Sonar X1 Helper Utility - Beta 2 Available Now (Update: 8th Jan, 11:38 GMT, See Post #1)

This thread is now obsolete. For the latest information about SONAR Plus (formerly SONAR X1 Helper), please visit www.sonarplus.co.uk. 
 
Update 7th Jan 2011 @ 22:14 GMT: The beta testing seems to be going very well, and the general consensus is that it basically works (aside from a few niggles). I have just made beta 2 available, which contains quite a few improvements over the beta 1 release. I hope to release another update over the weekend, but it might drag over to early next week. You can download the original beta 1 (version 0.9) here:
[link=http://www.staton.co.uk/downloads/sonarx1helper_v0.9.0.0.zip]http://www.staton.co.uk/d...rx1helper_v0.9.0.0.zip 

Update 7th Jan @ 23:20 GMT: One user has reported a problem with this version that stops Helper working properly, although others have reported it now works with Studio & Essential. You might want to wait before updating, but it won't do any harm to try it if you want to. You can download beta 2 (version 0.9.1) here:
[link=http://www.staton.co.uk/downloads/sonarx1helper_v0.9.1.0.zip]http://www.staton.co.uk/d...rx1helper_v0.9.1.0.zip

[Update 8th Jan @ 11:38 GMT - Download the latest version below (version 0.9.1.1), but don't use the new 'Hide Multidock on startup' and 'Switch to Full Screen Mode on startup' options for now, because there is a known problem with them. Also, Studio and Essential users should not add Sonar X1 Helper to the Sonar 'Utilities' menu yet (though don't worry if you already have - it's no big deal). Finally, you may experience problems on multi-monitor systems, so avoid using 'Full Screen Mode' for now. It should be fine otherwise, and generally better than beta 1:
[link=http://www.staton.co.uk/downloads/sonarx1helper_v0.9.1.1.zip]http://www.staton.co.uk/d...rx1helper_v0.9.1.1.zip[/link]

A list of fixes and improvements can be found on post #122 (page 5).

End of update. Here is the original post:
 
Hi all,
 
I've been working on a little utility to help smooth over a few minor cracks in Sonar X1a. It's almost ready for general beta testing, but before then I would be very grateful if a handful of people would give it a very quick try first, just to eliminate any glaring problems.
 
Before I continue, here's a bit more information about it...

What's it called?
Sonar X1 Helper. Inspired, I know. Let's just say I spent more time programming it than thinking of a decent name for it.
 
What does it do?
It displays a small, draggable toolbar that can reside anywhere within the main Sonar window:
 

It can be displayed either horizontally or vertically:
 

 
You can also tell it to auto-hide the last n buttons, so, as an example, the Save, Undo and Redo buttons are always visible, and the rest of the buttons only appear when you hover the mouse over the toolbar. Useful when screen space is at a premium. It will also be fully customizable (ie. choose which buttons are shown, and in which order) by the time the full beta version is ready in a few days, but not quite yet I'm afraid.
 
It provides buttons to do the following:
 
1. Save, Undo, Redo, Cut, Copy and Paste.
2. Hide the Multidock. It doesn't just collapse it, but completely hides it and frees up any screen space it was using, including the rather annoying collapsed, empty Multidock.
3. Expand all Browser plug-in folders. If you have complex plug-in layouts like me, manually expanding each folder to see all available plug-ins can be annoying. Now you can expand all folders with one click and see all your plug-ins at once. This is particularly useful because Sonar always collapses all folders whenever you switch between FX and Synths for example.
4. Full screen zoom. This temporarily removes the Sonar title bar and window border, and then maximizes it to occupy the full screen, including the space normally taken up by the Windows taskbar. Just like pressing F11 in Internet Explorer. Very useful if you have limited screen space, and, for example, buys you several more collapsed tracks in Track View, and more space to see the full ProChannel.
5. Modify BitBridge windows. Modifies all currently open BitBridge windows to stop them from always being on top of other windows. This has annoyed me for a long time, and now there is a convenient way around it.
 
What else does it do?
It has a Preferences window where, amongst other things, it allows you to change the Browser plug-in window colour (for both background and text). Not especially useful, but nice if you always have the Browser open like me, and want to add a splash of colour to an otherwise fairly dull X1 colour scheme.

