Switch to simple terminal UI; auto-launch VLC

Replace the textual TUI with a lightweight terminal UI and add auto-launch for VLC. Main changes: start VLC process on supported platforms, run the fetch loop via asyncio.run, and use src.front.simpleTerm.fetchThose to render status/lyrics in the console. Add lyrics support in fetching, introduce src/util/print for colored logging, and harden LastFM calls (artist sanitization and exception logging). Remove config.json from the repo and add it to .gitignore, update requirements and build.spec (remove some hiddenimports and adjust deps), and add a preview image. Deleted the old textual TUI (src/front/tui.py) and replaced it with src/front/simpleTerm.py. And also, `README.md` changes.

(Written By Co-Pilot)

Author: daveberrys

.gitignore

@@ -5,4 +5,8 @@ __pycache__
 *.pyc
 
 build
-dist
+dist
+
+desktop.ini
+config.json
+VLC.UTILS.CONFIG.json

README.md

@@ -7,25 +7,24 @@
    <img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/Made%20with-Python-3776AB?style=flat-square&logo=python&logoColor=white"/>
    <!-- <img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/Intergraded%20with-Last.fm-D51007?style=flat-square&logo=last.fm&logoColor=white"/>
    <img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/Intergraded%20with-Discord%20RPC-5663f7?style=flat-square&logo=discord&logoColor=white"/> -->
+   
+   <img src="readme/Preview.png" alt="preview"/>
 </div>
 
 ## Features
-- **Discord RPC**: Shows what you're listening to with sync timers and high-quality album art.
+- **Discord RPC**: Shows what you're listening to with sync timed and album art.
 - **Last.fm**: Automatic "Now Playing" updates and threshold-based scrobbling.
-- **TUI**: A beautiful terminal interface with a live progress bar and album info.
 - **Cross-Platform**: Ready to be compiled for Windows, macOS, and Linux.
 
 ## Setup
-1. **VLC Configuration**:
-   - Open VLC -> Tools -> Preferences -> All.
-   - Interface -> Main interfaces -> Check "Web".
-   - Interface -> Main interfaces -> Lua -> Set a **Lua Password** (e.g., `helloworld`).
-2. **Settings**:
+1. **Settings**:
    - Create a config.json in the root folder (see config.json template).
    - Enter your VLC password, Discord Application Client ID (Not your UserID), and Last.fm API credentials.
+2. **Opening the app**:
+   - Just open the tool and that's it.
 
-## Running the software
-### Running the software from source
+## Running the tool
+### Running the tool from source
 1. Make sure you have [Python](https://python.org/) installed.
 2. Clone the repository and navigate into it.
 3. Open the `config.json` and configure the file.
@@ -34,7 +33,7 @@
 6. Install dependencies: `pip install -r requirements.txt`
 7. Run: `python main.py`
 
-### Compile the software from source
+### Compile the tool from source
 1. Make sure you have [Python](https://python.org/) installed.
 2. Clone the repository and navigate into it.
 3. Open Powershell (Reccomended) or Command Prompt.
@@ -43,17 +42,17 @@
 6. Run: `pyinstaller build.spec`
 7. Navigate to `dist/`
 8. Create the `config.json` and configure the file.
-9. Open the software
+9. Open the tool
 
-### Download the software from nightly.link
+### Download the tool from nightly.link
 1. Download the one that's compatible with your operating system
-  - Windows: https://nightly.link/daveberrys/VLC.UTILS/workflows/building/main/VLC.UTILS-Windows.zip
-  - macOS: https://nightly.link/daveberrys/VLC.UTILS/workflows/building/main/VLC.UTILS-MacOS.zip
-  - Linux: https://nightly.link/daveberrys/VLC.UTILS/workflows/building/main/VLC.UTILS-Linux.zip
+      - Windows: https://nightly.link/daveberrys/VLC.UTILS/workflows/building/main/VLC.UTILS-Windows.zip
+      - macOS: https://nightly.link/daveberrys/VLC.UTILS/workflows/building/main/VLC.UTILS-MacOS.zip
+      - Linux: https://nightly.link/daveberrys/VLC.UTILS/workflows/building/main/VLC.UTILS-Linux.zip
 2. Create a new folder
 3. Move `VLC.UTILS` to the new folder
 4. Create the `config.json` and configure the file.
-5. Open the software
+5. Open the tool
 
