Remote Playlist Editor and Voicetracking

[Radio-Albena]

Hi Roland,

Congratulations on the new release! That's quite an impressive list of improvements.

I particularly like the cue point and tag editor working without direct database access, as well as the careful approach to cleaning up orphaned library entries.

I'm currently developing OnAirHost, a hosted radio website platform that integrates with RadioBOSS, including support for older versions.

Since RemotePLE communicates directly with RadioBOSS, I'm curious about your experience with API compatibility.

Have you encountered any significant limitations or changes in the RadioBOSS API between older versions (around 5.9) and the current 7.2.x releases, particularly when retrieving playback information or adding tracks to the playlist?

Any insights would be appreciated.

Keep up the great work!

Best regards,
Raymond
Radio Albena / OnAirHost

 

[Radio-Albena]

Hi Roland,

I've downloaded and started testing the portable version of RemotePLE.

However, there's one thing I noticed immediately: the constant voice announcements are extremely annoying when using the program with a mouse and a normal screen.

Almost every mouse movement or selection triggers another spoken announcement. After just a few minutes, I found this very distracting.

I understand that these announcements are extremely useful for visually impaired users, and I fully appreciate the accessibility aspect.

However, for users who don't need voice assistance, there really should be a simple option to completely disable all voice announcements.

I couldn't find any obvious setting or mute option in the interface.

I think making speech output optional would significantly improve the usability of RemotePLE for a wider audience.

Best regards,
Raymond
Radio Albena

 

[Roland]

Hi Raymond,

thanks for trying it out and for the honest feedback!

The speech output can be switched off easily:

1. Press F10 to open the settings.
2. Go to the tab “Speech Guide”.
3. Uncheck “Activate speech guide on app start” and save.

From then on RemotePLE starts silently. If you only want to mute it temporarily, press Ctrl+M or click the green field in the top right corner of the
window (see screenshot). It turns red while muted, and the same click or Ctrl+M switches it back on.

Another option on the same tab is “Check mouse for movement”. It limits the announcements of what is under the mouse pointer to real mouse movements, which may already help if you only want to tone it down.

I’ll think about making this easier to find, for example by asking on the first start whether the speech guide should be on. Thanks for pointing it out!

Best regards,
Roland

 

[Roland]

Hi Raymond again,

thanks, and good luck with OnAirHost!

To be upfront: I developed and measured RemotePLE only against RadioBOSS 7.2.2 to 7.2.5, so I have no first-hand experience with 5.9. What I can tell you is what changed within the 7.2.x line and what bit me on the current versions. Some of it may help you judge older ones:

Playback information (playbackinfo)

• len, pos and playlistpos are empty attributes as soon as nothing is playing (relay active, end of list). Parsing them as integers throws; I read them with default values and skip a response whose nodes are missing altogether.
• The “next track” is where I saw the most change. NextTrack is cleared when “Stop after this track” is active, and 7.2.5 added a NextTrackPreview node (undocumented in the help file) that tells those cases apart. In idle state (state = end) it is unreliable, as it mirrors the track that just ended. Older versions simply don’t have the node.
• level and other decimals follow the decimal separator of the RadioBOSS machine (“-2,4” vs. “2.3”), so parse tolerantly.

Adding tracks (inserttrack)

• Encode every parameter value separately. A # or & in a file name or title otherwise cuts the request off, and RadioBOSS may then insert at the wrong position without an error.
• Current versions take streamingtitle literally into the stream. We had passed M3U-style text (“#EXTINF:39,Title”) and it showed up in the stream and in the broadcast log; earlier versions apparently ignored it. Send plain text only.
• Since 7.2.4 inserttrack has a type parameter (0 = regular, 1 = scheduled track).
• OK only means “request received”. I always read the list back afterwards instead of trusting the answer.

Other things that changed in 7.2.x

• readtag gained MixStart, Gender, Language and more in 7.2.4. The help file does not show them, so it’s worth measuring against a live instance.
• generalinfo (7.2.4) lists libraries, generator presets, scheduler presets and profiles. Before that there was no way to get these via the API.
• songrequestdelete is documented since 7.2.3.

What I’d recommend for older versions: don’t check the version number; check whether the node or attribute is in the response and behave as before if it is missing. That is how RemotePLE copes with a station on an older RadioBOSS and a studio on a newer one with the same build.

Best regards,
Roland

 

[Roland]

Hi Raymond,

thanks for trying it out and for the honest feedback!

The speech output can be switched off easily:

1. Press F10 to open the settings.
2. Go to the tab “Speech Guide”.
3. Uncheck “Activate speech guide on app start” and save.

From then on RemotePLE starts silently. If you only want to mute it temporarily, press Ctrl+M or click the green field in the top right corner of the
window (see screenshot). It turns red while muted, and the same click or Ctrl+M switches it back on.
View attachment 15816
Another option on the same tab is “Check mouse for movement”. It limits the announcements of what is under the mouse pointer to real mouse movements, which may already help if you only want to tone it down.

I’ll think about making this easier to find, for example by asking on the first start whether the speech guide should be on. Thanks for pointing it out!

Best regards,
Roland

Hi Raymond,

a small correction to my tip: on the “Speech Guide” tab there are two options. “Activate speech guide on app start” only mutes the speech, urgent messages and the “started” announcement are still spoken. If you want no speech at all, uncheck “Initialize speech guide on app start” instead (needs a restart of RemotePLE). Ctrl+M and the green field only apply to the mute (activate) option.

The settings can be opened with F10, or via the window menu: click the program icon at the left of the title bar (or press Alt+Space) and choose “Settings F10” at the bottom of that menu.

Best regards,
Roland