The Silverjuke User Guide Version 2.72 December 12, 2008 Copyright ©Bjoern Petersen Software Design and Development Contents ======== 1 Introduction 2 First Steps 3 My Music Library 3.1 Combine tracks to Albums 3.2 Update Music Library 4 Using Covers 4.1 Search Covers on the Web 5 Playback 5.1 Automatic Control 5.2 FX 5.3 Karaoke 6 Skins/View 6.1 Skins 6.2 Font 7 Kiosk Mode 7.1 Functionality 7.2 Monitors 7.3 Virtual Keyboard 7.4 Numpad 7.4.1 The numpad's menu 7.4.2 Text Input Using the Numpad's Menu 7.5 Credit System 8 Language, System tray etc. 8.1 Modules and Further Options 9 Music Selection 9.1 SQL Expressions 9.2 Playlists 10 Edit Tracks 10.1 Replace 10.2 Split Fields 10.3 Rename Files 10.4 Query freedb 11 Further Topics 11.1 Burn CDs 11.2 Visualizations 12 Some final words 1 Introduction *************** The following chapters are the online-help of Silverjuke. So before reading on, it makes sense to download Silverjuke first. You can access these pages directly from within Silverjuke by pressing the F1-key or by clicking onto one of the "help"-buttons. 2 First Steps ************** After you have downloaded Silverjuke from www.silverjuke.net and started the program, you have to add your music files to your music library. For this purpose, just drag the folders with music files to the main window. Alternativly, click the right mouse button and select "Settings" and then "My Music Library". The (empty) list shows all sources used to build your music library from. Click on the button Add source and select a folder with your music files. If your music files are in different folders or in different networks, you have to repeat this step for every folder. After clicking OK, Silverjuke starts searching the given folders for music files. Depending on the number of music files, this may take some minutes, for further information see My Music Library. That's all so far. Usage ===== We tried to make the usage of Silverjuke as easy as possible - so maybe you can stop reading here and just try out the program yourself... Search for albums and tracks ============================ To scroll the albums in the main window, use the well-known scrollbars which are normally placed aright and abottom. You can also use the mouse-wheel for this purpose - if you hold the right mouse button while using the wheel, Silverjuke scrolls horizontally. The letters A to Z show your position in the album list. Click a letter just to go to a certain position. To search an artist, an album or a track, just type the name into the search field atop - maybe the first letters of the name are enough. Normally, there is no need to commit your search - Silverjuke starts searching and displays the result at once. If you want to stop a search and view all albums, empty the search field, click one of the letters "A to Z" or just hit "Esc". See the chapter Music Selection for further searching options. Sorting ======= The albums are sorted by the name of the artist, the year of the album and finally by the name of the album itself. If Silverjuke cannot obtain the needed information, the tracks will be found under the name of the genre or under "unsorted tracks". In this case you should edit the tracks and add the missing information. More sorting options are described in the chapter My Music Library. Playing tracks ============== To play a track, just double-click its name in the album list. Repeat this for each track you want to listen to and Silverjuke will play the tracks successively. Using the context menu (normally invoked using the right mouse button) you may also add the tracks to other positions in the queue. By the way, you'll find many more functions in the context menus - just try out the right mouse button on different objects of Silverjuke. Seeking ======= If you want to seek inside a track, use the little bar atop of the display: The bar shows the current playback position inside a track. By clicking on the end of the bar and dragging the mouse left or right you can seek to another position. Here the chapter "First Steps" ends, you'll find an overview on the topics mentioned in this help file in the content. By the way, you can access this help from within Silverjuke by clicking on on of the "Online help" buttons in the dialogs. 3 My Music Library ******************* In the music library, you have to tell Silverjuke all sources (folders, files, (compressed) archives, servers and so on) to read music-files from. To open the dialog, press the right mouse button in Silverjuke, select "Settings" and then "My Music Library". Using the corresponding buttons, you can easily add or remove sources. Moreover, you can set several options for each source. The sources themselves will be not modified by Silverjuke. Removing a source for instance will just delete the reference to this source, not the source itself. If you add a folder as a source, Silverjuke will automatically scan all subdirectories. 3.1 Combine tracks to Albums ============================= To combine difference tracks from different sources to albums, Silverjuke uses its own algorithm which can be configured at "Settings / My Music Library / Combine tracks to Albums": . Tracks belong together if the artist name and/or album name of different tracks is identical [1]. If this is true for a given number of tracks, Silverjuke will assume these to be an album. This given number of tracks can be edited using the first value. The default value is 2. . To avoid splitting samplers or compilations into several pieces by the method described above, you can use the second value to define how many tracks of the same artist a sampler may have. This value should be larger than the first value. The default value is 4. Note: You should edit these values only if you really understand what they do - normally you should be happy with the default values. The sorting order of artist- and album names can be optimized by defining stop-words which have to be ignored at the beginning of the name so that these words will be skipped from the sorting. Eg. if you decide to ignore the word "the", "The Rolling Stones" will be read "Rolling Stones, The" and their albums will be found under "R" instead of "T". Separate the stop-words using commas, the function is case-insensitive. To avoid omitting special word groups, just add them complete. Eg. if you want to ignore the german article "die" but leave the band "Die Happy" as it is, type in "die, die happy". Moreover, you can decide whether the ignored words should be displayed tailing or leading the search term - however this does not affect the sorting. The above mentioned example, "The Rolling Stones" will always be sorted in the "R"-list but you can decide whether Silverjuke will display "Rolling Stones, The" (ignored words tailing) or "The Rolling Stones" (ignored words leading). For using Covers, see the chapter Using Covers. _________________ [1] The genre may be used as an additional criteria. Moreover, if you really have only one album per directory, you can also select the directory as the main sort criterion. 