 > [!CAUTION]
-> Some of the code is made by AI (Gemini 3.0 Flash). But I've taken quiz from them and checked the code and everything is fine. Don't worry about your shit being stolen. The reason why I use LLMs is because of two things. ADHD and short-term memory loss. I struggle with trying to remember things and I need the usage of LLM to help me out on giving me quizzes so I remember and I re-learn it again.
+> Some of the code is made by AI (Gemini 3.0 Flash). But I've taken quiz from them and checked the code and everything is fine. Don't worry about your shit being stolen. The reason why I use LLMs is because of two things. ADHD and short-term memory loss. I struggle with trying to remember things and I need the usage of LLM to help me out on giving me quizzes so I remember and I re-learn it again.

build.spec

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import os
 from PyInstaller.utils.hooks import collect_all
 
 datas, binaries, existing_hiddenimports = collect_all('textual')
-hiddenimports = existing_hiddenimports + ['pypresence', 'pylast', 'requests', 'termcolor', 'rich', 'rich._unicode_data.unicode17-0-0']
+hiddenimports = existing_hiddenimports + ['pypresence', 'pylast', 'requests', 'termcolor']
 
 block_cipher = None
 

config.json

@@ -1,21 +1,54 @@
 import asyncio
-import time
 import json
-from src.fetching import getVlcStatus
+import os
+import subprocess
+import time
+from sys import platform
+
 from src.discordrpc import DiscordRPC
+from src.fetching import getVlcStatus
+from src.front.simpleTerm import fetchThose
 from src.lastfm import LastFM
-from src.front.tui import VlcTui
+import src.util.print as print
 
-class VlcApp(VlcTui):
+class VlcApp:
     def __init__(self, config):
-        super().__init__()
         self.config = config
         self.lastTrackID = None
         self.currentArt = "vlc"
         self.scrobbled = False
         self.isShowing = False
+        self.vlc_process = None
+
+    def startup(self):
+        path = ""
+        if platform == "win32":
+            if os.path.exists("C:\\Program Files\\VideoLAN\\VLC\\vlc.exe"):
+                path = "C:\\Program Files\\VideoLAN\\VLC\\vlc.exe"
+            elif os.path.exists("C:\\Program Files (x86)\\VideoLAN\\VLC\\vlc.exe"):
+                path = "C:\\Program Files (x86)\\VideoLAN\\VLC\\vlc.exe"
+        elif platform == "darwin":
+            if os.path.exists("/Applications/VLC.app/Contents/MacOS/VLC"):
+                path = "/Applications/VLC.app/Contents/MacOS/VLC"
+            elif os.path.exists("/Applications/VLC.app"):
+                path = "/Applications/VLC.app"
+        elif platform == "linux":
+            if os.path.exists("/usr/bin/vlc"):
+                path = "/usr/bin/vlc"
+            elif os.path.exists(
+                "/var/lib/flatpak/app/org.videolan.VLC/x86_64/stable/active/export/bin/org.videolan.VLC"
+            ):
+                path = "/var/lib/flatpak/app/org.videolan.VLC/x86_64/stable/active/export/bin/org.videolan.VLC"
+            elif os.path.exists("/snap/bin/vlc"):
+                path = "/snap/bin/vlc"
 
-    async def on_mount(self):
+        if path:
+            self.vlc_process = subprocess.Popen([path, "--extraintf=http"])
+        else:
+            print("VLC not found or unsupported platform.")
+
+    async def run(self):
+        self.startup()
         self.rpc = DiscordRPC(self.config["discordID"])
         self.lfm = LastFM(
             self.config["lfmKey"],
@@ -24,13 +57,35 @@ async def on_mount(self):
             self.config["lfmPass"],
         )
         await self.rpc.connect()
-        self.run_worker(self.fetcherLoop())
+        await self.fetcherLoop()
 
     async def fetcherLoop(self):
         await asyncio.sleep(0.1)
+
         while True:
+            if self.vlc_process and self.vlc_process.poll() is not None:
+                print("VLC closed. Exiting...")
+                await self.rpc.clear()
+                return
+
             status = getVlcStatus(self.config["vlcPassword"], self.config["vlcPort"])
 
+            if isinstance(status, dict):
+                fetchThose(
+                    status["title"],
+                    status["artist"],
+                    status["album"],
+                    status["state"],
+                    status["position"],
+                    status["length"],
+                    self.config["refreshRate"],
+                    self.scrobbled,
+                    status["lyrics"],
+                )
+            else:
+                os.system("cls" if os.name == "nt" else "clear")
+                print(status)
+
             if isinstance(status, dict) and status["state"] == "playing":
                 trackID = f"{status['title']} - {status['artist']}"
 
@@ -46,13 +101,6 @@ async def fetcherLoop(self):
                     self.scrobbled = False
                     self.isShowing = True
 
