Winamp Backup Tool (v3.6.0 available, released on 30-07-2018)

[Koopa]

Thanks for your positive feedback.

Originally Posted by MrSinatra

i picked custom backup and it gave an odd dialog saying thats what i had done before proceeding. seems totally superfluous to me to do that, just one more unnecessary click, (i just clicked custom, i know thats what i picked).

You mean the popup messages, which confirm, what options you have selected?

If so, I can point to my posting above, these debug popups will be removed for final.

there is an extra "s" in the dialog descrip line for choosing "automatic"

Fixed, thanks. But as I said, grammar shit needs a general review for final.

i don't think i saw it ask where it was going to save anything, and so i don't know where it saved whatever it made. kind of a pain if i want to restore the profile to a different machine.

The user will be able to select the backup dir in future. It's on the todo list.
No promise, if it will be part of 1.0 Final.

And yeah, my bad, I haven't finished the license with proper description text, nor have I wrote any info in the forums thread, sorry.

i don't see in my start menu (vista ult 32bit sp2) how to start/run the tool again, its not a shortcut anywhere that i can see, (i looked in "winamp" first btw, where i think it should be).

I'm not sure if we should create shortcuts to start menu or desktop.
The program doesn't install anything and as soon as a user moves the standalone exe file, the shortcuts are dead.

My idea was it, once we made it command line friendly, someone could write a plugin, which can run the Tool automatically every x days. We could ship Backup Tool & Winamp plugin in an extra installer, which puts the stuff in Winamp's dir and then creates shortcuts on Desktop and start menu as well.

With command line support, we also could create a Windows task, which runs the tool in a user defined interval.

Things will come, give it time.

[MrSinatra]

i'm not trying to rush you, i just wanted to give you some feedback.

i'm still confused though, how do i run it again? do i have to run the downloaded setup/installer each time? i don't see shortcuts/listings anywhere. (i looked in winamp prefs too, if its in there i'm missing it)

or, are you saying the download itself is not an installer, but rather a fully self-contained standalone file? in that case, i understand then, i just didn't realize that at first. but i would suggest that most users would benefit from the download being an actual installer that places the standalone file in a sub folder of winamp or its own folder in pgm files, as well as provide a shortcut to it. afterall, thats no different than what winamp itself does, ...sure, the winamp exe could be moved messing up the shortcut, but that generally shouldn't and doesn't happen. plus, windows does search your disk if a shortcut is dead. i'd make part of the setup routine be asking if you want a start menu shortcut and a desktop shortcut, which many apps ask when installing.

i hope someone does make that plugin btw, such a "trigger" would really open up a lot of new possibilities for automating a lot of winamp type related things, starting with your backup tool. very exciting.

also, no criticism from me regarding finishing license text, i didn't say anything, (nor worry) about that.

just feedback, no rush from me. again, looks great.

[Koopa]

Your feedback is welcome.

And it was really my bad, that I haven't documented, were the files will be saved.

To stop confusing, lemme clear things a bit. The current file you've downloaded, is a standalone program, written in NSIS. Basically it's an installer on the other hand it's no 'real' installer, it won't install anything.

I may confused people, because of the use of NSIS.

And because of the fact, that's a standalone file and no installer, it doesn't create shortcuts.

If you want to run it again, simply run the exe file again.

But I agree, we really should 'install' that file in a Program folder and add shortcuts.You can expect a solution for 1.0 final.

[Koopa]

Winamp Backup Tool v1.0 Beta 2 available

Added tons of additional 3rd party plugins.

I've also written an installer for the Backup Tool, which installs the tool and has the ability to create Desktop/Startmenu entries.

Hopefully this makes more sense now and stops confusing people, hehe.

Again, this is still beta software!

Any feedback is welcome.

[MrSinatra]

seems to work flawlessly. interestingly, the backup of milkdrop takes longer than my ML files. i don't think i've ever altered those settings [for milkdrop]. i take it that the start menu shortcuts are mandatory? seems reasonable to me.

no confusion this go round.

[DJ Egg]

Originally Posted by MrSinatra

i take it that the start menu shortcuts are mandatory?

No. There's a "Don't create shortcuts" option/checkbox on that page.

[Koopa]

Don't understand the part with the mandatory shortcuts.

There is a checkbox at bottom 'Don't create shorcuts'

[Koopa]

MilkDrop saves all Presets, standard is about 200+ presets, so it takes a while.

Egg: Shall I move the Startmenu option to the components page? Maybe more simple, since the Desktop option is there too.

The only disadvantage is, that the user cannot change the Name of the startmenu folder (does anyone want such feature?)

