Albert Santoni wrote:
> Hi guys,
>
> I'd like to schedule a Skype meeting sometime in the next two weeks to
> talk about Mixxx 1.8
Well, I'm afraid this post isn't going to make me popular, but I feel
kind of impelled to make my remarks, because I think Mixxx is a fine
product that has quite some potential (as of 1.6.1).

Looking at 1.7 Beta, I wonder if this version is really mature enough to
justify a beta release. Apart from bug fixes there are two major
features added: Scripting and the midi wizard.
- I didn't succeed in getting the scripting engine to do work. As a
regression from 1.6.1, my Hercules RMX doesn't work, and the js
functions just return nothing.
- The midi wizard is far from helpful, because it supports just a very
very basic set of controls, and doesn't understand their specific
attributes (it's not just about inverting a fader!).

While I can't tell what's wrong with the scripting, I have a distinctive
meaning about the midi learning function: it's a feature that was
implented on a base that doesn't provide the infrastructure to do so. A
quick look at
http://www.mixxx.org/wiki/doku.php/midi_controller_mapping_file_format#ui_midi_controls_and_names
shows what I mean: it's still undocumented which controls actually exist
and what they do, not to mention their specific attributes. A wizard
needs to know all of these, PLUS it must be maintainable so that any new
feature immediately shows up in the wizard.

Currently, the wizard does everything hardcoded, guaranteeing to be a
PITA for further maintenance. But before starting to code a wizard,
there needs to be some kind of control registering architecture, so
anybody coding according to hints at
http://www.mixxx.org/wiki/doku.php/adding_a_new_button_to_mixxx_s_interface
automatically provides all information needed by the wizard (and
potentially other instances) without poking around allover the code base.

In addition, I still don't really know where I can find the very latest
sources. Obviously, it is NOT trunk, as I'd assume. Code snippets seem
be be scattered around branches. That makes it quite hard to contribute
stuff, unless it's just some fixing oneliners.

Since IMHO 1.7 doesn't provide mature additional stuff, but currently
imposes some regressions, I'd propose to retract the 1.7 Beta, clean up
branches/trunk, and prepare a 1.6.2 version that has all fixes currently
announced for 1.7. Next, the control creation code should be refactored
using some kind of registering mechanism, which consecutively allows a
wizard to enumerate all controls with their properties. This approach
seems far more sensible to me than adding more and more half-brewn
features which are ultimately not maintainable. It's about creating the
infrastructure for future enhancements.

Please wait a second before starting flaming, I'm putting on my
fire-proof suit right now :-)

Regards,
Andreas

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