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Forum: Wishes and new features

Topic: Live refresh of mapping xml file
I've been working on some mapping files and I'd love the ability to edit the xml file directly and live reload the map in VDJ.

It appears that when VDJ loads, in reads the XML file and stores it in cache. It doesn't read it again until VDJ is shut down and started again.

We've been discussing here https://www.virtualdj.com/forums/250883/VirtualDJ_Technical_Support/Is_there_some_way_to_refresh_the_mapping_file__without_restarting_VDJ_.html

The ability to live-reload the xml file could really kickstart mapping development! I've got a novation launchpad that I've been mapping out and the mapping settings window is a bit painful to use at times.

Specifically, what's slowing me down here:
1. having to use the mouse to select which button I want to map,
2. having to scroll to get to the LED function of the same button,
3. not being able to read a verbs description without it automatically changing the verb I've got mapped already
4. no undo button (!!)

And I know that those are things that COULD be fixed in the future, but really I'm happy to fix them myself by building tools to load and edit the xml file directly. I might even be able to start coding in some complicated LED patterns and visualisations.

So I've built a basic backend to load the xml file, convert to json, send to my frontend (webpage), where it can be edited and sent back. The issue is that even after you've updated the xml file, VDJ won't reflect the changes until you restart the application, which is a real bummer. The best workaround is having a button mapped to the 'crash' verb, but then you're often losing your deck info (and have to load up your songs again).

I'd hope it would be an easy feature to implement (add a 'reload' verb? Maybe add a folder listener to check if any map files have changed since last load?).







 

geposted Sun 05 Feb 23 @ 11:30 pm