNum> ]<TrackTitle>.<TrackExt>

See detailed documentation of the iTunes file naming convention.

Possible enhancements

Here are some enhancements I may add in the future:

Support for other audio file naming conventions (MusicMatch etc.)

Enhanced character set support

Disclaimer

This modified theme is free and comes with no warranties. Use it at your own risk!

Script version 1.41 (2004-10-12)

Email: mail@juventas.net

URL: http://ocd.juventas.net