Playlist Loader 0.9.9.8f - 06/12/2005 (supports B4S ASX WPL WAX WVX WMX & mms://)

[DrO]

Playlist Loader v0.9.9.8 RC5 (formerly known as B4S Playlist Loader)


This is based on the old 0.8.3 version of the B4S Playlist Loader plugin (the original thread and the last version 0.8.3 is here) and it has undergone a few minor and also some major changes...

• Better integrates into the open/add file dialogs in the main window and playlist editor repsectively
• Basic ml support to now add the playlists in under the 'Playlist' entry in the ml's left pane
• Added asx, wvx and wax format support (hence the plugin name change)
• auto /.wma append for the entries in the asx/wvx/wax files so in_wma will be correctly used to decode them (in_dshow ain't great for them at times)

Note: with the new formats, if there are .asx files referenced in them then all you will get is an asx entry, there's no handling for the moment to retrieve the file and then read it's contents.

If you get a crash then please let me know the exact crash report, what you were doing, system specs, etc and if possible the playlist file you were trying to load (since it helps me at least try to fix things)

get v0.9.9.8 RC5


------------------------------------------


The aims for the plugin are to do:::

• downloading of embedded playlists in the asx/wvx/wax files
• wpl support (soon i think )
• drag and drop support handling (not sure how much of this will work though)
• control over how different playlists are/aren't handled unlike at the moment
• tighter Winamp integration since it's not quite native enough for my liking!

Enjoy!

-daz

[JonnyMac]

As always , good job. It works, streaming ".asx" as I write this reply

[DrO]

Playlist Loader v0.9.2.1 (formerly known as B4S Playlist Loader)

• Added basic wpl playlist support - one for Egg

If you get a crash then please let me know the exact crash report, what you were doing, system specs, etc and if possible the playlist file you were trying to load (since it helps me at least try to fix things)

get v0.9.2.1


JonnyMac: sweet

-daz

[PatrickNeil]

EggDrOp?

[DrO]

Egg (tests) DrO (develops) p (lugins)

it's how the plugin was made

-daz

[DJ Egg]

Man, after all the thousands of posts about asx and mms streams, I can't believe that this awesome plugin hasn't received a better reaction/response than this :/

[ujay]

AppName: winamp.exe | AppVer: 5.0.0.8 | ModName: gen_b4s2m3u.dll | ModVer: 0.0.0.0 | Offset: 0000236f

XP SP2 on Winamp start.

UJ

[DrO]

ujay: can you try both of the versions in the attached file (don't worry about the .map files, they're there so i don't lose them on my end )

the normal named one has the ml integration disabled whilst the _enabled one has it enabled

-daz

[Nunzio390]

Hey Darren!
I've been away from the forums for a week or so (no posting during that time). But awesome! You finally got the multiple playlist loader developed. GREAT JOB!!

I haven't tried it yet on this old Win95 box I have, but I'm sure it'll work just fine.

[ujay]

First ones o.k. but not tested.
Second one(enabled) crashes Offset: 00002541

I don't have the ML installed if that might be significant.

UJ

[DrO]

yeah, it's a crash with the check i was doing on the ml window (if not there it was return 1 and i hadn't done an extra check to ensure that i was receiving a valid window)

try the attached test build 2

Nunz: i said it'd be done and there's a few more things planned to improve the Winamp integration in

-daz

[ujay]

Looks o.k. as far as start up goes, get an Error 1, but assume that is debugging help.
There are a couple of issues with use but I've not got time to give it a good going over yet, just getting ready to go out, I've got a gig tonight.
Will get back to you when I've had time to sort out what's what

UJ

[DrO]

That's fine, hope you have a good gig!!

-daz

[Walter66]

I loaded this into Winamp hoping I could play a Windows .asx file. Can I do that? If so, what am I missing? The plugin appears in the General list of plugins but I'm too dense to know what to do. I put an http with .asx ending into the Playlist Editor Window but all I get is an error.

