Importing playlists problem

[arromdee]

gmusicbrowser 1.1.9.

I want to import a .m3u file.  I can do so by going to "saved lists" and right-clicking, then Import.  However, if I do this it creates the new playlist in a bizarre order.  I want it to create the playlist with the songs in the same order in which they appear in the .m3u file.  How do I do this?

The odd part is that if I *edit* the playlist, the songs appear in the order in which they appear in the .m3u file, but there seems to be no way to actually play them in the order in which they appear in the .m3u file.  (Playing them in "list order" plays them in the bizarre order I described earlier, not in the order they appeared in the .m3u file.)

[arromdee]

I found out that if I go to edit playlist, and I click on one of the songs *within the editing window*, the playlist in the playlist window changes to the one I'm actually editing.  If I then close the editing window, the playlist window continues to show the correct playlist.  However, this isn't really a solution; the information is not saved between sessions (and probably not from one playlist to another), and changing the play order gives strange results that sometimes restore the playlist order and sometimes don't.

Furthermore, I found another manifestation of the problem.  When I start up gmusicbrowser I start up in Album/All Albums.  Album/All Albums does not have a "List Order" in the Play Order.  When I then go to Saved Lists and click on the playlist, the play order menu now shows "List Order", but the *actual* play order is still whatever it was before.

For instance, if I change the Play Order to "Title", the All Albums are sorted by title--and then when I go to a playlist the "List Order" is really sorting by title too.

Although Album/All Albums did not have a "List Order" in the menu, going to the playlist adds that menu option, and then going back to Album/All Albums leaves the menu option, so I have "List Order" for something that isn't a list (and doesn't perform a list order function).

At this point I think it's obvious that there's some kind of bug here.

[Quentin Sculo]

Sorry for not replying earlier.
Currently, to play a list in its order you can :
- select it the filter menu (or via the "saved lists"/saved panes) and select "list order" in the play order menu
- double clicking on a song in the edit list window
- double clicking on a song in a list tab of a tabbedlists widget (right click on a tab to open a new tab)
the last one is recommended so it's recommended to use a layout with a tabbedlist widget if you like using static lists
I realize it's not a very good situation, you are not the first to complain about this kind of things, gmb wasn't really designed with static lists in mind as I don't personally use them.
I plan to add a new widget, that behave like the side panel present in many other players, that should make things better, it's a bit like the tabbedlists but with a list instead of tabs, though it will be used by many other things.

Here are a few points that may help, I think one of the main problem you have is 5) and maybe the layout you are using, so you still have questions you need to tell me what layout you are using (that's one problem with having a very customizable gui : it makes explaining things harder).

1) the playlist is defined either with a filter or with a static list (there can be additional filters, like the lock on top of that)

2) the play order is often set independently from the filter/static list, and the "list order" option only appear when in "static list" mode

3) when using a static list to set the playlist, a copy of that list is made to become the current playlist, so editing the current playlist will not affect the original static list (I'm still not sure which behavior is better, it used to be different in v1.0, this way was easier to implement with the changes in v1.1.x, it might become an option)

4) when editing the current playlist manually (adding/re-ordering/removing) songs the playlist becomes a static list if it was a filter

5) the "saved list"/saved pane is very misleading, as it only allows you select a filter (is in selected list(s)) as all the other tabs of the widget (that I call a filterpane). So the songs listed when you select a list like that are just the result of this filter and reordering/adding/removing doesn't change the selected list.
To make things worse there is a bug with the filter cache in v1.1.9, fixed in git (note that the git version is still called 1.1.9 in the about box), that makes the filter "is in list A" return the same result after the list A has been modified.

6) some layouts use a song list in "playlist" mode which currently doesn't work right with the filterpanes, I'm working on fixing it, though it turned out to be more complicated than I thought

[arromdee]

I am using "Playlist" layout.

The list is imported from a .m3u file by right-clicking om "Saved lists" and selecting "Import list".  I assume this is always a static list.

Currently, to play a list in its order you can :
- select it the filter menu (or via the "saved lists"/saved panes) and select "list order" in the play order menu

This doesn't work and a good portion of my post describes in detail how it doesn't work.  "List order" doesn't actually give me the list order.  Rather, "List order" behaves the same as whatever was selected before the "List order" option was present.  For instance, if I start up the program (at which point I am not on a list and there is no "List order" option), and select "Date", then select a list this way and select "List order", it is ordered by date, not by list order, even though it looks like "List order" is selected.

- double clicking on a song in the edit list window

This did work, but it's a little unwieldy, because I have to do it every time. 

