encore/docs/TODO.md

Roadmap / TODO

Near-term work after the working MVP (connect + auto-connect, now-playing with transport/volume/options, DataStore-persisted settings). Roughly ordered by priority; not a commitment.

Status legend: [ ] todo · [~] in progress · [x] done

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[x] 1. Proper icons

Done. Replaced the placeholder unicode glyphs in NowPlayingScreen.kt with real Material icons (Icons.Filled.SkipPrevious/PlayArrow/Pause/SkipNext/VolumeUp, plus Repeat/Shuffle leading icons on the chips) from androidx.compose.material:material-icons-extended.

• That artifact bundles thousands of vectors, so the debug APK grew ~7 MB (expected — debug can't shrink). Enabled R8 + resource shrinking on the release build type, which strips the unused icons: release APK is ~1.2 MB.
• Considered material-icons-core (too small — no media icons) and bundling individual vector drawables (leaner but manual); the extended dep + R8 was the best effort/quality trade.

[x] 2. Settings menu

Done. SettingsScreen (reached via a gear icon on the now-playing screen) shows the current server (host/port) with Change server (disconnect → connect form) and Reset settings (confirm dialog → clears DataStore + disconnects).

• SettingsRepository.clear() wipes DataStore; MpdConnectionManager.resetSettings() clears + disconnects.
• Navigation is lightweight state (showSettings in MusicRemoteApp, only over the player screen; a LaunchedEffect drops it when leaving the player) — no Navigation-Compose dependency yet.
• Room to grow: password field, connection timeout, theme, keep-screen-on — and if screens multiply, revisit adopting Navigation-Compose.

[x] 3. Cast-style volume + OS media integration

Done — full MALP-style OS integration, not just in-app. Architecture:

• MpdConnectionManager (app-scoped, held by MusicRemoteApplication) now owns the single MpdClient, so the connection survives Activity recreation and runs while the service is up. PlayerViewModel is a thin delegate over it.
• PlaybackService — a mediaPlayback foreground service hosting a MediaSessionCompat:
  • Cast-style volume: setPlaybackToRemote(VolumeProviderCompat) (absolute, 0–100). The OS routes hardware volume keys to the server volume system-wide, even when the app is backgrounded (verified: 50→40 via injected keys from the launcher), and shows the remote-volume UI. Replaced the earlier in-app onKeyDown hack. Rapid presses accumulate via pendingVolume.
  • Now-playing notification / QS / lock-screen via a MediaStyle notification bound to the session, with prev/play-pause/next actions (MediaButtonReceiver) and metadata/position mirrored from the flows.
  • Needs POST_NOTIFICATIONS (requested in MainActivity) + FOREGROUND_SERVICE[_MEDIA_PLAYBACK].
• In-app CastIndicator ("Controlling ") still shown above the slider.
• Foreground key handling (VolumeKeyDispatcher, delegated from MainActivity.dispatchKeyEvent): while focused, volume keys are consumed and drive the server silently — no system volume slider (the app's own slider is the feedback). Backgrounded, the VolumeProvider takes over (system UI is fine there). Gated by MpdConnectionManager.isControllingVolume; passes through to local volume when not connected.

Notes: verified on the FiiO via injected key events (a rotary volume knob may not emit VOLUME_UP/DOWN — hardware-dependent). Album art in the notification/session is pending item #5.

[ ] 4. Library browse — albums

A screen to browse all albums on the server (artists can come later).

• MPD commands: list album group albumartist (or list album), and find album "<name>" to fetch an album's tracks; add to the queue with add/findadd. Extend MpdCommands + MpdClient.
• Grid or list of albums → tap to view/queue tracks.

[ ] 5. Album / artist images

Pull artwork for the now-playing track and for the album browse grid.

• MPD serves art over the protocol via albumart <uri> <offset> and readpicture <uri> <offset> (embedded art). MpdConnection already handles binary responses, so the transport groundwork is done — add the commands, loop over offsets to fetch the whole image, and decode.
• Needs an image loader + caching. Coil (io.coil-kt) is the standard Compose choice; a custom MpdArtFetcher could feed it. Dependency → deps.json regen.

[ ] 6. BUG: idle connection drops after a few minutes → kicked to connect page

After a few minutes idling, the app surfaces "connection closed mid-response" and falls back to the connect screen. MALP does not do this.

• Error origin: MpdConnection.readResponse() hits EOF and throws MpdConnectionException("connection closed mid-response"); the idle loop's catch (IOException) calls failAndClose() → MpdConnectionState.Error → UI shows the connect form.
• Likely causes to investigate:
  • Android Doze / WiFi power-save tearing down sockets when the screen is off or the app is backgrounded (most likely on a portable DAP/phone).
  • MPD's connection_timeout (default 60s) closing a connection it considers idle — a parked idle should count as active, but the command connection sits silent; a periodic ping keepalive may be needed.
  • NAT/router idle-connection reaping (less likely on LAN).
• Fix direction: don't treat an idle-connection drop as a fatal error — instead auto-reconnect transparently (re-open connections, re-issue idle, resync state) and keep showing the player. Consider a keepalive ping and, for backgrounded playback control, a foreground service / partial wakelock.
• PARTIALLY ADDRESSED by item #3: the mediaPlayback foreground service now keeps the process/connection alive in the background, which should stop Doze / wifi power-save from tearing the sockets down (the most likely cause). Still worth verifying over a long idle, and adding transparent auto-reconnect + keepalive ping as defense-in-depth (e.g. against MPD connection_timeout).