[DrO]

at the moment you can't add in http://blah.asx files. it's current design is to handle playlists stored locally on your machine and then you load it into the playlist via the open/add file(s) dialogs.

i'm working on drag+drop and also external open/enqueue support which should allow for asx, etc to be associated with Winamp and then auto-expanded into the actual streams, etc that are in the file.

so for the moment, you'd need to save the http://blah.asx to your hard drive and then load it into the playlist where it'll then show the contents of the asx correctly (i hope)

-daz

[ujay]

Hi DrO

Taken a bit more of a look now and have a couple of observations. As this is still very beta please excuse if you have this in hand already

Not all URLs between <entry> tags point to music streams so stuff like 'banners' and 'more info' are trying to play at this stage.

Have you considered using '?label=.wma' instead of '/.wma'. This will enable .asf streams to play as well, rather than just .wma.
label can be anything, ?MSWMExt=.wma is standard but you could use ?WinampExt=.wma if you like.

UJ

[Walter66]

I'm sorry but I'm not very skilled at all this. Just what is the Winamp " via the open/add file(s) dialogs." I look at File in Winamp and don't see anything quite like that. What do you mean " save the http://blah.asx to your hard drive" I have an http://---.asx URL saved in a Notepad file. Is that what you mean?

This may all be academic because what I'm trying to find out is how one might play an .asx in Netgear MP 101 Audio PLayer. But I guess if it doesn't turn out to be an mp3 stream I should just forget it. Right?

[ujay]

Copy and paste the URL of the ASX file into your web browser's address bar and click GO. You should then be asked if you want to download or play the file. Choose download and save it to your desktop, or where ever. If it just plays then you need to change your browser settings.
Once you have the ASX file stored away open Winamp and click the 'Open file(s)' button (between the 'Next track' and 'Shuffle' buttons on the main window), or just press <L>. Navigate to the ASX file you saved and open it.

UJ

[Walter66]

Bingo! Thanks for the help. I'm learning ever-so-slowly. Nice people like you make it easier, and fun!

[DrO]

Walter66: my bad for not giving a full method, was by chance i saw your post just as i was going to bed so the fact any of the post even read as english was a start for me

ujay: yeah i'm aware of a number of the entries potentially not being valid streams, i still need to work on what is/isn't added. since i don't use such streams i sort of have to second guess what's normal/allowed but any help on that would be great.

as for the '?label=.wma' part, i'm not quite sure what you mean since i've managed to get asf streams to play fine when loaded in with the plugin. the reason i add /.wma to the end of the playlist items added is to force in_wm to handle the streams since in_dshow sucks for it i found (and from what i've been told elsewhere).

-daz

[ujay]

Don't quote me but I think the href=URLs you want will be inside a <ref> tag. There seem to be endless varieties of ASX layouts, looks like parsing the things is going to be most of the work.

The situation with .asf

Hadn't taken in_dshow into account so maybe things are different. Just using LITE with added in_wm here.

I get : (drag and drop onto Winamp's main window)

http://69.56.136.72//807DCD51BF36623...64/Track01.asf (error synching to MPEG)
http://69.56.136.72//807DCD51BF36623...ack01.asf/.wma (opening failed)
http://69.56.136.72//807DCD51BF36623...ck01.asf?=.wma (success)

Here's the ASX file the URL comes from, opening this with the plugin gives 'opening failed' for me.
___________________________________________________________

<ASX version="3.0">

<entry>
<TITLE>The Best Of Warren Zevon: A Quiet Normal Life - Werewolves Of London</TITLE>
<copyright>1986 Elektra Entertainment Group</copyright>
<author>Warren Zevon</author>

<abstract>Album: The Best Of Warren Zevon: A Quiet Normal Life
Published by: 1986 Zevon Music Inc. (BMI)/Tiny Tunes (ASCAP)/Leadsheet Land Music (ASCAP)</abstract>

<ref href="http://69.56.136.72//807DCD51BF36623A32458C5AF2419359-444503/ASF64/Track01.asf" /></entry>

