Selecting multiple songs in playlist view

[sammydee]

Is there (or is there likely to be) a feature for selecting multiple songs, and manipulating them in the current playlist view (or in the whole filesystem for that matter).

I am thinking something along the lines of shift/select or control/select in linux or windows for selecting files. This option would be quite useful for deleting a whole album ahead in the playlist, or removing the entire contents of a playlist. It would also enable you to move whole albums around as one object within a playlist. This idea could possibly be extended so that multiple songs could be inserted into a playlist, ie you would highlight exactly the songs you wanted from a folder and insert those. It could be done by holding down the record button maybe (on the iriver h140 anyway).

Am I making any sense? I haven't seen anything like it around, would it be very difficult to code?

Regards,
Sam

[delorean90]

well there somewhat already is a way to move whole albums, you just hold the selct button over the album or artistyou want, which will bring up the context menu. then you select copy, and then navigate to where you want the copy pasted, hold the select button and select paste, and then you have moved more than one file. i do agree with your idee though, mutiple selection of files would be nicee, and seems easy to impliment, place your idea in the feature request section, and the Devs. will get to it sooner or later

[sammydee]

Ok, I put it here:

http://www.rockbox.org/tracker/task/6907

Sam

[delorean90]

good idea the devs will be proud

[Nate!]

I think this would be a great playlist manipulation feature.  

As was stated before, you can move whole albums around with the cut and paste method.  You just can't move multiple files.

[delorean90]

it seems easy enough to implement, like somehow creating a temporary directory to put all the files you select into and then when you select paste, all the files in the temporary folder will be placed where you tell it to. thats one way to implement what the OP requested. another way, which seems more like what the OP was talking about, would be to hold the select button while simultaniously pressing the up or down button which would in theroy select multiple files. i could be totally wrong though, feel free to correct me or come up with a better solution

[soap]

it seems easy enough to implement,

You know the answer to such a statement is, and will always be:
"If it is so easy - do it."
 

. another way, which seems more like what the OP was talking about, would be to hold the select button while simultaneously pressing the up or down button which would in theory select multiple files.

Many (most/all?) of the targets can not (as a limitation of hardware) read more than one button press at a time.

I understand both the desire for such a feature, and also the usefullness of such a feature.  The questions start with:
1-Do you want it bad enough to do it?
2-If not can you convince someone of the merits of doing it?
3-If yes to one or two - is there a free button to associate with this new function?
4-If no to four - is there a button association which is less important than this one you could steal?

[Llorean]

My imagining of implementing it was replacing an option in the quick-menu (the file view mode) with a "Multiselect" yes/no option. When on, clicking Select (not Right) on a file highlights it, but doesn't invoke it (play, run, etc). Then you can select multiple files easily.

All you'd need is something X bits long, where X is the max files in folder (or max playlist size, if it's to be used there as well) value to keep track of your selections, and disallow selecting files across multiple folders (not a big sacrifice I think).

[delorean90]

oh, sorry about the assuming 'it is eay to do statement' . i assumed that like in rockboy there was a button that could be pressed at the same time as the other, but the solution you explained seems easier then that solution.

[gorman]

My imagining of implementing it was replacing an option in the quick-menu (the file view mode) with a "Multiselect" yes/no option. When on, clicking Select (not Right) on a file highlights it, but doesn't invoke it (play, run, etc). Then you can select multiple files easily.

All you'd need is something X bits long, where X is the max files in folder (or max playlist size, if it's to be used there as well) value to keep track of your selections, and disallow selecting files across multiple folders (not a big sacrifice I think).

Would this be doable? Alternatively, coming from a Rio Karma, is there something similar to the Remove Artist/Album/Genre from a playlist? On long playlists it came quite handy when creating them on the go.

And as this is my first post here, thanks to all the developers for this magnificent software.