3.2 Update Music Library ========================= Silverjuke saves all information on the music-files in its own database. Normally, this database will be updated automatically as needed, for instance, if you add a folder or change special options. This update process may take some minutes for the first time as Silverjuke has to analyze all music files. You should not abort the process without reasons - otherwise the Silverjuke database is out of sync with the music files. If you abort the process anyway or if you change music files outside from Silverjuke you can start the update process manually using "Settings / My Music Library / Update Music Library" or by just hitting "F5". With the option "recreate music library" the music library will be recreated "from scratch" which may take more time. 4 Using Covers *************** When creating or updating your music library, Silverjuke automatically searches for images embedded in music files (eg. by ID3-tags) and for images in the same directory as a music file. Silverjuke assumes that one of the pictures found is useful as a cover. Currently the file formats BMP, GIF, ICO, IFF, JIF, JPE, JPEG, JPG, PXX, PNG, PNM, TIF, TIFF, XPM are supported. If several images are found, the correct cover is identified by one of the keyword defined in "Settings / My Music Library / Combine tracks to Albums": . With the keywords you can define which words should appear in the file name of an image that should be used as the correct cover. . Separate several keywords using a comma, keywords are not case-sensitive, and keywords aleft have a higher priority. . If none of the keywords match to one of the images found, Silverjuke uses the first image as the cover for an album. Example: Assume you have the images with the names "cover_front.jpg" and "cover_back.jpg" in a folder together with the tracks of an album. If you have defined the keywords as "front, outside, cover", the image "cover_front.jpg" will be used as the keyword "front" has the highest priority and matches first If no cover is found... ======================= ...Silverjuke creates one of its own ;-) However, you may want to use a more original using the option Search Covers on the Web. For this purpose, click with the right mouse button onto the (maybe wrong) cover and select one of the options below "Search Covers on the Web" from the context menu. After that, Silverjuke opens the internet browser with your request. Within the browser, just save the correct cover eg. into the directory with the album tracks. When updating your music library next, the new cover should be used for the album. Alternatively, you can copy the image to Silverjuke using the clipboard (move the mouse to the desired album row) or simply using drag'n'drop. However, note that "drag'n'drop" does not work with all browsers. Set covers manually =================== The automatic cover recognition may be overrided by you for some albums. For this purpose, just click with the right mouse button onto a cover and select one of the images presented under the option "Open/Search cover"; you can also select a completely different cover using the option "Open/Search cover / Open file". Enlarge covers ============== In the main window you can zoom the covers together with the track lists using the keys "+" and "-". The key "*" sets the zoom back to the normal size. To enlarge a single cover and show it full screen, just double click onto the cover; this also leads us to the next topic: Edit covers =========== To edit a cover, double click onto the cover. In the enlarged cover view, you can use the following options from the context menu (right mouse button): . You can rotate the cover in 90 degrees step, . you can mirror the cover horizontally or vertically, . you can change the brightness and the contrast, . you can grayscale or negative the cover, . and finally you can crop it. For cropping covers, click with the left mouse button onto the upper left corner of the desired selection, hold the mouse button and move the mouse to the lower right corner. To remove a cropped selection, use the context menu or hit the key "C". Btw. the context menu for editing covers is also available in the main window. Options for all covers ====================== Finally, there are some options that affect all images; you find them in the context menu of a cover: . You can smooth images which may increase the image quality. Using the key "Alt-S" you may switch this option on and off to get the idea. . When enlarging covers, you can decide whether the enlarged cover should fit to screen or to the main window. Moreover, using the option use default images, you can reset the manually selection images back to the images automatically recognized by Silverjuke. 4.1 Search Covers on the Web ============================= If you want to search covers on the web, click with the right mouse button onto the (maybe wrong) cover and select one of the options below "Search covers on the web" from the context menu. After that, Silverjuke opens the internet browser with your request. Within the browser, you have the following possibilities to embed the cover to Silverjuke: . Clipboard Choose the wanted cover in the browser and make sure the image is not too small. After that, inside the browser, click the right mouse button on the desired cover and select the option "Copy" (or simelar, however, do not use "Copy link location") Switch to Silverjuke. In Silverjuke, click with the right mouse button on the (missing) cover and select the option "Open cover/Past image from clipboard" from the context menu. . Drag'n'Drop Choose the wanted cover in the browser and make sure, both, the browser and Silverjuke, are visible on the screen. After that, click and hold the left mouse button on the desired image in the browser window and move the mouse to the corresponding album row in Silverjuke. If you want to create a copy of the image in the album's directory, please hold the "CTRL" key while this operation. Unfortunately, this method only works correctly for Mozilla Firefox; esp. this method does not work when using the Internet Explorer. . Save as Inside the browser, click the right mouse button on the desired cover and select the option "Save image as..." (or simelar, however, do not use "Save target as..." if you do not know exactly that the target is an image of higher quality). In the appearing "Save as"-dialog, select a directory (using the folder where the *.mp3 files of the album are placed in is normally a good choice) and hit "OK". In Silverjuke you can open the saved cover explicitly by clicking with the right mouse button on a cover and selecting "Open cover/Open file...". If you have saved the image to the album's directory, it will also be used implicitly on the next update of your music library (eg. hit "F5" for this purpose). 5 Playback *********** In the dialog "Settings / Playback" you can configure different hardware and software options affecting the playback in Silverjuke. Audio-output ============ Here you define the audio-output to use for the standard playback of Silverjuke; this options is esp. useful if you have more than one soundcard or a soundcard with multiple outputs. With the samplerate you define the frequency to use for playback, common values are 44.1 or 48.0 KHz. If you have any playback problems, you may try to use a larger buffer or to switch off the option Use hardware. However, normally, the default values should be just fine. Finally, there is an option for using the system volume or not. If this option is checked, the system volume for the audio-output is changed if you use the volume slider from within Silverjuke. If this option is not checked, the system volume is treated as the maximum. As many other programs do change the system volume, we also recommend this behaviour for Silverjuke - otherwise we will get questions as "Why can Silverjuke not be as load as program xy?" ;-) Prelisten to tracks =================== If you have two soundcards or two audio outputs, you can use the second one to prelisten to tracks while the normal playback continues. Eg. you may connect the first audio output to your speakers and plug in a headphone into the seconds one. This function is available in Silverjuke 1.16 or newer. To activate the prelisten function, open the settings dialog and go to the page "Playback / Audio output". There, enable the option "Prelisten audio- output" and select the desired soundcard. When done, there is a new option "Prelisten track" available in the context menu of any track in the main window. Fading ====== If you click on the button "Fading...", you can open another dialog where you can configure several options affecting (cross-)fadings. The option Automatic crossfades enables smart changes between tracks. This is done by fading the volume down at the end of the playing track while fading the volume of the next track up at the same time. The length of the fading process can be configured using the slider. We recommend values about 10 seconds. Moreover, you should leave the option skip silence between