What will it do in future?
I've identified several possibilities. Not all of them will be possible, but I already know I can trigger at least 80% of the menu options in Sonar via toolbar buttons. Whatever happens, I do intend to keep updating it, and to make sure it works with future Sonar updates. If ever I decide to stop working on it, I will release the full source code on this forum.

Hang on, why should I run some homebrew software that hacks my copy of Sonar?
Well, firstly it's probably relevant to mention that I've been a pro Windows developer for over 15 years. During that time I've done extensive development using the Win32 Software Development Kit, and more recently Windows Forms in all versions of the Microsoft .NET Framework. Basically, I'm saying that I have some experience and knowledge of Windows programming, and I'm not just a hobbyist who downloaded a copy of Visual Studio from a warez site a couple of weeks ago.
Secondly, and this is quite important, Sonar X1 Helper does not make any modifications to any Sonar files or registry settings whatsoever (with a single, optional, exception I'll discuss later). Everything is done dynamically at runtime using standard built-in Win32 function calls. If anything goes wrong, simply close Sonar and re-open it and you're back to square one, no harm done.
Thirdly, Sonar X1 Helper currently consists of just 3 files. Simply copy them to any folder on your PC and double click the 'SonarX1Helper.exe' file, and you're away. No installs, no registry changes (again, with one exception, see below). It has quite a modest memory footprint too (< 10Mb).
Finally, FWIW, I guarantee that Sonar X1 Helper contains absolutely no malicious code whatsoever, nor anything that will compromise your privacy.

What are the system requirements?
Although Sonar X1 Helper makes extensive use of standard, built-in Windows functions (ie. native Windows development, no additional software required), the temptation of relatively quick UI development lured me towards the Microsoft .NET Framework. Therefore, it requires Microsoft .NET 2.0 in order to work. In all likelihood it's already installed on your PC. In fact, it's so ubiquitous these days that it's distributed by Microsoft as an optional update via Windows Update. I'm hoping that this is a non-issue, but it is one of the things I want to test (see below). There's no harm at all in downloading Sonar X1 Helper and trying it. The worst that will happen is you'll get an error message if you don't have .NET installed. I can provide instructions on how to download/install the .NET Framework if necessary. If, for some reason, you object to having .NET installed on your PC (I can't think of any good reasons), then I'm afraid Sonar X1 Helper is not for you.
I'm interested in beta testing!
It's possible that I may be the only person in the world who thinks any of this stuff is actually useful, but in the event that anyone else is interested, please PM me and I'll send you the link to download it. At this stage I only need a handful of people to check that it loads up OK, and to identify any glaring problems. Once it's been established that it generally works OK on a number of different setups, then I'll release a full beta for anyone interested to download.

What needs testing in particular?
I've only tested it with Sonar X1a Producer so far, not the original release or Studio or Essential. I also only have Windows 7, so it needs testing on Vista and XP. 64-bit and 32-bit needs double checking too. I also don't have Sonar X1 32-bit installed on Windows 7 (or Vista) 64-bit, so I don't know how it will work in that scenario. As already mentioned, it makes use of the .NET Framework. I'm hoping that most people will already have this installed, but I'd like to know of any problems if not. Prolonged use when constantly switching Screensets probably needs more testing as well.
 
So, PM me if you fancy taking an early look. If more than a handful of people seem interested, I'll post again in a few days with details of the full beta. If not, then thanks for reading anyway!
 
Here's hoping Cakewalk render Sonar X1 Helper obsolete as quickly as possible!

Regards,
benstat

Fabulous News!

This is exaclty what the doctor ordered!

You may be Sonar's Savior!

Keni

Thumbs up, benstat! 

Actually, I'm a keen advocate of 'save as'... possible?   

Now that is a great idea.

Ive been using X1 exstencivly today and that will be a real time saver.

Love it!!! I wish they would have made a module for those functions when they redid the GUI.

That looks great - count me in

Would've PM'd you but my box is full atm.

emwhy


Love it!!! I wish they would have made a module for those functions when they redid the GUI.

+1

Wish they would build customizeable toolbars back into GUI.

Thanks again benstat, this will be a great tool!