[MrSinatra]

i guess i missed it, i just saw the checkbox for desktop shortcut. i suppose thats where i would've expected it.

[Koopa]

Winamp Backup Tool v1.0 Beta 3 available

I've spent a couple of hours and implemented a full working previous mode! The advantage is, if you don't want to backup/restore your skins or presets, the installer remembers this now.

That change required a lot of additional code and needs some testing, that's the main reason for Beta 3 release.

I've also added 2 more 3rd party plugins and made a couple of other tweaks, as you can see in the changlog.

Next beta will require a lot more time.

I hope some more people will test the tool in future.

[Koopa]

Winamp Backup Tool v1.0 Beta 4 available

The lack of feedback is really a shame. Don't fear the beta status. As you can see in the changlog, most things are new features and no bug reports.

Please test it, post feature requests, bugs or whatever.

If there's anybody out there interested in the tool, then gimme a 'Hell yeah'.

[evolution76]

When it backs ups.....were is the backup file (or files)......what folder does it goes in?

[Koopa]

Win2000/XP:

C:\Documents & settings\YourName\Application Data\Winamp_Backup

Vista/Win7:

C:\Users\YourName\AppData\Roaming\Winamp_Backup

I try to implement an info in the tool, where the backup folder is located. Also the user can in future choose, where he wants to save the backed up files.

[evolution76]

Cool, i found it. Been waiting to for a tool like this for winamp. It is a bitch to reinstalling all my skins and plugins. I notice it did not keep my winamp skins that are in zip files, or the ones are in folders. But it is cool.... I can not wait for the finally release....

[Koopa]

If Skins don't have the proper file extension, which is clearly .wsz for classic skins and .wal for modern skins, you should blame the skin author.

I'll add skins with .zip extension to 'Classic Skins' section, since it should affect classic skins in 90% of the cases.

Backing up skins in folders is a bigger problem. I cannot detect if an extracted skin is a modern skin or a classic skins, so it won't fit in any category.

Also backing up default 'Winamp Modern' and 'Bento' skins makes no sense, since Winamp's installer overwrites both completely on each install.

Not sure, how I'll handle this.

[DrO]

If Skins don't have the proper file extension, which is clearly .wsz for classic skins and .wal for modern skins, you should blame the skin author.

we should blame the lazy people/old dev team who allowed .zip loading when like you say it should be .wsz (though i've a feeling that .zip support came before .wsz was created in the player)

I cannot detect if an extracted skin is a modern skin or a classic skins, so it won't fit in any category.

just have to look for skins.xml in the folder and assume it's a modern skin if that is present. though that can be fooled at times and it may be better to produce a NSIS plug-in to correctly determine the type of a skin (based on the Skin Manager loader core maybe).

Also backing up default 'Winamp Modern' and 'Bento' skins makes no sense

i agree with this unless file dates were checked to see if they differed from a known date (say that of winamp.exe i think) to determine if files have been altered or not as i'm sure kN0tte wouldn't be too happy about losing his modified files if using this

-daz

[Koopa]

Originally Posted by DrO

i agree with this unless file dates were checked to see if they differed from a known date (say that of winamp.exe i think) to determine if files have been altered or not as i'm sure kN0tte wouldn't be too happy about losing his modified files if using this

-daz

Well, he will loose his custom tweaks anytime he upgrades Winamp. Same things happens for all people with rated MilkDrop presets. Winamp's installer overwrites them without mercy. In both cases Knotte and the MilkDrop preset rating guys should blame Winamp's installer - it has nothing to do with the Backup Tool.

Problematic will it be, if there were made some changes in Winamp.exe here and some changes in Bento there. User made a Backup of Bento, restored it a few weeks later and wonders that nothing works correctly, because Winamp.exe got some significant changes in a newer release, which requires an updated Bento skin.

Unless we have some fingerprint system or something like this, I will not backup the 2 default skins.

just have to look for skins.xml in the folder and assume it's a modern skin if that is present. though that can be fooled at times and it may be better to produce a NSIS plug-in to correctly determine the type of a skin (based on the Skin Manager loader core maybe).

Leave me alone.

[DrO]

Originally Posted by Koopa

Leave me alone.

never

the point about the skins is good & i'm glad you've replied with that. one thing may be to add some note/disclaimer as i'm sure there could be some people trying to use this which would be baffled by why their modified skin hasn't been preserved (though in that case it'd be better to have it in a different folder/skin zip).

