Helium Remote for ios Version 1.4 User Manual

Transcription

1 Helium Remote for ios Version 1.4 User Manual

2 Page Imploded Software AB V1.4

3 Contents Overview... 4 Features... 4 Set-Up... 5 Requirements... 5 Helium Music Manager Options... 5 Helium Remote Settings... 5 How to Use Helium Remote... 6 Usage Overview... 6 Now Playing Tab... 7 Controls... 7 Track Detail... 7 Lyrics... 7 Sub-Tracks... 8 Actions... 8 Play Queue Tab... 9 Common Views & Commands View Artist View Album View Tracks Choose Command Paging Control Search Tab Search Options Artist Info Tab More Tab Playlists Tab Favourite Tracks Tab Suggested Tracks Tab Smart Playlists Tab V Imploded Software AB Page 3

4 Overview Helium Remote is a client iphone/ipad/ipod Touch application that enables you to remotely control Helium Music Manager (Premium and Network versions only). This application is ideal if you want to control Helium Music Manager away from your PC. It uses the Wi-Fi connection to receive playing information and to send control commands to Helium Music Manager from anywhere in and around your home. You can therefore become a remote DJ and control music for your parties without having to be near to your PC. Helium Remote interacts with Helium Music Manager's inbuilt Web Service to control the playing of music tracks in the current Play Queue. It will not play any sound on the iphone device as the Helium Remote App is just functioning as a remote control. It enables the playback of Playlists, Searches, Suggested Tracks and User Favourites. Details of the currently playing track are shown; as is information about the playing track's artist. The application is currently available with English, Swedish and German translations. Features Easily control Helium Music Manager from your sofa Full support for Helium Music Manager s multi-user capability (Network Edition only) Play or Pause your music Select Next or Previous track Set rating and favourite status for the playing track Album artwork and details shown for the playing track Lyrics shown for the playing track Sub-tracks shown for the playing track Browse the Play Queue and play tracks Search Helium Music Manager's library for albums, artists, titles, genre, recording years, release years and publishers play or enqueue found tracks Browse Playlists / Smart Playlists and play them Browse Playlist / Smart Playlist contents and play or enqueue individual tracks Browse Suggested Tracks and play or enqueue them Browse Favourite Album, Artist and Tracks and play or enqueue them View selected track's album and play or enqueue track's album or individual album tracks View selected track's artist and play or enqueue artist's albums or individual album tracks Browse the playing artist s information Support for ios 4 - displays higher quality text, graphics and images on Retina displays Translations: English, Swedish and German No additional software to Helium Music Manager required on PC User manual available as a PDF Page Imploded Software AB V1.4

5 Set-Up Requirements This App requires Helium Music Manager (Premium or Network) version 8.0 or greater. It will NOT work with the free version of Helium Music Manager. Wi-Fi connection to the PC running Helium Music Manager. Runs on iphone OS 3.1 or greater (including ios 4). It is designed as a client iphone/ipod Touch Application and will also run on the ipad. Helium Music Manager Options 1. Open Options from Tools > Options menu. 2. Scroll to the bottom in the left list and select Helium Web Service (available under the Advanced header). 3. Setup the Port to use (default is 8080). 4. Click Start to start the server. Helium Remote Settings Before using Helium Remote you must configure its settings: 1. Open Settings on the iphone/ipad/ipod Touch device. 2. Select Helium Remote or Remote (depends on ios version). These settings configure the basic operation of Helium Remote and how it communicates with Helium Music Manager on the PC. 1. Set Disable Auto-Lock to "ON" if you want to prevent the screen saver from activating. 2. Enter the Address of the Windows PC running Helium Music Manager 8.0+ (e.g ) 3. Enter the Port number (as defined in Helium Music Manager - Options, see above). 4. If required, adjust Lost Timeout. This value specifies how soon a warning should be shown after Helium remote for ios loses connection to the Helium Music Manager server (default is 3 seconds). This allows for occasional lost connections to the server whilst playing back music. V Imploded Software AB Page 5

6 How to Use Helium Remote Usage Overview Helium Remote for ios V1.4 Start Helium Remote and it will connect to Helium Music Manager: If the address of the Windows PC running Helium Music Manager has not been set in Settings, an error message will be shown. If Helium Remote cannot make a connection to Helium Music Manager, then a Retry / Cancel message will be shown. If this happens: 1. Check that Helium Music Manager is running and that there are no network problems (e.g. check Wi-Fi is enabled). 2. Check that Helium Music Manager s Options (on the Windows PC) and Helium Remote s Settings on the iphone / ipad / ipod Touch are correctly defined (see Setup section above). On initial entry, Helium Remote will display the Now Playing view. If you are running ios 4 then Helium Remote can display the last view that was active. You can tab between the different views which are described in more detail in the following sections. Page Imploded Software AB V1.4

