SnackAmp v2.1 - January, 2003

Tom Wilkason tom.wilkason@cox.net

Introduction

SnackAmp is a music player that works well in a networked environment where thousands of music files may used. You simply organize the files by your own scheme within folders and have SnackAmp play them. You can also catalog removable media such as CDs with music files stored on them and mount them via SnackAmp. Multiple copies of SnackAmp running on different systems can share the same catalogs and music, great for group environments. SnackAmp allows you to either save/retrieve traditional play lists of individual songs, or save/retrieve auto-play lists that specify folders that contain songs you want to play. SnackAmp provides powerful file organization capabilities and ID3 tagging tools to help you manage your collection.

Installation

Downloading

SnackAmp is written in Tcl/Tk and uses the snack sound engine for playback. If you plan to use the script version, you will need both Tcl/Tk and snack for use. If you plan to play Ogg Vorbis files, download the Ogg/Vorbis library listed on the snack page. I have included the minimum snack libraries for Windows and Linux in the tar/zip bundles on the download page for you convenience.

There are also single file SnackAmp executables on the download page for Windows and Linux platforms which do not require a prior installation of Tcl/Tk or snack. If you use the single file executables, you may ignore the next installation step.

Script Installation - Unix/Linux

Un-tar the SnackAmp.gz (.tar) files into the lib folder under your existing Tcl/Tk 8.2 or later installation. The files will be untared into a snackAmp folder. I try to make sure these files are in Unix format, but if not run dos2unix on them after untaring. Mark snackAmp.tcl as executable (chmod) and run it either from the desktop or command line. You may have to adjust the first line to adjust the version of wish invoked depending on your installed version of Tcl/Tk. Make sure Tcl/Tk 8.2 or later and snack 2.x are installed first. Don't forget the snack ogg libraries if you want ogg vorbis support.

Script Installation - Windows

If you want to run the scripts under your installation of Tcl/Tk 8.2 or later, unzip the snackAmp.zip file unto the Tcl/Tk lib folder on your system. A snackAmp folder will be created to contain the files. Note you can install the files anywhere, it is however convention to install them under the Tcl/Tk lib folder. If the tcl file type is associated with wish, out can then click in the snackAmp.tcl file to launch it. The zip installation includes copies of the required snack files so which you can use instead of installing the snack distribution.

For any OS, you can also run the script version of snackAmp.tcl using Tclkit, which is very convenient.

First Time Use

Run the snackAmp.tcl script or the snackAmp.exe file and the player should come up. Initially you won’t have a default settings file, so you will be asked to set the Base Media folders to Catalog on the next window.  Please set this to the base folder where your media is stored. You can add additional folders later. If you don’t have a default Auto-playlist file (which you won't the very first time), you will be told one was created with all folders set to true, and asked if you would like to change them. You can answer either yes or no. The Auto-playlist can be changed later from the Auto-Play lists/Manage Auto-Play lists menu selection (or folder tree icon). The default Auto-Playlist is kept in a default.tafs file in your home directory. The selected auto-playlist file is retained between sessions.  You will also be given a chance to change other settings, which you can do later from the Settings menu if desired.

If you are using SnackAmp in a shared environment, you can copy the .snackAmpDefaults file into the same directory as snackAmp.tcl or snackAmp.exe and it will be used for the default settings for subsequent new users. This is useful in a shared environment to pre-set the media folders. During the catalog operation, a file called .snackAmpCache2 will be created in the base directory of each media folder tree containing a cached copy of all the music files found within.  This file is used to shorten the startup time on subsequent uses of SnackAmp. If other SnackAmp users share this folder, then they will also use this catalog file upon startup. Note: You will require write permission to the media folder to create this cache file.

The wrapped version of SnackAmp will extract a default hotkeys file to your home folder and use it, the tar'd/zipped versions contain a copy which you must copy over manually to your home folder.

On subsequent startups you will not be prompted for anything. SnackAmp will launch using the previous Playlist and position (if the Restore Prior Playlist option is enabled), or a freshly sorted/shuffled list of songs that match the default Auto-Playlist file. 

Upgrading from a prior version

SnackAmp can coexist or replace a prior version with no problems. The settings and other files are all compatible.

Uninstalling

Wrapped file

If you are using the SnackAmp wrapped file the following files should be removed to completely remove SnackAmp

Script Version

All Versions

All version of SnackAmp create and use the files below. You may remove these to completely uninstall SnackAmp.

