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Back to j•Clip product page
j•Clip Readme
PEARSoft Corporation
PO Box 812528
Wellesley, MA 02482
www.pearsoft.com
www.getjclip.com
Latest Version: V2.0
j•Clip brings the power of web search to iTunes.
j•Clip™ is a trademark of PEARSoft Corporation. © 2008 PEARSoft Corporation. All
rights reserved.
j•Clip relies on the 'iTunes COM for Windows SDK'. Copyright (c) 2004 Apple Computer,
Inc. All rights reserved.
Thank you for using j•Clip! We would like to hear from you! If you have any comments
or suggestions about j•Clip, please send them to jclip@pearsoft.com.
Section 1. User information
Section 2. Technical information
Section 3. Known issues
Section 4. Version history
Section 1. User information
Mouse Button Commands on the j•Clip window
• Right-Click - Brings up the j•Clip menu (described below)
• Left-Click - Drag the j•Clip window anywhere on the screen
• Double-Click - Brings iTunes to the foreground and 'clips' j•Clip on top of iTunes
• Mouse scroll wheel - Spin to adjust j•Clip window opacity when the j•Clip window
has focus
• Clicking on the j•Clip window sets its focus, indicated when the 'j•Clip' text
is set in black
• Gripper - Adjusts the size of the j•Clip window • The j•Clip window always stays
on top, unless minimized (see 'Minimized' below)
Window commands on the j•Clip window
• 'x' - Close j•Clip
• '_' - Minimize j•Clip
• '<' - Go to previous radio station or track
• '>' - Go to next radio station or track
• 's' - Display Saved Searches window
What j•Clip does
After installation, you will have both a j•Clip desktop icon and a Start/All Programs/PEARSoft
Corporation/j•Clip link. You can use either one to start j•Clip.
Start j•Clip. If
iTunes is not running j•Clip will start it for you. You'll see a colored window
clipped onto the track display of iTunes. This is no ordinary track window anymore!
Are you listening to a radio station or a track from your playlist? Hover the mouse
over the window and right-click. j•Clip just created a search string of the current
artist and track you're listening to and has the results ready for you to browse
in its pop-up menu. Just follow the Web menu...
MENU ENTRIES:
Web
At the moment you right-clicked, j•Clip constructed a web search string based on
the track you were listening to then established web search links using this search
string. The links are listed in Web's submenu. Just follow Web's menu arrow.
• The first section makes it easy for you to go directly to the iTunes Music Store.
Once there, type in the artist and track information to find the track.
• The second section contains the search string used along with direct links to
Google, YouTube, Yahoo, Microsoft Live Search, Wikipedia, MySpace and Facebook.
Select any link and you're taken directly to the website with the search field automatically
populated and all your search results displayed.
• The third link is to the radio station you're currently listening to.
Most radio
stations are very good at providing track information. However, note that j•Clip
depends on the accuracy of the underlying track information, regardless if it's
from the radio station or a playlist. For example, if a radio station provides only
the artist name and not the track name, then only the artist name would be used
in the search. Most radio stations though are excellent at providing all the track
information. If neither artist nor track information is available, you may need
to just wait a few seconds for the radio station to update the track stream then try clicking the Web menu again.
After you're taken to a search website, j•Clip automatically populates the search
field based on the track information. Sometimes radio stations will add some additional
information to this string - such as the year the song was recorded. For better
search results simply remove any unwanted text from the search field then update
the search. See the Known issues
section for more information.
Search Sites
• Select any of the sites to include as the destinations of your search string.
Selections are denoted with a checkmark to the left of the entry.
Search Keywords
• Select any of the keywords to include in your search string. Selections are denoted
with a checkmark to the left of the entry.
Save Searches
• Select this option to save all of your search strings for later access. Selection
is denoted with a checkmark to the left of the entry. When
this is enabled, you will see an 's' enclosed in a square on the j•Clip
window. Click this to display the Saved Searches window
(described below).
Appearance
[1] Colors
This allows you to change the window color. Spin the mouse wheel to adjust the window
opacity. The selected color will also be used for the
Saved Searches window.
[2] Exterior
• Border
When Border is checked, a thin black border will surround the j•Clip window.
• Shadow
When Shadow is checked, j•Clip will take on the appearance of a window floating
on the desktop.
