StreamUpdater (VB.NET / WPF)

A conversion of the original WinDev 2026 StreamUpdater utility to Visual Basic .NET on WPF (.NET 8). It watches a JSON "now-playing" file and pushes the current track to a streaming/metadata target, with a light and dark theme option.

Requirements

• .NET 8 SDK (build) / .NET 8 Desktop Runtime (run) — net8.0-windows
• Windows (uses WPF + a WinForms NotifyIcon for the system tray)

Build & run

dotnet build            # or open StreamUpdater.sln in Visual Studio 2022
dotnet run --project StreamUpdater.vbproj

The compiled StreamUpdater.exe reads its configuration from StreamUpdater.ini in the same folder as the executable (the fCurrentDir equivalent of the original).

How it maps to the original

Original (WinDev)	This project
WIN_Main	Windows/MainWindow.xaml(.vb) — status, timeout progress bar, tray, watch pipeline
WIN_Settings	Windows/SettingsWindow.xaml(.vb) — all 7 modes, tabbed
WIN_Display	Windows/DisplayWindow.xaml(.vb) — default text / time-out / source flags
WIN_programs	Windows/HourTextWindow (Programs.ini, prefix Prog_Day)
WIN_Standaard_Tekst	Windows/HourTextWindow (Standard.ini, prefix StdTXT_Day)
WIN_About	Windows/AboutWindow.xaml(.vb)
LeesIni() / settings save	Models/AppSettings.vb (Load / Save)
fTrackFile / TrackingCallback	Services/TrackWatcher.vb (FileSystemWatcher)
DataOntvangst3 / Send_DTS / SendRP / SendRDS / StartFTP	Services/StreamSender.vb
INIRead / INIWrite	Services/IniFile.vb

Output modes (Mode in [Common], values 1..7)

1. Icecast – HTTP admin/metadata?mode=updinfo
2. RDS – TCP socket (Deva / Orban); Database sub-type is not ported, see below
3. Shoutcast – HTTP admin.cgi?mode=updinfo
4. RadioPlayer – HTTP POST to the ingest URL
5. Website – writes the file locally then uploads via FTP
6. BUTT – writes a local text file
7. DTS – HTTP GET ?format=&key=&cid=&title=&artist=&duration=

Testing a target

The Settings window has a Test verzenden button. It sends a sample track (Test Artist – Test Title) through the currently-selected mode using the values on screen (without saving), and shows the result — handy for validating an address/credentials before committing.

The RDS tab additionally has a Test DB-verbinding button that pings the MySQL/MariaDB server (SELECT 1) using the on-screen RDS values, so you can validate database connectivity on its own, separate from a full send.

Character encoding (accented / Unicode text)

Accented and Unicode characters (é, à, è, ë, ç, €, …) are preserved end to end:

• Reading the watch file honours a UTF-8/UTF-16 BOM, otherwise tries strict UTF-8 and falls back to Windows-1252 (ANSI) for legacy files — so both modern UTF-8 and older ANSI producers are read correctly.
• Sending uses UTF-8: HTTP targets (Icecast/Shoutcast/RadioPlayer/DTS) percent-encode the values as UTF-8 (Icecast also sends charset=UTF-8); the Website/BUTT file outputs are written as UTF-8. & is encoded exactly once (%26).

Error logging & debug mode

Errors are never shown as a pop-up during normal operation — every failed send is written to a daily log file:

<program folder>\LOG\yyyy-MM-dd.log

Each entry is [timestamp] ERROR: <mode>: <status>. The LOG folder is created automatically.

The Info tab has a Debugmodus checkbox (persisted to [App] Debug). It controls how much is logged: with it off, the concise status is logged; with it on, the full diagnostic is also logged — for HTTP targets (Icecast/Shoutcast/RadioPlayer/DTS) the request URL, HTTP status and response body; for sockets/FTP/database the full exception.

The manual Test verzenden / Test DB-verbinding buttons still show their result (and, in debug mode, the detail) in a dialog, since those are direct feedback to a button press.

Theme

Light/dark is chosen from the Weergave menu and persisted to [App] DarkTheme in the INI. Palettes live in Themes/Light.xaml and Themes/Dark.xaml; Themes/Controls.xaml holds the shared control styles. Switching is live (Services/ThemeManager.vb).

Known deviations from the original

• RDS "Database" encoder (type 3) originally used WinDev's HFSQL engine (HDescribeConnection / HAdd on the WebMaster database). This port targets MySQL/MariaDB instead (via the MySqlConnector package): it INSERTs into a Messages table with columns TimeStamp (DATETIME), Editions (INT), TxtMessage (VARCHAR/TEXT) — the schema taken from the original project. Configure server/port/user/password on the RDS settings tab plus the new Databasenaam field (default WebMaster). The connection + insert code is verified; a live insert needs your actual database with that table. Suggested table:

  CREATE TABLE Messages (
    MessagesID INT AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
    TimeStamp  DATETIME,
    Editions   INT,
    TxtMessage VARCHAR(255)
  );

  Deva and Orban RDS (TCP sockets) work as before.

• DTS request encoding. Send_DTS in the original URL-encoded the entire URL; this port URL-encodes the individual query values instead (the correct, working behaviour — verified against a local listener).

• Passwords are shown/stored as plain text in the settings UI and INI, matching the original INI format (the file already stored them unencrypted).

• FTP upload uses the built-in FtpWebRequest (marked obsolete in .NET but still functional).

Watch file format

{ "artist": "CELINE DION", "title": "POUR QUE TU M'AIMES ENCORE", "year": "1995", "duration": "04:33", "infoType": 0 }

infoType 0 or 1 = song (artist + title, per InfoOrder); any other value = single-line text.