Introduction
============
Cantata is a GUI front-end for MPD. The code is forked from QtMPC. However,
both the code itself, and the GUI are now *very* different to QtMPC.
Dependencies
============
Cantata requires the following Qt libraries:
1. QtCore
2. QtGui
3. QtNetwork
4. QtXml
5. QtDBus (Only for Linux builds)
Cantata may also use the following optional libraries:
1. KDElibs4
2. QtWebKit - used for the artist/album information page. If QtWebKit is not
found, the page will not be built.
3. TagLib - used for the tag edit dialog, replaygain, track organizer, and
for UMS device support.
4. LibMTP - used to support MTP devices.
5. FFMPEG (libavcodec) - used by ReplayGain detection code.
6. SpeexDSP - used by ReplayGain detection code.
7. MPG123 - used by ReplayGain detection code.
Translations
============
Cantata started out as a KDE4 application, but as of v0.9.0 both the KDE
and Qt-only builds have the same functionality. Because of its KDE base, the
translation files are based upon KDE's i18n framework - these are located
within the 'po' folder.
Translations for Qt-only builds are created from the KDE translations using
'lconvert'. To work-around issues with plural translations, Qt builds will
contain extra strings to handle plural forms.
e.g.
KDE will have:
msgid "1 Track"
msgid_plural "%1 Tracks"
msgstr[0] ""
msgstr[1] ""
Qt will have:
msgid "1 Track"
msgstr ""
msgid "%1 Tracks"
msgstr ""
In the code, cantata will use "%1 Tracks" for any count other than 1. If the
language you are translating into has more plural forms (i.e. the above two
strings are not sufficient), then please translate both into the form
"Tracks: N" - e.g.
Qt will now have:
msgid "1 Track"
msgstr "Tracks: 1"
msgid "%1 Tracks"
msgstr "Tracks: %1"
Creating a new translation
--------------------------
To generate a new translation for Cantata, please just copy cantata.pot (in the
po folder) to whetever letter code your language uses (e.g. es.po for Spanish).
Then edit this new file to add the translations.
Please DO NOT use any tools to manully generate the translations from Cantata's
source code, as this will probably not work. This is due to Cantata using the
KDE framework for translations, and then generating the Qt-only ones from this.
In the po folder there is a script named generate.sh, this is what is used to
extract translateable strings, and update current translations.
Covers
======
When displaying covers, Cantata will load album covers in the following order:
...if MPD folder exists, is not specified as a http URL, and is readable, then
cantata will look for the following within the folder containing the song:
1. ${configuredName}.jpg - if set
2. ${configuredName}.png - if set
3. cover.jpg
4. cover.png
5. AlbumArt.jpg
6. AlbumArt.png
7. folder.jpg
8. folder.png
9. ${file}.jpg
10. ${file}.png
11. ${albumArtist} - ${album}.jpg
12. ${albumArtist} - ${album}.png
13. ${album}.jpg
14. ${album}.png
15. Image embedded within current songs tags.
16. ANY other jpg, or png
...then Cantata will check its cache folder (~/.cache/cantata/covers), for :
17. ${albumArtist}/${album}.jpg
18. ${albumArtist}/${album}.png
...if compiled for Linux
19. Matching Amarok cover
20. Matching Clementine cover
...if the MPD folder was specified as a http URL
21. ${url}/${dirFromFile}/cover.jpg
- or ${url}/${dirFromFile}/${configuredName}.jpg (if set)
22. ${url}/${dirFromFile}/cover.png
- or ${url}/${dirFromFile}/${configuredName}.png (if set)
...lastly
23. Query last.fm using ${albumArtist} and ${album}. Cantata will attempt to
download the image specified with the "extralarge" size.
Downloaded images will be saved as ${configuredName}.jpg/png (if set), or
cover.jpg/png, within the song folder if possible. If not, then they will be
saved in Cantata's cache folder.
For artist images:
...if MPD folder exists, is not specified as a http URL, and is readable, then
cantata will look for the following within the folder containing the song:
1. ${albumArtist}.jpg
2. ${albumArtist}.png
3. artist.jpg
4. artist.png
... the above will be repeated for each parent folder (until we reach the MPD
root folder)
...then Cantata will check its cache folder (~/.cache/cantata/covers), for :
5. ${albumArtist}.jpg
6. ${albumArtist}.png
...lastly
7. Query last.fm using ${albumArtist}. Cantata will attempt to download the
image specified with the "extralarge" size.
