Playing Now Popup

The Playing Now Popup introduced in MC 33 automatically displays track information when the currently playing track changes. Pressing Ctrl+i on the keyboard will display the popup manually. The amount of time it shows for and other display properties can be edited in the settings accessed through Tools > Options > General > Interface > Playing Now Popup or by clicking on the popup and selecting Settings from the menu. The content and layout is defined by a skin file and there are some built-in skins to choose from (selected in the popup settings). You can also create a custom skin.

Custom Skin Creation

To make a new custom skin, create a new folder under "[MC_PROGRAM_FOLDER]\Skins\Playing Now Popup". For example, create "C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center 33\Skins\Playing Now Popup\My New Skin". A file named main.xml is required in the new folder to define the content so either create one or copy one from a built-in skin.

Skin Example

Here is the main.xml for the Control skin:

<MJPS version="1.0">

<SKIN Name="Control" Author="J River" />

<POPUP>

<Settings Width="300" Height="115" BackImage="" BackColor="" Border="yes" />

<ContentItem Type="image" Name="Thumbnail" X="15" Y="10" Width="75" Height="75" Source="[Large]" />

<ContentItem Type="text" Name="Name" X="100" Y="10" Width="195" Height="15" Text="[Name]" FontStyle="bold" />

<ContentItem Type="text" Name="Artist" X="100" Y="27" Width="195" Height="15" Text="[Artist]" />

<ContentItem Type="text" Name="Album" X="100" Y="44" Width="195" Height="15" Text="[Album]" />

<ContentItem Type="text" Name="Details" X="100" Y="61" Width="195" Height="15" Text="[pn_position] of [pn_count] - [Duration] - [File Type] - [Bit Depth]//[Sample Rate]" />

<ContentItem Type="rating" Name="Rating" X="15" Y="88" Width="100" Height="20"/>

<ContentItem Type="image" Name="Previous" X="115" Y="78" Width="35" Height="35" Source="{PlayerBar,PreviousButton,0}||{PlayerBar,PreviousButton,1}||{PlayerBar,PreviousButton,2}" Tooltip="Previous: Char(10) [Name] by [Artist]" Command="10004,0" TrackOffset="-1"/>

<ContentItem Type="image" Name="Play" X="150" Y="78" Width="35" Height="35" Source="{PlayerBar,PlayButton,0}||{PlayerBar,PlayButton,1}||{PlayerBar,PlayButton,2}" Tooltip="Play//Pause" Command="10000"/>

<ContentItem Type="image" Name="Stop" X="185" Y="78" Width="35" Height="35" Source="{PlayerBar,StopButton,0}||{PlayerBar,StopButton,1}||{PlayerBar,StopButton,2}" Tooltip="Stop" Command="10002"/>

<ContentItem Type="image" Name="Next" X="220" Y="78" Width="35" Height="35" Source="{PlayerBar,NextButton,0}||{PlayerBar,NextButton,1}||{PlayerBar,NextButton,2}" Tooltip="Next: Char(10) [Name] by [Artist]" Command="10003,0" TrackOffset="1" />

</POPUP>

</MJPS>

Skin Reference

<Settings>

This element is required and specifies global settings for the popup.

Attribute	Description	Default
Width	overall window width
Height	overall window height
BackImage	image used as the background can use "./image.png" for an image in same skin folder
BackColor	color used as background can be "Transparent" or a specific color expressed as "rrggbb" (e.g. "ffffff" for white)
Border	draws border around window	"no"
MouseBehavior	specifies how mouse behaves over images 0: considers full rectangle for hit testing 1: ignores transparent pixels for hit testing	"0"