tracks enabled - otherwise this effect may just fade in and out silent parts of the tracks and you won't hear anything. With the slider beside Manual crossfades you can define the time for a crossfade initiated manually by you. You can start manual crossfades by using the (context-)menu option "Playback / Fade to next" or by holding down the "Shift" key when pressing eg. the forward button. Automatic volume control ======================== In a large music library, many tracks may have different volume levels. If these tracks are played after each other, the one tracks seems to be louder than the other one. To avoid adjusting the volume always manually, you can use the effect "Automatic volume" which calculates the perfect volume and stores it in your music library. The effect has the following options: . With the option desired volume you can set the relative overall volume, normally you should leave +0 dB here. . With the Max. gain you define the maximal amplification that may be used to reach the desired volume for a track. If the max. gain is too small, the automatic volume won't work for more quietly tracks; if it is too large, you may notice overdrives if the calculated volume is not yet perfect. Normally, you should simply leave the default value here. . With the adjustment time you define the time that is used for smooth volume changes inside a track. Volume adjustments are needed if you play a track for the first time and the first assumption of the volume is not perfect and needs to be corrected. . Finally, if Play all tracks of an album with the same volume is enabled, Silverjuke regards all tracks of the album together, so that all tracks of an album will have the same calculated gain. You should enable this option only if all tracks of the albums come from the same source, eg. from a CD, so that one can assume any volume changes are wanted by the artist. To avoid misunderstandings: Low volumes inside a track stay low and loud ones stay loud. Only the overall volume for the duration of a track will be adapted. When a new track starts, the volume will be adapted again. However, during the first playback of a track, the calculated volume may be corrected. Jingles and shuffle =================== On the page jingles, you have the possibility to add small pieces of sound between the normal "tracks". Select the jingles as normal music files. Finally, on the page "shuffle" you can configure how "randomly" the shuffle mode of Silverjuke should be. Moreover, you can define, that Silverjuke should take care about not playing one title several times in a given time period. Use the option avoid boredom for this purpose. 5.1 Automatic Control ====================== With the options at "Settings / Playback / Automatic control" you can define which actions should be done automatically after given timeouts. . Go to current track after ... minutes of inactivity: If there is no user input [1] in the given number of minutes, Silverjuke will scroll the album view to the playing album/track. Hint: you may override this timeout by pressing the button "Go to current track" in the main window (usually this button is a "*" beside the "A-Z" bar). . Start Visualization after ... minutes of inactivity: If there is no user input [2] in the given number of minutes, Silverjuke will start the selected Visualization. . With the option Stop Visualization after ... minutes you can stop a running Visualization after the given number of minutes. It does not matter whether the Visualization was started automatically or manually before. Moreover, you can use the option If the playlist is empty ... to let Silverjuke enqueue and play tracks automatically: . With the first input field, you'll define the number of minutes Silverjuke should wait on empty playlists before taking further actions. . After the given number of minutes, Silverjuke plays the number of tracks defined in the second input field. . The tracks to play are chosen randomly from the selected Music Selection in the last popup. You may also define your own Music Selections and use them here, more details are found the chapter Music Selections (btw. you can open the "Music Selection"-Dialog directly for here by pressing the button "..."). Finally, some hints to the option "If the playlist is empty": . If "Repeat" is enabled or if you stop Silverjuke manually, no autmatic playback takes place. . The automatic playback flow is interrupted if a user puts a new title to the queue. However, the currently playing title will always be played to end. . If the given number of tracks have been played, Silverjuke waits again the given time span; after that, it plays again the given number of tracks. This all is repeated until a user enqueues a track itself. . If you set the number of minutes to "0", Silverjuke plays further tracks immediately if the playlist gets empty. In this case, the number of tracks to play is meaningless. . The automatic playback also takes plave if you've just started Silverjuke. If you've set the number of minutes to "0" in this case, Silverjuke will start playback immediately after the program start. _________________ [1] In this case, user input means all mouse clicks and key presses affecting the album view. Simple mouse movements are no user input in this meaning. [2] In this case, user input means all mouse clicks and key presses affecting Silverjuke. Simple mouse movements are no user input in this meaning. The Visualization is not started if the Silverjuke main window is not the active window. 5.2 FX ======= With the dialog "Settings / FX" you can access the built-in effects of Silverjuke. After the first program start, the effects "Equalizer" and "Tempo/Pitch" are shown. To show further effects here, click on the "Menu »" button and there on the entry "Setup"; in the next dialog you can check all effects that should be shown. To enable or disable an effect, select the effect's page and click on the checkbox named eg. "Enable Equalizer". In the botton-right corner of the dialog, a list of all enabled effects is shown. If you use more than one effect at the same time, the order of the effect processing may be important. To change this, you can set a priority for each effect at "Menu » / Priority". This will also alter the list of the enabled effects in the bottom-right corner. Moreover, using the "Menu »" button you can also load and save single effects or complete setups. For some effects there are also presets available at the menu entry "Use default values". Install additional Effects ========================== Silverjuke contains a VST-host and supports VST-compatible effect-modules under Windows (Mac-VST support is planned). To install a VST module, follow the normal installation process as described by the module developer. In Silverjuke, just make sure to add the path to the module to the search paths at "Settings / Advanced / Further Options / Search paths" (of course, you can also install the VST-module to an existing search path, eg. to c:\programs\silverjuke\). After the module is installed, restart Silverjuke and the module should appear at "Settings/FX". You can enable and disable installed modules at any time at "Settings/FX/Menu/Setup". An overview about some VST-plugins is provided in the Skins+Modules forum . Use different FX setups ======================= If AutoPlay, microphones or prelistening is enabled, you can use different FX setups for each of these areas. For this purpose, just select the area from the menu atop of the FX page: Note: This menu is only visible if one of the functions mentioned above is enabled. 5.3 Karaoke ============ Since version 2.10, Silverjuke supports playback of Karaoke files in the formats CDG and LRC: If you have such files, just make sure they are placed in the same directory under the same name as the belonging *.mp3 files: Eg. if you have a file c:\music\Karaoke.mp3, the CDG file must be named c:\music\Karaoke.cdg. That all! To start the Karaoke screen, first start a normal playback of the file and then click on the little icon in the lower left corner of the display: On the first start you may have to select "Karaoke prompt" from the menu atop of the Visualization. You can also place the Karaoke prompt on a secondary monior; please see the chapter Monitors for details. Finally, if you are searching for professional Karaoke titles, you can have a look on the pages of out partner Silverstar . 