Running Silverjuke multiple times w/network share...

[dj_ek]

I was wondering about how I could get Silverjuke to run (without errors) using multiple instances over a network share.

For instance, this is what I want to do - setup 4 or more computers connected to hub/switch, one computer will be the "server" and will have all the audio files and Silverjuke installed on it, the other PCs on the network will have a shortcut to the server over the network to Silverjuke and will run an instance of silverjuke over the network and access all the files off the server PC.

I have set it up already and it "works" fairly well, but it's quite finicky. I've been getting SQL errors and such. Sometimes it "loses" access to the library (not a network connection loss - silverjuke just loses track of the files) and I have to rebuild all the songs again - which takes about a minute or two for 1000+ songs.

Related to this was an issue about setting up the "settings" file and having it replicate on all the "client" machines. I remember reading somewhere on here that the settings for silverjuke were stored in the registry of the machine their running on. Does this mean that when I run silverjuke on the client machine, it's creating a settings file in the registry? Or is there some way I could create a "master .ini" file to hold all the settings and replicate them on all the clients?

I was reading a little about the "--instance" switch that you can use from command line, and I was thinking this might be a better way to run the multiple instances, but it gives me an error when opening silverjuke over the network (can't recall what it is, if you need it, I can post it later).

I think the most pertinent thing I want to be able to do is share the settings among all the machines. If I have to install silverjuke on all the machines it's not a huge deal, but if I decide to change something - the kiosk password, skin, etc. - it would be nice to have a quick way to replicate it on all the machines, whether it be automatic or having to replace a single file or something.

Any assistance you could provide would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

- Erik

[Service-Team]

Hello EK,

dj_ek wrote:
> I have set it up [Silverjuke client/server] already
> and it "works" fairly well, but it's quite finicky. [...]

Silverjuke's music library was never meant to be used from several instances/computers at the same time; it is a little wonder that it works at all. However, we will check, if we cannot make this an "official" feature.

> Related to this was an issue about setting up the
> "settings" file and having it replicate
> on all the "client" machines. I
> remember reading somewhere on here that the
> settings for silverjuke were stored in the
> registry of the machine their running on. Does
> this mean that when I run silverjuke on the
> client machine, it's creating a settings file in
> the registry?

Yes. However, you can use a .ini file instead, either with the command line parameter or just by creating a file named in Silverjuke's application directory. However, again, these .ini file are not meant to be used by different people -- while sharing the database should be possible (see above) this is not good idea for the .ini file as there are user-defined settings (imaging the volume...) saved in.

> Or is there some way I could
> create a "master .ini" file to hold all
> the settings and replicate them on all the
> clients?

You can use a mysettings.ini as a template and copy them to all clients (eg. using a script), but this will overwrite all user settings.

Currently we are working on some network support features - I can't give you any details at the moment, but I can tell you that in one of the next updates all paths to music sources will be saved directly in the database. This should making the need to share any .ini or registry settings obsolete

> I was reading a little about the
> "--instance" switch [...]

For you situation, --instance does (more or less) exactly the same than --ini. The instance command does the opposite of using a client/server system: It allows running multiple instances of Silverjuke on the same computer.

> I think the most pertinent thing I want to be able
> to do is share the settings among all the
> machines [...]

As mentioned above, some user-independent settings will go from the ini/registry to the database.

Erik, thank you for your ideas,
Best regards,
Your Silverjuke Team

[dj_ek]

So ok, if I created an ".ini" file with all the settings I wanted and put them on each of the computers and setup the program shortcut to run the .ini file on the individual computer, would that probably solve the problem of multiple computer accessing the same .ini file? I don't have the computers in front of me right now, so I can't test it, but I will this week.

Also, is the "root of the problem" in the fact that the Silverjuke library isn't meant to be shared? Or the settings file (.ini or registry)? Cause if so, this would fix the problem, right?

Thanks for hearing my ideas! I'm so amazed by your willingness to take in your users ideas, I really believe you've got an amazing piece of software here and these little tweaks make it all the better! Thanks!

- Erik

[Service-Team]

dj_ek wrote:
> So ok, if I created an ".ini" file with
> all the settings I wanted and put them on each of
> the computers and setup the program shortcut to
> run the .ini file on the individual computer,
> would that probably solve the problem of multiple
> computer accessing the same .ini file? I don't
> have the computers in front of me right now, so I
> can't test it, but I will this week.

Silverjuke writes lots of user-data to the ini-files (see my last post). However, if it is okay (or event wanted) for you that one user overwrites the settings of others, your approach should work.

> Also, is the "root of the problem" in
> the fact that the Silverjuke library isn't meant
> to be shared? Or the settings file (.ini or
> registry)? [...]

Yes - we will check out if sharing of the library will be supported officially in one of the next versions.

> Thanks for hearing my ideas! I'm so amazed by
> your willingness to take in your users ideas, I
> really believe you've got an amazing piece of
> software here and these little tweaks make it all
> the better! [...]

Thank you for your praise - ideas of our users are always welcome, and we are glad if we can support the one or the other feature requested.

Best regards,
Your Silverjuke Team

[dj_ek]

The biggest reason I want to keep the library on one machine is because I am constantly changing what CDs I want to have displayed on the kiosks, so being able to change just one folder and then just hit F5 on all the other to have them all display the same CDs/songs.

I think what I'll do for now is change the library of each one and just create my "master song" folder on the server machine and just copy and paste it (on the server) for each client machine. That way they'll all have the "same library" in different folders on the server.

It'll be kind of a quick and dirty fix, but it'll work for now and it'll take away all those SQL errors (I hope, right?).

I did try using the "exclude tracks" Music selection option for a while, but sometimes it lost all the information and I'd have to do it all over again (do you think this had anything to do with sharing the .ini file?). So I've just started creating a folder and putting all the albums in there I want displayed and making that my library.

Oh, by the way, creating the settings.ini file and replicating it on all the machines works wonderfully! I love it! Now all of my stations look and function the exact same and I don't have to configure them all separately! AWESOME!

Any other ideas/fixes you have would be awesome! Thanks!