I would like to say thank you to all the people who contributed their ideas, thoughts and bug reports during the pre-relase stage of mAirList 3.1.

More information:

• Overview of the major new features in this release
• Detailed upgrade instructions (posted along with the announcement of Beta 1)
• Download page for Pro Users
• Download page for Home Users
  

Download links:

• Professional Edition: http://www.mairlist.com/en/pro/download.php
• Community and Personal Edition: http://www.mairlist.com/en/home/download.php

Changelog:

Changes from Beta 1 to Beta 2

[+] Encoder: Item type filter for title update

[+] DB: Added playlist export functionality

[-] Event scheduler: Last execution time not recorded properly

[-] Container playback: next item doesn't start at fade out in automation mode

[-] Encoder title update sent even if logging is disabled

[*] NoLogging flag set automatically for Hook Containers

[-] Properties dialog: duration displayed in 12-hour format on English systems

[-] DB networked: PostgreSQL exceptions when dealing with large datasets

[*] DB: Improved performance when moving or deleting items

[-] Error when automation is activated while all players are in LOADING state

[-] "Load database playlist" etc. actions insert a dummy when playlist is

 empty and fixed time option is set

[-] DB: Error message when manually adding items (streams etc.) to a folder

Runtime configuration through mAirList Control Panel

mAirList 3.1 Control Panel

While the basic configuration is still to be performed through the built-in mAirListConfig utility, the new Control Panel gives you access to various configuration options at runtime from within the mAirList main menu. This includes configuration of the streaming encoder, remote control interfaces, logging, databases and notification scripts. All changes can either be made temporarily for the current session or can be saved to the configuration files permanently.

Improved Mini Scheduler

The new hour template editor with attribute and type filters

The Mini Scheduler, the built-in music scheduling function in mAirListDB, has been significally improved in this release. Most notably, it now supports artist and title separation, a feature that prevents a particular song (or artist) to be played more than once within a certain period of time. Furthermore, you can now add attribute and type constraints to hour template items – for example, you can force the first item of each hour to be a Jingle one or have the “Genre” attribute set to “Rock”. Attribute filters can contain variables for the current date and time. That makes it easy to pick the right jingles for each hour of the day. It is now also possible to mark an item as optional – optional items may be left out by the scheduler in order to fill the hour as exactly as it gets. Hour templates can now be imported and exported to XML files, which makes it very easy to duplicate or save templates for later use.

mAirListDB improvements

Besides the changes to Mini Scheduler outlined above, the mAirListDB backend has been improved in various ways:

• The complete database, as well as the content of a particular folder or search result, can be exported, for example for use with an external music scheduling software. mAirList currently supports export formats compatible with Powergold and MusicGen, as well as generic CSV output.
• 

  Importing playlists into the database

  Likewise, it is possible to import playlists created by external scheduling software. If the software creates playlists longer than expected (e.g. daily playlists – remember that mAirListDB uses hourly playlists instead), mAirList can split those playlists into hourly playlists. Again, Powergold and MusicGen files are supported, as well as any other playlist format understood by mAirList.

• Database playlists can now contain items which are not from the database library. That makes it possible to quickly schedule files on the fly without adding them to the database first. It’s also possible to customize database items on playlist level.
• In the networked setup, mAirList can keep a local cache of the next few playlists so that your automation will keep running even if the database is unavailable at the time the playlist is loaded.
• Also in the networked version of mAirListDB, it is now possible to use multiple user accounts with different security levels (admin, manager, DJ, studio, read-only) and thereby limit the read and write access to the database. mAirList uses PostgreSQL roles to implement this feature, so you can use any PostgreSQL user/role management software to manage the user accounts. As PostgreSQL supports various password authentication backends, including LDAP, it is also possible to connect mAirListDB user management to your existing authentication infrastructure (e.g. an Active Directory server).

The database schema is compatible to the one used by the latest version of mAirList 3.0, so it is possible to install and use both releases in parallel.

Encoder supports multiple connections, airchecks and VST plugins

A VST sound processing plugin in the encoder chain

The built-in streaming encoder has now support for multiple server connections. A particular connection can be swiched on and off at any time through the new Control Panel. Additionally, there’s a new connection type Aircheck that writes the encoded audio data to an MP3 or OggVorbis file rather than sending it to a streaming server. The encoder now also features a sound processing chain into which VST processing plugins can be inserted.

New REST-style remote interface

The SOAP interface for TCP/IP remoting has been replaced by a simpler, more lightweight REST-style HTTP interface. The new interface is running on port 9300 by default (just like the old one), and currently supports only a single operation: executing commands (just like the old one). It is however planned to extend this interface over time and allow (read and write) access to mAirList’s internal data and state, manipulation of the playlist, browsing through the database and much more. The operations will be grouped into several plugins which can be turned on our of as needed, in order to limit the functionality (and threats) to what you really need. The interface also supports password protection through HTTP basic authentication.