Great job Benstat.  I had described something similar in concept on another thread as something that would be great.  This seems like it would fit the bill.   http://forum.cakewalk.com/fb.ashx?m=2187698

p.s. Can you pull in the note pictures from 8.5 for PRV (whole, half, etc) as an option as well?

emwhy


It wouldn't surprise me if the bakers did do something like this for the next patch. I remember they changed the "Split" function on clips in version 8.0 and people weren't totally thrilled. They did then offer an option to change it back or keep it in one of the patches.

Please keep us posted on this tool

Absolutely, as strange as it may seem I'd be delighted if Cakewalk rendered Sonar X1 Helper completely useless in the next update! Well, I might be a teeny bit disappointed at the loss of all that development time, but then I was ill with flu over Xmas so didn't have much else to do.

I got my download and will be testing it tonight.....can't wait. One thing, I've only got SONAR X1a 64 bit on my machine under Win 7, so won't be testing it in the 32 bit world at this juncture.

To all the current beta testers, please post feedback, bugs etc here instead of using PM's. I keep getting an inbox full error message. Didn't realise that there was such limited space for PM's! Thanks!

Working here on XP Pro 64bit with X1 64bit. 

Does it automatically do the Browser expansion on initiation?  On first time opening I got the Splash screen and clicked ok but there was no menu bar showing up but it(Sonar X1 Helper icon)  showed up on the taskbar(right side) .  When I tried to go to preferences on the taskbar it wouldn't open up the preferences as it seemed to be working on something.  After the 3rd attempt it was there.  I have a lot of plugin libraries so is it possible that was what was happening?

I have added it to the utility menu and all the functions are working as advertised.

lorneyb2


Working here on XP Pro 64bit with X1 64bit. 

Does it automatically do the Browser expansion on initiation?  On first time opening I got the Splash screen and clicked ok but there was no menu bar showing up but it showed up on the taskbar(right side) .  When I tried to go to preferences on the taskbar it wouldn't open up the preferences as it seemed to be working on something.  After the 3rd attempt it was there.  I have a lot of plugin libraries so is it possible that was what was happening?

I have added it to the utility menu and all the functions are working as advertised.

Hmm, not sure about why the preferences window didn't pop up first time (was Sonar, or just your PC, busy doing something at the time?) I'll keep an eye on that one (first report of that so far), thanks.
Also, there is an option (which is enabled by default) that expands all the Browser plug-in folders as soon as SX1H starts. So yes, it is correct that it happened. You can turn it off if you prefer of course via Preferences. I suppose your preferences issue might be because SX1H was busy expanding all those plug-in folders, but it's pretty quick on my modest laptop with quite a few folders.

lorneyb2


p.s. Can you pull in the note pictures from 8.5 for PRV (whole, half, etc) as an option as well?

I'll investigate this for a future release. My gut feeling is it might be tricky though, as there are no existing corresponding menu items or toolbar buttons for me to trigger. It's on the list though, and thanks for the suggestion.

lorneyb2


I have lots of plug ins.  Most of the EW stuff including Hollywood strings, Komplete 7, Yellow tools, Ozone and 6 hard drives.

If it is expanding via a scan of all the drives then I would expect it to take some time.   For example a rescan of all VSTs in Sonar will take about 8 - 10min.

Maybe just adding a note in the instructions that "the menu may not appear for a few minutes until after all drives have been scanned" would alleviate that concern.

Hi lorneyb2,
(if I'm not misunderstanding you...)
There's no VST scanning involved when expanding the Browser plug-in folders. It simply recursively iterates through all of the items in the plug-ins 'tree view' that Sonar has already put there, expanding folders as it find them. Unfortunately, Microsoft didn't think to add a single ExpandAll() function to TreeView's, so that's the only way to do it! Nevertheless, it should be really quick even with loads of plug-ins (ie. I would be surprised if it ever took longer than about half a second, and usually a lot less). On my modest core2 laptop, it probably takes a tenth of a second to expand a pretty complicated plug-in folder structure.
However, if people are finding that it takes a lot longer, then there is something wrong that I need to investigate. It just shouldn't be an issue. I'll keep an eye on the feedback.
Thanks again,
benstat