Herbert: Change Log

Herbert, A Portable Audio Player Management Tool

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Feel free to email any comments, feature requests, problems etc, that you have with Herbert, the email address is herbert@steperry.co.uk

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Version 1.0

9th December 2006

  • Change to the way new tracks which haven't yet been added are stored (shouldn't be noticable to users).
  • Plugins must now also specify their version.
  • Plugin Manager UI changed slightly, and now includes plugin version.
  • Bug Fixes
    • Extra tracks integrity check now displays a warning message if tracks failed to be added.
    • Closing the integrity check window manually will no longer allow the check to continue in the background.
    • Cancelling the extra tracks integrity check will now stop the check much quicker.

Version 0.5.10 (RC4)

25th November 2006

  • Integrity check "Checking for extra files" progress bar is now slower to fill so it doesn't get to 100% too soon.
  • All icons moved from main project to PluginSystem
  • Bug Fixes
    • Integrity check crash during "Check All Tracks Exist" stage will no longer happen when there are no tracks on your MP3 player.
    • Other potential integrity check problems removed.

Version 0.5.9 (RC3)

16th November 2006

  • Bug reports now include all logging produced in that session.
  • Logging layout of exceptions changed slightly.
  • Bug Fixes
    • Potential fix for integrity check crashing problem.
    • HDD100/120: Disabling "long filenames" now works if there are no tracks with long filenames.

Version 0.5.8 (RC2)

14th November 2006

  • Bug Fix
    • Potential fix to the integrity check crashing problem.

Version 0.5.7 (RC1)

29th October 2006

  • New help system with completely rewritten help files.
  • Herbert now detects when the MP3 player is disconnected and prompts to reconnect or exit when possible.
  • Slight redesign of the "cannot find MP3 player" windows.
  • Add and Export windows now have suitable icons.
  • Only one instance of Herbert can be running at a time.
  • Added more access to Herbert for plugins.
  • New advanced option allowing Herbert to write logging out to file.
  • Bug Fixes
    • Herbert no longer crashes in a minority of cases after completing an integrity check.
    • The player selection screen when restoring an MP3 player no longer misses the end of the title text.
    • The player selection screen drop down list is now long enough to see all of the text in it.
    • When restoring a backup the track lists in the main window will not update until the end of the restore.
    • When an integrity check is cancelled, Herbert will no longer crash in some case, and will not show the results window.
    • When exiting Herbert and a failed save is aborted, Herbert will no longer continue with the exit process.
    • Fixed the default size of the playlists panel so that the main track list is not tiny.
    • Plugin menus will now be shown in the Plugins menu.
    • Plugin enabling/disabling now works.

Version 0.5.6 (Test)

23rd September 2006

  • Statistics window added (In the Tools menu).
  • Integrity checking rewritten and has new (easier to use) look.
  • HDD100/120: Extra integrity check stage to check firmware/equaliser etc.
  • When exporting/adding the main window now hides so that it does not get in the way of the desktop (since it can't be moved).
  • Plugins can now modify new tracks' fields when they are first created.
  • Bug Fixes
    • Fixed problem when reading an empty ID3v2 genre tag.

Version 0.5.5 (Test)

27th August 2006

  • Editing/Add/Exporting window changed.
    • Can add new tracks to multiple playlists.
    • Can view media information (duration, bitrate, etc).
    • Plugins specify what can be seen/edited.
  • Playlist sorting.
  • Playlist panel slightly redesigned including new buttons and track count for each playlist.
  • Can add tracks from one playlist to another from the right-click menu.
  • Track tree reordered.
  • Various new keyboard shortcuts.
  • All tracks are automatically shown on Herbert startup.
  • Herbert now remembers its position and layout between sessions.
  • Herbert's tag reading system has been partially rewritten and moved into its own package.
  • Playlists generated from adding folders now use the name of the deepest folder a file is in.
  • Processing of new tracks is now much quicker.
  • When adding tracks, if an invalid filename is selected, the changes are no longer lost when the user re-edits the filename.
  • On the add all new tracks to playlist option, there is now a button to use a new playlist.
  • Add to playlist toolbar button is now a proper drop down menu.
  • Bug fixes
    • Likely fix to the crashing when Herbert has problems with some tracks.
    • Ctrl-A now correctly selects all tracks in a list (sometimes used to then go to item beginning with "A")
    • Drag/Drop (once again) no longer freezes the window from where the files/folders were dragged.
    • When adding, filenames which are too long are now no longer accepted when the directory is changed at the same time.
    • When adding, changing the folder will now always start you off with the current folder, even when it doesn't exist.
    • Progress dialogs (e.g. saving) can no longer be closed using Alt-F4 if there is no close button.
    • HDD100/120: Albums/Artists/Genres/Titles which begin with a space will now have it removed otherwise the HDD will not show such tracks correctly.
    • HDD100/120: Some artists which used to show twice will now be correctly shown once on the HDD.
    • HDD060/65/70: Accented characters now have their accents stripped from titles/artists/albums/genres to prevent the HDD crashing.