Originally Posted by MrSinatra

interestingly, the backup of milkdrop takes longer than my ML files. i don't think i've ever altered those settings [for milkdrop].

this does raise a good point which i touched on with the modified skin files & that if the presets don't match a known file date than there's not much point in backing up the presets. though of course i can see why it'd be easier to just backup everything (as seems to be the case) so supporting files are also handled (unless a simple parser of the .milk files was created to determine if the preset needs additional files, etc).

also whilst i remember, http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?t=318183 may be of use to deal with all of the playlists in the ml folder being blindly backed up when only those in playlists.xml should be handled (as discussed out of this thread).... unless i've got to learn how to make NSIS plug-in's again to implement that handling as well as a better skin checker than just looking for the skin.xml file

-daz

[Koopa]

Still have to write a documentation. I'll add a note about the default skins then.

As for MilkDrop Presets, there are a lot advantages of backing them up:

- people can have downloaded presets
- people could've sorted their presets in different folders
- people won't loose their preset ratings, if they use the Back Tool before their upgrade Winamp and after Winamp upgrdae they can restore them.
- it's optional, if you don't want to back them up, uncheck it and the tool remembers your setting, great, huh?

At first I used a .milk backup mechanism, but it wasn't working, because some presets may ship custom bitmaps or presets are in subdirs and few other issues.

[DrO]

all i'm trying to convey is that if it is 'automatic' for a chosen option (which is a good idea) then it should be doing what it can to ensure that things are correctly done & obviously a complete backup of the folder is the easiest way to achieve that though it seems a bit of a waste to just blindly backup files which haven't been modified. i've no issues with preserving altered files but just copying something which hasn't been altered & so isn't important (if it has been altered then it's worth it) seems like a waste of resources.

now you did say you wanted comments, suggestions, etc

-daz

[Koopa]

No worries, I see your point and all comments, suggestions are welcome and I'm trying my best to explain things.

It's true, blindly backing up the unmodified MilkDropp presets, which are shipped in Winamp's installer isn't ideal.

But how can I decide between .milk files, which were part of Winamp's installer and .milk files, which were saved by the user? Even if I would only backup modified files, I cannot decide between standard and user presets.

Or shall I include an exclusion list for about 200+ files?

Some things are a bit tricky.

Will have a look at the xml stuff and try to implement it. But I still think, like discussed outside this thread, that we have a Backup Tool, no Winamp Profile Repair Tool. :P

I guess I've fixed your backup issue for a user set skin dir. Hopefully I see you later to give you a test build. If things works well then, I roll out a Beta 5 today.

[DrO]

Originally Posted by Koopa

I guess I've fixed your backup issue for a user set skin dir

that sounds good and i've just found a bug with the handling of the Bento skins when not in the default directory from messing around with the backup tool - nothing on your side causing it so no need to worry

-daz

[Koopa]

At a guess, if you change the skin dir, it doesn't copy the files to the new dir?

After I played with that option, to workaround your issue I was surprised, that there was no prompt asking, if I want to move all my skins to the new dir.

Enough Off Topic now, hehe.

[DrO]

that's not the issue (though that's a good idea if it was able to do the migration of the skins & folders...) but in notifier.xml, there's a reference to @SKINSPATH@ which is meant to the skins directory - this is hard coded to the winamp.exe directory and so would make the loading of the bento skins throw an error that the notifier couldn't be found.

-daz

[Koopa]

Winamp Backup Tool v1.0 Beta 5 available

[Koopa]

Allow user to change the backup destination dir was planned for future, but we decided to provide that feature now.

It required massive code changes, so we need testers!

[MrSinatra]

ok, some feedback

it really is nice. i am happy to have this tool, and i think it will make replicating installs on other machines SO much easier!

i was going to suggest that a preset to backup everything EXCEPT visualizations would get around the milkdrop issue, BUT since it now remembers "Previous" backup/restore options i think it would be superfluous.

however, i would suggest adding "Previous" as a third option. so it would be:

Automatic
--
Custom
--
Previous

having to pick custom, then previous from the drop down is kinda roundabout imo.

******

when a backup is done, adding an "open folder to backup file" button would be a nice touch, instead of just "close" so that a user could copy it, move it, manipulate it etc... once made.

******

is there a version checker yet? you guys were talking about problems when trying to restore older settings to a newer winamp install. i think it would be good if the backup tool was aware of what ver winamp you had installed, and what ver the backup file represented.

******

any thought given to duplicating the backup file? what i mean is perhaps the tool should create the backup file to the "hidden" default roaming folder location, and then simply copy that backup once made to the user specified dir. this would automate a backup of the backup, which would help allay fears koopa had about the user specifying the backup dir.

