Search songs without kjams server

[TLB]

I like the idea of the kjams server where singers can request songs from their table. The problem i have with this is that people will add 5 or 6 songs at a time and if other people have not put in songs yet it will list them as the next singer 3 times in a row on the who's singing next screen. I would like the ability for people to search the song list without being able to request. I would also like it to be available when my computer is offline. I'm not very familiar with css style sheets but i have read a few things where they can be used to make an xml file more viewer friendly and searchable.

So in short. i would like singers to search my song list 24/7 on my website without having my computer set up and running kjams all the time. Then i could just upload the new library.xml file as new new songs get added.

Has anyone thought of or tried anything like this?

[dave]

re: search without request?
do you *really* want them not to be able to request? or do you just not want the rotation to show the same singer three times in a row? seems to me if a singer wants to put in five songs that should be allowed. in your idea, you're pushing the inconvenience onto the singer, forcing them to remember to come back and request one song at a time (the opposite of convenience) rather than just managing it yourself so they can just have fun?

re: offline search:
what you're asking for is a cloud service. Yes that would be nice but you may not be aware of the incredible amount of work and maintenance required for such an approach. you can export your library to xml and put up your own web page with the library for search only, no submissions. other than that, i doubt kJams will get into doing cloud services any time soon.

[DeusExMachina]

Dave, I think they are talking about setting up their own site.
You can set up a website to do this, but there are far easier ways than doing so with an XML file. Just export in a tab delineated format, and use simple db templates you can grab from the web.
That said, I think you are missing the point of server. As it is now, there is nothing preventing them from not submitting. Anyone is free to browse. Or are you WANTING to have a set up where they can search, but not submit? If this is so, you can just export as above, open in an app that will open tab delineated files, select print, and then save as a .PDF (if you are on a mac). Then you can just open that up as a tab in webkit based browsers. They can search that all they want, but not submit. Not sure what this buys you, as once they DO decide to submit songs, they can then still submit as many as they want.
To get around your problem, though, simply don't display the rotation screen until there are enough singers to populate it. You can also edit the Rotation Screen such that it says "Subject to change" as I did on mine (I think there is a screen shot of it up on this site somewhere).

But all that said, if that singer is the only person with a song in, why shouldn't they sing multiple times until some one else puts in a song (if only to shut them up)?

[dave]

what he said.

[TLB]

The built in server is great. I use it at all my shows. It would be cool however to make the rotation show screen stop at the current rotation.

My second thought, DeusExMachina nailed it. My computer is not always setup somewhere. The ability to allow people to search or browse my song book any time day or night via my own website server is something i have been asked about several times. DeusExMachina I like you .pdf idea that is actually the way i'm doing it now but i think something that is sortable so people could navigate it much faster if the are just browsing.

This is another local KJ's song book website. This is kinda what i'm looking for. http://www.craigskaraoke.com/

[DeusExMachina]

As I mentioned in my previous reply, just save as CSV or XML, open in an app that can do that sort of thing, save as a database, and then import into a web template that can display your data. There are lots of free ones available online.

[dave]

why not just run kJams on your server?

like this:
http://kjams.com:12345/

[DeusExMachina]

Actually dave, I was just going to suggest something similar, but to you! You see, the main reason would be licensing, getting a licensed copy on each of your server machines. Also, it might be a bit steep requirement-wise, for certain crappy old iBooks, and of course won't run at all on Windows boxes and tablets.
That is where the suggestion comes in. How about a server-only "version" of kJams. Just the server bits. Freeware it, and let it run in background, no Dock icon. Also, let the user specify the port, so that you can still have the "real" server available. Then the standard web page idea will work fine.

[dave]

ah! right!

well, i *DO* plan to have the windows version of the server running. and i am happy to amend the licensing clause to allow you to run a copy on your server for the purposes of allowing folks to submit songs. and, for my holy-grail, let it sync with your local copy (so people can submit songs to your web site, and your local copy of kjams can get a "copy" of that notification)

[TLB]

I'm sorry, I must no be making myself clear Dave. My website is hosted by bluehost.com not on my personal computer. I would love to be able to use the kjams server but my computer is not always setup or able to get online.

[TLB]

Am i missing something? is it possible to make a copy of the kjams server files and have them reside on my bluehost.com hosted website?

[dave]

does BlueHost allow you to run your own software that can be executing? or is it JUST files?

[DeusExMachina]

Pretty sure the software he is using to make that catalogue just makes a web searchable DB file, and you just upload the whole shebang to the server. Just AJAX stuff.

[dave]

yeah, kjams doesn't do that, you'll have to roll your own for that. PDFs are searchable i think?

[DeusExMachina]

Yes, but on older hardware, they can take up to 10 minutes to load a 35MB pdf in a webkit browser!