Version 0.5.4 (Test)

21st July 2006

  • Changed player references from "HDD" to "MP3 player".
  • Added option for new tracks to have their artist and album fields changed so that "The" and "A" are moved to the end of the field, e.g. "The Killers" would become "Killers, The".
  • Bug fixes
    • Fixed a bug which caused Herbert to crash sometimes when tracks failed to add.
      NOTE: There is a second bug with the same symptoms which may or may not be fixed - please send the bug reports!
    • Fixed HDD060/65/70 bug which caused herbert to crash due to invalid database indices.
    • Fixed bug which caused Herbert to crash when the Backup Manager was opened when the backup folder did not exist.
    • Stopped Herbert crashing when tracks cannot be deleted.

Version 0.5.3 (Test)

30th June 2006

  • Bug fixes
    • Integrity check now correctly displays problematic tracks.
    • MSI/Medion plugin artist/album/genre index file saving corrected.
    • Herbert no longer crashes after failed adding of tracks in some situations

Version 0.5.2 (Test)

29th June 2006

  • Now uses installer.
  • Plugin system added.
  • New column system allowing columns to be shown or hidden.
  • Current portable audio player shown in the status bar.
  • Status bar re-arrange.
  • HDD Options now implemented by player plugin.
  • Bug window simplified.
  • Different players are now implemented using a plugin system.
  • Changes to the definition of players.
  • Main toolbar no longer attached to list of tracks.
  • Options system reorganised and partially rewritten.
  • Exception system now allows some exceptions to be ignored, and herbert to continue.
  • Bug fixes
    • Main program exception handling changed so that all exceptions are now correctly caught and reported.
    • Corrected temporary freeze of Herbert when a large number of tracks are selected/deselected.
    • Corrected track lists flickering upon addition/deletion of tracks.
    • Fixed some problems with reading track tags.
    • Fixed a number of (probably unnoticable) "memory leaks".

Version 0.5.0 (Test)

6th May 2006

  • Multiple audio players now supported (should be simple to add new players).
  • HDD060, HDD065, HDD070 compatibility added.
  • HDD100, HDD120 compatibility partially rewritten.
  • New backup system, mainly to increase speed. (Backups from v0.4 and earlier are no longer compatible)
  • Backup on exit option.
  • Tracks erased by HDD100/120 built-in menus are now automatically removed by Herbert. The corresponding option has been removed.
  • New "Website" item in the help menu.
  • Changed the HDD100/120 extended filenames warning.
  • Fixed problem with inaccurate track count in status bar.

Version 0.4.13

5th May 2006

  • Fixed problems with reading some ID3 v2.4 tags (from MP3 files). It caused Herbert to dismiss some MP3s as invalid audio files.

Version 0.4.12

5th May 2006

  • Corrected problems with trying to use non-numeric characters in the track number field of the Add window.
  • Edit window no longer tries to close after an incorrect field is found.

Version 0.4.11

3rd May 2006

  • Added a progress window when deleting tracks.
  • Lists of tracks no longer change during an add/delete (stops the list flickering effect).
  • Fixed more problems with some tracks not playing after being added with Herbert.
  • When cancelling an add operation, all added tracks are now shown afterwards (used to miss off the last one).
  • When adding tracks (not from folders) the "add to playlist" playlist now displays correctly.

Version 0.4.10

13th April 2006

  • Fixed problem where playlists with the '-' or '_' characters in their name would not load, as a result of the changes in v0.4.9.
  • Add windows will no longer keep appearing at the top left of the screen.
  • After drag/drop of files, window which was dragged from no longer freezes until add is complete.

Version 0.4.9

12th April 2006

  • A few changes to the warnings/etc shown when tracks won't add.
  • Default "Show Herbert Banner" option is now false.
  • Help files creation now automatically creates the required temp folder if it doesn't exist.
  • Fixed problem with checking for updates showing multiple responses.
  • Generated playlist names will now never have a '\' at the start.
  • Filenames and playlist names can no longer include '-' and '_' characters, as it causes a problem with firmware 6.6.
  • Adding of multiple folders now works with the creation of playlists using the folder names option.

Version 0.4.8

31st March 2006

  • Fix to some mp3s being unable to be added (to be specific, those without ID3v1 tags).

Version 0.4.7

29th March 2006

  • Fix to the problems with playing tracks from Herbert.