Downloaded images will be saved as artist.jpg/png, within the artist folder
if the folder heirarchy is 2 levels (artist/album/) and the user has write
permissions. If not, then they will be saved in Cantata's cache folder.
Amarok Radio Streams
====================
The script amarok2cantata.sh may be used to convert Amarok Radio plugins
into an XML file suitable to be imported into Cantata. The script is
VERY basic and REQUIRES the Amarok plugin to list its streams in 'main.js'
with the following syntax:
Station( "NAME", "URL")
Each station MUST be on its own line, and must be all on ONE line.
'script.spec' is used to ascertain the Amarok plugin name, for this the
script will look for the line starting with "Name="
Dynamic Helper Script - Local Mode
==================================
When a dynamic playlist is loaded in Cantata, the cantata-dynamic helper script
is executed in the background to do the actual song selection. In this way the
dynamic playlist can still function even when cantata is terminated. It is
possible for this script to be controlled on the command line (although it was
never written with this in mind).
The list of dynamic playlists may be obtained by looking in
~/.config/cantata/dynamic
To 'load' a dynamic playlist, all you need to do is symlink the desired one in
~/.config/cantata/dynamic to ~/.cache/cantata/dynamic/rules. Then you can start
the helper by calling '/usr/bin/cantata-dynamic start' (or first call
'/usr/bin/cantata-dynamic stop' to stop any current playlist).
To pass connection details, cantata-dynamic reads the same environment variables
as mpc - namely MPD_HOST and MPD_PORT
e.g. the following bash script (not tested!) will stop any current dynamic
playlist, load the 'MyPlaylist' playlist, and start this on the mpd at
'hostname:1234' with password 'pass'
# Stop current dynamic playlist
/usr/share/cantata/cantata-dynamic stop
# Clear the playqueue (this requires mpc)
MPD_HOST=pass@hostname MPD_PORT=1234 mpc clear
# 'Load' new playlist
if [ -f "$HOME/.cache/cantata/dynamic/rules" ] ; then
rm "$HOME/.cache/cantata/dynamic/rules"
fi
ln -s "$HOME/.config/cantata/dynamic/MyPlaylist.rules" "$HOME/.cache/cantata/dynamic/rules"
# Restart dynamic script
MPD_HOST=pass@hostname MPD_PORT=1234 /usr/share/cantata/cantata-dynamic start
Dynamic Helper - Server Mode
============================
In addition to the above, the helper script may be installed on the system
containing MPD, and run in 'server' mode. When run in this mode, it is intended
that the script be run system-wide and started when the system (or MPD) is
started. e.g. The script should be started as:
<prefix>/share/cantata/cantata-dynamic server <location of config file>
e.g.: /usr/share/cantata/cantata-dynamic server /etc/cantata-dynamic.conf
When run as described above, the script will automatically daemonize itself.
Cantata's 'Connection' settings page contains an entry to configure the port
which the dynamic script is listening on. If Cantata is configured in this
manner, then it will attempt to talk to the helper via its HTTP API, and will
not start/stop a per-user instance of the script. If the config is left blank,
then cantata will assume the script is to be run in local mode.
Configuration
-------------
The server mode has a simple ini-style configuration file, that has the
following parameters (shown here with the default values):
pidFile=/var/run/cantata-dynamic/pid
filesDir=/var/lib/mpd/dynamic
activeFile=/var/run/cantata-dynamic/rules
mpdHost=localhost
mpdPort=6600
mpdPassword=
httpPort=6601
httpControlPage=0
'pidFile' When started, the script will store its PID within the file
configured here. This is then used to detect if the script is running, etc.
'filesDir' This controls where the dyamic rules are stored. The user the script
is run as should have read/write permissions to this folder.
'activeFile' When a set of rule is made 'active', all cantata does is create a
symbolic link from the rules file to the file specified in 'activeFile'. Again,
the user the script is run as should have read/write permissions to this file.
'mpdHost', 'mpdPort', and 'mpdPassword' are the connection details of the MPD
server.
'httpPort' is the port to be opened by the script to allow it to be controlled.
'httpControlPage' If set to '1' then if you point a browser to
'http://<host>:<httpPort>' then the script will return a simple web-page
containing a list of the dynamic rules (which if clicked will become 'active'),
and a button to stop dynamic mode. Set to '0' to disable this page.
