djsherz
Hi folks!
The "Ask The DJ" feature feels like it's been kind of forgotten over the years. The potential is there for it to be an amazingly useful addition to VDJ, but it's never really evolved since it was first launched many years ago now.
My use case for it would be for karaoke. In an ideal world, I'd like to use it simply as an online songbook - a searchable database for people to look up songs to request, at which point they could come up and fill in a slip of paper. Yes, ir's oldschool, but it would save being bombarded by 30 random requests every 10 minutes from that one person. So in short, it would be nice if there was a setting to turn off the "send a message" part of the service, just show the database.
Regarding the database - it doesn't work as well as the browser in VDJ. For example, if I was searching for Like A Virgin by Madonna, I would go to the browser and type something like "mad vir" and it's already found what I'm looking for. However, the search on Ask The DJ is not that flexible - if the user was to type something like "Madonna Like A Virgin" into it, it would give no results, because they missed out the "-" symbol between the artist and title in the filename. Any chance of improving the search?
Let's say I decide to drag myself kicking and screaming into the 21st century, ditch the scraps of paper and go with the online messaging after all. It feels like there's room for improvement here too. Firstly, some kind of notification in VDJ to alert you when a request is incoming would be useful, rather than periodically checking back at the Ask The DJ folder. Secondly, when the request pops up, I understand that you can then click on it to automatically search for it in VDJ. A small bug that I found - even if your browser is set to display only karaoke tracks, when doing a lookup from the request, it displays all filetypes - karaoke, audio and video files. A small thing, not a dealbreaker, but it's something you'd have to be careful of when selecting songs to drag into the karaoke playlist.
Then once you've found your song and added it to the karaoke list, you then have to type in the singer's name manually. Feels like we're missing a trick here - it would be nice if it took the requester's name from Ask The DJ and stuck it into the singer's name slot automatically.
Here's one for the KJs that have to deal with that one annoying person in the room who puts in multiple requests for himself under different names as a way of jumping the queue - any way of assigning each mobile device a unique identifier? So in VDJ, you have requests from Tom, Dick and Harry, but you can see that they've all been sent from the same device... (Incidentally this is the main reason I stick with scraps of paper for requests - I can tell from their handwriting when it's one person going under 10 different names!)
Finally, is there a way of switching off Ask The DJ until the show starts? For example, my karaoke shift starts at 9pm, and although people are in the room before then, I won't take any requests until 9, or I'm swamped with requests before I've even started. By around 10.30pm, I usually have more than enough to see me through 'til the end of the night at 1am, so a way of turning off requests would be useful here too.
Sorry if this has turned into a bit of an essay! Just a few thoughts on how this feature could be improved. It was a great idea when the VDJ devs introduced it, and with a few tweaks here and there, it could be a real game changer.
The "Ask The DJ" feature feels like it's been kind of forgotten over the years. The potential is there for it to be an amazingly useful addition to VDJ, but it's never really evolved since it was first launched many years ago now.
My use case for it would be for karaoke. In an ideal world, I'd like to use it simply as an online songbook - a searchable database for people to look up songs to request, at which point they could come up and fill in a slip of paper. Yes, ir's oldschool, but it would save being bombarded by 30 random requests every 10 minutes from that one person. So in short, it would be nice if there was a setting to turn off the "send a message" part of the service, just show the database.
Regarding the database - it doesn't work as well as the browser in VDJ. For example, if I was searching for Like A Virgin by Madonna, I would go to the browser and type something like "mad vir" and it's already found what I'm looking for. However, the search on Ask The DJ is not that flexible - if the user was to type something like "Madonna Like A Virgin" into it, it would give no results, because they missed out the "-" symbol between the artist and title in the filename. Any chance of improving the search?
Let's say I decide to drag myself kicking and screaming into the 21st century, ditch the scraps of paper and go with the online messaging after all. It feels like there's room for improvement here too. Firstly, some kind of notification in VDJ to alert you when a request is incoming would be useful, rather than periodically checking back at the Ask The DJ folder. Secondly, when the request pops up, I understand that you can then click on it to automatically search for it in VDJ. A small bug that I found - even if your browser is set to display only karaoke tracks, when doing a lookup from the request, it displays all filetypes - karaoke, audio and video files. A small thing, not a dealbreaker, but it's something you'd have to be careful of when selecting songs to drag into the karaoke playlist.