Version 0.4.6

25th March 2006

  • Changed default directory to save tracks to HDD to start with "Music\".
  • Maximum lengths for album/artist/title/genres decreased by one. Those tracks which used to use up the full amount sometimes would not play on the HDD. (Using this or a later version of Herbert will automatically fix this problem)
  • MP3 tracks with no MP3 header will now be correctly classed as invalid audio files.

Version 0.4.5

23rd March 2006

  • Files added to the HDD now have any accents removed accented characters in their filename. This should prevent such tracks from not playing on the HDD.

Version 0.4.4

20th March 2006

  • Renaming a playlist, now has the old name entered in the text box.
  • Small fix to problems some people have been having with the "play tracks" feature.

Version 0.4.3

17th March 2006

  • Adding an entire folder now has Desktop as root directory.
  • Export tracks option added to right-click menus (for artists, albums and genres).
  • Check box added for option to move instead of just copy exporting files.
  • Bug Fixes
    • Drive root is now an acceptable folder to add tracks from (used to throw an exception).
    • Deleting readonly tracks from the HDD, now succeeds.
    • Band/Orchestra tag is only used if Artist tag is not available.

Version 0.4.2

7th March 2006

  • Fixed saving of the HDD index files. This caused tracks details not to display, and an erratic scrollbar.
  • Automatic detection of HDD

Version 0.4.1

4th March 2006

  • Fixed the adding of genres to the "Classic" equaliser settings.

Version 0.4.0

2nd March 2006

  • Large redesign of options, maintenance, and general layout.
  • Right click menus in the track tree (e.g. delete/edit/rename artist/album/genre).
  • Added new columns (length and bitrate).
  • New file naming system.
  • Equaliser adjustment.
  • Searching for tracks.
  • New help section (using a standard windows help file)
  • Add Track "Processing" screen now has a progress bar showing details of how many tracks need to be read.
  • Add Track "Copying" screen now has an informative progress bar.
  • Storing of library and playlists' column ordering and widths (can be turned off in advanced options).
  • Storing of whether playlist panel is open (can be turned off in advanced options).
  • Storing of the sorting of columns, which can be enabled using options.
  • Ability to export/save directly to the desktop.
  • Bug Fixes
    • Copy From Tags buttons fixed.
    • In some circumstances clicking on the album/artist tree wouldn't show the appropriate tracks, this has been fixed.
    • Fixed the track length being read incorrectly with WMAs.

Version 0.3.7

14th February 2006

  • The "New playlist for each added folder" option is now correctly remembered between uses of Herbert.
  • Some track lengths for MP3s which use VBR were previously being misread, this has been corrected. Any problematic tracks will need to be readded. Note that these tracks will still play fine on the HDD.
  • Substantially speeded up the processing of files (before they are copied across to the HDD).

Version 0.3.6

25th January 2006

  • "Character Ordering Problem" corrected. Herbert used to put albums/artists etc in the wrong order in some cases where special characters were used. This has been completely fixed, and now produces the ordering identical to DMM.
  • Disappearing status bar problem fixed.

Version 0.3.5

24th January 2006

  • WMA track details reading bug fixed. Used to not read track details in correctly in some cases.
  • WMA track deleting bug fixed, as a direct result of the previous bug being fixed.

Version 0.3.4

20th January 2006

  • Reading of extended ASCII characters from MP3/WMA files fixed (Used to show up as a "?"). Big thanks to Troll for helping with this.
  • Fixed main icon problems

Version 0.3.3

18th January 2006

  • Automatic sending of bug reports from Herbert (just click the "send report" button).
  • Added update checking (in the help menu).
  • Updated About window
  • Added new graphics (thanks to James Bridgman at PBCreative.net)

Version 0.3.2

2nd December 2005

  • Added option to show free space on status bar in MB rather than as a percentage, also allow manual refresh of free space. (Right click on status bar for options).
  • Add to playlist menu now appears correctly when there are no existing playlists (used to move to top left of screen).

Version 0.3.1

28th November 2005

  • Ability to use Herbert without it running from the HDD itself.
  • New tracks can be automatically added to a specific playlist, either custom entered on the add dialog, or automatically by using the folder name of the new tracks.
  • HDD Available space added to the status bar.
  • Playlist updating now works different internally... should only be positive differences visible to the user (immediate updating on playlist change using events).
  • WMA Track Number fix (sometimes not being detected)
  • "Copy details from tag" button in the editing window, now correctly loads in the tags if they haven't already been read. (Used to cause strange side effects).
  • Playlist options screen corrected... wasn't actually setting the options.
  • Startup window, (if there are no HDD files, or if HDD files are corrupt) has been rewritten.
  • Herbert installation bug corrected: if the directory didn't already exist, an error would occur

Version 0.3.0

12th November 2005

  • Now uses Microsoft .NET Framework v2.0.
  • Firmware version detection.
  • Minor updates for .NET v2.0 compatibility.
  • Firmware installation confirmation screen corrected (OK button was sometimes hidden).
  • Flickering maintenance/option screens corrected.
  • Some of the minor font problems corrected.