6 Skins/View ************* With the options placed at "Settings / View" you can change the appearance and some Functionality of Silverjuke. 6.1 Skins ========== With so called "Skins" you can change the appearance of Silverjuke completely. The basic Functionality cannot be changed by skins, however, different skins may provide different buttons for existing functions. Skins on www.silverjuke.net ... Skins always have the file extension *.sjs (for Silverjuke Skin) and are installed the same way as other modules: just copy the *.sjs files into one of the search paths defined at "Advanced / Further Options". eg. to c:\Programs\Silverjuke. Btw. there is also documentation about how to create your own skins . 6.2 Font ========= You can define the font face, the font size and the size of the covers independently (changes are displayed at once in the main window, however, do not forget to hit "OK" to save them). The given sizes refer to a zoom setting of 100%. If you change the zoom in the main window eg. by the keys "+" and "-", the font and the cover sizes change proportionally. Btw. the key "*" brings you back to a zoom of 100%. 7 Kiosk Mode ************* With the so called "Kiosk Mode" you can run the program in full screen mode and with a limited Functionality. Doing so, you can use Silverjuke eg. as a jukebox on a party. Before you start the Kiosk Mode, you should set some options in the dialog "Settings / Kiosk Mode": First, on dialog page "Start Kiosk Mode", make sure, you know how to end the Kiosk Mode after you have started it. By default, the Kiosk Mode can be ended using the key F11. Moreover, you can protect the Kiosk Mode by a password and disable special system keys. If you enter a new password, Silverjuke asks you to confirm the new password before you start the Kiosk Mode. This is needed to avoid typing errors. If everything is set correctly in your opinion, click onto the button Start to start the Kiosk Mode... we wish you many fun with Silverjuke! Options ======= On the dialog pages beside "Start Kiosk Mode" you'll find some options to configure the Kiosk Mode to fit your needs: Moreover, you may like to use the options for the Automatic Control in combination with the Kiosk Mode. 7.1 Functionality ================== Under "Settings / Kiosk Mode / Functionality" you'll find several options that will alter the behaviour or limit the Functionality of the Kiosk Mode. . With the options in the upper area you can disable the named functions for the use from within the Kiosk Mode. Depending on the skin in use, the corrensponding buttons will be hidden. If a button is not shown even if the function is enabled, you can use the function by a shortcut or by the display. . With the option Allow max. ... tracks waiting in the queue you can avoid having too many titles waiting in the queue. If a user tries to enqueue a title in this case, a warning is shown in the display. . The option Limit tracks to the Music Selection ... let the Kiosk Mode display only the tracks from this Music Selection. You may also define your own Music Selections and use them here, more details are found the chapter Music Selections (btw. you can open the "Music Selection"-Dialog directly for here by pressing the button "..."). . Finally, you can switch the display resolution while the Kiosk Mode is runnning. This is useful eg. if you find the view too small. 7.2 Monitors ============= Since Silverjuke 2.10 you can use two monitors in the Kiosk Mode of Silverjuke - eg. one for the Visualization or for the Karaoke screen and the other for the main window. You have already two monitors? Great! Just open "Settings / Kiosk Mode / Monitors" and define which monitor to use for which purpose: You do not have a second monitor? No problem: Often there is a second laptop or another computer available - if so, you can use this computer as a second monitor using the software MaxiVista from our partner Bartels Media. 7.3 Virtual Keyboard ===================== If you don't have a real keyboard available (eg. if you use a touchscreen), you may activate the built-in virtual keyboard on the page "Settings / Kiosk Mode / Virtual keyboard": . To use the virtual keyboard only if the Kiosk Mode is started, enable the option "Use the virtual keyboard" . To use the virtual keyboard also outside the Kiosk Mode, enable the option "Use the virtual keyboard" and then "Also use the virtual keyboard outside the Kiosk Mode". If you click into the test field or into the search field in the main window now, the virtual keyboard is shown abottom of the screen. To close the virtual keyboard, click onto "OK", onto the little "X" in the upper-right corner or somewhere outside the keyboard window. Hints: . The virtual keyboard is not shown if you only set the focus by the tab- key to a text field - in this case, we assume you have a real keyboard... . You may use the virtual keyboard as a normal keyboard, every key pressed will be entered to the text field and the shift- and alt-keys will work as usual. To delete the last character entered, klick on the "Delete" key. If you want to delete all characters, hit "Shift-Delete". . If you protect the Kiosk Mode using a password, the virtual keyboard is also shown if you click into the password-entry field. . The screenshot on the right shows the skin "Silveriness Touched", which is created especially for touchscreens. Finally, you may customize the appearance of the virtual keyboard with the following options: . With the popup at Virtual keyboard layout you may define which keys appear where on the keyboard - just select a layout from the list. If your favourite layout is missing in the list, please have a look at our forum or contact us. However, you can also create virtual keyboard layouts yourself with this documentation . . The other options, Colour and Transparency should be self-explaining. Note that the transparency options are only available in Windows 2000 or newer. 7.4 Numpad =========== You may control Silverjuke completly using a numpad (keys "0"-"9") plus some other special keys for paging left/right and up/down. To enable the numpad control, select the option "Use numpad controls" at "Settings / Kiosk Mode / Numpad". After that, the album view displays unique album- and track-numbers left of the names. If you press one of these numbers (first the album- and then the track-number), Silverjuke plays or enqueues the selected title. You can use any keys to react to the numpad control, eg. not only "0"-"9". This should make it possible, to use external hardware devices that emulate keypresses. Just click onto "Edit..." to edit the keys. Some hints to the keys: . The keys to input "0"-"9" should always be defined. Btw: The following image shows how a hardware control may look like... . Moreover, you should define keys for "Left", "Right", "Up" and "Down". If you have not defined these keys, you can also navigage using the numpad's menu (see below), which, however, is not very comfortable. . If you have defined a key for "Down" but not for "Up", pressing the "Down"-Button if the album view is already abottom, will bring you back to the top. . If you do not define a key for "Cancel", you can cancel the selection by pressing an invalid track number or just a sequence of "0". Moreover, you can certainly use all other shortcuts available in Silverjuke and map them to your hardware control, if wanted. 