First of all, thank you so much for all those recent updates and improvements.
It would be really great if you could implement keyboard navigation on Plexamp desktop, like arrow keys to navigate grids and lists, enter to select or play items, etc. Maybe even let users define custom keyboard shortcuts.
Plexamp desktop is running on my server which is connected to my receiver and TV via HDMI. Controlling Plexamp or Caldera via iPad or iPhone is great, especially when the TV is off. I have a Flirc attached to the server and when the TV is on and Plexamp is on full screen it would be much nicer to be able to use the actual remote control instead.
This already exists to a degree but I’m assuming you are looking to move around the UI with a keyboard. I feel like Plexamp would need to be redesigned just for that like having it’s own HTPC app at that point, it would make more sense to port Caldera TV for Desktop or combine it with Caldera amp. Or just use the Plex HTPC app, personally i do use that for listening to Dolby atmos music since the codec is anyway available to play with video files while Plexamp is never really going to get support of it cause of licencing issues.
It’s working nicely so far with the Flirc. I noticed a couple of minor issues though (M1 macOS Sequoia).
After initially launching Plexamp, keyboard control does not work. No keystrokes are registered by the app until you mouse-click the application window. It doesn’t matter if Plexamp is full screen or windowed. It also makes no difference if you launch it via dock, spotlight or launchpad.
When using escape to go back, Plexamp goes out of full screen mode and loses focus, resulting in any subsequent key strokes not getting registered by the app until you reactivate the window by mouse-clicking it. This only happens when Plexamp is full screen, when windowed esc works as expected. Edit: It also happens when Plexamp is windowed, but the behavior is not as consistent as it is when the app is full screen. When windowed it just happens once in a while and I haven’t been able to see a logical pattern yet.
The alphabetical navigation on the right side of the artist or album page is not accessible using the arrow keys. It would be great if one could make use of it similar to how accessing the left side bar works.
In settings, items with a toggle button are not accessible with arrow keys.
Other than that it’s working smoothly and I can’t thank you enough for implementing this. It’s a massive improvement for those occasions when you want to have that media center experience while playing music.
What I’d love to see:
In addition to the general library shortcut it would be great to be able to define shortcuts to individual library categories like e.g. Artists or Albums.
An option to hide the mouse cursor when in full screen.
After further experimentation I can confirm: when Plexamp is initially started, no keystrokes are registered by the app until the window gets activated by a mouse click. Selecting “Always on top” in settings makes no difference.
Thanks, that was a really useful list. In 4.50.20-beta.24 the arrows work straight after launch without a click, Esc only takes over when there’s somewhere to go back to (so it stops knocking you out of full screen), and Backspace goes back too. Shift plus a letter jumps a grid to that letter, the letters down the side can be reached with the arrows, and settings switches work from the keyboard. Hiding the cursor and per-section shortcuts are on the list.
I also very much appreciate the letter jump feature. I already had my Flirc set up to use the remote’s number buttons as shift+letters, so this comes in handy.
After launch, Plexamp still initially receives no keystrokes until you mouse-click the application window.
ESC still kicks Plexamp out of full screen and un-focus it, resulting in all subsequent keystrokes not getting recognized by Plexamp until you mouse-click the application window. ESC actually successfully takes you back to a previous page and kicks the app out of full screen simultaneously. Edit: ESC brings you back until there’s nothing to go back to, and only then kicks Plexamp out of full screen (and out of focus).
Backspace to return works, but not for menus. When a menu is open and you hit backspace, instead of the menu getting closed you’re taken back to the previous screen (if there is one) with the menu remaining visible.
The letter jump feature works nicely.
Right side alphabetical navigation is accessible and navigable with arrow keys flawlessly.
Toggle switches in settings are accessible with arrow keys flawlessly.
Some minor general stuff I noticed:
Right side alphabetical navigation is only available on certain screens like Artists, Albums and Tracks. It is not present on Compilations or Soundtracks. This seems kind of inconsistent.
There are scroll bars on the sidebar (when font size is set to Mega) and on the right side of certain screens (Home, Soundtracks, Artist Genres, Settings). I think it would look a lot sleeker if they would auto-hide. But that’s just a personal preference.
Contrary to yesterday’s observations with beta.24 the ESC-key does work as long as there is something to go back to. But once you’re at the top level it still knocks Plexamp out of full screen and out of focus.
But actually, once backspace is fully functional including menus, there’s not really a necessity to fix this, and esc could as well be ditched altogether in favor of backspace.
In 4.50.20-beta.25 Backspace closes an open menu before it goes back, and Compilations and Soundtracks get the A-Z bar too. I also changed how the window gets focus at launch. That one was mostly aimed at Windows, so let me know if it still needs a click on your Mac. For Esc at the top level, Backspace is probably the better key for the remote.
It still needs a mouse click after launch to make keyboard control work.
Backspace works great now.
A-Z bar on Compilations and Soundtracks is great
Apparently, Compilations automatically use the same sorting as Albums (which in my case is “by album artist”). Since they all have “Various Artists” as album artist I didn’t see the A-Z bar there at first. I guess It would probably be better if individual sortings could be assigned to Albums and Compilations. Edit: I just saw that it’s the same on iPad and iPhone, so maybe you could change that there too.
Another thing I noticed is when you use arrows to go from the side bar to the main screen and then go back to the side bar, you don’t land where you started. Let’s say you’re in the side bar and select Artists, go right and navigate around on the Artists screen and then go back to the side bar, you don’t land on “Artists” but instead anywhere close to the vertical position you were on the main screen. It’s not a big deal I just found it a bit confusing.
Thanks a lot for all the latest fixes! Keyboard control on desktop is working like a charm now.
I just noticed that unlike on desktop where you can now assign individual sorting settings to Compilations and Albums, on iOS Compilations still use the same sorting as Albums and vice versa.
On macOS, when you launch Plexamp it correctly uses the window setting from the previous session. If it was full screen last time it’ll launch full screen again. But if there is already another application running in full screen when you launch Plexamp, it will attempt to start in full screen (if that was the last used setting) but will fail with an OS error sound, and instead of taking it’s own full screen space it’ll fall back to windowed mode. Not a big deal as this probably isn’t a particularly common scenario, just noticed it by chance and thought you might want to know.
Glad keyboard control is working now. The full screen one is fixed for the next beta: Plexamp waits until its window is on screen before going full screen, so another full screen app no longer gets in the way. The Compilations sort change went out in beta.26 and covers iOS as well, so that iPhone or iPad is probably on an older build. Once it updates, Compilations should open by title without touching the Albums sort.
There seems to be a bug with the iPad app. When you go to settings, then go to some other section (like Artists or any other section on the sidebar) and then go back to settings, the screen turns blank (apart from the sidebar and the playing-now-bar at the bottom). It doesn’t happen every time, so you might have to switch back and forth a couple of times to reproduce it. This does not happen on the iPhone, just the iPad.
BTW, very nice to have the sidebar on the iPad now, although I think it would be better if it would only be visible in landscape mode as real estate for grid views is a little low now in portrait mode. Or maybe have a button to hide or show it, like in Safari and Mail.