******

instead of saying "choose backup folder" i think its more precise to say "choose backup file's folder location" it was a bit confusing when doing a restore.

******

hopefully someone creates the plugin trigger, so automating a backup everytime you close winamp becomes routine, and if that happens it would be nice if a silent mode using previous settings could run, (optionally of course), without user input.

******

once again, great job!

[Koopa]

Wow, thanks for your great feedback, much appreciated!

Originally Posted by MrSinatra

having to pick custom, then previous from the drop down is kinda roundabout imo.

You must use custom mode and make selections for the previous mode. This is limited by design.

Will think about a possible 'Previous Mode' option. But no promise.

when a backup is done, adding an "open folder to backup file" button would be a nice touch, instead of just "close" so that a user could copy it, move it, manipulate it etc... once made.

Sounds interesting, will think about the best solution to provide this feature.

is there a version checker yet? you guys were talking about problems when trying to restore older settings to a newer winamp install. i think it would be good if the backup tool was aware of what ver winamp you had installed, and what ver the backup file represented.

Not yet and not for 1.0. It's on the ToDo list in my first postings. But we've already implemented much more features, than we originally have planned for 1.0.

It will come, but not for the first version.

any thought given to duplicating the backup file? what i mean is perhaps the tool should create the backup file to the "hidden" default roaming folder location, and then simply copy that backup once made to the user specified dir. this would automate a backup of the backup, which would help allay fears koopa had about the user specifying the backup dir

User specific path selection is done in a pretty secure way. So I don't fear it anymore.

In future, when we *may* implement zip file support, it will be worked on it again. But for now, we won't touch that code again.

No End user could expect, how many code is needed for such a simple 'Let the user decide where to put stuff' thing.

instead of saying "choose backup folder" i think its more precise to say "choose backup file's folder location" it was a bit confusing when doing a restore.

I'm already reviewing the English language file.

There are other parts, which need some fine tuning.

As for the visualizations. Originally, I even won't add Skins to the Tool, but a good Backup Tool should be able to save all custom stuff, including color themes, icon packs and presets.

Especially MilkDrop presets. You can rate MilkDrop presets via +/- keys. But he rating is stored in the preset file. So everytime you upgrade Winamp, all ratings are lost.

The Backup Tool is a good solution to keep the ratings.

[lostinsound]

Wow. Love this plugin. I've been wanting something like this for a while. I'm pretty particular about my winamp setup so anytime I had to do a clean install it was kind of a pain to get it set up how I wanted it. I tested it out and noticed it didn't back up the playlists.xml file. It backed up the actual playlists fine. Also it didn't back up the settings for the win7 taskbar integration (win7shell.ini). Other than that it worked beautifully for me. Great plugin.

EDIT: I should add that I'm running windows 7 on a 64-bit machine.

[Koopa]

lostinsound:

thanks for your feedback. I've fixed the Win7 Taskbar bug, thanks.

[DrO]

Originally Posted by lostinsound

...and noticed it didn't back up the playlists.xml file.

am seeing that as well. just making sure it's noted as no comment about it with the Win7Shell settings fix.

-daz

[MrSinatra]

Originally Posted by PepeSoft

Thanks for your feedback. We need more
I like 3 mode idea (1 - automatic (backup all data), 2 - Custom (user can decide what he want to backup), 3 - Previous (backuping last used settings, via components page).

awesome!

i am testing on vista ult 32bit btw.

Originally Posted by PepeSoft

Also, I think I will implement some verbosing level, for backup/restore logging process...

Also, about opening the backup folder after backup process... I thought about creating special page, that will let user open that dir, run winamp and maybe show short statistics, like "copied 3 skins, 34 milkdrop presets etc...).
How do you think guys?
-Pawel

Edit:
Something like this:

http://meggamusic.co.uk/shup/1270800398/options.png
http://meggamusic.co.uk/shup/1270800411/s.png

i love these changes / suggestions!

questions:

the "show full log on backp/restore process" checkbox ...is that to show you what you currently see now when executing the app? b/c if so, i think it should be checked by default. (i think it would also be good to have it create a log txt file in the backup apps folder, so it could be used/checked later to see if there were any problems)

also, i'd rewrite this: "Backup/Restore depends on last used settings" to say "Backup/Restore uses last used settings" or "Backup/Restore uses last user specified settings"

i love the stats screen, and the two checkboxes are good options, however you could add the 'save location' to the stats screen, and i would rather just have three buttons:

1. open backup folder (and close)
2. close and start winamp
3. close

maybe reverse two and three, but 3 buttons would mean just one click needed, (i'm into reducing clicks).

