User

23.05.2008 23:33:21

I'm running the AJAX client and controlling RB via my iPhone. There doesn't appear to be an obvious way to get the list of albums in my iTunes library to refresh short of stopping and restarting RB on the host machine. How is this supposed to working and is there some configuration option that I need to set to get refreshing to work correctly.

Thanks!

Michael Lazar 

User

25.05.2008 10:18:17

Remote Buddy refreshes its internal list automatically.

The AJAX Remote does not update automatically (for bandwidth and 
efficiency reasons), but as soon as you go up or down a level in the 
menu, new entries will be there.

Best regards, 
Felix Schwarz 

User

25.05.2008 18:14:36

Felix

Thanks for the reply.

I have noted the behavior you describe (going up and down in the menu hierarchy) but it does not seem reliable. Sometime changes don't appear for quite some time - as if the client is just not causing the new list to be resent. Possibly am not doing just the right series of things that would cause this?

[Update: I can be more specific. The album list doesn't update until I come back up to top of the Library then drill down to the Artist list and then select the letter of the alphabet matching the artist of the newly added album. The new album then appears in the Artist list for that letter and then when I go back to Albums appears in the Album list. Note also that I exited and re-started the AJAX client on the iPhone before I went looking for the new album. So something isn't quite right.]

I would actually much prefer to have a manual way of doing this - either on the server side with a preference to force the list to be refreshed when it changes or on the client with a "refresh" button someplace in the GUI. Either way would be preferable - I do hate having to make things happen in an application by "side-effect" only.

Michael

Last edited: 25.05.2008 21:24:52

Last edited: 25.05.2008 21:26:08 

User

27.05.2008 09:24:17

Michael,

Remote Buddy is already watching the iTunes Library file for updates 
made by iTunes. There is no other way to notice changes (there are no 
events or hooks to notice additions to iTunes' library) and no other 
equally fast way to grab the entire iTunes library information. It 
sometimes takes iTunes a few seconds before it updates the library 
file. And as soon as iTunes does that, Remote Buddy updates its 
internal database with the new information.

There is no faster way to fresh information other than the automatic 
updating Remote Buddy is performing the second new information is 
available. A refresh button would not change that.

Best regards, 
Felix Schwarz 

User

27.05.2008 17:44:03

Felix

I was asking about the update between the software running on the host ("Remote Buddy" or RB) and the AJAX Remote client running on the iPhone. In your first response you indicated that the AJAX Remote does not update automatically (for bandwidth and 
efficiency reasons), but as soon as you go up or down a level in the menu, new entries will be there. I noted that this didn't seem very reliable (giving an example where it didn't seem to work correctly) and wondering if it would be possible to make this more deterministic. I gave some possible examples: a sync button someplace in the AJAX Remote UI or a preference in RB that would push the updates right away - i.e. not be worried about bandwidth). You then replied that RB needed to wait to get updated from iTunes - implying the problem was not communications between RB and the AJAX Remote.

So now I am confused. ;->

When I don't see updates to my library on the AJAX Remote, is this because updates are not being seen by RB or because RB is not pushing updates to my iPhone?

Michael

User

29.05.2008 18:50:11

Felix

So I want to report that AJAX Client continues to behave exactly as I described it in an earlier post:

"I can be more specific. The album list doesn't update until I come back up to top of the Library then drill down to the Artist list and then select the letter of the alphabet matching the artist of the newly added album. The new album then appears in the Artist list for that letter and then when I go back to Albums appears in the Album list. Note also that I exited and re-started the AJAX client on the iPhone before I went looking for the new album. So something isn't quite right."

I cannot get the Album list refreshed simply by going up to the top of the library and then down into the Album list again as you suggested should work.

Maybe this is working as intended but it sounds like you expect things to work differently. If it's a problem, is there a chance it might be fixed? I realize this isn't an earth shattering problem but it is kind of annoying. I am actively building my iTune library and generally want to listen to the most recently added albums right away.

Also: is there any way to get Album and Artist names that start with "The" or "A/An" properly sorted (i.e. - ignore the "The" or "A/An")?

Thanks!

Michael

User

03.06.2008 11:44:12

Michael,

Remote Buddy uses new information automatically as soon as it is made 
available by iTunes. This can sometimes take a few seconds as it can 
take iTunes these few seconds to write its XML database file after a 
change was made.

Therefore, a refresh button makes no sense IMHO. It can't be any 
faster than "as soon as possible".

Best regards, 
Felix Schwarz 

User

03.06.2008 17:36:38

Felix ~

This is pretty frustrating. I'm no closer to understanding if I am experiencing a bug in RB than I was when I first wrote to you. Your replies to my post sound as if you are so sure of the software that there is no possibility that something might not be working as you intended it to work.

So I will to accept RB AJAX "as is" and stop posting bugs reports and feature requests to this list. I hope that some of my needs are better addressed in a future release.

Michael

Last edited: 03.06.2008 17:36:56 

User

04.06.2008 10:43:17

Michael,

you have the right to perceive whatever you like in whatever way you 
like, yet that doesn't mean things are meant that way. I'm not a 
native speaker.

My replies were meant as informative, giving a short description of 
what RB does. I never excluded the possibility that there may still be 
a bug lurking somewhere.

That said, I did try to reproduce what you described and came to 
different results. I renamed an album in iTunes, went to the home 
level, back to the Albums level - et voilà - the change was reflected.

I'm using an internal development version, so if there is a problem in 
that area in 1.10.1 (with which I haven't tried), it has already been 
addressed and will be part of the next release. Please get in touch 
with me, if your albums list is not updated after pressing Home, then 
selecting Albums from the list.

Best regards, 
Felix Schwarz 

User

04.06.2008 11:22:11

 
 
I forgot "in the next release" at the end of the sentence.

Best regards, 
Felix Schwarz