7 Now Playing Tab This tab is where you view and control the music being played. The music to be played is determined by the contents and order of the Play Queue. Controls The player has the following standard controls: Previous Track Play/Pause Next Track Volume slider Position slider. The elapsed time and time remaining for the track are shown either side of the position slider. Track Detail When a track is playing the following information is shown (if present): Album Cover Picture Artist Track Title Album Name Genre Release Year Rating Favourite If the view is rotated to landscape, the following additional information is shown (if present): Publisher Tapping the album cover will hide the track's information (in portrait orientation only); tapping the album cover again will reveal the track's information. Lyrics If lyrics are present in the playing track, an " i " icon is shown, positioned in the bottom right of the album cover (in portrait orientation only). Tapping this icon will reveal the track's lyrics which can then be scrolled; tapping the icon again will hide the track's lyrics. V Imploded Software AB Page 7

8 Sub-Tracks If sub-tracks are present in the playing track an " i " icon is shown, positioned in the bottom left of the album cover (in portrait orientation only). Tapping this icon will reveal the sub-tracks. The list of tracks can be scrolled up and down. You can tap a sub-track's play icon to start playing from the selected sub-track onwards. Tap the Close button to exit the view. Actions To the right of the Next Track player control is the Action icon. Tapping this icon will take you to the Actions View: You can set the track's rating (by dragging the star rating) and specify whether the track is a favourite - set ON or OFF. Tap Save to set the rating / favourite or Cancel to exit the view. Page Imploded Software AB V1.4

9 Play Queue Tab This tab lists the current contents of Helium Music Manager s play queue. The number of tracks in the play queue is shown at the top of the list. The list of tracks can be scrolled up and down. The Play Queue is used by Helium Music Manager to determine the music to play and in what order. A playing track is highlighted in pink and a selected (tapped) track is highlighted in blue. For each track in the list, the following information and control is shown: Artist Name Track Number & Name Album Name Duration Rating Favourite Play - tapping a track's play icon will start the selected track playing and at the end of the track, Helium Music Manager will continue playing the following tracks in the play queue. Beneath the list of tracks is the following set of action icons that can be tapped: On the left hand side (only enabled if a track is selected): View Album (See Common Views & Commands) View Artist (See Common Views & Commands) Dice - Shuffle the tracks in the Play Queue by tapping the dice icon. The currently playing track (if any) is moved to first in the Play Queue with the remainder shuffled. On the right hand side: Trash Can Tap Yes to clear the entire Play Queue or tap No to leave the Play Queue as is. V Imploded Software AB Page 9

10 Common Views & Commands Helium Remote has a number of common views and commands which can be invoked from several different views in the App: View Artist View Album View Tracks Choose Command Paging Control View Artist The first section of the view shows the artist summary: Artist Picture Artist Name Country Number of Tracks (by the Artist) Rating (Artist average rating) Favourite + - Tapping + will show the Choose Command dialogue (see Choose Command). The next section of the view shows the list of albums associated with the artist. The albums are grouped by generic type: Albums Singles Appearances Each album listed shows: Album Cover Picture Artist Name Album Name Release Year Rating (Album average rating) Favourite + - Tapping + will show the Choose Command dialogue (see Choose Command). Tapping and selecting the album will display the album details in the Album View Page Imploded Software AB V1.4

11 View Album The first section of the view shows the album summary: Album Cover Picture Album Name Artist Name Release Year Rating (Album average rating) Favourite + - Tapping + will show the Choose Command dialogue (see Choose Command). The next section of the view shows the list of tracks in the album. If the album is a multi-cd album then the tracks are grouped by CD in separate sections. The number of tracks in the CD is shown followed by the tracks. Each track shows: Artist Name Track Title Duration Rating Favourite + - Tapping + will show the Choose Command dialogue (see Choose Command). Beneath the list of tracks, the following action icon can be tapped: On the left hand side (only enabled if a track is selected): View Artist (See Common Views & Commands) Click Close to exit the view. V Imploded Software AB Page 11