*****

also, when releasing the final ver, i think it would be smart to match the backup app's ver number to match the winamp release version. so assuming this comes out of beta soon, i'd call it "winamp backup tool ver 5.572c" and there would be no doubt as to what ver of winamp the tool was meant to work with.

the "c" would serve as a way for you guys to make changes within the same winamp release. so when it is out of beta, call it ver 5.572c, and then if you make bugfixes or add version checking or whatever, increment the letter, 5.572d, 5.572e etc... [avoid a and b to avoid alpha/beta confusion, unless they are alphas or betas]

*****

this thing has come a long way fast! i think it will be the #1 download for any hardcore winamp user.

[Koopa]

Originally Posted by DrO

am seeing that as well. just making sure it's noted as no comment about it with the Win7Shell settings fix.

-daz

Will fix the playlist.xml file issue. Pawel told me, that someone in forum wrote, that Win7 plugin backup isn't working, so I fixed it quickly before I was out. Haven't seen the playlist issue before.

Mr.Sinatra:

What Pawel showed on the screenshots is at it's current state nothing more than an idea.

We will see, if it's possible to make the previous mode works, like you would expect from the screenshots. Maybe their are limitations.

Same for the finish page, nothing more than an idea yet. Don't get me wrong, I like both ideas, but all is a matter of time.

As for the version scheme, you suggested. I won't release a newer Backup Tool for each Winamp release. Updates will be provided, if they're needed, but not any new Winamp version requires automatically a new Winamp Backup Tool.

One of your requests I've already added last night, you're able now to open the backup dir after backup/restoration:

[lostinsound]

I've tested it on my laptop which has Windows XP SP3 and I'm finding that not all of the files are backed up whenever it needs to create a new directory to copy files into. For example, if the Plugins/ml directory doesn't already exist when I run the tool, it creates the directory, but main.dat, main.idx, and the art* files do not get backed up in that directory, and everything else does. And some directories don't get created at all (Gracenote and ombrowser). If all of the directories are already there before I run it, everything seems to back up fine (except playlists.xml still doesn't). Hope this makes sense. If you want more details on what doesn't get backed up in other folders let me know.

[Koopa]

Will setup a XP VM and test, if I can reproduce your issue.

Playlists.xml and Win7 Taskbar plugin backup/restoration is already fixed internal, but you have to wait for next public beta.

[Koopa]

Originally Posted by lostinsound

I've tested it on my laptop which has Windows XP SP3 and I'm finding that not all of the files are backed up whenever it needs to create a new directory to copy files into. For example, if the Plugins/ml directory doesn't already exist when I run the tool, it creates the directory, but main.dat, main.idx, and the art* files do not get backed up in that directory, and everything else does. And some directories don't get created at all (Gracenote and ombrowser). If all of the directories are already there before I run it, everything seems to back up fine (except playlists.xml still doesn't). Hope this makes sense. If you want more details on what doesn't get backed up in other folders let me know.

Other people have confirmed, that backup under XP does not work in some cases.

We will search for the issue and hopefully find the reason for it. But that it works under Vista/Win 7 and not correctly under XP is a bit weird. *shrugs*

This will massively delay the original planed Beta 7 release, sorry.

[Koopa]

After a few hours I found the issue. XP has massive trouble to backup files, if the target dir doesn't exists.

That bug is really weird, and only affects XP and has nothing to do with our backup code.

I have at least started to workaround the issue, but I prefer to find a proper solution.

At least, we now know, where the problem is and can fix it.

[Koopa]

Winamp Backup Tool v1.0 Beta 7 available

Mainly a bug fix release. Spent the whole night to fix that nasty XP compatibility problem.

Also have improved English language file and added some new stuff.

Previous mode code was vastly improved, you won't loose your previous settings anymore, when using automatic mode.

- made that Winamp_Backup.ini is saved in same dir like winamp.ini

Because of that change, you will loose your previous settings. Sorry, I was too lazy to write import code for users of the betas.

That change was important and the new location won't be changed in future again.

having to pick custom, then previous from the drop down is kinda roundabout imo.

Mr.Sinatra: Haven't read that correctly the first time. If you made settings and run the tool again, you don't have to pick 'Previous Mode settings' from the dropdown menu. All your previous selected options are automatically checked.

But we may can implement a nice new thing, related to previous mode.

[evolution76]

It is getting better and better, one of my fav tools for Winamp

[lostinsound]

Worked great on both windows 7 and xp for me. Nice work!