-                elif not self.isShowing:
-                    self.lfm.updateNowPlaying(
-                        status["artist"], status["title"], status["album"]
-                    )
-                    await self.rpc.updateStatus(status, self.currentArt)
-                    self.isShowing = True
-
                 if not self.scrobbled and status["length"] > 30:
                     threshold = min(status["length"] / 2, 240)
                     if status["position"] >= threshold:
@@ -62,25 +110,31 @@ async def fetcherLoop(self):
                             status["album"],
                             int(time.time()),
                         )
-                        self.lfm.updateNowPlaying(
-                            status["artist"], status["title"], status["album"]
-                        )
                         self.scrobbled = True
-
-                self.updateInfo(status, self.currentArt)
-
-            elif isinstance(status, dict) and status["state"] != "playing":
+            else:
                 if self.isShowing:
                     await self.rpc.clear()
                     self.isShowing = False
-                self.updateInfo(status, self.currentArt)
+                    self.scrobbled = False
 
             await asyncio.sleep(self.config["refreshRate"])
 
 
+def loadConfig():
+    if os.path.exists("config.json"):
+        with open("config.json", "r") as f:
+            config = json.load(f)
+    elif os.path.exists("VLC.UTILS.CONFIG.json"):
+        with open("VLC.UTILS.CONFIG.json", "r") as f:
+            config = json.load(f)
+    else:
+        print.error("Config not found.")
+        exit()
+    return config
+
+
 if __name__ == "__main__":
-    with open("config.json", "r") as f:
-        config = json.load(f)
+    config = loadConfig()
 
     app = VlcApp(config)
-    app.run()
+    asyncio.run(app.run())

main.py

@@ -2,5 +2,4 @@ pypresence
 pylast
 requests
 termcolor
-textual
 pyinstaller

readme/Preview.png

@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ def getVlcStatus(password, port, host="localhost"):
                 "title": meta.get('title', 'Unknown Title'),
                 "artist": meta.get('artist', 'Unknown Artist'),
                 "album": meta.get('album', 'Unknown Album'),
+                "lyrics": meta.get('LYRICS', 'Unknown Lyrics'),
                 "position": data.get('time', 0),
                 "length": data.get('length', 0),
                 "state": data.get('state', 'stopped')

requirements.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,81 @@
+import os
+import re
+from time import sleep
+
+
+def formatTime(seconds):
+    mins, secs = divmod(seconds, 60)
+    return f"{mins:02}:{secs:02}"
+
+
+def stateThis(state):
+    stateUse = ""
+    if state == "playing":
+        stateUse = ">"
+    elif state == "paused":
+        stateUse = "||"
+    else:
+        stateUse = "?"
+    return stateUse
+
+
+def lyricsThis(lyrics, position):
+    outputLines = []
+    if lyrics and lyrics != "Unknown Lyrics":
+        lyrics_lines = lyrics.strip().split("\n")
+        timedLyrics = []
+        time_pattern = re.compile(r"\[(\d{2}):(\d{2})(?:\.\d{2})?\]\s*(.*)")
+
+        for line in lyrics_lines:
+            match = time_pattern.match(line)
+            if match:
+                minutes = int(match.group(1))
+                seconds = int(match.group(2))
+                text = match.group(3)
+                timedLyrics.append({"time": minutes * 60 + seconds, "text": text})
+
+        if timedLyrics:
+            currentLyricText = "..."
+            for i in range(len(timedLyrics)):
+                if timedLyrics[i]["time"] <= position:
+                    currentLyricText = timedLyrics[i]["text"]
+                    if (
+                        i + 1 < len(timedLyrics)
+                        and position < timedLyrics[i + 1]["time"]
+                    ):
+                        break
+                elif timedLyrics[i]["time"] > position:
+                    break
+            outputLines.append(f"{currentLyricText}")
+        else:
+            outputLines.extend(lyrics_lines)
+    else:
+        outputLines.append("No lyrics available.")
+    return "\n".join(outputLines)
+
+
+def fetchThose(
+    song,
+    artist,
+    album,
+    state,
+    position,
+    length,
+    refreshRate,
+    scrobbled,
+    lyrics,
+):
+    os.system("cls" if os.name == "nt" else "clear")
+
+    print("~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ VLC.UTILS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~")
+    print(f"Song: {song}")
+    print(f"Artist: {artist}")
+    print(f"Album: {album}")
+    print("~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~")
+    print(f"{stateThis(state)} - {formatTime(position)} / {formatTime(length)}")
+    print("~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ LAST.FM ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~")
+    print(f"Scrobbled: {scrobbled}")
+    print("~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  LYRIC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~")
+    print(lyricsThis(lyrics, position))
+
+    sleep(refreshRate)