• Flat, Glow, Gradient
This allows you to change the exterior texture
of the window. In conjunction with the current color, Flat sets the window to a
single tone; Glow gives the exterior a glow ambience; Gradient gives the exterior
a gradient texture.
[3] Tracks
Hide or show the current artist and track information.
[4] Radio Station
Hide or show the current radio station information.
[5] Volume
Hide or show the volume control.
[6] Artwork
Hide or show available artwork. Artwork is usually available when listening to your
playlists. It may not be available when listening to the radio. If this setting
is set to 'Show' and no artwork is available, a generic image is displayed. Note
that j•Clip stores artwork locally on your hard-drive, so lots of artwork may use
considerable disk space.
About j•Clip
[1]
This provides the current version information
[2] Automatically check for updates at startup
Select this to automatically check for product updates when you first start j•Clip.
[3] Check for updates now
Click this to check for product updates right away.
[4] Link to our website
Saved Searches Window
Activated when the 's' button is clicked from the main j•Clip
window.
The Saved Searches window contains a list of your previous
searches, listed by Artist and Track. Click any column to sort alphabetically by ascending or descending order. When you
select an entry in this list it will be the subject of the Saved Searches Web link.
*Click the column headings to sort by ascending or descending order. If a new search
does not appear in alphabetical order, then it was added to the bottom of the list.
Just click the column heading and it will sort automatically and be positioned properly.
Mouse Button Commands on the j•Clip Saved Searches window
• Right-Click within the search list - Brings up the context
menu (described below)
• Left-Click - Drag the Saved Searches window anywhere on the screen
• Left-Click in the Saved Searches list - If the entry contains
a YouTube link and the 'Use j•Clip Video Player to view YouTube
video links is checked, then the j•Clip video player will
playback the selected video; in any other case, the browser is
launched with the associated web link
• Double-Click - 'clips' the Saved Searches window under the j•Clip
window and adjusts the width
• Mouse scroll wheel - Spin to adjust the Saved Searches window opacity when the window
has focus
• Clicking on the Saved Searches window sets its focus, indicated when the 'Saved
Searches' text is set in white
• Gripper - Adjusts the size of the Saved Searches window • The
Saved Searches window always stays
on top, unless minimized with the j•Clip window (see 'Minimized'
above)
Operation:
[1] Use j•Clip Video Player to view YouTube video links
Check this if you want to watch your videos in the j•Clip video
player. Links formatted in the YouTube fashion qualify as
valid video links
[2] Artist/Track/Link column headings
Click any column to sort your playlist
Context Menu:
[3] Web
Similar to the Web link described above, however the search string is populated
based on the track you selected from the 'Searches' list. In addition, the currently
selected 'Search Sites' and 'Search Keywords' are used.
[4] Add new entry...
Select this option to add a new Artist/Track/Link to your Saved
Searches list. Note that the 'Artist' field is required
[5] Edit entry...
Select this option to edit an existing entry
[6] Delete entry...
Select this option to delete an existing entry; you will be
prompted to confirm the delete
[7] Delete all entries...
Select this option to delete all of you saved search entries;
you will be prompted to confirm the delete
[8] Add web link to entry...
First, copy a web link to the clipboard (for example, in YouTube
right-click on a video link and select 'Copy shortcut'); then
select this context menu option to add the web link from the
clipboard. Web links can originate from any source,
however you must use a properly formatted YouTube link when
using the j•Clip video player.
j•Clip Video Player
The j•Clip video player relies on the YouTube
embedded video player control. To use this there are a few
prerequisites needed:
• You’ll need Adobe Flash 8+ installed on your machine.
You can get this from adobe.com.
• You’ll need JavaScript enabled;
In Internet Explorer go to Tools/Internet Options/Security Tab/Custom Level button/Scripting section/Set Active scripting to 'Enable'.
• You’ll need the IE Web browser control enabled;
In Internet Explorer go to Tools/Internet Options/Security
Tab/Custom Level button/Miscellaneous section/Allow scripting of
Internet Explorer Webbrowser control to 'Enable'.
Section 2. Technical information
If you are installing j•Clip on a Windows
XP system, a couple of extra steps may need to
be performed to install the Microsoft .NET Framework V2.0 & V3.0
software. These steps are handled automatically by the
j•Clip installation routine but they could add four or five
minutes to the installation time.
