Podbird reignited

[jezek]

@theare27 +1 hell of a hack...

the next stage should be to take all the sql queries and logic (file copying, conditions, ...) and make it work inside Podbird (qml should be able to handle all these), so there is no need to use cron & shell scripts. Qml is easy, if you are on the level of writing shell scripts & sql queries.

[theare27]

@jezek Can these app interact with stuff outside their own directories though?
Initially I didn't have the Rsync part, I just created a soft link between com.mikeasoft.podbird/podcasts/ and the Music folder, but the Music app couldn't read those files at all, it just dropped the entries from the track table

Whether it was because it couldn't follow a soft link or because the soft link went to another app's scope I'm not sure

I'm not sure what sort of containment UT touch apps have & how they can interact with each other on that kind of level

I'm sure there's big scope to improve on it

[jezek]

@theare27 Ah, now I understand. I read everything again few times and now I see my mistake. You are talking about 2 apps. Podbird and Music app. I thought you were doing the hack only for Podbird. My fault, sorry.

Can these app interact with stuff outside their own directories though?

I think, you can specify some special directories (Downloads, Music) in clickable apparmor config. For example see, how Music App defines permissions.
Interactions between apps should be handled via Content Hub.

Initially I didn't have the Rsync part, I just created a soft link between com.mikeasoft.podbird/podcasts/ and the Music folder, but the Music app couldn't read those files at all, it just dropped the entries from the track table

If symlink for directory fails, mount --bind can sometime save the days. But in this case expanding Podbird's access privileges should do the trick, I think.

[theare27]

@jezek Yeah, sorry if I wasn't clear - yes I'm talking about two apps

Levereging Podbird for what it does well: managing podcast subscriptions, file downloads & removal,but then handing the task of playback over to the Music app because that does a good job of playlist management & playback

And what I've come up with is a little integration script that just manages the hand off between the two, so that the stuff that Podbird downloads gets automatically pushed into a playlist in the Music app

Early days still, but so far it seems to be working alright. New episode downloaded by Podbird this morning & it pops into the Podcast playlist within a couple of minutes

Of course it'd be nice if Podbird could do it all, but with this setup I can manage & I'm a step closer in terms of making UT work for me as my primary daily driver

[theare27]

@danqo6 is there a tutorial on setting up then environment for combiling Podbrid, building .click packages etc that you're aware of?

Wouldn't mind having a go at experimenting with hacking on the code & building my own development version

[jezek]

@theare27 said in Podbird reignited:

@danqo6 is there a tutorial on setting up then environment for combiling Podbrid, building .click packages etc that you're aware of?

Using clickable for UT app development was the right way for me. There are many topics about app development in this forum.

[ImmyChan]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but haven't there been upstream changes to Podbird that aren't yet in the binary build on OpenStore? Maybe someone should build upstream and push it to upstream?

[CiberSheep]

@ImmyChan «Updated : April 14th 2020» from

https://open-store.io/app/com.mikeasoft.podbird

From launchpad:

https://bazaar.launchpad.net/~michael-sheldon/podbird/trunk/changes/204?start_revid=204

[geekvine]

@theare27 surely it might be simpler use content-hub and set the Music app as an external player, i'll have to look into it. i know sailfish os has this option.

[theare27]

@geekvine I know what I've done isn't ideal in any way - but it's let me work around things for now
The ideal would be for Podbird to be able to remember the queue, it's position within the episode and be able to resume playback on restart

Using Music App as a player is not without it's drawbacks, if I play any actual music now I lose my position in the podcast episode so my setup isn't ideal by far - it's just a bit more livable than where I was before

I don't think I have the skill to hack on Podbird, not in terms of the code itself but in building & debugging and knowing how it interacts with the OS, but if I could here would be my to-do list

1. Add a link to the "Now Playing" screen to the hamburger menu so that one can navigate back to that screen with ease
2. Either remove the code that clears the queue on exit, or, add a "Remember Queue on Exit" config flag and make that code conditional on that flag
3. Make sure that Podbird is now capable of remembering both the Queue and the position within the episode between sessions
4. Currently, when a new episode is tapped it wipes the Queue - add a dialog here to ask "Replace current queue and play this episode" or "Append episode to current queue and play"

Those changes put together I believe would eliminate my issues and then there wouldn't be a need to involve the Music App at all

[arubislander]

@theare27
Those are some.fine requests. If implemented, some would improve Podbird or a range of users.

@theare27 said in Podbird reignited:

4. Currently, when a new episode is tapped it wipes the Queue - add a dialog here to ask "Replace current queue and play this episode" or "Append episode to current queue and play"

This one though, I think a dialogue at every tap would quickly become annoying.
The Kodi Media player has a settings option where the user can set the default action to selecting audio as either being: play (which would be what Podbird does now) or add to queue (which is the proposed functionality).
Something similar could be added to Podbird. I feel that the trailing action, when you wipe to the left on an episode would then also need to change, based in the default. So when default is play, then the action should be queue as it is now. And when the default is add to queue, then the action should be play.

[theare27]

@arubislander that'd be fine too

[geekvine]

@theare27 all trivial and fixed on a personal build. Currently looking at the track position problem.

[theare27]

@geekvine Sounds fab
Happy to help with testing etc

[CiberSheep]

@theare27 said in Podbird reignited:

The ideal would be for Podbird to be able to remember the queue, it's position within the episode and be able to resume playback on restart

I agree this is the ideal: fix Podbird.

[geekvine]

anyone have a working email for Michael? The one i found just came back to me as no good (like 3 days later).

[Giiba]

Care to share the build for testing?

I'd be happy to poke about and test a bit.

[geekvine]

@Giiba there is a build in testing in the wild...but to amswer your question - soon (tm)

[domubpkm]

@geekvine Working, i don't know but not secret and found in UTTT :

[danqo6]

@geekvine He is on telegram too, as @MikeSheldon