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<!-- @(#)to-do.html 1.4 16 Jun 1995 -->
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<title>WorkMan bugs and plans</title>
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<h1>Known problems and plans</h1>
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<li> <a href="#bugs">Known bugs</a>
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<li> <a href="#plans">Future plans</a>
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The PID file is mode 666.
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-ee shouldn't check for CD presence even once.
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Split doesn't continue to the next track in shuffle mode.
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WorkMan should handle errors in a more elegant way. Most of the time, if
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a system call fails unexpectedly, the program will print an error and exit.
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It should pop up a notice and let the user figure out what to do. (For
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example, the return value of save() is never examined.)
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WorkMan should grab info from the CD Info popup when it's unpinned.
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WorkMan shouldn't make assumptions about the sizes of characters in its
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font. Right now, digits are assumed to all be the same width, twice as
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wide as spaces and periods. That's true for the Sun-supplied XView fonts,
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but isn't very flexible.
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Volume control is kind of funky on the Toshiba 3401 -- unfortunately, it has
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a bizarre volume scale, much more sensitive on the low end than the high.
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But there are a couple things I can do to improve the situation.
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The -background option should silently set the OpenWindows.windowColor
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resource so it does what users expect; currently -background basically
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<h2><a name="plans">Plans</a></h2>
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Here are the major things people have asked for or I have thought of.
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The first section lists what you can expect to find in the next release;
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after that the entries are in no particular order.
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<h3>Planned for 1.4</h3>
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Digital audio over SCSI. This will initially be supported on Solaris only;
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in fact, Sun motivated me to do it by giving me a machine to work on! This
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will be the major feature of the next release -- it's a big enough nut to
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<h3>Planned for 1.5</h3>
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The build process needs to be a lot more automatic. For instance, there
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should really be just one Makefile for all the systems that don't use imake,
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and ideally there should be a script to configure and build everything
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Change default play mode in CD Info popup so it selects Normal or Shuffle,
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and also selects a playlist, with "All" as the default. Change the main
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window so you select normal/shuffle and a playlist -- that is, you can say,
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"Shuffle through just these few tracks."
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There should be an option to output the current track name to stdout when
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the program switches tracks. (Requested by C.C.Boucher@southampton.ac.uk)
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And other info, too, maybe with a printf-style format string. A similar
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option should determine which info is placed in the icon title.
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Support for near matches in the database file, as described in the FAQ.
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The buttons on the bottom of the main window shouldn't overlap when the
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The first WorkMan invoked on a device should be a master; subsequent ones
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should talk to it, rather than directly to the drive, and when it changes
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a setting (either on its own or because of a slave's request) it should
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notify all the slaves.
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<h3>Eventually...</h3>
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A way to read track titles from an external file so people who don't have
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the jewel box handy can read the titles from the CD while it's out of the
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A resource to turn on use of the SoundBlaster mixer on BSD/386 systems.
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There should be a workman.geometry resource.
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The track-selection popup menu should have a dismiss button. Or better
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still, playlists should be built with a less kludgy interface (maybe as
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simple as selecting tracks on the main window or the CD Info popup.)
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The default volume for unknown CDs should be settable on the command line.
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The database access functions should do the appropriate uid twiddling to
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allow the program to be run setuid root on systems that require root access
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to fiddle with the CD drive, or that (like Solaris 2.2) automatically start
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You should be able to default to shuffle mode for unknown CDs.
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The user should be able to attach arbitrary data to a CD or track. The
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simple stuff, like text fields (publisher, recording date, etc.) and
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larger pieces of text (liner notes) can be input and displayed internally
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by WorkMan. For more complex data (GIF pictures, music videos) the user
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will tell WorkMan the data type; WorkMan will have a separate database of
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display methods, so it will know "run 'xv' with the filename as an argument
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to display images of types X, Y, and Z". The user, naturally, will be
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able to add data types and display methods.
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Check for changes in the play mode or the current playlist (if a playlist is
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being used) as each track finishes. The user should be able to play half
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the disc in Normal mode, then switch to Shuffle and get the remaining tracks
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The HPUX version should use notify_set_input_func() to wait for a response
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from the drive; that way the program won't freeze up when there's no CD.
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Hidden/private sections. A user should be able to split a track but ask that
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the split not be saved to the main database.
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The program should be able to collapse to a tiny base frame with just the
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mode selector. Or better still, with whatever controls the user wants.
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Check the user's tty; if the idle time is more than X minutes, pause the
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CD (and stop it eventually as above.)
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Allow the main window to be resized.
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Show the total running time of a playlist as it's being built.
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Use gettext() for all labels and messages so the program can easily be
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Optionally display the current CD or artist name in window title bar, to save
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If the user changes the volume and there's a default volume, the program
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should interpret the change as a percentage volume change -- e.g. if the
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volume is cut in half, other tracks should play at half their default
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volumes. Perhaps this should be selectable from Goodies, as it might
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A "mute" tool or hot-key. This can already be built with the signal
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interface, so it's pretty low-priority.
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Optionally lose the track selection buttons in favor of a scrolling list.
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This will allow the window to remain a constant size no matter how many
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Optionally spawn off a background process when the user quits the tool; this
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process will continue playing the CD according to the playlist, stopping
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or ejecting the CD when it's done.
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You should be able to double-click on track title to select that track
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There needs to be a better indication of tracks played already and tracks
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remaining to play. A Possibility might be crossing out already-played
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tracks' buttons with Xs (which would mean replacing the button labels with
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dynamically-generated images.)
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We need a database broswing tool. This should probably be separate from
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WorkMan, though WorkMan might be able to invoke it.
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An interface to Radio Free Ethernet or even the MBONE would be neat.
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WorkMan should accept keyboard focus, and you should be able to hit keys
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to pause/play/stop/eject the CD.
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Holding down the mouse button to the left or right of the track-position
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slider should cause WorkMan to simulate the fast-forward and reverse modes
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found on standalone CD players.
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