12 View Tracks A list of tracks is shown together with the total number of tracks in the view. This list can be paged (see paging control). A playing track is highlighted in pink and a selected (tapped) track is highlighted in blue. For each track in the list, the following information is shown: Artist Name Track Name Album Name Release Year Rating Favourite + - Tapping + will show the Choose Command dialogue (see Choose Command). Beneath the list of tracks is the following set of action icons: On the left hand side (only enabled if a track is selected): View Album View Artist Tap top left hand button to return (button content depends on invoking view). Page Imploded Software AB V1.4

13 Choose Command This dialogue can be invoked from several different views in the App. Commands may or may not be available depending on the context in which the command dialogue is invoked. The available commands are: Play Commands The play command will stream and download any required tracks to the device if they are not already cached. o Play Artist All tracks belonging to the artist will be played. o Play Album All tracks in the selected album will be played. o Play Genre All tracks in the selected genre will be played o Play Playlist All tracks in the selected playlist will be played. o Play Smart Playlist All tracks in the selected smart playlist will be played. o Play Track(s) All selected tracks will be played. Enqueue Commands o Enqueue Next The selected tracks (e.g. from Artist, Album etc) will be added to the Play Queue after the currently active track in the Play Queue. o Enqueue Last The selected tracks (e.g. from Artist, Album etc) will be added to the end of the Play Queue. Tap Cancel to exit the dialogue V Imploded Software AB Page 13

14 Paging Control This control is used to split the listed entries into multiple pages. This is done to ease navigation and enhance performance of the App. The Paging controls are only shown if more than one page is present. If a list has paging control then the top of the list will have three action icons: Left Arrow - Tap to go back one page Right Arrow -Tap to go forward one page Page Selection -Tap this icon to display a list of pages in a scroll wheel. Select the required page and tap Done to show that page. Page Imploded Software AB V1.4

15 Search Tab This tab enables Helium Music Manager's library to be searched for tracks. Tap the search field to enter a search value and then tap Search to invoke Helium Music Manager's library search. A list of tracks matching the search criteria is returned. The list of tracks can be scrolled up and down. Tapping a track's play icon will enqueue and play the track. Tapping a track's enqueue icon will enqueue the track at the end of the Play Queue. At the bottom of the list of tracks is a set of action icons: See View Album and View Artist (the icons are enabled when a track is selected that is in Helium Music Manager's library) and also see Search Options below. Search Options Search options can be set by tapping the Options button. Search Type can be set to: All fields Album Artist Title Genre Recording Year Release Year Publisher Searches can be restricted by setting the Exact Matches option. Save the Search Options by tapping the Save button or Cancel to leave the Search Options at their previous values. Once saved, these options are remembered for subsequent uses of the App. V Imploded Software AB Page 15

16 Artist Info Tab This tab shows artist information (if available) for the current playing track. In the top right corner, a single-headed icon indicates a single artist, whilst a double-headed icon indicates a group/band. The following information is shown (if present): artist name artist picture born name (if single artist) country born/died (if single artist) or formed/disbanded (if group/band). The webpage for the artist (if present) can be clicked to link to the artist in the Safari web browser. Finally, if present, the artist biography is shown. Page Imploded Software AB V1.4

17 More Tab Tapping the More tab displays more "tabs" as follows: Playlists Favourite tracks Suggested tracks Smart Playlists Playlists Tab This view lists the Playlists in Helium Music Manager. A list of Playlists is shown. For each playlist in the list, the following information is shown: Playlist Name Playlist Rating + - Tapping + will show the Choose Command dialogue (See Common Views & Commands). Tapping a Playlist s entry will show the View Tracks view (See Common Views & Commands). Tap More to return. Favourite Tracks Tab This view lists the Favourite Tracks in Helium Music Manager. It uses the View Tracks view (See Common Views & Commands). Tap More to return. V Imploded Software AB Page 17

18 Suggested Tracks Tab Tapping the Suggested Tracks icon will display a list of tracks suggested by Helium Music Manager based on the current tack shown in the Now Playing tab. Tapping + will show the Choose Command dialogue (See Common Views & Commands). Tap More to return to the Play Queue. Smart Playlists Tab This view lists the Smart Playlists in Helium Music Manager. A list of Smart Playlists is shown. For each Smart Playlist in the list, the following information is shown: Smart Playlist Name + - Tapping + will show the Choose Command dialogue (See Common Views & Commands). Tapping a playlist s entry will show the View Tracks view (See Common Views & Commands). Tap More to return. Page Imploded Software AB V1.4