</ASX>
___________________________________________________________


UJ

[DrO]

ah, i get what you mean now

yeah the href parts can either be as in your pasted version or they use <entryref href="..."> which isn't in the format specs from what i read but appears in a lot of the test files me and Egg tried out.

i'll double check what you've said tonight and if it all matches up (which i expect it will i'll try and get a new public build out )

-daz

[Nunzio390]

I highlighted-n-copied the text of the ASX file you posted above, ujay, and just now saved it locally as "test.asx". Using Winamp 5.08e Full (which of course also includes in_wm.dll), I get no "opening failed" error as you did, but Winamp just sits there with the file loaded and does nothing, when either double-clicking on it in the playlist editor, or pressing the play button.

[EDIT]
Didn't see your post above Darren till just now, but perhaps what I added here might also be of some consequence too. I dunno.

[ujay]

Did you try the direct links Nunzio ??

UJ

[DrO]

i've had the "Winamp just sits there with the file loaded and does nothing" when testing some of the files and it's not recognised them as being valid. i think it's just the normal handling since if i remember things were altered ages back so as to stop looping if non of the files in the playlist are valid after one pass or something like that

-daz

[DJ Egg]

Originally posted by ujay
Hadn't taken in_dshow into account so maybe things are different. Just using LITE with added in_wm here.

I get : (drag and drop onto Winamp's main window)

http://69.56.136.72//807DCD51BF36623...64/Track01.asf (error synching to MPEG)
http://69.56.136.72//807DCD51BF36623...ack01.asf/.wma (opening failed)
http://69.56.136.72//807DCD51BF36623...ck01.asf?=.wma (success)

UJ, it's because you don't have video support installed.

http://69.56.136.72//807DCD51BF36623...64/Track01.asf
That url plays fine in Winamp as it is. There's no need to add anything to the end, because in_dshow handles it perfectly, as it is.

in_dshow works fine for any http or mms *.asf streams that end with a filename and extension.
It only borks if no filename and extension are specified at the end of the url.

eg.
mms://site.com/stream.asf will work with in_dshow, as is (no need to add anything)
mms://site.com/stream.wma will work with in_wm as is (no need to add /.wma)
mms://site.com/stream or mms://site.com/blah?ext=.asf will bork with in_dshow, therefore /.wma is required to be added to force in_wm to play it.

So DrO only needs to add /.wma if no filename and extension are specified.

Sure, as we've found out, some wma streams won't work just by adding /.wma
Some require ?ext=.wma or &type=.wma or ;stream.wma etc.
Some only work by adding nothing and changing "default extension..." to wma.
But because the vast majority of them work by just adding /.wma
then I guess this is the best method to use for now.



Re: info, logo and banner hrefs

Yeah, I guess it should only be adding <REF HREF> and <ENTRYREF HREF> entries.
Whereas <BANNER HREF> and <LOGO HREF> and <MOREINFO HREF> entries should be ignored.

[ujay]

O.K. Egg, got that.

Does that mean this type of ASX file isn't going to work with LITE, or should mms://site.com/stream.asf/.wma be working for me.

[edit] Or were you saying that just that particular stream won't play with the /.wma technique but others might [/edit]

UJ

[DJ Egg]

I just created an asx playlist using your Warren Zevon example above,
and yes, Playlist Loader adds /.wma to the end, and the stream doesn't play.

On the other hand, this asx loads and plays perfectly,
and Playlist Loader doesn't add /.wma to the end
because filename.wma is already specified at the end of the stream url.
___________________________________________________________

<ASX Version="3.0">
<TITLE>A Perfect Circle - Annihilation</TITLE>
<Entry>
<Ref href="mms://mms.content.loudeye.com/600111/o/076/61/93/0766193_0101_00_0690.wma" />
</Entry>
</ASX>
___________________________________________________________

So I guess that it needs to do the same if filename.asf is specified at the end of the url, as in your asx sample, thus letting in_dshow handle it instead.

However, in your case UJ, you will need to manually edit the url by adding ?=.wma to the end, to make in_wm handle it instead (because you don't have in_dshow installed), heh.

