[DiGiTYZED]

I have a folder in a SMB share on my NAS server that contains all my music playlists. How do I get XBMC (Eden/11) to look in that folder for playlists instead of the default playlists path in the userdata folder (i.e., "Users\<your_user_name>\AppData\Roaming\XBMC\userdata\playlists\")?

[Ned Scott]

Path subs (wiki). Playlists are the original use for path subs, actually :)

[DiGiTYZED]

So this is all I need in advancedsettings.xml?:

Code:

<pathsubstitution>
<substitute>
   <from>C:\Users\<your_user_name>\AppData\Roaming\XBMC\userdata\playlists\</from>
   <to>smb://nasserver/playlists/</to>
</substitute>
</pathsubstitution>

[Ned Scott]

yep

[DiGiTYZED]

I tried that and playlists do not show up in XBMC (actual advancedsettings.xml file below). Maybe I'm misunderstanding how playlists works in XBMC. Must I be in library mode (I'm currently in file mode)? Must I have a music source added first (I have none yet, I just care about playing my playlists for now)? Do I access playlists by home screen -> music -> menu panel -> Playlists? Do the filenames of the playlists show here (i.e., more than fun.m3u, oh so jazzy.m3u, 90's let downs.m3u, etc.)?

Code:

<advancedsettings>

    <pathsubstitution>
        <substitute>
           <from>C:\Users\digityzed\AppData\Roaming\XBMC\userdata\playlists\music\</from>
           <to>smb://nasserver/playlists/music/</to>
        </substitute>
    </pathsubstitution>

</advancedsettings>

[PatK]

Just a quick off topic question, I note your slashes in the <from> statement lean back, while the <to> lean forward...?

e.g.

<substitute>
<from>special://masterprofile/Thumbnails/</from>
<to>SMB://192.168.0.11/xbmc/Library/Application Support/XBMC/userdata/Thumbnails/</to>
</substitute>

[Ned Scott]

Because it's substituting a Windows file path with a network file path. It works.

[DiGiTYZED]

So am I misunderstanding how playlists in XBMC work? If not, why would my playlists not show up?

[Ned Scott]

I meant the slashes.


I think XBMC needs to use a "special://" protocol format for it to work (not entirely sure). Try this:

Code:

<advancedsettings>

    <pathsubstitution>
        <substitute>
           <from>special://musicplaylists/</from>
           <to>smb://nasserver/playlists/music/</to>
        </substitute>
    </pathsubstitution>

</advancedsettings>

[Zokkel]

IIRC Windows uses back slashes and Linux/OSX forward slashes,
so depending on your OS you should use one of the two, not both...

[Ned Scott]

IIRC Windows uses back slashes and Linux/OSX forward slashes,
so depending on your OS you should use one of the two, not both...

That doesn't matter for path subs...

[DiGiTYZED]

I meant the slashes.


I think XBMC needs to use a "special://" protocol format for it to work (not entirely sure). Try this:

Code:

<advancedsettings>

    <pathsubstitution>
        <substitute>
           <from>special://musicplaylists/</from>
           <to>smb://nasserver/playlists/music/</to>
        </substitute>
    </pathsubstitution>

</advancedsettings>

BINGO!!! That did it! Now my playlists show up in XBMC. Thanks a lot!

[Ned Scott]

BINGO!!! That did it! Now my playlists show up in XBMC. Thanks a lot!

Good to hear! I'll work this into the wiki somewhere now that we have confirmation.

[DiGiTYZED]

Is it safe to assume this works the same for video (special://videoplaylists/) and mixed playlists (special://mixedplaylists/)?

Also when playing a playlist, it takes some time to actually load the songs (at least 10+ seconds) - is there a way to speed that up or not have it preload everything first?

[Ned Scott]

Not sure. Special protocol (wiki) only lists special://videoplaylists and special://musicplaylists . It might work with something like special://profile/playlists/ to get all of them.