Contents
Version 2.5

Copyright © 1993. All Rights Reserved.

Startup Summary

   Introduction

   Installation

Concepts and Use

   Albums

   Animated Icon

   Command Line

   Invocation Tips

Action Summary

Main Menu

   Album

   Song

   Options

   Help

   System Menu

   Buttons

   Mouse

   Keyboard

   Track Bar

   Status Bar

Administravia

   Registration

   Licensing Agreement

   Other Free Software

Version Information

   Release Notes

   Revision History


Introduction

The Juker is a versatile MIDI jukebox. Songs can be queued to play at a sequential or random order. Songs queued can be saved in an album and played in later sessions. The Juker saves its settings and window location on exit to use them for the next session. It even saves the currently playing song, so you can pick up exactly where you left off when you start it again. The Juker can also play wave audio (WAV) files as well as MIDI (MID) files, though its main purpose is playing the latter.

Song progress is shown (and can be controlled) by a moving sound bar. Undesired songs can be removed from the queue and optionally deleted from disk. While a song is playing,  it can be stopped or paused and then resumed.

The Juker is meant to be unobtrusive, it can run all the time as an icon. The animated icon provides a pleasant visual feedback on the play progress. Song play can be paused and resumed simply by clicking the right mouse button on the icon. The name of the current song is shown in the icon's caption, so it's always visible.

When another session of the Juker is invoked while the first is still running, it merely restores and raises the first one, no new session is started.

See also: Albums, Animated Icon

Windows NT Compatibility

This program runs well under Windows NT 3.1 as a Win16 application. (Version tested: 2.2)


Unpack the distribution archive anywhere you like, then copy or move ctl3d.dll to Windows system directory (e.g. \windows\system) if it is not already there.


Albums

Albums provide a convenient way of grouping songs into various categories. For example, you might want to put all your classic music pieces in an album, jazz in another, ..etc. Or, if different people share the same machine, each might have his or her own album, which can be tailored according personal taste.

An album is simply a separate song queue. Earlier versions of the Juker allowed only for a single queue, which can be considered as supporting only a single album. An album can hold up to a thousand song. However, having that many songs may make loading such an album take a relatively lengthy amount of time on slow computers (especially if the Allow Duplicates option is disabled). It also defeats the propose of the albums (i.e. to organize related songs into logical groups).

When the program is invoked for the first time, is opens a default album. You can create a new album by making changes to this album (adding or removing songs from the queue) and then saving it under a name you like using Save As. When the program is started the next time, it automatically opens the album of the last session (unless an album is specified on the command line, see Command Line).

Unless you want to create a new album, you normally need not worry about saving albums. They are saved automatically on program exit and when a new album is opened (thus closing the current one). Automatic saving can be disabled, however, via the Auto Save Album option.

Albums are loaded by simply dragging an dropping them into the Juker's window or icon. The program is smart enough to know whether the dropped file is an album or a song. You can also load an album by selecting it from the Most Recent Albums list in the Album menu.

If you do not want to take advantage of albums, you can forget about all the above and use the Juker with just a single song queue. Albums will be transparent to you in this case, and you need not bother with them.


Animated Icon

Since the Juker is meant to be unobtrusive, it is designed to be run most of the time as an icon. When minimized, the essential functions of the program can be activated via the system menu or the right mouse button (see Mouse actions), and the song play progress is visually conveyed via an animated icon.

The icon has picture of a saxophone sinking in the ocean. The percentage song progress is indicated by the top of the saxophone. At the beginning of the song, the instrument is fully visible. As the song is played, however, the saxophone slowly sinks in the ocean, until it is completely immersed at the song end.


Command Line

The program accepts a single album file name at the command line. If such an album is specified at the command line, that album is loaded on startup instead of last session's or the default album. See Invocation Tips for more details.


Invocation Tips

Besides the usual way to starting the Juker (i.e. from the File Manager or Program Manager and then dragging an album if one different than last session's is desired), here are some ideas you might want to use:

•	Highlight any album (ALB) file in the File Manager. Select Associate from the File menu. Click Browse, and select the Juker's program file (juker.exe). Click OK. From now on you can start the Juker with your favorite album by simply double clicking on that album in the File Manager.

