JayShoe
Hello,
I'm the publisher over at Jukebox Jockey. We develop digital jukebox and karaoke machine software for the PC. Our software is very database centric. Our software organizes your media into very meaningful, rapidly accessible lists. The software only has a single player, no beat mixing, etc. So that's where this plugin comes into play - so we can use VDJ to do that.
I also run a DJ, Digital Jukebox, Karaoke Machine Rental Company. So I actively use the products that I publish. In my role as a DJ, I use my commercial "All-in-one" touchscreen PC with an MC-3000 Controller. It's a beautiful business model in that the same system can do live DJ, hosted, or rental services all with the exact same system.
Although I know there are ways to work it, I do not find Virtual DJ to be a perfect companion to the touch screen. So that's where I use Jukebox Jockey. I use Jukebox Jockey to search and browse my media library. Then I drag and drop into Virtual DJ to play it on the MC-3000 controller... It works great but the concept needs some TLC.
The problem lies in switching back and forth between VDJ and Jukebox Jockey. When running VDJ in full screen mode, the task bar is hidden. Because it’s hidden, you can’t easily pop up Jukebox Jockey via touchscreen (no keyboard and mouse). The other problem that I find is that when Jukebox Jockey is full screen, there is no way to drag out of Jukebox Jockey into VDJ. The only way that I’ve found it works (at the moment) is when you have both VDJ and Jukebox Jockey NOT full screen. This way you can drag both apps around the screen so you can “see” both at the same time and you can drag and drop and flip between either as needed. This is really not ideal, but it's how I've been doing it.
As the publisher of Jukebox Jockey and a big fan of Virtual DJ, I would like to create a plugin for VDJ and/or JJ that will help for these two apps to work nicer together. And I believe that if it’s done correctly, I think that other users who are 100% touch will find this combination to be helpful. So I’m looking for a C++ developer who is familiar with VDJ who wants to join our team to help us create this plugin. I can pay hourly or by the project. If you are interested, please respond to this thread or contact me privately on my website: http://www.jukeboxjockey.com.
Here is the idea…
Plugin Description:
Virtual DJ Sidekick For Jukebox Jockey
This plugin is for those DJ's who are 100% touch screen, or for those who use a touch screen and a controller.
The purpose of this plugin is to make it simple to use Jukebox Jockey as the media library browser instead of the native Virtual DJ media library browser. The plugin makes it possible to run both Virtual DJ and Jukebox Jockey full screen with an easy way to toggle between the two applications. This plugin adds "drop zones" for each deck to make it simple to drag songs from Jukebox Jockey into Virtual DJ Decks.
(In theory) The plugin is compatible with almost all Virtual DJ skins as it simply resizes the original skin so that it can fit this Plugin along the bottom.
Features
- Automatically resizes Virtual DJ and Jukebox Jockey so that the plugin is always visible while in both applications.
- Adds a Jukebox Jockey button for quick launch of Jukebox Jockey Media Player 2 Platinum when closed. When open, the button toggles between Jukebox Jockey and Virtual DJ.
- Displays information about the currently loaded track for each deck and serves as a "drop zone" so that you can drap a song from Jukebox Jockey into Virtual DJ.
- Future Modifications = Communicates back to Jukebox Jockey when a song has been played and removes the song from the request list, adds the song into the history.
I'm the publisher over at Jukebox Jockey. We develop digital jukebox and karaoke machine software for the PC. Our software is very database centric. Our software organizes your media into very meaningful, rapidly accessible lists. The software only has a single player, no beat mixing, etc. So that's where this plugin comes into play - so we can use VDJ to do that.
I also run a DJ, Digital Jukebox, Karaoke Machine Rental Company. So I actively use the products that I publish. In my role as a DJ, I use my commercial "All-in-one" touchscreen PC with an MC-3000 Controller. It's a beautiful business model in that the same system can do live DJ, hosted, or rental services all with the exact same system.
Although I know there are ways to work it, I do not find Virtual DJ to be a perfect companion to the touch screen. So that's where I use Jukebox Jockey. I use Jukebox Jockey to search and browse my media library. Then I drag and drop into Virtual DJ to play it on the MC-3000 controller... It works great but the concept needs some TLC.
The problem lies in switching back and forth between VDJ and Jukebox Jockey. When running VDJ in full screen mode, the task bar is hidden. Because it’s hidden, you can’t easily pop up Jukebox Jockey via touchscreen (no keyboard and mouse). The other problem that I find is that when Jukebox Jockey is full screen, there is no way to drag out of Jukebox Jockey into VDJ. The only way that I’ve found it works (at the moment) is when you have both VDJ and Jukebox Jockey NOT full screen. This way you can drag both apps around the screen so you can “see” both at the same time and you can drag and drop and flip between either as needed. This is really not ideal, but it's how I've been doing it.
As the publisher of Jukebox Jockey and a big fan of Virtual DJ, I would like to create a plugin for VDJ and/or JJ that will help for these two apps to work nicer together. And I believe that if it’s done correctly, I think that other users who are 100% touch will find this combination to be helpful. So I’m looking for a C++ developer who is familiar with VDJ who wants to join our team to help us create this plugin. I can pay hourly or by the project. If you are interested, please respond to this thread or contact me privately on my website: http://www.jukeboxjockey.com.
