FirePlay Flash client for FireFly

[Bo Mellberg]

Hello all!

If you have followed the thread in the Feature Request section, you know that I've been working on a Flash based software client for accessing Firefly. It connects to your server and parses the DAAP-codes, builds the artist-, album- and song lists and provides the user with an interface for navigating the tree and a small control box.

It is still in an early alpha version (0.1), but fully capable of streaming your music to any Flash browser compatible, internet connected computer. I have tried it on both IE and FF.

A restriction (because of Flash) is that it is only capable of streaming mp3, so if you have music in other formats you have to transcode them on the fly to mp3-format.

[UPDATE 11/19/2007]

The code is now based on rsp and name has changed to FirePlay.

Here are three links with the files you need. Put them in your admin-root folder and point your browser to "http://www.yourserver.com:3689/FirePlay.html"

http://www.mellberg.org/FirePlay.zip

This link will always provide the latest version, until the code steps into open-source under Ron Pedde's wings.

Please use and abuse and report any problems.

[UPDATE 3/11/2010]

Code is now hosted on SourceForge. See my sig for the link.

/Bo

[law]

yeah work perfekt with my collection (16000 songs) nice!

this is really ah very nice feature!

[mas]

Yeah, congrats and thanks for donating the code.

It is about time to replace that old java code. This swf already works very nice and looks significantly better / more stable and should be a perfect candidate.

A few suggestions:

a) A search function would be nice. So far is browse and playback only.

b) It cant playback anything but mp3 (just as the java applet which also cannot do wav or ogg).

c) The default DAAP server addy:port should be configurable in the html (I at least didnt see an option) and it should default to the sever:port that the FlashDAAP.html is on.

[blamm]

Hi.

I would also suggest.

- Adding playlists
- Add "add to playlist" on right click of album, artist or track.
- Remove the stop button (it does the same as 'back')
- Make the play button a play/pause toggle.
- Changing the layout to what is probably most common in players.

- Controls (including search) at the top or bottom left.
- Playlists down the side
- Navigation panes across the middle (album, artist, track)
- Now playing at the bottom

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/toaster/layout.png

[fizze]

Holy moly thats an awesome feat!
I wub it already. And even on the slug its blazingly fast!

Whats the black magic there? Nothing I've seen browsed firefly that fast!

[rpedde]

Holy moly thats an awesome feat!
I wub it already. And even on the slug its blazingly fast!

Whats the black magic there? Nothing I've seen browsed firefly that fast!

Can you integrate it with the web interface? (port and address stuff as noted above). If so, I'd be happy to replace the java thing with it.

Have you (or will you) publish the source?

[blamm]

If it was part of Firefly could you transcode everything to MP3 for it?

[fizze]

Im sure it can be done, code-wise, but Im unsure if it would make sense in every situation.

On a slug for instance I definetly wouldn't want that. Transcoding for the FlashDAAP should be entirely optional, but configurable.

[blamm]

A local web based player like FlashDAAP with an option for transcoding all to MP3 would be the killer app for me.

[Bo Mellberg]

Hey all!

Glad you all like it!

I am sadly aware of Flash's incapabilities to play anything but mp3:s. It does play wav-files, but only if they are imported into the project. For dynamic material its restricted to mp3:s.

I have already tried to just put the application where it belongs (in the mt-daapd folder, alongside the old java-applet). There are some sandbox issues to consider, but I'm convinced it could be done. Offcourse it should autofill the server address with the server and port it resides on.

It would be very nice if Firefly would take some "transcode argument" when asking for the music data. That way it could serve the Flash code with mp3:s while still serving wav to the Soundbridge.

You should also be aware that even if the Flash application resides on the server, it is in fact run on the client computer. This means that all requests (for updating the lists) have to take place between the server and the client computer. The network speed between those two determine how fast the lists are populated.

Playlists is next on my todo - clearly. Not so sure about the layout though. If someone wants to provide graphics for this app I would be glad.

There is no black magic going on. I am just asking the server for info using the normal http-requests and populating some arrays in Flash.

I have never worked in an open source project before. How do you recon I go about it?

[Bo Mellberg]

OK, try putting all three files inside your admin-root folder and replace the swf with this:

http://www.mellberg.org/FlashDAAP.swf (right-click and save)

Access your Flash client with:

http://www.yourserver.com:3689/FlashDAAP.html

It autofills the server field. I removed the port field.

/Bo

[blamm]

That works a treat. Thanks.

Regarding the layout. I suggest you try and use the same style as the "hidden" playlist page and put your control panel at the top.

http://www.yourserver.com:3689/playlist.html

I will try and mock something up for you.

[blamm]

Just tried it on my son's Wii. Managed to display the Flash but it was flickering and wouldnt accept the Firefly URL. Would be extremely cool if we could get this working! Could be a Media centre on my TV! Maybe something to think about later.

[blamm]

Here is a mockup using the Firefly playlist page. http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/toaster/mockup.png

And here is what it would look like embedded in Firefly. http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/toaster/mockup2.png

[sansp00]

This is very iTunes like ... which is good, users have a sense of 'deja vu'
I'll try it at home as soon as a figure out how to update Firefly on my MediaVault.
Patrick S.