Map another subsonic

[sindre_mehus]

I've also tried to contact Sindre (~two weeks ago) using the sourceforge address but so far I didn't get an answer (at least I haven't seen a reply). Because of this I currently have to assume he's not interested in this search extension over multiple instances.

Hi there, and sorry for the late reply. It's not that I'm not interested, but simply that I've been swamped with work and kids lately.

Please let me know when you get the Subversion repo running, and I'll have a look.

Sindre

[mars96]

I think the possibility to search other subsonics that friends have running is indeed a great option and I don't think this is hard to implement.

On one hand you'll get all kind of different security issues, on the other hand it sounds pretty nice to have some kind of napster based on subsonic

You are correct about the security stuff, but that's basically the same if you can log into your current subsonic. Spring (and Subsonic) use the Acegi System and the login to the search is also handled this way.

It would be possible to use "http://user:pass@my.subsonic.xx/subsonic/search" but this is as unsecure as your default login page...if you are not using an SSL encryption.

You said napster based on subsonic...this can be done but currently we are only talking about the search! So you can search other subsonics friends have running. The download on the other hand is currently not part of this work.

[mars96]

I've also tried to contact Sindre (~two weeks ago) using the sourceforge address but so far I didn't get an answer (at least I haven't seen a reply). Because of this I currently have to assume he's not interested in this search extension over multiple instances.

Hi there, and sorry for the late reply. It's not that I'm not interested, but simply that I've been swamped with work and kids lately.

Please let me know when you get the Subversion repo running, and I'll have a look.

Sindre

Hi Sindre!

So you might be interested after you see the code? That's ok for me.
I have to deal with my diploma right now, so I'm also quite busy with other stuff. Hopefully I'll get a reply from the friend who wanted to test my latest code before I upload it to our SVN repository. Maybe this weekend there will be some updates on this topic.

[pampelmusenmann]

Another idea would be to export/import the complete file list as csv or xml of another server into your local DB + altering the DB with a field for the Server/Subsonic-URL.

[mars96]

Another idea would be to export/import the complete file list as csv or xml of another server into your local DB + altering the DB with a field for the Server/Subsonic-URL.

Yes, that's also an option.

Currently I'm not working on this addon, but I'll resume it once I finished my diploma thesis. I'm currently working on the implementation... and have to deal with lot's of technical problems Eclipse RCP <--> Hibernate/JPA.

[northbikerjr]

Just talking with my colleague today about this and we are sharing a server with friends here in Norway and would like to hook my home server, his home server and our friends home servers together. Instead of downloading and uploading to each other servers.

Thanks for the great job on subsonic as well Sindre.
Subsonic er Kjempe Bra!

[mars96]

Just a little update.
I finished my diploma thesis and only have to prepare for the presentation.
Shortly I'll update my current code so it will work with the latest subsonic release (subsonic v3.4).

Update:
I'm going to update the code directly for Subsonic v3.5 as the first Beta is already out. It doesn't make any sense to create patches for v3.4!
I'm restarting the work now (today).
Yesterday I had the final presentation of my final year project so I have now some time to spend on this and two other projects.
I'll update this thread with progress reports.

[mars96]

Ok, I finally was in the mood to apply the extended search to the latest Subsonic (v3.5b1).
The extended search is now fully completed...see UPDATE3 (next message)!

UPDATE1
First test version available which allows you to set up the extended search servers.

UPDATE2 - 2008-07-02
I'm now using Apache Commons HttpClient to send the search request to another subsonic instance.
So far the receiver JSP is missing but it's similar to the normal search only that it returns the results a little bit different.
The HttpClient is already used by Sindre to fetch Album information from the Internet,...) so I don't have to add additional libs to subsonic.
Once I completed the rest a new test version will be available.

[mars96]

UPDATE4 - 2009-02-06
It took a little bit longer then originally planned but the new version with the fully implemented and working extended search has been completed.
Please test this version (see download link below - you just have to replace the subsonic.war) and provide some feedback!
Thank you!

You can now download my extended Subsonic v3.60b2, v3.50 final and v3.50b1 from the following location. The extended search source code + some needed patches are also available there.
German page: http://www.juergen-ulbts.de/content/projects/webapps/webapps.de.html
Englisch page: http://www.juergen-ulbts.de/content/projects/webapps/webapps.en.html

You can toggle between german and english by clicking the flag in the top right of the page.



Introduction setting up the basic configuration:
At the Settings dialog you will find a on the right the Extended Search menu entry.
This is where you can add the url, user and password of subsonic instances of your friends. You can also allow or disallow for each entry that it can be used for administators of your subsonic or also normal users. This is a global option!


Additionally you can enable or disable the extended search per user.
To enable or disable the extended search for each user you have to select Settings and then Users.
Then select an existing user from the drop-down list or create a new user.
To enable the extended search for the selected user you have to check the checkbox called User is allowed to use the extended search.