•	After doing the above, drag your frequently-used albums to a group in Program Manager. As you drop each album in the Program Manager, a new entry with the Juker's icon will be created. You can then start you favorite album by simply double-clicking on its icon in the Program Manager.


Album Menu

Open

Opens and loads an album from disk. A dialog appears from which an album can be selected.

Save

Saves the current album to disk.

Save As

Saves the current album under a possibly different name. Use it to create new albums by saving the currently loaded one under a different name. The user is prompted for confirmation if the an album by the same already exists. Albums must have the extension ALB. If the name given has no extension, the appropriate extension will be appended to the name

Clear

Removes all songs from the album. Stops song play.

Recent Albums

A list of the five most recently visited albums is shown. Any album in this list can be opened simply by selecting it from this list.

Exit

Terminates the program.


Song Menu

Add to Album

Adds songs to the album. A dialog appears from which multiple song files can be selected. An alternate (and easier) method of adding songs to the album is by dragging and dropping them to the Juker's window or icon, see Mouse Actions.

Play/Stop

Plays the current song from the beginning or stops it (toggle). In contrast to Pause, a song that is stopped cannot be resumed, it starts playing from the beginning if Play is selected. The current state of this toggle is indicated by a check mark.

Pause/Continue

Pauses the currently playing song, or resumes a paused song (toggle). The current state of this toggle is indicated by a check mark.

Stick/Unstick

Sticks to the current song: continuously plays the currently playing song until toggled back. This button is useful if during playing, a particular song appeals to you and you want to listen just to it for a while. The current state of this toggle is indicated by a check mark.

Circulate

Plays the next song, or the next randomly-selected song if Random Order is checked.

Remove

Removes the current song from the album, Plays the next song. If no songs are left in the album, playing is stopped.

Delete

Deletes the song file from disk. Prompts the user for confirmation if Confirm Deletion is enabled.

Move Up/Down

Moves the current song one position up or down the list in the album.


Options Menu

The status of every options is saved on exit and used in the next session, so there is no need to adjust it on every program invocation. The current state of each option is indicated by a check mark.

Continuous Loop

Continuous play. Loops to the first song when the last one in the queue finishes playing.

Random Order

Plays songs in random rather than sequential order. This also effectively yields continuous play.

Auto Save Album

Saves the current album on program exit or when another album is opened (e.g. by dragging it to the Juker's window or icon).

Allow Duplicates

If unchecked, songs that are already in the album will not be added again upon dropping them into the application or opening the album. Otherwise, duplicate songs will be allowed in the album. Uncheck this option if you want to make sure no duplicates are allowed in the queue. Note though that this setting is not retroactive, i.e. If you already have duplicates in the album, they will no be removed when this box is unchecked until you reopen the album.

Note: Disabling (unchecking) this option slows album loading considerably. It is recommended that you leave it enabled, and disable it only occasionally before loading an album when you have reason to suspect there might be duplicate songs in the album

Confirm Deletions

Prompts for confirmation for deleting disk file when Delete is invoked.


Help Menu
Self-explanatory.


System Menu

Pause/Continue

Equivalent to Pause/Continue in the Song menu. The current state of this toggle is indicated by a check mark.

Stick/Unstick

Equivalent to Stick/Unstick in the Song menu. The current state of this toggle is indicated by a check mark.

Circulate

Equivalent to Circulate in the Song menu.

Remove

Equivalent to Remove in the Song menu.

Delete

Equivalent to Delete in the Song menu.


Buttons

Play/Stop

Equivalent to Play/Stop in the Song menu. This button changes its title according to its current function.

Pause/Continue

Equivalent to Pause/Continue in the Song menu. This button changes its title according to its current function.

Stick/Unstick

Equivalent to Stick/Unstick in the Song menu. This button changes its title according to its current function.

Circulate

Equivalent to Circulate in the Song menu.

Add

Equivalent to Add to Album in the Song menu.

Remove

Equivalent to Remove in the Song menu.

Delete

Equivalent to Delete in the Song menu.

Up/Down

Equivalent to Up/Down in the Song menu.


