I was never working on a PCF -> CCF converter. I was only thinking about supporting PCFs natively in SNL.

Does anyone know how to use the "Copy from another list..." button on the Advanced List Options dialog box? The button is grayed out on my system.

How many lists do you have? If you only have one, that's why.

This feature, I put in place to allow one to quickly copy list appearance settings from one list to another.

Another thing is that XML exports/imports carry the list settings with them. This allows you the ability to use 'Templates'. For a template, create an empty list and name it 'Template' or something like that. Then, setup all colors, and export as XML. Then when you need a new list, import 'Template' and rename it.

Thanks, Lyndel. I only have one list, so that's the source of my confusion.

Thanks also for the suggestion about using XML exports/imports and templates. I don't think that helps me, however, as I import using a .csv file (I keep my CD list in an Excel spreadsheet). It would have been nice to be able to import colors, hard keys, etc., separate from the actual CD list, but no big deal -- I'll just re-create the settings each time (or directly edit the list when I add disks).

You can load an empty 'template' list with all your colors after CSV import and then use the 'Copy From...' button.

I think you better think again ;-).

It DOES help you. Using a 'template' to hold your list color settings will allow you to import your CSV, apply color settings from your template, etc...

It will save you time.

Lyndel:

You're right, of course, as I discovered for myself after I had posted my response. The "Copy..." function definitely saves time, and I have incorporated a dummy list just to hold the values that it saves. Now what would save me even MORE time would be if the "Copy..." function also copied the hard button links. Is that possible?

Never thought about doing that. SNL has been dead for quite some time. I have an internal 2.0.0.9 version that I've never released with minor bugfixes. There has been little demand and even fewer donations in the last 3 years.

I'm in the middle of a project right now and am not willing to break away to spend around the 20+ hours that it would take to make this happen.

I think there were too many issues surrounding this functionality when I first thought about doing this a couple of years ago. One of the main issues was time and the 2nd issue was risk. Adding this code would require some major rework to prevent stability issues.

If it were a matter of money I would gladly donate to the cause. But I understand the time and risk issues. Too bad.

Would you be willing to part with 2.0.0.9 (even if only an alpha or beta version)?

I only do private releases to Beta Testers.

A full release takes about 2-3 hours to scour source code and update release notes and package to RC.

It's only got some small bugfixes for the sort from the main list window. Only one person has reported the issue so posting to RC is not likely in the near future.

Judging from the length of time since the last post, I'm wondering whether I'm the only one using SNL any more. But for anyone who does, and for Lyndel (who probably monitors this thread), I stumbled across a solution to the request I had made on February 3, 2008, viz: would it be possible to copy hard button links (along with layout, etc.) using the "Copy from another list..." button, since I import my disk list from a .csv file rather than editing it in SNL. Well, the solution to my problem (having to redo hard button links whenever I was importing a new list) was staring me in the face all along, and is a tribute to Lyndel's prescience and/or the flexibility and power built into SNL. Instead of deleting the existing list before importing a new one, I discovered that one can just check the "Erase All Data From Affected Lists..." box in the second Import screen (where you assign column numbers to data fields). This appears to preserve all the settings from the previous list, including hard button links. I don't know why I didn't see this before (as it would probably have been obvious to anyone else had I only asked my question correctly). Duh.

OK, I'm on an SNL tear now, and I have a new request: in addition to selecting disks using the Letter-->Artist-->Disk hierarchy, I'd like to be able to use SNL so I can browse my collection, ordered by disk number. What I've been able to do so far is disable the Alphabet page, map disk numbers (padded with leading zeroes to get the sorting right) to Artist Name, map artist name to Disk Name, and map disk name to Track Name (the mapping is done by assigning column numbers when I import my .csv file). There are a couple of problems with this: first, since there's a 2-digit limitation on track numbers, I can't directly select a disk number >99; no big deal. Second (and a slightly bigger deal), although the first hierarchy level is nicely compressed on the screen (I use "No space betweeen items"), I can only fit 2, or at most 3, entries on a screen for the second hierarchy level (which shows disk number and the associated artist) and the third hierarchy level (which shows artist name and disk name). (I hope this is making sense.) So, here's my question: am I going about this all wrong? Is there a better way to accomplish what I want? Is there any way to fit more entries on a screen for the second and third hierarchy levels? Can pigs fly?

There is a Player Name and Player Short Name.

There is a Disc name and Disc number.

There is a graphical option that will display disc numbers on buttons and as part of doing this, uses the Player Short Name prepended to the Disc Number.

So, assuming 4 players A, B, C, D, you would have disc numbers A001 - A400, B001-B400, etc....

With regard to sorting by disc number, I don't believe that this is an option and I have no plans or desires to add such capability as SNL is primarily useful for Classic Prontos and via Importing, Pronto NG remotes natively in the CCF format.

Lyndel:

Thanks for the info on Player Short Name -- the docs say only that "The author has not identified any use for the 'Short Name' assigned to a player at the time of this writing." I have only a single player at present, but the info may be useful in the future.

I am aware of the design intent of SNL, as I've been using it on multiple 3000s for more than 6 years, and have benefitted greatly from your work (yes, I have donated) and the advice of others on this forum. I just thought that someone out there might have a clever idea on how to utilize the sorting and organizational power of SNL to satisfy an application for which it was never intended, namely to generate a Pronto-displayable and -navigable list of CDs sorted by disc number. This can be done manually, of course, but I am trying to configure something a bit more automated as my disc collection is growing and changing constantly. As my post indicates, I've made some progress on this, and what I have is workable, if not elegant. I was not requesting or suggesting any changes to SNL, as I know you've moved onto other things, but was hopeful that your deep insight into the program (or that of others on this Forum) might allow you to see a way past the limitations of my clumsy implementation.

Art

Art,

No problem. As you can see, at the time I wrote the docs, I was not aware of what in the world it was used for, then I saw a config from Peter Dewildt at the time that showed B124 and I asked him what in the world it was. He said 'B' was the Player Short Name.

After reviewing SNL and picking my brain, there is one way you could make this happen. You could have a custom list where the Disc SortAs Name is the disc number (0 filled). You could then set List Level to 'Discs' and make this happen. Of course, you'd likely want a separate list and this would require a separate CSV file (with a Disc SortAs column), but I believe it will work.

Lyndel:

Pretty good suggestion, but it doesn't quite do what I want, which is to also have an artist name level in addition to the disc name level (since there's not enough room to fit both on a line). But your suggestion did spur me to try some more, and I came up with something better than my last fumbling attempt. I map Padded_Disc_Number to Artist Name, Artist_Name to Disc Name, and Disc_Name to Track Name (underscored names refer to columns in the .csv file), then I choose Discs -> Tracks for List Level (it needs a Track Number field in order to get to the Track hierarchy level, so I just use a column of all 1's for this). The output ccf now contains only 2 levels, down from my previous 3, and looks much better. I'm still stuck with the same problem as before on my new second level: even if I choose "No space" for Breaks, I can only fit 2 entries on a page with "Full Width Buttons Only - 21 pixels" -- there's a lot of white space (it fits 3 entries with "SNL Classic...", but there's still some wasted white space if you ignore the round button, which I don't need). So here's a question: Is the screen formatting hard-coded, or will it try to pack in the maximum number of entries if I use override graphics? (I could answer this for myself if I went to the trouble of ginning up new, narrower graphics, but maybe you remember the answer off the top of your head.)

I had to laugh at your Short Name story. I, too, am constantly discovering new and wonderful things about SNL. I guess that shows how empty my life is. :-)

Art