Here is the idea…
Plugin Description:
Virtual DJ Sidekick For Jukebox Jockey
This plugin is for those DJ's who are 100% touch screen, or for those who use a touch screen and a controller.
The purpose of this plugin is to make it simple to use Jukebox Jockey as the media library browser instead of the native Virtual DJ media library browser. The plugin makes it possible to run both Virtual DJ and Jukebox Jockey full screen with an easy way to toggle between the two applications. This plugin adds "drop zones" for each deck to make it simple to drag songs from Jukebox Jockey into Virtual DJ Decks.
(In theory) The plugin is compatible with almost all Virtual DJ skins as it simply resizes the original skin so that it can fit this Plugin along the bottom.
Features
- Automatically resizes Virtual DJ and Jukebox Jockey so that the plugin is always visible while in both applications.
- Adds a Jukebox Jockey button for quick launch of Jukebox Jockey Media Player 2 Platinum when closed. When open, the button toggles between Jukebox Jockey and Virtual DJ.
- Displays information about the currently loaded track for each deck and serves as a "drop zone" so that you can drap a song from Jukebox Jockey into Virtual DJ.
- Future Modifications = Communicates back to Jukebox Jockey when a song has been played and removes the song from the request list, adds the song into the history.
Posted Mon 08 Apr 13 @ 9:19 am
SBDJ
I would recommend against your way of doing it; resizing the skin is not simple at all in v7. It can't really be done on the fly, the skin would really have to be edited specifically for this purpose.
You'd be better with a translucent overlay if you want to go about it this way. I recently implemented a VDJScript capable skinnable onscreen keyboard in this manner and it's very effective.
You'd be better with a translucent overlay if you want to go about it this way. I recently implemented a VDJScript capable skinnable onscreen keyboard in this manner and it's very effective.
Posted Mon 08 Apr 13 @ 9:32 am
JayShoe
Thanks for your help.
I'm thinking that maybe if the plugin itself looked like a taskbar to any application running full screen, then VDJ would automatically resize anyway, so would JJ. So the app would open first... It would "claim" that part of the screen (lower section), and then any application that goes "full screen" would be resized automatically. I've seen "widgets" do stuff like this before, but I don't know how it's done.
I'm worried about a translucent overlay because then if there are buttons along the bottom, those buttons would be unusable, but I do see what you are saying. It might be doable. Want to try? :-)
I'm thinking that maybe if the plugin itself looked like a taskbar to any application running full screen, then VDJ would automatically resize anyway, so would JJ. So the app would open first... It would "claim" that part of the screen (lower section), and then any application that goes "full screen" would be resized automatically. I've seen "widgets" do stuff like this before, but I don't know how it's done.
I'm worried about a translucent overlay because then if there are buttons along the bottom, those buttons would be unusable, but I do see what you are saying. It might be doable. Want to try? :-)
Posted Mon 08 Apr 13 @ 9:41 am
SBDJ
It's a bad idea trying to resize the VDJ window to anything other than the stated skin size. It causes VDJ to have to resize in real time and on v7 this can be a real issue for some machines and can cause excessive CPU utilisation.
Best bet is to customise a skin to purpose; then you wouldn't even need to claim part of the screen or worry about a translucent overlay.
Best bet is to customise a skin to purpose; then you wouldn't even need to claim part of the screen or worry about a translucent overlay.
Posted Mon 08 Apr 13 @ 3:28 pm
JayShoe
SBDJ, your suggestions are greatly appreciated. I had no idea about the window resize issue. Here might be a better plan.
1. Edit the xml file of any skin to include a <dropzone deck="1"> and <dropzone deck="2"> located at the bottom 100px of any skin. I can probably supply the code for various screen resolutions so that users can simply copy and paste the dropzone into the file easily. And it wouldn't break the skin, it would just add some extra drop areas.
2. Create a plugin with a translucent background that can "launch Jukebox Jockey". Maybe this button can be dragged around the VDJ skin so that it can be positioned in the correct location? Using JJ's COM interface we can specify the screen position and size so that it starts in the right spot.
Doing these two things I think would resolve the ability to get back into Jukebox Jockey while Virtual DJ is full screen. The only thing I would need at this point would be that translucent button to launch jj... Want to write a few lines for me?
1. Edit the xml file of any skin to include a <dropzone deck="1"> and <dropzone deck="2"> located at the bottom 100px of any skin. I can probably supply the code for various screen resolutions so that users can simply copy and paste the dropzone into the file easily. And it wouldn't break the skin, it would just add some extra drop areas.
2. Create a plugin with a translucent background that can "launch Jukebox Jockey". Maybe this button can be dragged around the VDJ skin so that it can be positioned in the correct location? Using JJ's COM interface we can specify the screen position and size so that it starts in the right spot.
Doing these two things I think would resolve the ability to get back into Jukebox Jockey while Virtual DJ is full screen. The only thing I would need at this point would be that translucent button to launch jj... Want to write a few lines for me?
Posted Mon 08 Apr 13 @ 5:12 pm