[RadioMike]

This post would probably fit in a variety of widget forums - I chose Yahoo Widgets because most Dashboard widgets have been created with Konfabulator/Yahoo (I have and have used them all) and because I believe Konfabulator/Yahoo has the most potential for well-written widgets.

That said, I wanted to review the ITunes Dashboard widget-clones I've tried and attempt to rate them for aesthetics and functionality. Like many who cruise Aqua-Soft, I seem to consider the iTunes dashboard widget to be the "holy grail" of widgets. Any while I'm not a programmer, I've come to the conclusion that writing for the iTunes scripting interface must be particularly problematic. Here's an overview of the "best of the best".

YAHOO WIDGET ENGINE

In case the author prefers to remain anonymous for a variety of reasons I won't discuss, I won't name him (or her?) but there exists so far one well-written widget for the Yahoo Widget Engine. For lack of a better name I'll refer to it as ITUNESBETA3, based on its last release name. It's difficult to locate but a careful search in this forum will lead to a download link.

This widget is aesthetically excellent but in this iteration was left with the ability to choose a playlist or file incomplete. You have to rely too much on the iTunes app for control to make it truly useful. If the ability to choose a playlist were enabled, it probably would be that holy grail. Otherwise the progress slider is pretty sticky and is for all intents and purposes, non-functional.

The author knows who he or she is and I hope the work on this otherwise beautiful piece of work will be resumed at some point - it seems so close!!

AVEDESK

Avetunes with the appropriate skin of which are legion. Not my favorite but I know a lot of readers use it. The plus on this desklet is the ability to choose a playlist. The con is the aesthetics and functionality - it's pretty thin on both. No disrespect to Ave or Avedesk users. Avedesk is still one of the better engines for OSX desktop icon recreatiions, although DesktopX objects have finally become easy enough to create to have swayed me into using DX almost exclusively.

WinAmp/WMP Skins

I'll get these out of the way - They're not ITunes but the available skins are at least functionally excellent if you use either of these. WinAmp fans should check out "dashamp" and its mods at Deviatart.com. I'm a big fan of DivX/Xvid and have been using WinAmp as my player of choice. WinAmp also has a lot of other nice features that make it an extremely worthwhile media player. WMP - feh.

DesktopX

I'll get the first one out of the way first: It's the so-called ITunes widget included in the dashboard widget set authored by ~Laushaung for "Soph OS". I hate to refer to it as a "fake", but its not an iTunes controller but rather a controller for WMP. WMPuice.dll is apparently needed to make it fully functional but I confess I've never gotten it to work as it might have been intended.

This widget and the entire Soph OS dashboard widget set attests to the relative ease in which any non-programmer boob (like me) can make decent widgets/objects/gadgets with the DX builder. This set was created in probably about the same time as coders have been able to create a single widget in other engines. If you're looking for a a dashboard calendar clone, the very best is in this set. But I'd have prefered the "iTunes" widget not be presented as an iTunes controller - it isn't.

_MARTIN_

That's right, _Martin_. My hero. A DX guru from England who along with a fellow by the name of "frogboy" has created some of the most top-shelf DX widgets and objects for DX available. His page (do check it out) can be found at http://martin.wincustomize.com.

Martin's "iTunes Remote Module" suggests rather than mimics or recreates the iTunes Dashboard widget.

http://martin.wincustomize.com/Preview.asp...ets/itrm_ss.jpg

This widget is totally unique. It suggests the Dashboard Widget while providing incredible (as opposed to other clones) iTunes control. Album art, a graphic equalizer, and a lyrics display. Gorgeous and functional and my vote as the best of all available iTunes worlds. One small catch: You'll need to make sure that a playlist (any will do) is chosen within the iTunes app in order for the playlist chooser to function properly. If you're in the Library or Store, it doesn't work.

My vote? If work were to resume on the "ITunesbeta3" yahoo widget to the point of enabling the playlist chooser, it would probably be my widget of choice. But Martin's iTunes Remote Widget more than fills the bill. It's nearly flawless from a functional perspective. Dashboard purists might not like it for the same reason the AveTunes skin isn't quite "right".

By the way - bear in mind that you needn't purchase DesktopX - the freeware version will run (to the best of my knowledge) all of the available widgets and objects. The full version (a steal at $20.00) will allow you to create your own.