Then once you've found your song and added it to the karaoke list, you then have to type in the singer's name manually. Feels like we're missing a trick here - it would be nice if it took the requester's name from Ask The DJ and stuck it into the singer's name slot automatically.
Here's one for the KJs that have to deal with that one annoying person in the room who puts in multiple requests for himself under different names as a way of jumping the queue - any way of assigning each mobile device a unique identifier? So in VDJ, you have requests from Tom, Dick and Harry, but you can see that they've all been sent from the same device... (Incidentally this is the main reason I stick with scraps of paper for requests - I can tell from their handwriting when it's one person going under 10 different names!)
Finally, is there a way of switching off Ask The DJ until the show starts? For example, my karaoke shift starts at 9pm, and although people are in the room before then, I won't take any requests until 9, or I'm swamped with requests before I've even started. By around 10.30pm, I usually have more than enough to see me through 'til the end of the night at 1am, so a way of turning off requests would be useful here too.
Sorry if this has turned into a bit of an essay! Just a few thoughts on how this feature could be improved. It was a great idea when the VDJ devs introduced it, and with a few tweaks here and there, it could be a real game changer.
Posted Mon 20 Apr 26 @ 10:21 pm
locoDog
Right click the ASK folder to turn on/off monitoring.
That doesn't stop them sending, so set up another venue when submissions are closed point ask at this other venue
Notifications.
Custom button
named like this
`get_askthedj_unread
scripted
get_askthedj_unread & browser_gotofolder "askthedj://"
see when there are unread and navigate to the folder.
For problem users you probably want to make a site yourself with limits that forwards requests to ask page.
That doesn't stop them sending, so set up another venue when submissions are closed point ask at this other venue
Notifications.
Custom button
named like this
`get_askthedj_unread
scripted
get_askthedj_unread & browser_gotofolder "askthedj://"
see when there are unread and navigate to the folder.
For problem users you probably want to make a site yourself with limits that forwards requests to ask page.
Posted Tue 21 Apr 26 @ 1:12 am
djdonn
Turning off monitoring doesn't turn off the sender's ability to send requests though, correct? They can still send requests which will pile up the next time VDJ user turns on monitoring. I think he's asking for the ability to turn off sending at the app level so no more singers can send requests.
As far as incoming request notification, I have a button set up to blink when a request comes in:
( get_askthedj_unread ? blink 250ms : ) & param_equal `get_browsed_folder` "Ask the DJ" ? goto_last_folder : browser_gotofolder "askthedj://"
"A small bug that I found - even if your browser is set to display only karaoke tracks, when doing a lookup from the request, it displays all filetypes - karaoke, audio and video files."
Agreed, that should be fixed.
"Then once you've found your song and added it to the karaoke list, you then have to type in the singer's name manually. Feels like we're missing a trick here - it would be nice if it took the requester's name from Ask The DJ and stuck it into the singer's name slot automatically"
Do you use the EZKRM Plugin that LocoDog created? That will solve this problem. There is a copy/paste function that will paste the singer's name into the slot in the karaoke list.
I don't use the vdj database but that's a big bug. Shouldn't it be a 'display results as you type'?
I agree with the rest of your suggestions.
With the exception of adding the ability to accept tips from various electronic payments, VDJ has ignored Ask.The.DJ as well as any major karaoke improvements. Both really could use a major overhaul.
As far as incoming request notification, I have a button set up to blink when a request comes in:
( get_askthedj_unread ? blink 250ms : ) & param_equal `get_browsed_folder` "Ask the DJ" ? goto_last_folder : browser_gotofolder "askthedj://"
"A small bug that I found - even if your browser is set to display only karaoke tracks, when doing a lookup from the request, it displays all filetypes - karaoke, audio and video files."
Agreed, that should be fixed.
"Then once you've found your song and added it to the karaoke list, you then have to type in the singer's name manually. Feels like we're missing a trick here - it would be nice if it took the requester's name from Ask The DJ and stuck it into the singer's name slot automatically"
Do you use the EZKRM Plugin that LocoDog created? That will solve this problem. There is a copy/paste function that will paste the singer's name into the slot in the karaoke list.
I don't use the vdj database but that's a big bug. Shouldn't it be a 'display results as you type'?
I agree with the rest of your suggestions.
With the exception of adding the ability to accept tips from various electronic payments, VDJ has ignored Ask.The.DJ as well as any major karaoke improvements. Both really could use a major overhaul.
Posted Tue 21 Apr 26 @ 1:42 am