Rockbox Development > Feature Ideas
Streamline playlist handling
bluebrother:
--- Quote from: jim234567 on June 10, 2011, 06:02:34 PM ---When I download these .m3u files into the folder on my player, they are not detected in any way when the database is initialized.
--- End quote ---
That's because the database does NOT handle playlists at all. The database basically gives you some searches of the files present based on their metadata to select from. How would a playlist fit into that?
--- Quote ---So I have to manually navigate on the player itself (using the tiny buttons & screen) to the folder where they are (which has thousands of files & folders in it), find the first .m3u list, then load ("play") the list so that it is now loaded into the dynamic playlist memory.
--- End quote ---
Save them all in the same folder (like the root of the SD card) using relative paths. Winamp should be able to do that. Then you only need to navigate to a single folder.
jim234567:
--- Quote from: bluebrother on June 11, 2011, 04:35:54 PM ---
--- Quote from: jim234567 on June 10, 2011, 06:02:34 PM ---When I download these .m3u files into the folder on my player, they are not detected in any way when the database is initialized.
--- End quote ---
That's because the database does NOT handle playlists at all. The database basically gives you some searches of the files present based on their metadata to select from. How would a playlist fit into that?
--- Quote ---So I have to manually navigate on the player itself (using the tiny buttons & screen) to the folder where they are (which has thousands of files & folders in it), find the first .m3u list, then load ("play") the list so that it is now loaded into the dynamic playlist memory.
--- End quote ---
Save them all in the same folder (like the root of the SD card) using relative paths. Winamp should be able to do that. Then you only need to navigate to a single folder.
--- End quote ---
You don't think Rockbox's database should be able to detect them exactly like how the Sansa firmware (and probably most others) does? Do you not think it should be easy for users to get to their playlists in RB?? Why even have "Playlists" as an option on RB's main menu at all then? ???
Like Chronon just said, saving them to the SD's root or anywhere else does nothing to generate "/microSD1/" in the filepaths in the list in order to have a playlist work from the Playlist menu (you cannot even use < or > for a folder name in Windows anyway, so you couldn't even create a folder named that on your computer to trick Winamp into creating such a path).
You don't seem to have much concern for this issue at all... Why is that?
bluebrother:
--- Quote from: jim234567 on June 11, 2011, 07:00:48 PM ---You don't think Rockbox's database should be able to detect them exactly like how the Sansa firmware (and probably most others) does? Do you not think it should be easy for users to get to their playlists in RB?? Why even have "Playlists" as an option on RB's main menu at all then? ???
--- End quote ---
Please don't mix up things here. I haven't said if the database should or shouldn't do anything with playlists. I simply stated the current state. And as such it doesn't handle playlists. Also, please make the concept for picking files clear to yourself:
* Use the file browser. In this case a dynamic playlist is generated for you on the fly. No need for any database thing: it's just a file browser like Windows Explorer.
* Use some kind of database. A database for media files usually (as the Rockbox one does) indexes the media files based on metadata. You can then group by those metadata and search for specific entries. If you start playback from the database a dynamic playlist is generated based on the search.
Where do you put playlists in for this? A playlist has no metadata so it cannot be indexed for the database. That's simply a fact. So you end up with using a file browser to select the playlist file you want to use, and that's exactly what Rockbox does. If there really is a sensible way to "index" a playlist file please explain it to me.
So this ends up with two options left: either use the file browser that's already there. No additional code that can have bugs. Or use a file browser that's restricted to a specific folder. That's exactly what the "Playlist Catalog" does, and this is also used as shortcut when saving playlists via the Playlist Catalog. You don't need to use that, and putting some arbitrary limitation to a specific folder here would be simply nonsense.
--- Quote ---Like Chronon just said, saving them to the SD's root or anywhere else does nothing to generate "/microSD1/" in the filepaths in the list in order to have a playlist work from the Playlist menu (you cannot even use < or > for a folder name in Windows anyway, so you couldn't even create a folder named that on your computer to trick Winamp into creating such a path).
--- End quote ---
Rockbox happily accepts playlists with relative paths. If you store the playlist in the root folder of the SD card, and the playlist entries are relative to that (or even absolute based on the drive letter Windows assigns to the SD card) it should work without any need for adjustments. I haven't tried the absolute part variant but relative paths definitely work. I used them in the past.
--- Quote ---You don't seem to have much concern for this issue at all... Why is that?
--- End quote ---
Apart from you putting some judgement in my post that isn't there: am I supposed to have concern about that issue? Am I needed to? And is that of relevance?
saratoga:
--- Quote from: jim234567 on June 11, 2011, 07:00:48 PM ---You don't think Rockbox's database should be able to detect them exactly like how the Sansa firmware (and probably most others) does?
--- End quote ---
I don't know what the Sandisk firmware does, but I agree that its a bad idea to have playlists show up in the database. That really wouldn't make very much sense at all since the purpose of the database is to generate new playlists from data stored in it. Having it store existing playlists would be fairly pointless.
--- Quote from: jim234567 on June 11, 2011, 07:00:48 PM ---Like Chronon just said, saving them to the SD's root or anywhere else does nothing to generate "/microSD1/"
--- End quote ---
If they're on the SD card they don't need that.
jim234567:
Well, I see you guys are pretty adamant about this, as all you continue to keep suggesting are workarounds for a deficiency in Rockbox's handling of playlists (at least Chronon seemed to finally catch on what the issue is)
But since you asked...
--- Quote ---Where do you put playlists in for this? A playlist has no metadata so it cannot be indexed for the database. That's simply a fact. So you end up with using a file browser to select the playlist file you want to use, and that's exactly what Rockbox does. If there really is a sensible way to "index" a playlist file please explain it to me.
--- End quote ---
I'm only suggesting it handle it like other players do.
When it's scanning your files ("Refreshing", to use Sansa's word for it), it automatically takes any playlist file it finds, (I assume scans it and generates whatever code it needs for it internally) and then shows it under a heading called "Playlists" on it's menu where it can easily be found by the user.
With Rockbox, I have to go digging amongst thousands of files & folders to find each of my lists that are scattered about them, then go through this arduous re-saving procedure I already explained earlier to get the list to show itself under Playlists.
What it could simply do is upon finding a playlist file, it can scan it, then simply create a new file for itself the same name as the list scanned, and drop it in the Playlist folder automatically. Very simple. Then when the user opens Playlists on the main menu, he/she would see it already there, all he has to do is select it, and it will load and play.
I'm lost as to why understanding of such a basic function is so elusive here. It has nothing at all to do with the player's dynamic playlist thing, I'm talking about separate lists the user has created himself.
If no one on the RB team wishes to accommodate user's playlists, then I guess I have to join the ranks of all the others here who wish to customize their menus to get rid of useless clutter such as this "Playlists" thing, as it serves absolutely no purpose being on the menu whatsoever if I'm supposed to do it like you keep telling me to do and launch the playlist from my SD card. But from my searches of the forum, you guys also seem adamant about not wanting anyone to make the menu easier for them to use either. So I guess that one's apparently out as well.
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