Well, that's it. And moderators, please feel free to move this post if you think it appropriate to do so.

Take care and thanks for taking the time in reading this rather self-serving post.

Mike

[Ghostwalker]

http://img425.images...playlist4qr.png

[RadioMike]

Aw man...that rocks!!! Bless you! I'm sure it'll be available when its...available.

[RadioMike]

Well - I have to amend this a bit...the DX iTunes Remote's progress slider doesn't work very well either - at least you can click on the iTunesbeta3 slider background and advance or rewind it.

Caveat Emptor...

[Sranshaft]

Quote

I'll get the first one out of the way first: It's the so-called ITunes widget included in the dashboard widget set authored by ~Laushaung for "Soph OS". I hate to refer to it as a "fake", but its not an iTunes controller but rather a controller for WMP. WMPuice.dll is apparently needed to make it fully functional but I confess I've never gotten it to work as it might have been intended.

This widget and the entire Soph OS dashboard widget set attests to the relative ease in which any non-programmer boob (like me) can make decent widgets/objects/gadgets with the DX builder. This set was created in probably about the same time as coders have been able to create a single widget in other engines. If you're looking for a a dashboard calendar clone, the very best is in this set. But I'd have prefered the "iTunes" widget not be presented as an iTunes controller - it isn't.

As the creator of SophOS and the Dashboard-clone widgets, I take issue with you refering to the iTunes clone as 'fake'. In fact, when used in SophOS it does exactly what the iTunes Dashboard widget does - that is it controls iTunes - along with WMP or the built-in player. So you see it actually does MORE than the original Dashboard widget.

I did this for several reasons but mostly because it gives the user more flexibilty when using the theme. Some don't use iTunes (myself included) and are perfectly happy using WMP.

To also say that it doesn't take time to create a widget using DesktopX is beyond absurdity. The SophOS theme itself took over a year (a little over 15 months to be exact) and that was one of the reasons why developement has been put on hiatus. While it's true it is easier to create widgets with DesktopX - the planning, the coding, creating of graphics and implementation of the widget is still an involved and time-consuming process taking roughly 3 days work to create a single widget.

I don't mean to rant and I thankyou for your comments regarding the Calendar clone - I just thought I'd clear a few things up.

[RadioMike]

I meant no disrepect to your work ( or any one elses) - I didn't see any documentation about the iTunes widget needing SophOS in order to control iTunes specifically, nor that as a standalone it would only control WMP until I read your reply to a thread here on Aqua-Soft. That said, I should have noted that you have made it quite clear it was intended for use within the SophOS desktop. Your widgets by the way are all well done.

It isn't absurd to suggest however that decent widgets can be created in DX in a short period of time - that was the intent and point of the post regarding DX. It would appear that many folks have spent a hell of a lot longer coding widgets in Konfab that don't look half as good or are nearly as functional as the one's you, Martin, and Frogboy have given the community. I'm obviously not part of the "I hate DesktopX" crowd. How many RSS readers do we need? But I'm certainly not done with Konfab/Yahoo - when the widgets are good, they're magnificent.

Therefore my apologies - no disrepect was intended. I might have moved past OSX desktop emulation but I still love the dashboard widgets. Believe me, if I had the talent you guys have I'd code my own.

Can the progress slider be moved off the widget when its running in SophOS? I noticed that when I was trying to advance a selection. What would it take to mod it to run iTunes in standalone mode?

[Sranshaft]

There was no disrespect taken - I just wanted to clear up a few things. Perhaps I read it wrong at the time and I apologize.. I have never coded a Konfabulator widget so I don't know the normal time it takes to make one.

You are correct though that it does seem easier to create widgets with DesktopX though there are problems that still plague this program as well. Absurb was the wrong word to use - I was refering to the time it took me to code the SophOS theme and there is a difference.

To answer your questions: it wouldn't be hard at all to change the standalone to control just iTunes. Maybe a day's worth of recoding and whatnot. If I have time I might get to that. As for the progress slider - it's not too hard.

Like I said, if I have time I'll do it. In fact, I have to add in iTunes to my Marquee program so I could just recycle the coding from that...stay tuned.