Gsoc2013 Community Portal

Summary

Status: This specification is in drafting. Please feel free to edit this page and add your comments. Mixxx currently supports a wide-range of hardware MIDI controllers that DJs can use to perform with. Each supported MIDI controller has a “mapping” file that is bundled with Mixxx, but this mapping must be manually selected by the user before their controller works.

The aim of this project is to increase the usability for new users by automatically selecting the correct MIDI mapping and to provide an intelligent workflow for when an unsupported MIDI device is connected. And when a mapping for a MIDI device is not present, the user should not be left out in the cold. She should have the option of connecting to mixxx.org to see if there are any official or user-contributed mappings available for download.

Design

Optimize preset loading and mapping

Use Case

When a controller is plugged in and the user needs to do some configurations automatically or manually.Current version Mixxx provide a semiautomatic way, i.e. if there are mapping files in local library, Mixxx will load it during the initialization, if not, Mixxx will do nothing and users have to select a right preset mapping file from a drop-down list or even build mapping files by themselves.This is a little hard to some initial users, so a new small feature will be a user-friendly design if Mixxx can automitically search local library backend and list the match results for user.

Core functions

Once a local mapping file isn’t searched during the initialization, Mixxx will give a notice message box to user, such as “Sorry,Mixxx cann’t select a perfect mapping for you from local library, you can go to Preferences->Controller widget to get a right one by yourself through our ‘Mapping Preset Manager’”.

If Mixxx load a preset for the devices at the beginning, the result will be showed on ‘dlgprefcontrollerdlg.ui’ just like the current version. A few changes to ‘dlgprefcontrollerdlg.ui’, see Fig.1.

      - add a device picture. This is very easy to implement, but will help some users a lot. Through this intuitive image, User will easily know whether a right map has be done comparing with their devices at their first sight of the ‘dlgprefcontrollerdlg.ui’. Of course, if no file can be loaded, there will display nothing.
      - change the drop-down list to a button with the name “Mapping Preset Manager”. When the button is pushed, another dialog like Fig.2 will be showed. 
* Fig.1

Fig.2

Support getting controller mapping resources from web

Use Case

Mixxx can not do an automical map or an perfect map from local library at the beginning, so users need to choose one by themselves.Mapping files needed by user may exist in local or website, we’d better provide an API for user to query both local and cloud depository.Most users are not very sure which one to choose, so we’d better make an intelligent recommendation for users, especially for novice users, to reduce the sense of fear of using mixxx at the beginning. At the same time, it is also very convenience.A mapping file has been downloaded into local library, but maybe it has some bugs or is not that perfect. And there is a new update version on the mixxx forum or somewhere, so when users try to apply a local preset in the case of network connected, we’d better to advice users to update to a new version of preset.

Core functions

Here I think we can create a new feature called "Mapping Files Manager", with the following functions:

  - A search bar, through which user can get some likely right mapping files coing form local and cloud.
  - A local tab and a cloud tab, which can list the searching results seperately
  - Intelligent recommendation system, which can do an intelligent sort for users searching results and show the results with the most possibility at the top.
  - friendly and cool devices UI display, called mapping cover, which can help users locate the mapping file item quickly. 
  - displaying the source(mixxx or mixxx forum or other websites), grade level, certification or not, and the authors.

Work Breakdown

Database
database scheme design

    * Client
    * Server
* write models with Django for server database building
* update /res/schema.xml for client database building
* write interface of client database operation
* Automaticly load preset file
* Modify controller dialog user interface(dlgprefcontrollerdlg.ui)
    * controller covert preview
    * Popup  Mapping Preset Manager push button
* Adjust the workflow for mixxx initialization
* Enhance preset search algorithm
* Mapping Preset Manager
* Mapping Preset Manager Dialog user interface(dlgmapingpresetmanagerdlg.ui)
    * search bar 
    * Tap switch between Local and Cloud 
    * Search results panel
    * Notification board 
    * apply button
    * Submenu for preset download, details display etc.
* Intelligent recommendation algorithm for mapping preset files
* presets download
* users rate and comment on preset files
* Restful API Engine
* build a api server with django and tastypie
* design protobuf for api response and request formats
* api/search
* api/upload
* api/details
* api/checkversion
* api/rate
* api/download
* Deploy