path: root/doc/en/howto-playlist.docbook

<sect1 id="howto-playlist">
<title>Playlist</title>

<sect2 id="howto-playlist-builtin">
<title>Current playlist</title>

<para>&kplayer; keeps a list of files, directories, streams, tracks, titles and
channels that are being played or are going to be played or have recently been
played. It shows the current playlist in a drop down box on the
<link linkend="parts-toolbar-playlist">playlist toolbar</link>. If there are any
directories on the current playlist, the drop down list shows their contents
instead of the directories themselves.</para>

<para>The <link linkend="toolbar-playlist">playlist toolbar</link>, the
<link linkend="menu-player"><guimenu>Player</guimenu> menu</link> and the
<link linkend="popup-playlist">playlist popup menu</link> have
<guimenuitem>Next</guimenuitem> and <guimenuitem>Previous</guimenuitem> commands
that tell &kplayer; to play the next and previous item from the list
respectively. Also, selecting an entry from the drop down list on the toolbar
will make it the current entry and start playing it.</para>

<para>When you ask &kplayer; to play things in any of the following ways, it
wipes out the current playlist and puts the new items on it:</para>

<itemizedlist>

<listitem><para>any of the various <guimenuitem>Play</guimenuitem> commands on
the <link linkend="menu-file"><guimenu>File</guimenu> menu</link> or its
submenus;</para></listitem>

<listitem><para><guimenuitem>Play</guimenuitem> or
<guimenuitem>Play Next</guimenuitem> command from the
<link linkend="menu-library"><guimenu>Library</guimenu> menu</link>, except when
you use them on items that are already on the current
playlist;</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>an equivalent command from a <mousebutton>right</mousebutton>
click <link linkend="popup-menus">popup menu;</link></para></listitem>

<listitem><para>running &kplayer; with a file or directory path or a
<acronym>URL</acronym> from &konqueror;, from the command line, from a script,
etc.;</para></listitem>

<listitem><para><guilabel>Play</guilabel> or <guilabel>Play Next</guilabel>
action in &konqueror;, &kicker; or any other program that supports those
actions;</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>dragging and dropping files and directories or a
<acronym>URL</acronym> from &konqueror; or another program onto any part of
&kplayer; except the <link linkend="parts-library"><interface>multimedia
library</interface></link>.</para></listitem>

</itemizedlist>

<para>There are also several ways to add entries to the current playlist:</para>

<itemizedlist>

<listitem><para><guimenuitem>Queue</guimenuitem> or
<guimenuitem>Queue Next</guimenuitem> command on the
<link linkend="menu-library"><guimenu>Library</guimenu> menu</link> or the
<link linkend="popup-library">library popup menu</link> in the
<interface>multimedia library</interface>; if you use these commands on items
that are already on the current playlist, &kplayer; will move them to the end
of the playlist;</para></listitem>

<listitem><para><guilabel>Queue</guilabel> or <guilabel>Queue Next</guilabel>
action in &konqueror;, &kicker; or any other program that supports those
actions;</para></listitem>

<listitem><para><menuchoice><guisubmenu>Add</guisubmenu>
<guimenuitem>Files...</guimenuitem></menuchoice> or
<menuchoice><guisubmenu>Add</guisubmenu>
<guimenuitem>URL...</guimenuitem></menuchoice> on the
<link linkend="menu-library"><guimenu>Library</guimenu> menu</link> or the
<link linkend="popup-library">library popup menu</link> in the
<guilabel>Now Playing</guilabel> section of the
<interface>multimedia library</interface> or from the
<link linkend="popup-playlist">playlist popup menu</link>;</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>dragging and dropping items from &konqueror; or another program
or another part of the <interface>multimedia library</interface> into the
<guilabel>Now Playing</guilabel> section of the library.</para></listitem>

</itemizedlist>

<para>&kplayer; has a few options that control the playlist behavior:</para>

<itemizedlist>

<listitem><para><guilabel>Loop</guilabel> option tells &kplayer; to play the
current playlist again from the beginning after it finishes playing
it.</para></listitem>

