User Interface Reference

Note: Before you begin to use AmiPodder it is a good idea to ensure it is configured correctly for your system, please see the Configuration section for more details.

In this section, you can find descriptions of all the windows in AmiPodder and the functions of the gadgets they contain. For information on how to use AmiPodder for common podcast listening tasks, take a look at the How To section.

Contents

Main Window

AmiPodder's main window

Toolbar (left to right)

Save - Saves the channel settings and the status of all podcasts.
Sync - Copies any downloaded podcasts to your selected removeable device.
Update - Checks all channels for new podcasts.
Check Downloads - Checks all channels for completed downloads.
Prefs - Opens the Prefs window so you can change AmiPodder's preferences.
Podcast URL - String gadget where the URL for a new channel feed can be entered.
Add - Adds the channel feed entered in the "Podcast URL" gadget to the "Channels" list and retreives the current list of podcasts.

Channels

Channels list - Displays all the Podcast channels to which you are subscribed. Selecting a channel in the list displays the current podcasts available from this channel in the "Items" list. Channels can be arranged into groups if you wish.

The Channels list has the following columns:

At the top of the Channel list is a group of "Smart Channels" which are shown in italics and marked with the yellow triangle icon. These channels show a summary of all the podcasts in all channels which meet certain criteria:

Change the order of the channels in the list by dragging a channel name with the mouse and dropping it in the new position. Groups can be created using the "Add Group" button (see below) and channels moved into and between groups using drag and drop. You can also move groups themselves using drag and drop.

Please note that there are a few limitiations on how you can organise the channels list:

If you find any of these limitations really adversely affects your use of AmiPodder, let me know and I will try to remove it in a future version.

Add channel - Add a new channel (podcast feed) to your list, using this method opens the Add channel window where you can specify the group into which the channel will be added.
Add group - Add a new group to the channel list using the New group window.
Edit channel - Opens the Edit channel window where you can change the channel name, URL, the channel group and exclude the channel from automatic updates.
Remove - Remove the selected channel or group from the list, a warning is displayed because this operation cannot be undone. When you remove a group, any channels inside are moved to the top level of the channels list below all the groups.
Update - Check the selected channel for new podcasts.

Items

Items list - Shows all the podcasts available in the selected channel or "smart" channel. The number of podcasts you see here varies based on the number the podcaster chooses to include in their feed. The first column of the "Items" list is the status field, this can have the following values:

Multiple items can be selected in the "Items" list, to do so drag the mouse to select multiple items in sequence or hold down shift and click on the items you wish to select.

Play - Plays the selected podcast in your selected player. The play button is only available when one podcast is selected.
Download - Starts the selected podcast(s) downloading in your selected program and sets their status to "Queued".
Sync - Copies the selected podcast(s) to your sync directory based on your preferences settings and sets their status to "Synced".
Status - Opens the Edit podcast window for the selected podcast(s). Here you can view the URL, filename, expected size, amount downloaded, and change the status and MIME type. When multiple podcasts are selected, this window can only be used to change their status; other information is not available.

File management

Clicking on the "Manage files" smart channel displays the "File management" pane in place of the "Items" list. Using the gadgets in this pane you can manage the podcast files AmiPodder has downloaded. The following gadgets are available:

Location - Select whether you want to list files located in the download directory on your computer, on your default removeable device (player) or both.
Status - Select the status files need to have to be listed, the options are Synced, Downloaded and Played or both.
Age in days - Enter the minimum age in days a download must be for it to be included in the list. Enter 0 to list all files.
Refresh - Refresh the list to reflect your current selections.

File list

The file list contrains the following columns:

All - Select all of the files in the list.
None - Clear any selections so none of the files in the list are selected.
Toggle - Reverse the selection so the selected files become deselected and vice versa.

Delete - Permanently delete the selected files from disk, a warning message is displayed allowing you to cancel this action.

Tip: While the File management pane is displayed the free space on the selected location (e.g. on your player or the hard disk partition containing your download directory) is displayed in the status bar. Using this information you can judge how much space you need to clear and see the effect of any deletions.

Status

This line shows the current status of AmiPodder. If the AmiPodder window is busy, check here to see what the program is doing.

When one or more podcasts are selected the status line can optionally display the total file size of the selection, the total file size of the items to be synced (that is those items with the status "Downloaded" or "Played") and the free space available on the sync device if it is connected. A fuel gauge is displayed behind the status text showing graphically the proportion of the freespace which would be occupied by the items to be synced. This information is particularly useful if you have a low capacity portable player as it allows you to make a selection of podcasts that will fit on your device.

Displaying the selection size information can make selecting items in the list sluggish on slower Amigas. To turn this information off, untick the "Display the size of the current selection..." option on the Interface tab in preferences.

