[Playlist] [rfc] Nested playlists (and playlist chains) again

[Lucas Gonze]

It would be good to get some examples of nested playlists in the wild.

What does VLC do with this functionality, Sebastian?

On Fri, 12 Oct 2007, Sebastian Pipping wrote:

> So let's go for the official extension thing.
> Here's a tree of doable ways to nest playlists:
>
> (A) Several files linking to each other
>     in an acyclic way.
>
> (B) One single file containing several
>     playlists. Sub-playlist definitions
>     and their hierarchy are held at one
>     central place in a playlist <extension>.
>
>     (1) Tracks say what playlist(s) they
>         belong to.
>
>     (2) Sub-playlists say what tracks
>         they contain.
>
> Both approaches have pros and cons and are
> needed, the former for infinite playlists/
> radio modes when loose coupling is needed
> and the latter for fixing a whole player's
> state, in general when strong coupling is
> wanted.
>
>
> == Questions for the several files way ==
> * What way do we make the official for
>  linking to other playlists?
>
>  * Can a playlist go into a track's
>    location? Should it?
>
>  * Do we see sub-playlists as a track
>    with sub-tracks or not? If not
>    a playlist extension would be the right
>    place to put it.
>
>
> == Questions for the single file way ==
> * which way to go - (B.1) or (B.2)?
>
> The VLC file I saw today is going for (B.2):
>
>    <extension application="http://www.videolan.org/vlc">
>        <node title="mp3">
>        <node title="113 - 113 degrés">
>            <item href="0" />
>            <item href="1" />
>            <item href="65" />
>        </node>
>        <node title="ACDC">
>        <node title="Back In Black">
>            <item href="66" />
>            ...
>        </node>
>    </extension>
>
> The href attributes point to numbers in identifiers.
> Staying close to this approach would ease VLC's future
> transition. Or are there bigger design flaws hidden inside
> we have to fix? Is scattered information tagged to the tracks
> better for some reason?
>
> Let's get something working, let me know what you think :-)
>
>
>
> Sebastian
>
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