foo_artgrab (Artwork Grabber)

A foobar2000 component that lets you browse and download album artwork from multiple online sources. Hover over the artwork panel in foo_artwork to reveal a download icon, or right-click any track and select Utilities > Grab artwork. Browse a gallery of results, preview full-size images, and save your pick as JPEG or PNG to the album folder.

Features

• Searches only the APIs enabled in foo_artwork preferences (iTunes, Deezer, Last.fm, MusicBrainz/CoverArtArchive, Discogs)
• Up to 3 results per API, displayed progressively as they arrive
• Full-size image preview with fit-to-window / original-size toggle and pan/drag
• Save as JPEG or PNG (configurable in preferences)
• Shift+Save opens a Save As dialog for custom filename/location
• Configurable overwrite behavior (ask / always / skip)
• Right-click context menu: Utilities > Grab artwork
• Inherits API keys and enabled API settings from foo_artwork automatically
• Broad Unicode normalization for matching (Latin, Cyrillic, Greek)
• Download icon hidden for internet streams (radio, YouTube, etc.)

Requirements

• foobar2000 v1.6+ (64-bit recommended)
• foo_artwork
• API keys for Last.fm and Discogs configured in foo_artwork preferences

iTunes, Deezer, and MusicBrainz require no API keys.

Installation

Copy foo_artgrab.dll into foobar2000's components directory and restart foobar2000.

When foo_artwork is also installed, a download arrow icon appears in the bottom-left corner of the artwork panel on mouse hover.

Usage

1. Right-click a track and select Utilities > Grab artwork, or hover over the foo_artwork panel and click the download arrow icon
2. Browse the gallery of results from all enabled APIs
3. Click a thumbnail to select it; double-click to open a full-size preview
4. Click Save to write the selected image to the album folder
5. Hold Shift and click Save to choose a custom filename/location

Preferences

Found under Preferences > Tools > Artwork Grabber.

Setting	Default	Description
Cover filename	Cover.jpg	Default filename written to the album folder
Back cover filename	Back.jpg	Filename for back cover images
Artist image	Artist.jpg	Filename for artist images
Save format	JPEG	Save as JPEG or PNG (filenames update automatically)
Overwrite behavior	Ask every time	Ask / Always overwrite / Skip if exists
JPEG quality	95	Encoding quality (50-100, disabled when format is PNG)
Max results per API	3	How many images to fetch per API (1-5)
Request timeout	10s	HTTP timeout per request
Include back covers	Off	Fetch back covers from MusicBrainz/Discogs
Include artist images	Off	Fetch artist images from Deezer

API keys and enabled APIs are configured in Preferences > Tools > Artwork Display (foo_artwork).

Building from source

Prerequisites

• Visual Studio 2022 (v143 toolset)
• Windows 10 SDK

Build

The project file is at src/foo_artgrab.vcxproj. The src/columns_ui/ directory contains the pre-built foobar2000 SDK and Columns UI SDK libraries. Both Win32 and x64 platforms are supported.

msbuild src\foo_artgrab.vcxproj /p:Configuration=Release /p:Platform=x64
msbuild src\foo_artgrab.vcxproj /p:Configuration=Release /p:Platform=Win32

Output DLLs are written to x64\Release\foo_artgrab.dll and Win32\Release\foo_artgrab.dll respectively.

foo_artwork changes

foo_artgrab requires a small patch to foo_artwork to add the download icon overlay and exported functions. The modified foo_artwork source files are in foo_artwork-SRC/. The key changes are:

• sdk_main.cpp -- exported functions: foo_artwork_get_lastfm_key, foo_artwork_get_discogs_key, foo_artwork_get_discogs_consumer_key, foo_artwork_get_discogs_consumer_secret, foo_artwork_is_api_enabled
• foo_artwork.def -- lists the exports
• ui_element.cpp -- DUI panel: download icon overlay on mouse hover, click opens foo_artgrab gallery
• artwork_panel_cui.cpp -- CUI panel: download icon overlay on mouse hover, click opens foo_artgrab gallery

Architecture

foo_artgrab is a standalone DLL with no compile-time dependency on foo_artwork. The two components communicate at runtime via GetModuleHandle/GetProcAddress:

• foo_artwork -> foo_artgrab: calls foo_artgrab_open(artist, album, file_path) when the download icon is clicked
• foo_artgrab -> foo_artwork: reads API keys via foo_artwork_get_lastfm_key() etc., and checks which APIs are enabled via foo_artwork_is_api_enabled(api_name)

If either component is missing, the other continues to function normally.

Source layout

src/
  main.cpp                  Component registration
  artgrab_entry.cpp/h       Exported C function, lifecycle, foo_artwork key/API reading
  artgrab_api.cpp/h         Multi-result API query engine (enabled APIs only, parallel)
  artgrab_gallery.cpp/h     Gallery dialog (ATL CWindowImpl, thumbnail grid)
  artgrab_preview.cpp/h     Full-size image preview popup
  artgrab_preferences.cpp/h Preferences page (save settings only)
  artgrab_contextmenu.cpp   Right-click context menu integration
  artgrab_utils.cpp/h       String matching, URL encoding, image validation, Unicode normalization
  async_io_manager.cpp/h    Thread pool, WinHTTP, caching (from foo_artwork)
  webp_decoder.cpp/h        WebP image support (from foo_artwork)
  nlohmann/                 JSON library (header-only)
  columns_ui/               foobar2000 SDK + Columns UI SDK (pre-built libs)
  resource.h                Dialog/control IDs
  foo_artgrab.rc            Dialog resources
  foo_artgrab.def           DLL exports
  foo_artgrab.vcxproj       MSBuild project

License

See individual source files for licensing information.

Support Development

If you find these components useful, consider supporting development:

Platform	Payment Methods
Ko-fi	Cards, PayPal

Your support helps cover development time and enables new features. Thank you! 🙏

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支持开发

如果您觉得这些组件有用，请考虑支持开发：

平台	支付方式
Ko-fi	银行卡、PayPal

您的支持有助于支付开发时间并实现新功能。谢谢！🙏

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Feature Requests: Paid feature requests are available for supporters. Contact me on Discord to discuss.

功能请求： 为支持者提供付费功能请求。请在 Discord 上联系我 进行讨论。