Windows Vista users are not
affected by these steps since the Microsoft .NET Framework V2.0
& V3.0 software is already included in Vista.
j•Clip typically installs to the:
(Windows Vista)
'\Users\~name~\AppData\Local\PEARSoft Corporation\jClip' folder
(Windows XP)
'\Documents and Settings\~name~\Application Data\PEARSoft Corporation\jClip'
folder
where ~name~ represents your user account.
This folder may not display in Windows Explorer. To display,
perform these steps:
(Windows Vista) In Windows Explorer, select
Organize/Folder and Search Options/View tab/Hidden files and
folders/Show hidden files and folders; then click OK.
(Windows XP) In Windows Explorer, select
Tools/Folder Options.../View tab/Hidden files and folders/Show
hidden files and folders; then click OK.
This folder contains two XML files distributed with j•Clip and an optionally generated
third
file:
[1] jClipSettings.xml
Contains your general j•Clip settings.
[2] jClipSearch.xml
Contains the list of search sites and search keywords used in j•Clip.
• Each Search Site contained in jClipSearch.xml is represented by the 'jClipSearchSite'
node. Here is an example:
<jClipSearchSite>
<name>YouTube</name>
<url>http://www.youtube.com</url>
<param>http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=</param>
<artistOnly>false</artistOnly>
<userPreferenct>Include</userPreference>
</jClipSearchSite>
name
The site name in text
url
The site's website address
param
The site's search page/populated search field
artistOnly
If true, include only the artist name in the search; if false, include both artist
and track information in the search
userPreference
If 'Include', then include this site in the list of search sites generated
when clicking the 'Web' option; if 'Exclude', then don't include this search site.
• Each Search Keyword contained in jClipSearch.xml is represented by the 'jClipKeyword'
node. Here is an example:
<jClipKeyword>
<word>LYRICS</word>
<userPreference>Exclude</userPreference>
</jClipKeyword>
word
The keyword.
userPreference
If 'Include', then include this keyword in the search string generated
when clicking the 'Web' option; if 'Exclude', then don't include this search keyword.
[3] jClipSavedSearches.xml
If you have the 'Save Searches' option set to true (the default), you will accumulate
a collection of searches, stored as artist, track and link
triplets. These triplets are stored
in the jClipSavedSearches.xml file. This file does not ship with j•Clip; instead
it gets created on your system.
• Each Artist, Track and MyLink triplet is represented by the 'jArtistTrack' node.
Here's an example:
<jArtistTrack>
<Artist>Kinks</Artist>
<Track>Victoria</Track>
<MyLink>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vW-JYsF3xHI</MyLink>
</jArtistTrack>
Artist
The artist name
Track
The track name
MyLink
The web link associated with the artist and track
Section 3. Known issues
[1] iTunes blocks application connections while it is displaying any of its dialog
boxes; this could prevent j•Clip from initially connecting to iTunes. For example,
attempting to start up j•Clip while iTunes is running and the Edit/Preferences...
dialog box is displayed will cause the j•Clip startup splash screen to wait indefinitely
until you close the Edit/Preferences... dialog box. Consequently, please close any
open iTunes dialog boxes prior to starting j•Clip.
Another open dialog box instance
occurs when iTunes first starts, then displays the "iTunes has detected that it
is not the default player for audio files. Would you like to go to the Default Programs
control panel to fix this?". The best solution is to check the "Do not show this
message again" check box, then click either Yes or No.
[2] As stated earlier in this readme, the accuracy of j•Clip depends on the artist
and track content provided by the radio stations. Sometimes, radio stations will
include some "filler" information with the artist and track information, such as
the year the song was published. For better search results, remove the filler information
from the search window once you are at the search website.
For example, j•Clip displays
a "Gerry Rafferty+Baker Street (1978) --- WIKIPEDIA" link in the Web menu; when
you click the link you will be taken to Wikipedia with its search box populated
and the results displayed. You may get more accurate results if you remove the "(1978)"
then refresh the search.
[3] Double-clicking on j•Clip normally brings iTunes to
the foreground then places j•Clip on top. However, this may not happen if you've
set Edit/Preferences/Advanced Tab/Minimize iTunes window to system tray. The best
solution is to uncheck this option, then click Ok.
Section 4. Version history
V2.0
•
Add Saved Searches window
• Add
j•Clip
video player
V1.0.1.0
Original release.
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