Summer of Code: Draft of Playdar Proposal

[Leo Franchi]

Hi Andy,

Thanks for the comprehensive proposal!

>
> On the technical side I like to comment though:
> You list a few custom GUI's required to use playdar in amarok. I
> suggest you try to do without custom user interface elements for
> playdar, except of course configuration, which will very likely be
> required.

I don't think I agree. I think a custom UI in the service browser is
perfect---a nice delgate for track items that shows what resolver they
are coming from, for example, as well as the track name/info. Just a
thought.

> Also, because of the query based nature of playdar I think it will be
> perfectly suited to be shown in the collection browser. The service
> browser ("Internet" item in Media Sources) is sort of our "dumping
> ground" for collections that for technical reasons can't have a proper
> QueryMaker. Or need a custom GUI, last.fm for instance. Or are just
> clearly internet sourced and don't "belong" to the user, like the
> music stores.
> Playdar can arguably be both internet sourced and local media
> depending on the setup of the server. I think the latter will be more
> common though, like in your radiostation example. So it's similar to
> the DAAP share integration, which is displayed under "Local Music".

That said, I do see the major benefits of having it be a collection.
Filtering the collection browser with a playdarcollection there would
be pretty awesome.

More comments when I get back home in a few days, but proposal looks
great so far! :)

leo

> It should be possible to use the filter field of the collection
> browser as playdar search input. After all it's passed to the
> QueryMaker eventually and content is displayed when the QueryMaker
> finds a match.
> I don't know how this will work in the general browsing case. It could
> very well be collection like usage is impossible with some way to
> support all content available. The Collection/QM experts can enlighten
> us.
>
> To get around the lack of a browse feature in playdar, perhaps you can
> show results of recent searches that are still resolvable.
>



-- 
_____________________________________________________________________
leonardo.franchi at tufts.edu         Tufts  University 2010
leo at kdab.com                                 KDAB (USA), LLC
lfranchi at kde.org                             The KDE Project