New Layout Designer

The improved Layout Designer

The Layout Designer has been significally improved in this release. In particular, it is now possible to move all GUI objects by drag&drop, and you can also manage your layouts more easily by using the new import and export functionality. If you don’t like your current layout, you can switch back to automatic layout mode with a single click.

Support for DHD RM4200 and Series 52

mAirList now includes remote control support for the popular DHD Audio RM4200D and Series 52 digital mixing consoles. The devices can be linked through a serial connection or TCP/IP, and you can freely assign actions for all GPIO commands received from the mixer, as well as sending GPIO status changes to the desk from mAirListScript or action lists.

mAirList 3.1 has several improvements over its predecessor, including better music scheduling, an improved streaming encoder with support for VST plugins, and a revised Layout Designer with drag-and-drop support that lets you create and manage custom layouts very easily.

Read more about the most prominent changes here. A complete list of changes can be found in the Changelog.

Upgrade Instructions

mAirList 3.1 installs into a separate folder and Start Menu group, so you can have both the old and the new version installed at the same time, which makes it very easy to test-drive the beta release and switch back to the stable v3.0 in case of any problems.

To transfer your settings from v3.0 to v3.1, follow these instructions:

1. If you’re a mAirListDB (local mode) user, make a backup of your database file (usually named database.db) first. The exact location can be looked up in the mAirListDB configuration dialog in mAirListConfig. If it’s inside the v3.0 Data Folder (see below), consider moving it to a different place first (remember to visit the configuration dialog and click Open existing database to tell mAirList the new location of the *.db file). mAirList 3.1 and 3.0 can share the same database file as long you have the latest update installed for either release.
2. Install mAirList 3.1 using any of the available setup packages.
3. From the old v3.0 Start Menu group, run the configuration app (mAirListConfig) and look up the Root Data Folder on the Advanced -> Data Folders page. Click Open in Explorer to see its contents.
4. Repeat step #3 for the v3.1 installation. You should now have two open Explorer windows, one showing the v3.0 Root Data Folder, the other showing the v3.1 Root Data Folder.
5. Make sure all mAirList and mAirListConfig windows are closed.
6. Copy all files from the v3.0 Root Data Folder to the v3.1 Root Data Folder.
7. Open the v3.1 mAirListConfig – your old settings should be there.

Remember that due to the changed and added functionality, some configuration settings might not be transferred correctly, so you should check all relevant settings before using the new release for production.

Roadmap and Feedback

In its current beta state, only bug fixes and minor improvements should be applied to mAirList 3.1. Major new features will be added to the next release (mAirList 3.2) which we will start to work on once v3.1 is released for production.

If you have any feedback, ideas, or found a bug, you are welcome to post to the mAirList forum. There are now additional areas for bug reports regarding mAirList 3.1 in both English and German.

[-] Player: Progress bar not updated when PFL is paused
[-] Mixdown: File extension not added automatically
[-] GDI leak when setting "ButtonSize=0" for a player in skin.ini
[-] Encoder does not work when there are no recording devices available
[+] Static text screen object: display properties can be changed through
 remote commands: BACKGROUNDCOLOR, FONTNAME, FONTSIZE, FONTSTYLE, FONTCOLOR
[-] Range Check Error related to cartwall when no configuration files present

Version 3.0.14 Build 681 (2010-03-22)

[-] Cartwall: Players set to 3x5 after running config app for the first time
[-] Encoder: Trailing blank characters in meta data
[-] Inconsistent default values for cartwall and player count
[*] SAS: Changed the order of "Player" and "GPI" tabs in config dialog
[-] DB: Delete templates remain in list until you close the dialog
[*] DB: Upgraded schema to version 13 for compatibility with mAirList 3.1
[-] Tilde character in file name ignored if Auto Cue is enabled
[-] Possible freeze when automation is engaged while a player is loading

Version 3.0.13 Build 676 (2010-02-10)