7.4.1 The numpad's menu ------------------------ If you have defined a menu-key or if you hit the key "0" several times [1], you can enter the menu-mode. In the menu-mode, the display shows which actions can be done with which keys. You can switch to the next menu page using the key "0". The available actions depend on the current state of Silverjuke and on the Functionality you have allowed for the Kiosk Mode. To exit the menu, hit "0" until the normal display of Silverjuke appears or hit any undefined key. Using the numpad-menu, you can also access the search Functionality: For this purpose, select the entry "Search" from the numpad-menu as described above. After that, you can enter the text using the keys "0"-"9" - you may know this from a mobile phone: . The display shows with which keys you can enter which characters. To enter a character, you have to press the key multiple times. The display does not show all possible characters, by pressing a key several times, you can also reach other characters - overview... (see "Text Input Using the Numpad's Menu") . If you enter only one character, the "go to" function (same as pressing one of the "A"-"Z" buttons) is used instead of a search. . With the key "1" you can delete the last entered character. . With the key "0" you submit your entry. . To cancel the process, first delete all characters using "1" and then hit "0". . Upper-case letters cannot be entered, however, they are not needed as the search is not case-sensitive and the password input ignores the case here. If you have protected the Kiosk Mode by a Password and want to exit it using the numpad-menu, first select the entry "Exit Kiosk Mode". After that, you have to enter the password using the keys "0"-"9" as decribed above. Characters already entered are not shown for security reasons. Moreover, make sure, you use a password that can be entered this way. _________________ [1] For each digit in the album numbers, you have to press "0" one time. Eg. if you have 99 albums or less, you have to enter "00" to enter the menu-mode; if you have between 100 and 999 albums, you have to enter "000" and so on. 7.4.2 Text Input Using the Numpad's Menu ----------------------------------------- . Pressing the key 2 multiple times, results in the following characters: a b c 0 1 2 ä - + * / . , : ; ! ( ) [ ] { } | @ < > _ = % & ... . Pressing the key 3 multiple times, results in the following characters: d e f 3 ... . Pressing the key 4 multiple times, results in the following characters: g h i 4 ... . Pressing the key 5 multiple times, results in the following characters: j k l 5 ... . Pressing the key 6 multiple times, results in the following characters: m n o 6 ö ... . Pressing the key 7 multiple times, results in the following characters: p q r s 7 ß ... . Pressing the key 8 multiple times, results in the following characters: t u v 8 ü ... . Pressing the key 9 multiple times, results in the following characters: w x y z 9 ... Moreover, at the end of each list, you'll find a space. With the key "1" you can delete the last entered character and with the key "0" you submit your text. 7.5 Credit System ================== With the credit system of the Silverjuke Kiosk Mode you can let the users only allow to play tracks if they have inserted eg. some coins into any hardware. The credit system was introduced with Silverjuke version 1.16. To enable the credit system, open the settings dialog and go to the page "Kiosk Mode/Credit system". There, just enable the options "Use credit system" and "Credits may be added by external programs". Done so, you can add credits from external programs or scripts using the command line or DDE (click onto the links for details about this). As the external programs or scripts are responsible for communicating with the hardware, Silverjuke supports eg. any type or coin or or bill acceptors this way. If there are any questions or comments affecting the credit system, don't hesitate to post them to our forums or to contact us directly. 8 Language, System tray etc. ***************************** With the options found at "Settings / Advanced" you define some common settings for Silverjuke. Beside the option to buy Silverjuke and enter the licence key, the options are divided into the following pages: Language ======== Here you can define the language that should be used for the user interface. If you have not defined any further language modules, you can select one of the languages english, french or german. Language modules on Silverjuke.net... Language modules always have the extension *.mo and are installed the same way as other modules: just copy the *.mo files into one of the search paths defined at "Advanced / Further Options / Search paths". System tray =========== The "System tray" is a little area normally placed at the edge of the screen. If supported by the operating system, you can add a symbol here which shows the current title (move the mouse about the symbol) and allows to access some functions from Silverjuke (use the right mouse button onto the symbol). Double clicking the symbol minimizes or restores the main window of Silverjuke. You can choose to add the Silverjuke symbol to the system tray always, never or only for the minimized main window. Modules and Further Options =========================== More experienced users find a list with less important or seldomly used options here. Most module settings are also located here. Moreover, you can change all shortcuts here and that you can even define system-wide shortcuts. See the chapter Further Options for more details. 8.1 Modules and Further Options ================================ More experienced users find a list with less important or seldomly used options at "Settings / Advanced / Further Options". Moreover, you can edit some module settings, change all shortcuts and you can even define system-wide shortcuts here. To change an option, select it and click onto the button Customize. Alternatively you may use the right mouse button. Changed options are shown in a highlighted font in the list. To reset options to their default values, select them (you may select several options using the "shift" and the "ctrl" keys) and click onto "Customize / Reset selection". The options in detail ===================== . Automatic version check If enabled, Silverjuke automatically checks for a new version of itself every week. If a new version is available, you are asked if you want to download it. . Files: Configuration file This option displays the configuration file currently in use; under Windows, this is normally the registry. If you want to use another configuration file, you have to add the parameter - ini= to the command line when starting Silverjuke. Alternatively, you may create the file file mysettings.ini in the Silverjuke directory which is then used automatically as the configuration file. . Files: Image cache: ... With the option RAM cache you can set the amount of memory to use to cache covers; by default 2 MB are used here which is enough for about 3 pages of covers in the standard size. With the option Use temporary directory you can use your harddisk to cache images. When using this option your harddisk should be "large" enough to cache all possible covers; however, for actual hardware this should be no problem. You can use the temporary directory cache in two ways: asynchony or directly. Asynchony means, the images to display are rendered in a second thread and displayed when ready; in between, Silverjuke shows an empty square at the place of the cover. Directly means, the program display is halted until the image is ready and therefore no empty squares are shown and the output is a little "smarter" but may halt the user input for a moment. If you are unsure, use the asynchony method or disable the use of the temporary directory completly. . Files: Index file This option displays the index file location (the index file contains the database for your music library). If you want to use another index file, you have to add the parameter -db= to the command line when starting Silverjuke. . Files: Show files with By default when selecting the menu entry "Explore...", files are shown eg. with the Explorer under Windows or with the Finder on Mac OS. However, you can use any other program that supports the command line: Just double-click onto the entry and select the program to use. After that, you may want to change the command