SnackAmp Files

File/Folder Description (the bundles may have the version number embedded in them)
docs/readme.html This file
snackAmp.gz Gzipped file containing the entire SnackAmp distribution.
snackAmp.zip Zipped file containing the entire SnackAmp distribution.
snackAmp.exe SnackAmp wrapped Windows executable.
snackAmp SnackAmp wrapped Linux executable
   
Distribution Files Description
snackAmp.tcl SnackAmp main file.
snackAmphotKeys.tcl Example hot key configuration file allowing you to assign different hot key commands to play controls. Copy this and modify as necessary to your home .snackAmp folder (see location in next section). You may also specify a different version from the settings form.
docs/*.html readme file (this one) and user manual. Subdirectory images contains png & gif files used by user manual.
lib/*.tcl Packages used specifically for SnackAmp
mySnack/* Minimal Snack libSnack distribution need for SnackAmp . If you don’t have the full snack installed, this will satisfy the package require request. The ActiveState Tcl distribution now contains snack so these files aren't really necessary (Windows only).
myWinico/*

Winico package. If you don’t have winico otherwise installed, this will satisfy the package require request (Windows only).

Files Created and Used by SnackAmp

SnackAmp creates configuration and catalog files in your home directory within a .snackAmp folder under the folders discussed in the following table. This folder and the associated files are created automatically on first use of SnackAmp. All of the SnackAmp configuration, Playlist and Auto-playlist files will be stored here.

Operating System Location of .snackAmp folder
Unix/Linux Under your home directory, which is typically /usr/... or something similar. Entring cd ~/.snackAmp from a console will put in the SnackAmp folder.
WinNT/2K/XP The home folder is under your "Documents & Settings" personnel folder which is where windows stores your other profile related documents.
Win9x/WinME The env(HOME) folder setting within Tcl, which is typically the root folder of the volume windows in installed on

If you want to specify a different home folder for SnackAmp then you can create one somewhere and specify it by setting the SNACKAMPHOME environment variable to point to it, or running SnackAmp with a command line option -home folder, where folder is where you want to store the configuration files.

The files created by SnackAmp are described below.

File Description
.snackAmpDefaults Contains your default settings that is saved and restored between sessions.
.snackAmpPlayCache Cache of the Playlist when you exited SnackAmp. If the Restore Prior Playlist option is enabled, these files are restored in the proper order and at the last song being played when SnackAmp restarts.
*.tafs Auto-playlist files, named by you when they are saved. You may remove these manually if you no longer want the files contained in this media to show up in the Auto-playlist menu.
*.taf Playlist, one line per file. Named by you when they are saved. You may remove these manually if you no longer want the files contained in this media to show up in the Playlist menu.
*.rmc Removable Media Catalog files. One per removable media, named by you. You may remove these manually if you no longer want the files contained in this media to show up in the Auto-playlist tree.
.saDetails One of these files is created in each folder containing files when using the table list option in the Auto-playlist. This file is a cached copy of the details for each file contained in the folder.

Each media folder you select will also contain a .snackAmpCache2 file containing a list of all of the music files contained within that folder tree. This file is shared by all SnackAmp users that access this folder. You can enable the Monitor Catalogs for Changes option to have SnackAmp routinely check each of these files and read them in if they have changed. You can always perform a catalog operation which creates these files. Older .snackAmpCache files are not longer used and can be deleted if all users are at 1.2 or greater of SnackAmp.

SnackAmp Use

See user manual

General Notes

There are a number of different of user settings you can save for SnackAmp. This are set via the Settings/Other Settings… menu. Each has a balloon help that provides instructions for use.

Startup

If you need to use non-default settings folders, read the next two paragraphs.

SnackAmp puts its configuration file in a subfolder called .snackAmp within your "home" folder. On *nix, this is your default folder when you log in. However, on some non *nix systems (e.g. Windows 9x) you may not have a home folder specified which defaults to your root directory where windows is installed (e.g. c:\). If you want to specify a different home folder for SnackAmp then you can create one somewhere and specify it by setting the SNACKAMPHOME environment variable to it or running SnackAmp with a commad line option -home folder, where folder is where you want to store the configuration files.

On Windows, SnackAmp will first check your HOME (env variable HOME) folder for an existing installation, if it does not find one, it then checks your USERPROFILE location and if available it sets this up as your home folder. If USERPROFILE is not available, it uses the root folder of the drive SnackAmp is installed on (e.g. very old WIN 95 systems). See comments above about overriding this.

If you have any problems or suggestions please contact Tom Wilkason at tom.wilkason@cox.net.

Credits

To Do

You can always find the latest version at
http://sourceforge.net/projects/snackamp/