<listitem><para><guilabel>Shuffle</guilabel> option arranges items on the
current playlist in a random order.</para>

<para>If the <guilabel>Loop</guilabel> option is also turned on, the playlist
will be reshuffled after each loop. To reshuffle at any time, turn the
<guilabel>Shuffle</guilabel> option off and then back on.</para>

<para>These two options are available on the
<link linkend="toolbar-playlist">playlist toolbar</link>, the
<link linkend="menu-player"><guimenu>Player</guimenu> menu</link> and the
<link linkend="popup-playlist">playlist popup menu</link>.</para></listitem>

<listitem><para><guilabel>Allow duplicate entries on playlists</guilabel> option
lets you put more than one entry with exactly the same <acronym>URL</acronym> on
the playlist. When this option is turned off, &kplayer; will automatically
remove duplicate entries from the playlist. However, you still can put the same
entry in two different folders in the <guilabel>Now Playing</guilabel> section
of the <link linkend="parts-library"><interface>multimedia
library</interface></link>, and then they both will be on
the current playlist. This option also affects playlists stored in the
<guilabel>Playlists</guilabel> section of the library, as well as folders in the
<guilabel>Recent</guilabel> section. This option is on the
<link linkend="settings-general"><guilabel>General</guilabel> page</link>
in <guilabel>&kplayer; Settings</guilabel>.</para></listitem>

</itemizedlist>

<para>To remove entries from the current playlist, or to change the order of
entries, open the <guilabel>Now Playing</guilabel> section of the
<interface>multimedia library</interface> by choosing
<menuchoice><guimenu>Library</guimenu><guisubmenu>Go</guisubmenu>
<guimenuitem>Now Playing</guimenuitem></menuchoice> or
<mousebutton>right</mousebutton> clicking the playlist drop down box on the
<link linkend="parts-toolbar-playlist">playlist toolbar</link> and choosing
<menuchoice><guimenuitem>Edit</guimenuitem></menuchoice>. Then use the
<guimenuitem>Remove</guimenuitem>, <guimenuitem>Move Up</guimenuitem> and
<guimenuitem>Move Down</guimenuitem> commands from the
<link linkend="menu-library"><guimenu>Library</guimenu> menu</link> or the
<link linkend="popup-library">library popup menu</link> to edit the
playlist. Clicking a column header in the <interface>list view</interface>
resets the order of items in the current playlist folder and any expanded
subfolders and sorts the folder by that column.</para>

<para>You can save the current playlist in the <guilabel>Playlists</guilabel>
or the <guilabel>Collection</guilabel> section of the <interface>multimedia
library</interface> by <mousebutton>right</mousebutton> clicking the playlist
drop down box on the <link linkend="parts-toolbar-playlist">playlist
toolbar</link> and choosing <menuchoice><guisubmenu>Add to</guisubmenu>
<guimenuitem>Playlists...</guimenuitem></menuchoice> or
<menuchoice><guisubmenu>Add to</guisubmenu>
<guimenuitem>Collection...</guimenuitem></menuchoice> respectively. The playlist
will then appear on the <guisubmenu>Play List</guisubmenu> submenu of the
<link linkend="menu-file"><guimenu>File</guimenu> menu</link> and several
<link linkend="popup-menus">popup menus</link>, as well as on the
<guisubmenu>Add to</guisubmenu> submenus of the
<link linkend="menu-library"><guimenu>Library</guimenu> menu</link> and the
<link linkend="popup-library">library popup menu</link>.
<mousebutton>Right</mousebutton> clicking the playlist
drop down box and choosing <menuchoice><guisubmenu>Add to</guisubmenu>
<guimenuitem>an existing playlist name</guimenuitem></menuchoice> will add the
contents of the current playlist to the existing playlist you choose.</para>

<para>For more information on the multimedia library feature see the
<link linkend="howto-library">Multimedia library micro-HOWTO</link>.</para>