line given to the selected program by right-clicking onto the entry and choosing "Edit...". . Files: Temporary directory This option displays the temporary directory in use. The temporary directory is used eg. for the cover cache (see above). If you want to use a different temporary directory, you have to start Silverjuke with the option -temp= in the command line. . Ask on close if playing When the program is about to be closed by a user request and there is still some music playing, Silverjuke can ask you whether really to quit. This option has no effect if the program is closed by other reasons, eg. by a shutdown of windows. . Display: Show ... With these options, you can define whether the artist name, the total time and/or the track number (queue position) should be shown in the display. . Kiosk Mode: Query settings before start With this option you can define if the key F11 or the context menu entry "View / Kiosk Mode" should open the kiosk settings dialog or start the Kiosk Mode directly. . Track list: Abbreviation for ... If a track contains information about the composer or about the original artist, these information may be displayed in the track list. To save space on the screen, only an abbreviation (see the "C:" in the screenshot aright) is shown before the names. These abbreviations can be edited with these options by a simple double click. . Track list: Automatic track number If this option is set to "yes", Silverjuke automatically enumerates all tracks of an album with no gaps starting at "1". This will ignore the information stored in the database or in the (ID3-)tags which will be used otherwise. . Track list: Show ... With these options, you can define which details should be displayed in the track list. You can switch on and off the display of album names, composers, (original) Artists, disk numbers, track numbers, year, and double tracks. Moreover, for the artist- and album names you can define if they should be shown if they differ from the artist-/album names of the whole album. . Use multimedia keyboard keys If you have a so called multimedia keyboard with separate play-, pause-, backward- and forward-keys, you can reserve these keys for Silverjuke by setting this option to "yes". After that, the keys will also work if Silverjuke is not the active application. . Window: Draw offscreen and avoid flickering If you have a slow computer or this function causes problems, you may switch it of. However, normally, you should leave this option enabled. . Window: Use shaped windows If you have a slow computer or this function causes problems, you may switch it of. However, normally, you should leave this option enabled. . Search: Lookup genre on simple search If this option is set to "yes", you can type in a genre into the simple search field in the main window. If the genre is found, Silverjuke displays all tracks of this genre then. . Search: Max. history size With this option you define the number of previous searches that should be saved in the history. You can access the history by clicking onto the little arrow beside the search field. . Search: Save modified Music Selections By default, Silverjuke asks you whether to save a modified Music Selection eg. if you close the dialog. However, Silverjuke can also save (select "always") or cancel (select "never") all modified Music Selections automatically without asking. If you select "never", do not forget to save the Music Selection manually eg. by pressing "Ctrl-S". . Search: Search while typing If you enter a search text into the simple search field in the main window, Silverjuke can start the search while you are still typing (incremental search) or wait until you hit "enter". . Drag'n'Drop: Drag ... By pressing and holding the left mouse button while moving the mouse, you can move selected tracks (eg. for playback to the display) as well as the window content of the album view. With these options, you can define which mouse clicks drag what. . Drag'n'Drop: Show icons beside mouse cursor With this option you can define if eg. the selected tracks should be shown beside the mouse cursor while moving them eg. to the display. If you have a slower computer, you may decide to disable this option. . "Magnetic" window borders With this option you can define if the main window of Silverjuke should "snap" to the desktop border on moving. . Menus: Show ... Use these options to define if icons and/or the shortcuts should be shown beside the menu entries. . Mouse wheel With this option you can define if the mouse wheel should scroll the album view horizontally or vertically. Btw: holding the "shift"-key or pressing the right mouse button while using the mouse wheel toggles the direction. . Mouse wheel: Scroll display If this option is enabled and the mouse is over the display, the mouse wheel scrolls the display content (the queue) instead of the album view. . Tooltips With this option you can define whether Silverjuke should display tooltips or not. . Shortcuts: ... Lots of options refer to shortcuts which may be customized by double-clicking on an option and then hitting the new shortcut. You may define several shortcuts for a command. To remove a shortcut, use the right mouse button and then "Remove shortcut...". You can even define system-wide shortcuts. System-wide shortcuts may be used even if Silverjuke is not the active program, eg. you can use the "pause" key to start/stop playback from within any running application. To define a system-wide shortcut, press the right mouse button and choose "Add system-wide shortcut...". . Shortcuts: Numpad: ... These options are available if you enable the numpad control for the Kiosk Mode. In this case, you can customize the keys to use for the numpad control as described above. 9 Music Selection ****************** Beside the search options described in the First Steps, Silverjuke offers a more powerful possibility to search for tracks and albums, the so called Music Selection. With the Music Selection you can combine different search criteria, eg. you can search for all titles of a defined genre in a defined period. You open the dialog for the Music Selection using the right mouse button and by selecting the menu entry "Music Selection" then. Saved Music Selections ====================== At the dialog's left side you see a list with the saved Music Selections (starting the program for the first time you will find some predefined selections by default). With the button menu below this list you can create new Music Selections, rename existing ones, save a copy of a Music Selection under a new name and finally you have the option to delete Music Selections. Hint: If you delete all Music Selections, the predefined selections will be added again. Start and end search ==================== To search for titles in a Music Selection, select the Music Selection and then click search. Only titles matching the Music Selection will be shown in the main window, so that you can verify the result at once. As long as the Music Selection is activated each action in the main window will only affect the found titles, eg. a search using the search field in the main window will search in the result of the Music Selection only. Hint: the "Music Selection" dialog is not modal - you can switch between the dialog and the main window without closing the dialog. Btw. this is true for most dialogs in Silverjuke. To cancel a Music Selection click onto the button end search. Alternatively, you can also cancel the search from within the main window by clicking onto the "X" aright of the search field (if you have entered any text in the search field, the first click removes the text and the second click ends the Music Selection). Closing the Music Selection dialog does not end the search, so you can use an Music Selection as a permanent filter without having the search dialog opened all the time. Moreover, by the query history, which you access by the little arrow aright of the search field in the main window, you have the possibility to access prior Music Selections without opening the Music Selection