Version 0.2.0

8th November 2005

  • Many ways to add new tracks:
    • "Add" - Track details editing before addition of tracks.
    • "Quick Add" (Not new).
    • "Add From Folder" - All tracks in a folder will be added.
    • "Quick Add From Folder" - All tracks from a folder will be added (in "Quick Add" mode).
    • Drag/Drop has been adjusted accordingly (to accept folders).
  • Tracks can now be played from the default media player (Will play on the default media player for m3u files only).
  • Added normal (i.e. non-quick) track export, which allows filenames to be set individually before copying.
  • Added ID3 and WMA tag integration, and new toolbar functions into the "editing" window.
  • Added "Genres" to the tree for selecting tracks. This is to mimic the HDD's built in menus, so you know exactly what will be listed under them.
  • Colour change and (visual only, i.e. icons etc) redesigning.
  • Toolbars updated.
  • Option to automatically add new tracks to a (user chosen) playlist.
  • Progress dialog when processing tracks for adding. (Used to seemingly freeze when adding a lot of tracks).
  • Track display ordering now works correctly again (reverses order when column header is clicked on again).
  • Options screen now correctly displays the sample filename for adding tracks to HDD (Some "special cases" used to display wrongly, i.e. where no subdirs are used).
  • After tracks have been added (and shown in the Audio Library), clicking on the album/artist which was previously selected will now function properly (and once again show the tracks from that album/artist rather than ignoring the mouse click).

Version 0.1.7

22nd September 2005

  • Editing multiple tracks' albums/artists/genres now works again.
  • Automatic Filename Generation: Colon's are now automatically removed from filenames. (Caused tracks not to play on HDD).
  • Tracks added to the root of the HDD should no longer not play on the HDD.

Version 0.1.6

27th August 2005

  • Integrity checking now searches for any extra music files on the HDD which are not in the HDD's database.
  • Drop-down boxes for track details editing (for album, genre and artist).
  • Transfer of tracks from HDD to PC.
  • Bug window updated.
  • It is now impossible to accidentally add AVI files (which would crash the HDD).
  • File names are now (once again) correctly generated.
  • Spaces are no longer included at the end of directory names (mainly to fix compatibility with other programs and make integrity checking work). Integrity checking also checks for such tracks which were previously added and corrects them.

Version 0.1.5

9th August 2005

  • Support for WMA files.
  • File renaming bug fix.
  • The " character is no longer used for automatic file naming, which used to crash the program on adding certain tracks.

Version 0.1.4

5th August 2005

  • Just the main file "Herbert.exe" is now needed, not the additional DLL files.
  • Information section has become Maintenance section.
  • Option to disable Herbert's "banner".
  • Removal of tracks also removes any empty folders they leave behind.
  • Renaming of tracks' files on the HDD.
  • Restoration/deletion of tracks removed by the HDD's built in menus.
  • Installation/Database Restoration updated.
  • Updated bug window.
  • No more missing/wrong version library errors (due to single file).
  • Duplicate tracks in the HDD's database no longer cause the program to crash.
  • Leaving context menus without clicking an option no longer freezes resizable parts of the window.
  • Tracks removed by using the HDD's built in menu will now be detected by Herbert, and not restored rendering them unplayable.
  • Herbert's settings file is no longer saved anywhere other than in the same folder as Herbert.exe.
  • Can no longer change the lengths of filenames used, if some tracks have filenames which are too long for the new setting.
  • Tracks can no longer be added if their filename is already in the HDD's database (when the corresponding file doesn't exist).
  • More checks for disconnected HDD.

Version 0.1.3

24th June 2005

  • Full playlist management.
    • Drag drop or menu driven addition of tracks to playlist.
    • Dragable reordering of playlists.
    • Playlist creation/renaming/deletion.
  • New options (playlist related).
  • Menus restructured.
  • Saving dialog added (so that Herbert doesn't seemingly pause whilst saving).
  • Upon adding, the artist detail for some tracks was not found, this should not be the case any more.

Version 0.1.2

29th May 2005

  • Drag and Drop adding.
  • Full backup management (creating, deleting, restoring, renaming).
  • Automatic filenames now never have a space at the start (HDD would not play these tracks).

Version 0.1.1

21st May 2005

  • Bug report screen when a serious error is encountered.
  • Website link from about screen.
  • Icon on about screen adjusted.
  • Updating of track count on status bar now works.
  • Changing of album/artist now successfully removes album from the artist's subtree.