[-] Envelopes not processed in container playback and mixdown
[-] Fixed a dB value conversion error. Also affects Auto Cue, PLEASE CHECK
 IF YOUR CURRENT AUTO CUE THRESHOLDS ARE STILL OK FOR YOU.
[*] DB: Running mAirList instances detect newly added storages
[-] Made it optional that Cue Out is used to determine the fade length
 (default: off)
[+] Item type support for playlist skin
[*] Playlist: faster skin.ini processing
[*] A duration can be entered for Network File items for easier backtiming
[-] Container duration not displayed sometimes
[*] DB: Updated to schema version 12 for compatibility with v3.1 Build 703
[*] Notification Scripts: OnPlayerStart, OnPlayerStop, OnCartPlayerStart
 and OnCartPlayerStop have an extra Item parameter (this is because the
 item might have been unloaded from the player already when the Stop
 notifications are called)
[-] OTF database: Extra "box" characters displayed in database browser
[-] Extra regions added when importing regional containers from M3U
[+] Properties dialog: duration of each region display for regional containers
[-] Some Enabled Features options not processed correctly
[-] DB: Exception when editing a template referencing a deleted folder
[+] DB: Confirmation dialog when deleting a folder still used in a template
[+] Better support for playback of files which are still being written by
 another application
[-] Start/stop actions not executed for items in Regional Containers

This is the last feature update of the mAirList 3.0 release. New features will now go into the upcoming Version 3.1. A first beta release will be available within the next few days. Bug fixes will of course be applied to mAirList 3.0 as long as the new version is still in beta.

Change log:

Version 3.0.12 Build 664 (2009-12-15)

[-] File and folder open dialogs broken after loading desktop files (x64 only)
[-] Mixdown: Cue markers ignored
[-] Errors in envelope processing, switched to a different algorithm
[+] Playlist control bar: new option "Show NEXT button in assist mode".
 The button will start the next (loaded) player and fade out any
 other player, pretty much like the NEXT button in automation mode does.
 Make sure to have auto-load and auto-close on EOF enabled for all players.
[+] New remote command "PLAYLIST x NEXT" (= NEXT for assist mode)
[+] New "item type" field in Item Properties and Database Sync dialogs
[*] Item start/stop actions executed in background thread to prevent deadlocks
[-] System-wide PFL hotkeys not working
[*] Main window and cartwall: Changed the "monitor" setting to a more
 general "window position" setting. Removed "maximized" option which
 is now a part of the "window position" setting. With the "default"
 window position, mAirList will use position.ini to determine the
 position and size, or maximize the main window if that file is not
 present.
[*] In custom layout mode, the cartwall position is no longer read from
 layout.ini but managed through the "window position" settings, just
 like in auto layout mode
[*] Database and File Tagger windows remember size and position
[-] Items missing when playing a container multiple times from the same player
[-] When a playlist item is modified, the playlist might not be updated
[-] Players: Backtiming display not updated
[-] Cartwall: Cannot change time display mode
[-] Access Violation when trying to load broken BASS plugin
[*] When creating a hook container, the titles of the individual items are
 used as the title of the container.
[+] Auto Cue: Ability to specify a maximum distance between Fade Out and Cue Out
[-] DB: Possible error message "Application may be frozenz" during libray sync
[+] Playlist: Option to save event list automatically (to standard0.mle etc.)
[+] Main window: Ability to save default desktop template from main menu
[+] Config: new runtime feature "Save default desktop from main menu"
[+] Config: new page "Advanced -> Data Folders"
[-] DB (local) config: "Create new database" button doesn't work
[-] OggVorbis and FLAC file tags UTF8 data not decoded properly
[+] Browser: New option "auto update folder contents"
[*] Updated BASSmix to 2.4.3.0
[*] Updated BASSenc to 2.4.6.0
[*] Updated BASSASIO to 1.0.1.0

The Problem

Previous version of mAirList stored all configuration files in the “config” subfolder of the mAirList program directory, that is, usually in the folder C:\Program Files\mAirList 3.0\config. The same applied to some other files like the default local mAirListDB file database.db, the license file license.lic and the standard desktop template standard.mlt, which were stored in the same folder as the main executable, that is, in C:\Program Files\mAirList 3.0.

Although discouraged by Microsoft, this has worked pretty well on most systems, however, due to the new user management features of Vista and Windows 7, things have become a little more complicated. In particular, when the user does not have any write access in the Program Files folder (because he is not an administrator), he will not be able save the configuration. Windows detects this sort of problem, and it “solves” it by using a technique called virtualization: The files are “redirected” to a writable directory inside the user’s profile folder, namely C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files\mAirList 3.0. This has confused a lot of people (including myself), and it makes it even harder to locate your config files for manual editing, or save a standard.mlt file.

The Solution

The solution is actually pretty easy: mAirList will store its configuration (and database files and standard files) into a place that is intended for this purpose, the common application data folder:

C:\ProgramData\mAirList\3.0 (Vista and Windows 7) or
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\AppData\mAirList\3.0 (Windows 2000 and XP)

Why haven’t I done so in the first place? Because one of the key features of mAirList is that it doesn’t need to be “installed” but can be just copied into any folder, even on a USB stick to take with you. In that case, it’s not so good having the configuration stored in some system profile folder And actually, we need a trick to keep this sort of installation working…

Zip and Legacy Installations

If you didn’t use the installer to setup mAirList but downloaded the zip archive, you extracted it to some folder of your choice, and the configuration files will be in that folder, following the “old style” installation scheme outlined about. That is perfectly ok, because unlike Program Files, the folder you picked for extraction will of course be writable by you. So there is no need to change the way the config is stored in this case.

