Browse Video Smart Playlist

[Dave.ca]

Hello, VoxCommando Community. I am a long time XBMC user who has recently discovered VoxCommando. I am very impressed with its ability to handle the basics in XBMC (navigation, media play), but must admit to frustration with more advanced tasks, specificaly video smart playlists. I have spent a lot of time googling the interweb and playing with the examples and suggestions I have found there and here (all it would seem relating to MUSIC playlists), without any success. Let me explain my set up.

I have TV programs on multiple drives. Each drive is set up as follows:

\TV\CURRENT\
\TV\DAVID\
\TV\SHEILAGH\
\TV\KIDS\

The programs in the various CURRENT directories are those that both my wife and I watch together. The programs in the various DAVID directories are those only I watch. The programs in the various SHEILAGH directories are those that only my wife watches. And the programs in the various KIDS directories are those the grandkids watch when they visit. Smart playlists for each group combined with the Aeon MQ 5 skin tie it all together, making for a great user experience for all.

I would LOVE to add VoxCommando into the mix, but cannot for the life of me get it to work with my existing playlists.

Example of the CURRENT playlist:

TYPE: TV SHOWS
NAME OF THE PLAYLIST: CURRENT
FIND ITEMS WHERE: PATH CONTAINS CURRENT
all other entries are default.

I am using XBMC 12.0.2 frodo, with the Aeon MQ 5 skin, and VoxCommando 1.191.

If anyone can take me by the hand and show me the code to accomplish a "Browse Current TV" command, I would be very grateful (and ready to buy the full version of VoxCommando).  If for some reason this can't be accomplished, I would be disappointed but still gratefull for the head's up.

Thanks.

[jitterjames]

Hello Mr. Ca.

We are just sitting down to eat so will be offline for a bit, but let me just clarify what you are looking for.

Do you already have smart playlists set up for your various categories, and you are simply trying to find a way to load them?

Assuming this is true, are you hoping to open them to be able to browse through the items (I am guessing yes) or are you hoping to have them play automatically (i.e. load a playlist of these items).

[jitterjames]

Well, anyway, assuming that you only have the 4 or so playlists the simplest is just to create one smart playlist for each.

Each smart playlist will be saved as an .xsp file by XBMC and will be stored in a folder like

C:\Users\YOUR_USER_NAME_HERE\AppData\Roaming\XBMC\userdata\playlists\video

I created two playlists to test with named "T.V. New" and "T.V. Old".

Here is a group with two commands, one for each playlist.

If you don't know what to do with the following xml, see: http://voxcommando.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=XML_on_the_forum

Code: [Select]

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?>
<!--VoxCommando 1.9.2.1-->
<commandGroup open="True" name="XBMC_Browse TV by folder" enabled="True" prefix="" priority="0" requiredProcess="" description="">
  <command id="212" name="Browse old T.V." enabled="true" alwaysOn="False" confirm="False" requiredConfidence="0" loop="False" loopDelay="0" loopMax="0" description="">
    <action>
      <cmdType>XJson.Raw</cmdType>
      <params>
        <param>GUI.ActivateWindow</param>
        <param>"window": "video", "parameters": [ "special://profile/playlists/video/T.V. Old.xsp" ]</param>
      </params>
      <cmdRepeat>1</cmdRepeat>
    </action>
    <phrase>Browse old T.V.</phrase>
  </command>
  <command id="236" name="Browse new T.V." enabled="true" alwaysOn="False" confirm="False" requiredConfidence="0" loop="False" loopDelay="0" loopMax="0" description="">
    <action>
      <cmdType>XJson.Raw</cmdType>
      <params>
        <param>GUI.ActivateWindow</param>
        <param>"window": "video", "parameters": [ "special://profile/playlists/video/T.V. New.xsp" ]</param>
      </params>
      <cmdRepeat>1</cmdRepeat>
    </action>
    <phrase>Browse new T.V.</phrase>
  </command>
</commandGroup>

[Dave.ca]

Hello Mr. Ca.

We are just sitting down to eat so will be offline for a bit, but let me just clarify what you are looking for.

Do you already have smart playlists set up for your various categories, and you are simply trying to find a way to load them?

Assuming this is true, are you hoping to open them to be able to browse through the items (I am guessing yes) or are you hoping to have them play automatically (i.e. load a playlist of these items).

Firstly, thank-you for your prompt response.

Yes, the smart playlists already exist in XBMC. I have sub-menus off the home screen TV menu (something the skin faciltates) that when selected display only the programs in the playlist. I can then scroll through the programs, select, play, etc. The programs are displayed the same way as in the full TV selection, ie: Program-Season-Episodes. It is a simply a subset of the full listing. So, no, I am NOT looking for them to play automatically.

Thanks again.

[Dave.ca]

Thank-you for this. I will try it out and report back.

In my travels I did see code similar to this, but was confused by the "special://profile/playlists/video/..." parameter as I could not find a "profile" directory anywhere in XBMC or VoxCommander...

I will create two new playlists called "T.V. Old" and "T.V. New" and see what happens.

Cheers.

[nime5ter]

The Editing Commands documentation and video may also be of use: http://voxcommando.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=Customizing_Commands

Should help you to change the file paths from the examples James provided to your real smart playlists.

[Dave.ca]

Well, that did it. I would have actually tried something like this myself if I hadn't been confused by the "profile" directory...

Off to buy the full version!

[jitterjames]

It is an XBMC thing.
http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Special_protocol

One way to get an idea of how something can be accessed in XBMC is to add it to your favourites, and then take a look in your favourites XML file that is generated by XBMC.