How To... Create a music grid with symbols

Using the music player workspace in The Grid 2 you can play CDs and music saved on your machine, this worksheet looks at how to create a grid that the user can pick their music from using pictures and symbols.

Grids that play music

The best way to use the music player is on a grid that is designed for it.  Most of the users have music grids included - have a look at these to see what the music player can do.  You will also find some different music player grid designs on the grid sharing website http://grids.sensorysoftware.com.

Create a new grid

So... we're going to make a music player grid. First you need to make a new grid:

• Locate an empty cell to jump to your music player.
• Press F11 to enter Edit Mode.
• Click on the cell to select it.
• Select Jump to... from the bar on the left
• Click the New Grid button in the top corner.
• Type 'Music Player' or similar as the name of the new grid.
• Click Ok.
• Select your new grid and click Open.
• Click Ok 

You now have a cell that links to a new, blank grid for a music player.  Click on the cell and select Follow Jump from the left hand side to open the music player grid.  Don’t forget to save your changes.

Set up the workspace on your new grid

The first task is to get a nice big workspace, and make sure that it is displaying the Music Player workspace.

• Resize the workspace to a large, square area (with space for some buttons nearby).

• Click on the Edit grid settings link in the bar on the left.
• Select the Commands tab and click on the Edit grid commands button.
• Click on Add a command.
• Type in music into the search bar and select the Music Player workspace command, click Ok.

The workspace will now be changed to Music Player every time you jump to this grid.  We also want to ensure that when we leave the grid after selecting some music, the workspace changes back to our preferred workspace for communication.

• Select the Jump back cell (if you don't have one then you need to create one).
• Double-click on the cell to edit it, and then click on Add a command.
• Add the Default Workspace command (it is in the Change workspace category).

Great!  Now when we jump away from the grid it will change back to our default workspace (the one that is active when the user starts).

Add some music player controls

Next we want to add some cells to the grid to control the music player.

• Select a blank cell, and double-click to edit it.
• Click on Add a command.
• Choose the Play command for the cell.
• Make another cell with the Stop command, Pause, Next and one for List all Music.

You now have a basic music player!

Add in some cells for Symbol users to select music

To add in the cells for selecting particular songs using symbols.

• Select a blank cell, and double-click to edit it.
• Click on Add a command.
• Choose the Open media file command, this will add the song to the list.
•  To make sure the song plays choose the Play command for the same cell.
• Click on Browse for file…

• Select the track you want to play and click on Open.
• Change the picture and Cell Text for the cell to help the user know what is in the cell.
• Click on Ok and now you have your music cell
• To make more cells simply copy and paste this first cell and change the song by clicking on Browse for file… 

Why not experiment with having a page for each album, don’t forget you can duplicate grids to make this easier and quicker.