Installation
-------------
Within the dynamic/init folder are example configuration and init files. Copy
one of the example init scripts (or create a new one) to
/etc/init.d/cantata.dynamic - and create the appropriate links in /etc/rc?.d
NOTE: These example script assume cantata has been installed to /usr, and that
cantata-dynamic is in /usr/share/cantata/. If this is not the case, then these
will need to be edited.
Copy dynamic/init/cantata-dynamic.conf to /etc, and edit as appropriate.
API
---
This is a brief (and probably incomplete) explanation of the HTTP API.
Currently it is only used by Cantata.
GetStatus
Mode: HTTP GET
URL: http://host:port/status
Params: statusTime=${clientStatusTime}
Return: String containing
STATE:<current status>
RULES:<name of currently active rule>
TIME:<epoch time since started, or last rule modification>
<current status> may be:
IDLE - dynamic mode is not running
NO_SONGS - no songs matched current rules
HAVE_SONGS - dynamic mode running, and songs found
STARTING - dynamic mode is starting
The client should store the TIME value, and use it to determine whether
any rules have been changed since it last retrieved the list.
ListPlaylists:
Mode: HTTP GET
URL: http://host:port/list
Params: statusTime=${clientStatusTime}
Return: String containd list of current rules. if 'withDetails' is set to
'1' then the contents of the rules are also returned.
Example return:
FILENAME: Wibble.rules
Rule
Artist: Wibble
FILENAME: Heavy Metal.rules
Rule
Genre: Heavy Metal
GetPlaylist:
Mode: HTTP GET
URL: http://host:port/${playlist}
Params: statusTime=${clientStatusTime}
Return: Returns the contents of the specified 'playlist'. Or, a string
starting with 'ERROR:' in the case of failure.
DeletePlaylist:
Mode: HTTP DELETE
URL: http://host:port/${playlist}
Return:
SavePlaylist:
Mode: HTTP POST
URL: http://host:port/save
Params: name=${playlist} [Required]
BODY: Playlist content
Return:
SetActive:
Mode: HTTP POST
URL: http://host:port/setActive
Params: name=${playlist} [Required]
start={1/0} If set to '1' dynamic mode is also started.
ControlDynamizer:
Mode: HTTP POST
URL: http://host:port/control
Params: state={start/stop} [Required]
In order to detect whether the set of stored rules has changed, a client should
supply the 'statusTime' parameter with the value set to the last 'TIME' value
returned by a 'status' call. (If the client has no current value, use '1') The
script will then return the current statusTime, as well as the string
UPDATE_REQUIRED if the client should update its list of playlists (by calling
the 'ListPlaylists' API)
Credits
=======
Cantata contains code/icons from:
Amarok - amarok.kde.org (Transcoding, Cover fetching code in cover
dialog, Jamendo and Magnatune icons)
Clementine - www.clementine-player.org (Lyrics searches)
Quassel - quassel-irc.org (Qt-only keyboard short-cut config support)
Solid - solid.kde.org (Device detection for Qt-only builds)
Musique - Copied code for Gtk theme detection
Ayatana Qt - Overlay scrollbar code copied/modified from https://launchpad.net/ayatana-scrollbar-qt
Asunder - CDDB code
libkcddb - MusicBrainz code
libebur128 - https://github.com/jiixyj/libebur128 (Replay gain
calculation)
wikipedia icon - Social Media Mini by Paul Robert Lloyd License: Commons
licence: Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales
radio icon - Taken from WP Woothemes Ultimate (findicons.com)
licence: Freeware
Windows
=======
To compile for windows:
1. Install Qt, MinGW, cmake, TagLib. TagLib will probably need compiling.
2. Call cmake (e.g.):
cmake ../src -G "MinGW Makefiles" -DTAGLIB_INCLUDES=z:\taglib\include -DTAGLIB_LIBRARIES=z:\taglib\lib\libtag.dll.a -DTAGLIB_MP4_FOUND=1 -DTAGLIB_ASF_FOUND=1 -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=z:\zlib
3. make! :-)
This build is as per Qt-only, but does not have support for dbus, local dynamic
playlists, device support, or replaygain calculation.
To run you will also need Oxygen icons.
TagLib
------
Windows version of taglib was build from TagLib 1.8, using the following cmake command:
cmake .. -G "MinGW Makefiles" -DWITH_ASF=1 -DWITH_MP4=1 -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PRFIX=z:\taglib