</sect2>

<sect2 id="howto-playlist-stored">
<title>Stored playlists</title>

<para>To create a new playlist and store it in the
<guilabel>Playlists</guilabel> section of the
<link linkend="parts-library"><interface>multimedia library</interface></link>,
select the multimedia you want to put on it in another section of the library,
choose <menuchoice><guisubmenu>Add to</guisubmenu>
<guimenuitem>New Playlist...</guimenuitem></menuchoice> from the
<link linkend="menu-library"><guimenu>Library</guimenu> menu</link> or the
<link linkend="popup-library">library popup menu</link>, and enter the name
of the new playlist. If the multimedia is already stored in a folder, you can
use the <menuchoice><guisubmenu>Add to</guisubmenu>
<guimenuitem>Playlists</guimenuitem></menuchoice> command instead. These
commands are also available on the <guisubmenu>Actions</guisubmenu> submenu
of the <mousebutton>right</mousebutton> click popup menu in &konqueror;,
&kicker; and other programs.</para>

<para>The playlists you create in the <guilabel>Playlists</guilabel> section
will appear on the <guisubmenu>Play List</guisubmenu> submenu of the
<link linkend="menu-file"><guimenu>File</guimenu> menu</link> and several
<link linkend="popup-menus">popup menus</link> that lets you play a list by
choosing it from the menu, as well as on the <guisubmenu>Add to</guisubmenu>
submenu of the <link linkend="menu-library"><guimenu>Library</guimenu>
menu</link> and the <link linkend="popup-library">library popup menu</link>
that allows you add more multimedia to an existing playlist. The
<guilabel>Maximum entries on playlist menus</guilabel> option on the
<link linkend="settings-general"><guilabel>General</guilabel> page</link> of
<guilabel>&kplayer; Settings</guilabel> gives the maximum number of playlists
that will be included on the submenus.</para>

<para>Just like with the current playlist, you can edit a playlist stored in the
<guilabel>Playlists</guilabel> section by opening the list in the
<interface>multimedia library</interface> and using commands from the
<link linkend="menu-library"><guimenu>Library</guimenu> menu</link> and the
<link linkend="popup-library">library popup menu</link>, or add more items to it
by dragging and dropping them onto the playlist or any of its subfolders.</para>

<para>For more details see the <link linkend="howto-library">Multimedia library
micro-HOWTO</link>.</para>

</sect2>

<sect2 id="howto-playlist-files">
<title>Playlist files</title>

<para><link linkend="howto-installation-mplayer">&mplayer;</link> currently
cannot automatically detect and play playlist files like <literal>m3u</literal>,
<literal>pls</literal>, <literal>asx</literal>, <literal>ram</literal> and so
on. &kplayer; needs to pass a special option to &mplayer; for it to play a
playlist file correctly.</para>

<para>&kplayer; tries to detect playlist files by file extension. However,
sometimes a playlist file will not have a playlist extension, or a file that
is not a playlist can have a playlist extension. In those cases playback will
initially fail. You can then go to the <link linkend="properties">General
page</link> in <guilabel>File Properties</guilabel> and set the
<guilabel>Playlist</guilabel> option correctly. &kplayer; will remember the
option and use it the next time you play the same file or
<acronym>URL</acronym>.</para>

<para>If setting the <guilabel>Playlist</guilabel> option does not help, you
will need to manually extract the actual path or <acronym>URL</acronym> from the
file and paste it into the <guilabel>Play URL</guilabel> dialog that you can
open from the <guimenu>File</guimenu> menu or the <guilabel>Add URL</guilabel>
dialog that you get when you <mousebutton>right</mousebutton> click the
<link linkend="toolbar-playlist">playlist toolbar</link> and choose
<menuchoice><guisubmenu>Add</guisubmenu>
<guimenuitem>URL...</guimenuitem></menuchoice>.</para>

<para>The playlist extensions &kplayer; recognizes are <literal>ram</literal>,
<literal>rpm</literal>, <literal>smi</literal>, <literal>smil</literal>,
<literal>asx</literal>, <literal>m3u</literal>, <literal>pls</literal> and
<literal>strm</literal>.</para>

</sect2>

</sect1>