How to Customize Foo Uie TrackInfo Mod for Better Track Display
1. Install and enable the plugin
- Download the Foo Uie TrackInfo Mod compatible with your player version (usually foobar2000).
- Place the DLL in your components folder and restart the player.
- Enable the component via Preferences → Components if required.
2. Choose the right UI element
- Use a dedicated panel (e.g., Columns UI, Default UI panel) that supports custom layout.
- Add a Text Display or Rich Presence element that accepts TrackInfo output.
3. Configure displayed fields
- Open the TrackInfo settings or the panel’s formatting dialog.
- Use these common fields:
- %title% — track title
- %artist% — main artist
- %album% — album name
- %tracknumber% — track number
- %length% — duration
- %genre% — genre
- %date% — year
- Combine fields with separators: %artist% — %title% (Album: %album%)
4. Use conditional formatting
- Show alternate text when a tag is empty:
- %title%|Unknown Title (example depends on UI syntax)
- Many layouts support \(if and \)strcmp functions; example for foobar2000:
- \(if2(%title%,Unknown Title)</li> </ul> </li> </ul> <h3>5. Improve readability with truncation and wrapping</h3> <ul> <li>Truncate long fields to avoid layout break: <ul> <li>foobar2000 example: \)cut(%title%,40)
- Enable word-wrapping in the text panel or use multiline fields.
6. Add visual cues
- Prefix with icons or Unicode symbols for quick scanning:
- ▶ %title% — shows currently playing
- ♫ %artist% — for artist lines
- Use color styling if your UI supports HTML/CSS or theme scripting.
7. Show playback state and progress
- Display play/pause using conditional tags:
- \(if(%is_playing%,▶,⏸) %title%</li> </ul> </li> <li>Add progress/time remaining: <ul> <li>%playback_time% / %length% (UI-dependent field names)</li> </ul> </li> </ul> <h3>8. Create compact vs expanded modes</h3> <ul> <li>Compact (single line): %artist% — %title%</li> <li>Expanded (multi-line with meta):<br> Line 1: %artist% — %title%<br> Line 2: Album: %album% • %date% • %genre%<br> Line 3: %tracknumber% • %length%</li> </ul> <h3>9. Use scripting for advanced needs</h3> <ul> <li>Use panel scripting (if supported) to: <ul> <li>Highlight favorite tracks (e.g., \)if($greater(%rating%,3),%title%,%title%))
- Auto-hide empty fields
- Format featured artists, e.g., detect “ft.” or “feat.”
10. Test across edge cases
- Check tracks missing tags, long names, non-Latin characters, and various encodings.
- Adjust truncation, fallback text, and encoding settings.
11. Save and export layouts
- Save your panel or theme configuration so you can restore or share it.
- Export layout files or formatting strings for reuse.
If you want, I can produce ready-to-paste formatting strings for foobar2000/Columns UI or an example layout for Compact and Expanded modes—tell me which UI you use.