Mouse Actions

Dragging and Dropping

Dragging a song (MIDI or WAV) file to the Juker's window or icon adds that song to the album queue. If the song is already in the album and Allow Duplicates is unchecked, the song will not be added. Dragging an album (ALB) file closes the currently opened album and opens the dropped album.

Note, however, that although it is perfectly fine to drop multiple songs into the queue simultaneously, you may not drop multiple albums, nor albums and songs together.

Left Button

Clicking the left mouse button on any song in the queue starts playing that song from its beginning. Selecting an album from the Most Recent Albums list in the Album Menuloads that album.

Right Button

Clicking the right mouse button on the Juker's icon or window surface (not on the buttons or the list box) is equivalent to selecting Pause/Continue from the Song menu.


Keyboard Actions

Tab

Switches between window groups and group members.

Arrow Keys

Switches between group members. For example, when in the queue list box group, switches between songs; when in the Play button group, switches between the three member buttons (Play/Stop, Pause/Continue, Stick/Unstick, and Circulate).


Track Bar

The track bar shows the current position in the song being played. This position can be changed by dragging the slider of the track bar. While dragging the slider, the destination position is shown (in seconds) in the status bar. The song can also be advanced or receded 1% by the end arrows, or 10% by clicking in the area between them. The keyboard can also be used.

Moving the slider in any fashion automatically resumes playing a paused or stopped song.


Status Bar

An informative status bar is displayed at the bottom of the window. It shows the following, respectively:

•	Name of the current song.

•	Name of the current album.

•	Order of the song in the queue.

•	Total number of songs in the queue.

•	Current time position in the song, which duplicates the information provided by the thumbnail.

•	Length of the current song in minutes.


Registration

This software is free. It needs no registration.


Licensing Agreement

Permission is granted to use and make an unlimited number of copies of this software. This program may not, however, be disassembled, decomposed, reverse engineered, or altered in any way, nor any of the other files in the package. This includes, but is not limited to, modifying any icons, menus, or displays associated with the software.

This software is provided for free and may not be sold. This restriction, however, does not apply to connect time charges, download fees, or reproduction charges. This software may not be bundled with any commercial package without the explicit written permission of the author.

The author of this program disclaims all warranties with regard to this software, including all implied warranties of merchantability and fitness. In no event shall the author be liable for any special, indirect, or consequential damages or any damages whatsoever resulting from loss of use, data, or profits, whether in an action of contract, negligence, or other tortuous action, arising out of or in connection with the use or performance of this software.


Free Windows Software Foundation

I recently switched from using Unix at home to using Windows and was appalled that everybody wants to make money of his/her programs -- however trivial it is. This is not good. If one pays for even the littlest of utilities, he would be tempted to charge money for the programs he writes, to recoup his losses, whilst the spread of free software encourages everybody to donate their own.

The FWSF is intended to promote free software. Any author of a free Windows program is entitled to join.


Other Software From the Author
Other Free Software

All3D

By Andreas Furrer: Adds 3D look to most applications.

Bang

By Rembrandt et. al.: Have fun as you fire a machine gun at your desktop.

Dropper

By Paul Butcher: A NeXT-like docking program launcher.

Fast File Find

By D. Munro: Searches for files.

PFE

By Alan Philips: A programmer's' editor. Good Notepad replacement.

Ftaskmanager

By Andreas Furrer: A replacement for Windows Task Manager.

Toolbar

By Juan Aguirregabiria: An excellent docking program launcher.

WinEKG

by Gary Williamson: CPU usage monitor, ala xload for Unix.


Release Notes
Note that the program now uses menus. Most of the less-used functions as well as all the setup options have been moved to the menus.


Revision History

Version 2.5

•	The program now uses menus. Most of the less-used functions as well as all the setup options have been moved to the menus.

•	Clicking the right mouse button on the window surface (not the buttons or the list box) now functions like it does on the icon (i.e. invokes Pause/Continue).

•	New functions: Open Album. For those who don't like opening albums by dragging and dropping them into the Juker's window or icon.

•	New functions: Add Song to Album. For those who don't like adding songs by dragging and dropping them into the Juker's window or icon.

•	Moved less frequently-used buttons to the menus.

•	Moved the setup area to the menus.

•	Removed the Most-Recent-Albums combo box and added an equivalent (and more standard) replacement to the Album menu.

