PlayList - Help
PlayList is a plug-in component that helps sort, filter, and organise M3U style PlayLists. This is the Help document for PlayList.
Controls
The general controls for PlayList include the list of tracks (with current text filter), a text field for supplying filter text, and a checkbox to determine next selection behaviour.
PlayList
The PlayList table forms the 'center' and main component of the PlayList component. It will display the current playlist as filtered according to the filter text.
Click on any track in the PlayList to have that track acted on. The action will vary from program to program. E.G. DukeBox will open the track and play it in Tracker, whereas PlayList-O will either show the information on the track, or open it in the default player for the system.
Click the column headings to sort by #, title, artist or length. Click again to reverse the sort order.
Text Filter
On the top left of the PlayList is a text field for finding tracks.
Type some text to show only those tracks that contain the given text as found in the #, title, artist or length. The 'next' track will be selected from the play list entries that match the text filter.
Random
On the top right of the PlayList is a checkbox for specifying the 'next track' behaviour.
When selected, any call to get the next track will be any track from the playlist (as currently filtered).
If unchecked, the next track will be whatever row immediately follows the current selection. If the last or no track is selected, the 'next' will be the first track in the table.
Clear History
On the bottom of the PlayList is a button to Clear History. You will be prompted to clear
the history.
This button is useful for when you have played the entire play list, but would like to repeat it.
History
PlayList remembers tracks already played from the current playlist, and presents them in the History pop-up. Select any track from the history and activate the OK button, to instantly jump back to that track.
To view the history, either activate the Information | Play List | History
menu item, or in usages that provide a full-screen mode, the keyboard shortcut h can be used.
Normally, only tracks that have not yet been played will be returned by a call to get the 'next' track.
When there are 0 tracks in the current playlist as filtered, a pop-up will be produced to warn that there are
No (unplayed) tracks to choose from.
Related Tools
Access to some other tools might be very handy for the audiophiles out there.
PlayList Compiler
The PlayList component does not have the ability to compile or create playlists, only read them. This is because it lacks the ability to read the extended information tags embedded in the tracks - that reveal the title, artist name and track duration (time).
When creating a playlist, it is necessary to have the software include that artist/title/duration information, so it can later be read by the PlayList component.