dialog. Edit Music Selections ===================== To edit a Music Selection, select the Music Selection to edit in the list aleft. After this, the details about the Music Selection are show aright in the dialog. Atop of the details, you have the choice whether to select single tracks or full albums and how to combine the search criteria below. Search criteria always affect fields in the tracks - you decide to select full albums, missing tracks of are simply added to the result. Edit criteria ============= . To add a criterion, click onto "+", to remove one, click onto "-". Hint: there must be at least one criterion defined. . A criterion normally has three parts: the field to search in (first popup), an operator for comparison (second popup) and the values to search for (further popups or other controls). . Normally, after adding a new search criterion, you'll first select the field, then the operator and finally defined the values to search for. Hint: depending on the selected files and the selected operator, the operator/the value controls may change. Eg. the operator "is in range" requires two values while the operator "is equal to" requires only one. To get an idea about the possibilities of the Music Selection, the best is to try it out for yourself. However, there are still some important points: . If you select the operator "is equal to" or "is unequal to" for a textfield (eg. "title"), the upper- and lower-case of the value is important. For other operators, case is not significant. . date fields (eg. "last played" or "modified") offer the operator "is in the last days/hours/minutes". The other operators offer you a calendar control which is reachable using the little arrow aright of the text (choose "select..." from the popup). . Using the file limit result to you can limit the result to a given number of tracks, albums, minutes or MB. Moreover, you have to define the field the tracks should be selected by eg. by "most often played" or by "random". It is okay to use this criterion several times - in this case the limit reached first is used. . You may include or exclude single tracks by just selecting them in the main window and then pressing the keys "Ins" or "Del". Finally, more experienced users have the possibility to use the field SQL Expression which allows to defined more complex Music Selections in the query language "SQL". 9.1 SQL Expressions ==================== If you choose the option "SQL Expression" for a field in a criterion of a Music Selection, the operator popup disappears to make place for a larger text field. In this text field you can input any valid SQL Expressions as "rating=3 OR (rating=2 AND timesplayed>2)". Allwed is everything that is allowed in the WHERE clause; you may also use Subselects. We do not want to explain SQL in this help fies, so here is only a brief overview about the available fields, operators and functions: Fields ====== . url . timeadded . timemodified . timesplayed . lastplayed . databytes . bitrate . samplerate . channels . playtimems . autovol . trackname . tracknr . trackcount . disknr . diskcount . leadartistname . orgartistname . composername . albumname . genrename . groupname . comment . beatsperminute . rating . year . id Operators and Functions ======================= . =, ==, !=, <>, <, >, <=, >= . +, -, *, /, %, &, |, || . and, glob, in, like, like escape, not, or . val = abs(val) . str = filetype(filename) . val = length(str) . bool = levensthein(str, pattern) . dist = levensthein(str, pattern, max_dist) . str = lower(str) . val = max(val1, val2, ...) . val = min(val1, val2, ...) . pos = queuepos(url) . curr_pos = queuepos() . val = random() . val = round(val) . str = substr(str, pos, len) . str = soundex(str) . val = sum(val) . val = timestamp(date_time) . str = upper(str) Hint: You can define a criterion first using the normal selection controls for the field, the operator and the value, and then change the field to "SQL Expression" which will convert the given criteria to SQL Expression. Finally, you can refine the converted expression. 9.2 Playlists ============== A playlist is a compilation of different tracks from your music library. If you eg. put different tracks into the queue, you can save them all as a playlist to be re-opened and played again later at any time. You can read and write playlists in different formats. Currently Silverjuke supports the formats CUE, M3U, PLS; however, we recommend the M3U format as it is widely spread. To save the queue as a playlist, press the right mouse button in the queue display and select "save playlist" from the context menu. In the following dialog you have to enter a name for the playlist. Finally, hit "OK" to save the playlist. To open a saved playlist again, press the right mouse button and select "open playlist or files" or "append playlist or files" from the context menu. Again, in the following dialog select the name of the desired playlist and hit "OK". Alternativly, you can just drag a playlist to the Silverjuke main window. Hint: you can also use playlists which were not created with Silverjuke, if your music library contains the referenced files. 10 Edit Tracks *************** To view or edit information for a track, select the track and press Ctrl-I or use the option "Edit Tracks/Get info" from the context menu. You can edit multiple tracks at the same time by just selecting them together in the main window using eg. the "ctrl" or the "shift" keys. The dialog "Edit Tracks" now shows all available information about the track(s) whereas most of them can also be edited as follows: . The title is the name of the tracks. You should always enter a title as otherwise it is hard to identify a track. . The name of the artist. You should not leave this field empty as Silverjuke uses this information to combine different tracks to albums. . The names of the original artist and the composer's name are optional. However, please to not enter sth. like "unknown" here, just leave this field blank if you do not want to enter these information. . The name of the album. You should not leave this field empty as Silverjuke uses this information to combine different tracks to albums. . Any optional comment . The track number and the track count on this disk (see below). Silverjuke uses these information to sort the tracks within an album. If an album has only one track, enter "1 of 1" here. Feel free to leave this field blank. . The disk number and the disk count on the album. Silverjuke uses these information to sort the tracks within an album. If an album has only one disk (mostly true), enter "1 of 1" here. Feel free to leave this field blank. . The genre of the track. If you fill out this field for a significant number of tracks, you can use it as an criterion for Music Selections (btw, this is true for all information). . The group can be used for additional criterions specific for you music library. . The year of the track; this is not the year where the original title (if any) was released. Silverjuke uses this information to combine different tracks to albums. Feel free to leave this field blank. . The BPM or "beats per minute". Feel free to leave this field blank. . Your rating from one to five stars where five stars should be the best rating. If you do not want to rate a track, select "no rating" here. Finally, clicking "OK" saves the modified information in the database and, if possible and wanted in the (ID3-)tags of the file. If you edit more than one track, a detailed confirmation dialog is displayed before the changes will take effect. In this dialog, you can also edit the changes in a "final" step by double-clicking on am item. Writing (ID3)-tags can be disabled using the corresponding option in the confirmation dialog or with the "menu" button. Further edit tools ================== A click onto the "menu"-button shows a menu which gives you access to some more edit tools: If you want to Extract information from the file name use the function "split fields" which also allows to use the path and/or file name as source field. 