This is the basic configuration!

How to call the extended search:
If you call the search (click the lens icon at the top right) with a user that is allowed to use the extended search you get to the search page which offers additional search options.
To the right of the normal button called Search you should see a button called Extended Search.
This will call each of the defined Extended Search servers you added and enabled in the Settings dialog.

The following screenshots show the search view.
The first image shows a successful extended search where two titles could be found. If there are multiple servers where something was found each of them is listed and they are seperated by a horizontal line.


This extended search didn't come up with search results.


As you can see at the first picture I print the URI of the server where the results have been found. Maybe I'll add another field to the extended search server configuration where it's possible to set an alias so the real URI is not revealed to the user. Any comments regarding this topic?

[mars96]

There have been several downloads of my modified subsonic 3.5b1 version but the people seem to be to lazy to post their comments.

As the search seems to work without any problems I'm now creating a package with the new source files and the patches I made to the old code to support the extended search feature.

It shouldn't be very hard to add a download option but I hope someone else will add this feature.

I have plenty of other projects and hope Sindre will include my code into the regular subsonic. I really don't want to patch each new subsonic version that will be released in the future to support the extended search feature.

[zeekay]

Wow, very cool. Will definitely check this out.

[chemosh]

Works great for me.

Just missing the option to download a file or even better the whole album...

[mars96]

I just updated the extended search patches for Subsonic 3.50 (final) as my code hasn't been integrated into the official source line. Don't know why.

As it's also missing in the 3.6 line of subsonic, so I also updated patch for the current 3.60b2 release.

Tomorrow I'll test both versions.
If the modifications pass my tests I'll make the *.diff file + source as well as a *.war package for subsonic 3.50 final and subsonic 3.60b2 available - as before!
The code will be once again send to Sindre and I hope this time it get's included into the main source line.


[Edit] Update the language file and updated the diffs. I wasn't able to test it yesterday but it's on my todo list for this evening.

[sindre_mehus]

Hi,

I guess there are three reasons why I haven't included this in the official release:

o I haven't had much time to look at it
o I think the number of users who need this functionality is fairly low. Subsonic is already quite complex, and all new features must be cost-effective in terms of implementation and ease-of-use.
o It's not very useful yet. You can't do anything with the extended search result.

Please don't interpret this as a disencouragement. I just don't feel that it's right to include it in the main baseline as the current state.

Thanks,
Sindre

[mars96]

Hi Sindre!

Hi,

I guess there are three reasons why I haven't included this in the official release:

o I haven't had much time to look at it
o I think the number of users who need this functionality is fairly low. Subsonic is already quite complex, and all new features must be cost-effective in terms of implementation and ease-of-use.

I don't know how common subsonic is used among groups of people.

Subsonic is complex but you documented it very good. I've seen a lot of sourcecode from other Open Source projects and your code is one of the best documented I've seen (otherwise it would have been harder to add this functionality).

Well the cost was my time adding this feature + creating patches since release 3.50b1 and it's easy to use.
The rest you have to decide.

As I said you'll get the updated patches and sourcecode (source unchanged since Aug. 2008) shortly after I completed the final test (most likely this evening).

Testing it is easy and might be interesting for other people:
Just copy the currenct subsonic sources to another directory extract my source archive in the root directory of you subsonic sourcecode.
Copy the *.diff there and apply the diff (using: patch -p0 -i <name_of_diff.diff>).
Finally running "mvn package" and there is the *.war file.
You should create a backup of the current HSQLDB database file as I add a new role and table for the extended search server configuration.
A readme.txt is include in the new package which is describing every step creating a modified subsonic with the extended search feature.


The database configuration is also my main concern when it commes to further updates when the source is not integrated into your code.
Thank god so far there was no update to the user roles otherwise there would be a little problem because the RoleId while updating from one subsonic version to the next.
Beside that the DaoHelper needs to be updated manually between the releases (in most cases).

o It's not very useful yet. You can't do anything with the extended search result.

Yes, you can't download the files directly but it's still very useful.

If several friends also run their subsonic you can search them directly while accessing your own subsonic and don't have to login on each of your friends subsonic.
Because of the missing "direct" download/stream option you then have to login at the other webservers.

The download link (the link was something encoded using the local file path if I recall correctly) could be added to the XML response but I'm not sure if that's all that is needed. The link is not for the Subsonic you are currently logged in but another one.
Will there be a popup asking for the login if you call the distant Subsonic with the encoded local file path?

For streaming this should be simmilar but I don't recall how this is handled as I haven't looked into the code since 6 month.

Please don't interpret this as a disencouragement. I just don't feel that it's right to include it in the main baseline as the current state.

Thanks,
Sindre

This basically comes down to: Add the direct download possibility and I'll add your code.