It’s not feasible to offer two different mAirList.exe files for download (one that uses the program folder, one that uses the common application data folder). Instead, we need a “dynamic” way to decide where the configuration is stored. And here is how it works:

• When mAirList is started, it checks if there is a “config” folder in the same folder as the mAirList.exe file.
• If there is, it will assume that this is an “old style” installation, and keep looking for config and standard files in the program directory.
• If there is no such folder, mAirList will assume that this is a “new style” installation, and look for configuration files in the common application data folder mentioned above.

The installer has been modified so it will not create a config folder inside the program folder but instead prepare the common application folder as needed; the zip download contains an empty config folder, so when you unzip and run that version, it will be an “old style” installation straight away.

Migrating Old Installations

If you installed mAirList 3.0 through the installer, the config directory is still in the program directory (or even in the virtualized store). Even when you upgrade to version 3.0.11 or newer, the config directory will not be touched, so your installation will continue to be an “old style” one. But it’s possible to convert your installation to a “new style” one following these steps:

1. Make sure that you have at least mAirList 3.0.11 installed.
2. Locate your current config directory, in particular, check the following places:
   • C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files\mAirList 3.0
   • C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files\mAirList
   • C:\Program Files\mAirList 3.0
   • C:\Program Files\mAirList

   Check the date and time of the current configuration files to confirm that you found the correct config folder. (When virtualization is active, there may be a config folder in Program Files which is not used at all.)

3. Move that config folder to a save place. Also move all of the following files, if existing, to that safe place: database.db, license.lic, defaultlicense.lic, standard.mlt, standard.mle, standard.mlc.
4. If your config folder was located in the virtual store, also delete the config folder from the C:\Program Files\mAirList (3.0) directory.
5. Start mAirList. It will complain that there is no license file and open License Manager. Close it again.
6. At the same time, mAirList has created the “new style” configuration directory for you:
   • C:\ProgramData\mAirList\3.0 (Vista and Windows 7) or
   • C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\AppData\mAirList\3.0 (Windows 2000 and XP)
7. Locate that folder in Windows Explorer, and copy the config folder and any other file you backed up into it.
8. If you moved your database.db file during this process, open mAirListConfig, go to the Databases page and edit your database connection, using the Button Open existing database file to point mAirList to the new location of your database file.

That’s it

Change log:

Version 3.0.11 Build 649 (2009-11-20)

[-] Database playlist browser: Wrong time when clicking "Next" on Sun 23:00
[-] Sporading error messages "BASS_Init: Error -1"
[*] Screen objects: Moved all configuraton related to the visual appearance
 of the screen objects (fonts, colors, etc.) from skin.ini into the
 main configuration (screenobjects.ini, managed through mAirListConfig)
[-] First browser cannot be renamed
[+] New style browser: Hints are displayed for minimized panes
[-] Stop actions and logging not performed for Silence items
[+] New set of actions for controlling the streaming encoder
 (connect, disconnect, enable/disable live feed, enable/disbale local output)
[+] Notification scripts: re-enabled OnTimer() procedure; enable with
 EnableTimer(interval in ms); disable with DisableTimer()
[+] DB: Items can be copied into multiple folders by holding the Ctrl key
 during drag & drop; remove item from folder by moving it into "Unsorted"
[+] Cartwall: Re-added support for adding pre-v2.2 .mlc files
[+] DB: Synchronization skips ".AppleDouble" directories
[*] PFL cue dialog: active cue value displayed in "h:nn:ss.v" format
[-] Cue points may be ignored when very close to the beginning of the item
[*] Improved draw algorithms to reduce CPU load on older systems
[-] DB: Access Violation when closing Synchronize dialog while scanning folders
[*] Improved Vista/Win7 compatibility: When no "config" folder is present
 in the program directory, mAirList will look for it in
 C:\ProgramData\mAirList\3.0 (on Vista an Windows 7) or
 C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\AppData\mAirList\3.0 (on 2000/XP).
 All "standard files" (e.g. standard.mlt) will also need to be placed
 into that folder than. Installers have been adjusted accordingly.
 Existing installations are not affected, but it is recommended to
 modify your installation to avoid problems with user permissions etc.
[-] Player config: Progress bar options not saved correctly
[+] ASIO: Ability to display control panel from ASIO Output config page
[-] Joystick configuration: No dropdown lists on "Button Released" page
[-] PFL Player tool window: drag&drop from directory browser doesn't work
[-] Minor fixes