Version 2.3

•	Added Up/Down buttons to move songs in the album.

•	Most Recent Albums now appear in an easily-accessible combo box so that they can be opened easily.

•	Changed the logic of the Play/Stop/Pause buttons to be easier.

•	Animated icon now behaves more correctly (smoother motion).

•	Album name is now displayed in the window and icon captions.

•	Now shows free memory and resources in the About dialog box.

•	Setup area now opens and closes to reduce clutter.

•	New setup check box: Allow Duplicates. Uncheck to prevent duplicate songs in albums.

•	New button layout

•	No longer gets stuck if a bad MIDI file is loaded (beats all other players, even Microsoft's!)

•	Now adds an extension to the file name in SaveAs if none is givem.

•	Now prompts in SaveAs if the album already exists.

•	Now shows an hourglass cursor when busy.

•	Popup error messages are now accompanied with a beep.

•	Tidied up the help file a bit.

•	The help file audio welcome message is now played correctly even if the current directory of the program is on another drive.

•	The slider of the Track Bar is now fully functional, and can be used to move back and forth in the song being played.

Version 2.1

•	Fixed a bug in Album*Save functin.

Version 2.0

•	Removed Size and Maximize from the system menu since they're not needed here.

•	Now the program itself paints the icon, instead of letting Windows do it. More flexible this way.

•	Added an animated icon that provides a good visual feedback of song progress.

•	Introduced albums. Now different song queues can be saved and retrieved at will.

•	Maximum number of songs saved in a queue (album) is now 1000 instead of 100.

•	Replaced Save Queue on Exit by Auto Save Album.

•	Added a survey to the archive. To be filled by interested users for feedback on the program and suggestions for improvement.

•	The program now accepts an album file name on the command line and will load it on startup if specified.

•	Beefed up the help file quite a bit. Even added a sound clip.

•	The program can now play WAV files as well.

Version 1.4

•	The program now uses a private initialization file (Juker.ini). Program information left in win.ini by a previous version will automatically be cleaned by the new version. Win.ini is no longer used by the Juker. Using a private initialization file is faster, reduces the clutter in win.ini, and is in accordance with Windows guidelines.

•	Fixed the keyboard interface, which was broken in the previous version. Also, all buttons are now accessible by the tab key. Much more intuitive this way.

•	Some appearance changes (frames around the windows).

•	Now saves and restores the stick state.

•	Added upgrade information dialog box, to alert the user to important release notes.

•	Fixed a bug in pause/resume that would cause the next song not to play if the current one has been paused then resumed.

•	The Juker's window no longer sizes, since it's not supposed to.

•	Added an informative status bar at the bottom of the window.

•	Added Circulate, both as a button and in the system menu.

Version 1.2

•	Window and icon captions are now in capitals. Easier to read when iconified.

•	The program now starts at the song it was playing on exit in the last session.

•	Clearing the queue or removing the last item now stops song play.

•	Added stick/unstick as a button and in the system menu.

•	Unified the play and pause buttons.

•	Full song name are now aligned as a table to make it easier to read the song name.

•	Cleaned up the keyboard interface (tabs and arrow keys) to make it easier to use the program with just the keyboard.

•	Now consumes virtually no CPU time.

Version 1.1

•	Second invocation of the program restores (if iconic) and raises first one. Does not start a new instance.

•	More object-like (check boxes, ..etc. are now implemented as objects).

•	Added help and activated the help button.

•	If Random Order is checked, the program plays a random first item when starting (if some songs are present in the queue).

•	Closing the program from the system menu now saves the profile.

•	Added Delete button (remove disk file) and Confirm Delete check box.

•	Added Remove and Delete to system menu.

•	New 3D look using ctl3d.dll.

•	Clicking the right mouse button on the icon now toggles pause/play.

•	Song names are shown differently in the queue so that the base name of the file is always visible, even if the full song path name is too long.

•	The program now remembers its position even if it closed while iconified.

•	Smaller window and fonts

•	Rearranged the placement of the buttons.

•	Now uses time as the sequence format.

•	Songs names are now displayed in lower case.

•	The sound thumbnail is now unresponsive to mouse events.

Version 1.0b

•	Initial release.