Main Window Menus

The AmiPodder main window has the following standard Amiga menus allowing you an alternative method of accessing the program functions. Note that most menu functions match their GUI equivalents mentioned above, I have added descriptions only to menu items which do not have a button in the GUI:

Add channel Window

The Add channel window

Channel URL - Type or paste (R-Amiga+V) the URL of the podcast feed you want to add in this text gadget.

Username - The username for this feed if it requires authentication. Most podcast feeds do not require authentication so if you have not been explicitly supplied with a password, leave this blank.

Password - The password for this feed if it requires authentication, otherwise leave blank.

In group - Select the group into which the channel should be added. Selecting "Root" adds the channel at the top level of the list.

Add group Window

The Add group window

Group name - Enter the name of the group you want to add. Note that group names cannot be numeric (i.e. only composed of numbers), cannot be duplicated and that the name "Root" is reserved for the top level of the list.

Edit channel Window

The Edit Channel window

Channel Identification

Channel name - The name of the channel shown in the "Channels" list. By default this is set to the name supplied in the podcast feed, if you wish you can edit the name here (for example to make it shorter or more memorable) then click "Okay" to accept the change.
Group - The group in the channel list where this channel is displayed. "Root" is a special group which coresponds to the top level of the list (i.e. not in a group). To move the selected channel into a different group, select the new group here and click "Okay".

Feed Information

Channel URL - The URL of the feed carrying data about the selected channel. If the channel URL changes you can amend it here without losing the status of the podcasts in the channel. Click "Okay" to confirm the change.
Username - The username for this feed if it requires authentication (see "Notes on Authentication" below).
Password - The password for this feed if it requires authentication.
Include this channel in bulk updates - Uncheck this box if you wish AmiPodder to ignore the selected channel when you "Update" all channels or "Check Downloads". Channels with bulk updates unchecked are marked as inactive in the Channels list. This is handy if the server is down temporarily or for podcasts which don't always want downloaded onto your portable player. You can still update the channel manually by selecting it and clicking the "Update" button.

Episode Download Authentication

Username - The username for all downloads in this feed if they require authentication (see "Notes on Authentication" below).
Password - The password for all downloads in this feed if they require authentication.

Notes on Authentication

While the vast majority of podcasts are free to download, a few do charge a fee to access their their episodes or for enhanced content. Once you sign up, these podcasts will often supply a special "members only" feed which requires a username and password. These details should be entered in the "Add channel" requester or the "Feed Information" section of the "Edit Channel" requester.

Depending on how the "members" feed is set up, you may also need to use a username and password to download each individual episode on the member's feed, these details could potentially be different to the feed username and password. Enter the username and password for the episode downloads in the "Episode Download Authentication" section of the "Edit Channel" requester. Note that even if the channel and episode username and password are the same, you must still enter them in both sections.

Most podcast feeds do not require authentication so if you have not been explicitly supplied with a username and password, leave both sets of username and password fields blank.

Edit item Window

This window displays the status of the selected podcast(s) in the items list. If a single podcast is selected then additional information about it is also displayed.

If one podcast is selected:

The Edit podcast window

URL - The web address of the selected podcast file.
File - The filename of the selected podcast as it will appear on disk.
MIME Type - The type of the podcast file specified in the feed. AmiPodder uses this value to determine if the podcast is in audio or video format. If this value is incorrect you can amend it here and then click "Okay" to make the change.
Expected size - The total size of the file as reported by the podcast feed (in my experience this is often inaccurate!)
Note: The content of the "URL", "File" and "Expected size" gadgets cannot be edited, but you can copy and paste it using the standard keyboard shortcuts.
Size on disk - Click the "?" button to display the total amount currently downloaded. AmiPodder compares this with the file size above to determine if the download is complete.
Status - Initially this gadget shows the current status of the podcast. If you wish to manually change the status, select the status you want and click "Okay".

If more than one podcast is selected:

The Edit podcast window

URL, File, MIME Type, Expected size and Size on disk - This information may vary between podcasts and therefore is not displayed and the gadgets are greyed out.
Status - Use the cycle gadget to select a new status for all the selected podcasts and click "Okay". Note that the initial value does not relate to the selected podcasts as they may have more than one status.

Error log Window

The Errors window

Error log - This area shows any non-fatal errors that have occured since you loaded AmiPodder this session (or clicked "Clear log"). Each error message is preceded by the date and time it happened. If the error message relates to a particular feed, the URL of the feed is included in the error message to aid trouble shooting. In general the errors shown in this window relate to Internet communication problems with particular feeds or errors in the feeds themselves.
Open this window on error. - Untick this check box if you would rather the error window did not open each time an error occurs. If you want to make this change permanent open the preferences window, check the setting on the
"Interface" tab is correct and hit "Save".
Clear log - This button clears any existing error messages in the log.