10.1 Replace ============= The dialog "Replace" allows you to search and replace strings in some (ID3-)tags or in the file name of any tracks. This is most useful if you edit the information of several tracks in one step. To open the dialog ... . ... select all tracks to edit in the main window eg. by holding the "ctrl" or the "shift" keys while clicking on them ... . ... click with the right mouse button on one of the selected tracks and select "Edit Tracks/Get info..." from the context-menu; this will open the Edit Tracks-dialog ... . ... here, click onto the "Menu >>" button and select "Replace". In the dialog ... . ... enter the text to search for and decide whether the search should be case-sensitive and whether you want to search for whole words only. . ... select the field where to search in. You can also search in the file or the path name of the tracks. If you select "All fields", this refers to all fields but the path and file names. . ... enter the text found strings should be replaced with . ... more experienced users can also use regular expressions in the search strings. Note: the regular expressions follow the POSIX-standard and not the PERL-standard. Finally, clicking OK will show a detailed confirmation dialog; if everything is okay there, press OK once again and the changes will be written. 10.2 Split Fields ================== The dialog "Split fields" allows you to split the text of one source field (eg. one ID3-information or the path or the file name) into several destination fields. This is most useful if you edit the information of several tracks in one step. To open the dialog ... . ... select all tracks to edit in the main window eg. by holding the "ctrl" or the "shift" keys while clicking on them ... . ... click with the right mouse button on one of the selected tracks and select "Edit Tracks/Get info..." from the context-menu; this will open the Edit Tracks-dialog ... . ... here, click onto the "Menu >>" button and select "Split fields". In the dialog ... . ... first, select the field to split. The selected field should contain some text information that can be splitted into several other fields; often this is true for the path and file name. . ... using Destination fields and pattern you'll define how the field to split looks like: - Text, that is identical in each record, is entered directly. - Text that contains information you want to copy to another field is entered as a -placeholder, where "info" must be replaced by the name of the destination field. The easiest way to enter these placeholders is to use the Insert-button. - Text, that is not identical in each record, but does not contain any useful information is entered as "*". . ... the Example shows you at any time all source and destination fields of a sample record. So you can verify if the pattern matches your wishes. Finally, clicking OK will show a detailed confirmation dialog; if everything is okay there, press OK once again and the changes will be written. 10.3 Rename Files ================== The dialog "Rename files" allows you to rename files based on the old file name and/or on some (ID3-)tag-informationen This is most useful if you edit the information of several tracks in one step. To open the dialog ... . ... select all tracks to edit in the main window eg. by holding the "ctrl" or the "shift" keys while clicking on them ... . ... click with the right mouse button on one of the selected tracks and select "Edit Tracks/Get info..." from the context-menu; this will open the Edit Tracks-dialog ... . ... here, click onto the "Menu >>" button and select "Rename files". In the dialog ... . Enter the Pattern for the new file name. The pattern may be built out of several placehoders as , for a list of possible placeholders, use the Insert-button. . Text that should be identical for all files to rename can be entered directly to the pattern. . You can use the character "/" to also rename some folders in the path of the file. Finally, clicking OK will show a detailed confirmation dialog; if everything is okay there, press OK once again and the changes will be written. 10.4 Query freedb ================== When editing track information using the Track Editor, you can also query the freedb-Database for missing track information. This works best, if you select all tracks of a given album. Then open the Track Editor and select "Query online database..." from the "Menu..." button. A little moment later, you get a list with possible albums. If the correct album is in the list, select it and click on "OK". After that, the normal confirmation dialog is shown where you can also edit the suggested information. The default server used to query the freedb database is www.freedb.org, however, you can also define a mirror that is closer to you at "Settings / Advanced / Further Options / Online database: Server name". Show a list of possible mirrors at freedb.org... <http://www.freedb.org/modules.php?name=Sections&sop=viewarticle&artid=9> 11 Further Topics ****************** Further topics are availabe in the forums <http://www.silverjuke.net/forum/> or in other Silverjuke manuals <http://www.silverjuke.net/en/resources>. Some examples: . The Silverjuke SDK <http://www.silverjuke.net/sdk/> . Create your own skins <http://www.silverjuke.net/sdk/> . Create your own virtual keyboards <http://www.silverjuke.net/forum/ topic-72.html> . Command line options <http://www.silverjuke.net/forum/topic-28.html> . DDE <http://www.silverjuke.net/forum/topic-91.html> . Localization <http://www.silverjuke.net/forum/topic-51.html> . Database access <http://www.silverjuke.net/forum/topic-97.html> . Forum hints <http://www.silverjuke.net/forum/topic-16.html> Moreover, there are some chapters left in this manual that do not fit together with other topics very well: 11.1 Burn CDs ============== Currently, Silverjuke cannot burn CDs and DVDs itself but you can use an external program for this purpose. Selecting the tracks to burn and starting the burning process is done from within Silverjuke as described in this chapter. Selecting tracks ================ Just select to tracks to burn as usual in the main window. You can use the keys shift and ctrl or click onto the name of an album or artist to select several tracks. Starting the burning process ============================ After you have selected the tracks, click with the right mouse button onto one of the selected tracks and choose the option "burn CD" from the context menu. After that, the dialog "Burn CD" opens. Silverjuke can recognize some CD recording software automatically; just select your favourite CD burning program from the list, change some settings and click on the button burn CD. This will start the selected program with the required information and the burning process should start. If your CD burning program is not in the list, you have to option to locate it using the "Select..." at the end of the list. If your program does not appear in the following dialog it is currently not supported by Silverjuke, but you may create your own binding <http://www.silverjuke.net/forum/topic-48.html>. 11.2 Visualizations ==================== So called "Visualizations" are graphical output plugins which render their graphics - more or less - in synchronity with the playing music. If playback is started you can start a Visualizations using the key F2 or the symbol (eg. a wave) in the main window. Usually, Visualizations can be stopped using the "escape" key. Most Visualizations also support a full screen mode if you double click into the Visualization window. If you have installed several Visualizations (see Further Options), you can select the Visualization to use by the context menu of the Visualization symbol. However, only one Visualization can be started at the same time. 12 Some final words ******************** If you have any questions or comments, please use our forums at http://www.silverjuke.net/forum/ <http://www.silverjuke.net/forum/> or contact us directly at at http://www.silverjuke.net/en/contact <http://www.silverjuke.net/en/contact>. Best regards, Your Silverjuke Team