- double clicking on a song in a list tab of a tabbedlists widget (right click on a tab to open a new tab)

I have no idea how to determine if I have a tabbedlists widget. or which layout might contain one.

the play order is often set independently from the filter/static list, and the "list order" option only appear when in "static list" mode

The "list order" option always appears for me when I am on a list.  As I pointed out, it actually appears too much--I start up the program and am on Album/All Albums.  The "list order" option is not present.  I then select a list from "Saved lists".  The "list order" option is present.  I then go back to Album/All Albums.  I would expect the "List order" option to disappear but it remains there.

the "saved list"/saved pane is very misleading, as it only allows you select a filter (is in selected list(s))

If so, then
1) Right above "Saved lists" is "Saved filters".  If "Saved lists" only allows selecting a filter, what does "Saved filters" do?  Shouldn't "Saved lists" be part of "Saved filters"?
2) On the top of my screen is a little icon.  I click on that icon and it shows me "Saved lists" followed by a bunch of filters.  This looks a lot like the same thing that appears in the pane, which is also a bunch of filters followed by "Saved lists".  Is this icon different from the pane?  It looks to me like the icon actually is putting the songs in list order, while the pane is not--even though the icon looks similar to the pane.

[Quentin Sculo]

I am using "Playlist" layout.

Yes, that's what I feared, it is using a song list in "playlist" mode, which as I said in  6) doesn't work properly with the filterpanes. It is causing the playlist to always be in static list mode. In playlist mode, the song list is always in sync with the playlist, which works well on its own, but not with filterpanes currently.
I working on a fix (which will also allow new features) but in the meantime you should probably use another layout, I would suggest "list library and context" to get familiar we the features of gmb, it includes a tabbedlists widget on the left, that can be used to show/edit the current playlist, the queue, and static lists, once you are familiar, I can help you find/modify a layout that suits your needs better.

the "saved list"/saved pane is very misleading, as it only allows you select a filter (is in selected list(s))

If so, then
1) Right above "Saved lists" is "Saved filters".  If "Saved lists" only allows selecting a filter, what does "Saved filters" do?  Shouldn't "Saved lists" be part of "Saved filters"?
2) On the top of my screen is a little icon.  I click on that icon and it shows me "Saved lists" followed by a bunch of filters.  This looks a lot like the same thing that appears in the pane, which is also a bunch of filters followed by "Saved lists".  Is this icon different from the pane?  It looks to me like the icon actually is putting the songs in list order, while the pane is not--even though the icon looks similar to the pane.

1) saved lists is for saved lists, saved filters for saved filters, and saved has both. What I'm trying to say, is that the whole widget, with all its tabs (artist, albums...) are designed to select a filter, selecting a saved filter, obviously, select this filter, and selecting a list create a filter to list songs that belongs in the selected list(s), which has its use, but is not what people expect. changing that would make the widget behave strangely.
Among other things this filterpane widget is made to combine with others, to create different level of filters, changing the behavior of saved lists to display the list as is wouldn't make sense. And the sort order of the associated song list widget is not supposed to change when selecting something in the filterpanes. Also the user can select multiple lines of a filterpanes, which again doesn't really make sense if "saved list" didn't create a filter.

The new side panel widget will handle this very differently by being able to change completely the content of the associated widget, which will simply be a container containing a song list, a context view, or whatever the side panel says.

2) This is the playlist filter icon, which also exists as a standard menu, but with the added right-click function to reset the filter. It should work, but the filterpanes_with_songlist_in_playlist_mode bug might still cause problems.

[arromdee]

 <blockquote>in the meantime you should probably use another layout, I would suggest "list library and context"</blockquote>

I get problems with this layout too, though they are slightly different problems.

I go to the Library tab, and the Saved tab under it, and then to "Saved lists".  Clicking on that brings up a list in the lower right (not in the left pane with the playlists).  This list, however, is not ordered in the same order as the items in the playlist.  It appears to be ordered according to the "Sort" option in the lower right pane.

The only way to play in the playlist order seems to be to use "Playlist filter".  It seems odd that "Saved lists" from that menu works while "Saved lists" from the Library and Saved tabs doesn't.

The "Playlist filter" and "Saved lists" in that allows me to choose a playlist and it appears to work.  However, for some reason (bug?) it doesn't put a checkmark before the selected list.

Another bug: When I chose this layout for the first time, the "Sort" in the lower right pane did not have any option checked.  However, it was still working in a particular sort order (looked like album/track).  This sort order should have been checked since that is what it was using.

[Quentin Sculo]

I go to the Library tab, and the Saved tab under it, and then to "Saved lists".  Clicking on that brings up a list in the lower right (not in the left pane with the playlists).  This list, however, is not ordered in the same order as the items in the playlist.  It appears to be ordered according to the "Sort" option in the lower right pane.

That is what I tried to explain in my previous reply.

The "Playlist filter" and "Saved lists" in that allows me to choose a playlist and it appears to work.  However, for some reason (bug?) it doesn't put a checkmark before the selected list.

Yes, that is kind of a bug, as I said, in v1.1.x, the playlist is actually a copy of the chosen static list. Though they are at first identical, they may diverge if one is modified. But that's true it's a problem.

Another bug: When I chose this layout for the first time, the "Sort" in the lower right pane did not have any option checked.  However, it was still working in a particular sort order (looked like album/track).  This sort order should have been checked since that is what it was using.

The default sort order is the hard-coded default (path album disc track file), unless the layout specify one, it will not appear in the list if it is not a saved order, you can see it by editing it using the "custom..." entry.