As it stands, everyone else who's using Full, not Lite, will also have to manually edit that url (via: right click > playlist entry) by either removing the /.wma from the end to let in_dshow handle it, or by changing it to ?=.wma to let in_wm handle it instead.

So yes, Playlist Loader could be modified to also not add anything if filename.asf is specified at the end, the same way it does if filename.wma is specified.
Again, this will only benefit WA Full users, not Lite.

In all other cases, then (for now) /.wma should/has to be added by default,
and if it doesn't work (due to one of the known issues) then the url will need to be manually edited - until DrO can maybe come up with some other ingenious idea/workaround ?!

[ujay]

Thanks for the work on that Egg

No reason why I shouldn't add in_dshow to the plugins I suppose, just plain stubbornness on my part

UJ

[DrO]

Originally posted by ujay
Thanks for the work on that Egg

me and Egg are discussing this so it should all be set right in the next build (hopefully tonight )

-daz

[DrO]

Playlist Loader v0.9.5.0 (formerly known as B4S Playlist Loader)

• Implemented drag+drop handling of the supported filetypes and works like Winamp does
• File downloading powered by a tweaked jnetlib v0.42
• Recursive asx, wax and wvx files now work ie blah.asx in my.asx
• Fixed a crash bug when the media library was not installed
• Fixed asf handling when in_dhsow is not installed to force add ?=.wma so it will play
• Improved handling of asf files to Only add /.wma on to the end if it's not an absolute filename (blah.asf)
• Fixed asx handling to only add valid entries and not anything matching href="" in an <entry.../> block
• Anything else i did but forgot to note down!

get v0.9.5.0

The aim next is to get external play/enqueue handling in (did some basic tests before this release and it seems to be possible to do it via a gen plugin still!!) and also to tidy up the code for a hopefully successful (and maybe smaller ) 1.0 release

-daz

[Nunzio390]

Well I just repeated this procedure (where Egg also got the same result)...

Originally posted by Nunzio390
I highlighted-n-copied the text of the ASX file you posted above, ujay, and just now saved it locally as "test.asx". Using Winamp 5.08e Full (which of course also includes in_wm.dll), I get no "opening failed" error as you did, but Winamp just sits there with the file loaded and does nothing, when either double-clicking on it in the playlist editor, or pressing the play button.

Now with the new v0.9.5.0 build, using this same file content in "test.asx"...
___________________________________________________________

<ASX version="3.0">

<entry>
<TITLE>The Best Of Warren Zevon: A Quiet Normal Life - Werewolves Of London</TITLE>
<copyright>1986 Elektra Entertainment Group</copyright>
<author>Warren Zevon</author>

<abstract>Album: The Best Of Warren Zevon: A Quiet Normal Life
Published by: 1986 Zevon Music Inc. (BMI)/Tiny Tunes (ASCAP)/Leadsheet Land Music (ASCAP)</abstract>

<ref href="http://69.56.136.72//807DCD51BF36623A32458C5AF2419359-444503/ASF64/Track01.asf" /></entry>

</ASX>
___________________________________________________________

...the "test.asx" playlist now parses correctly and plays the stream perfectly. So it looks like DrO licked the problem (I hope).

[ujay]

Great stuff DrO and so quick.

Tried all the ASX types I have and had few failures so far, drag and drop on local files seems fine, even handles ASX in ASX

Only problems so far :
mp3 or other non-MS streams.
Files with multiple protocol streams (mms, mmst,http etc.) can mean listening to the same pre roll three or four times before one of the actual streams starts.

Would it be helpful to send you troublesome ASX files, or are you up to your ears with them already ?

Looking further to the future what are the prospects for adding TITLE support.

PS. I've added in_dshow

UJ

[DrO]

me and Egg expect the odd failure since some of the mms://blah.asf streams need to have the /.wma on the end which wasn't an issue until the new asf handling changes were put in place (but i guess that's ms/wma streams for you )

the plugin will work fine (i hope) with and without in_dshow installed. for that test file you posted i used that to make sure it was working fine with and without (when there's no in_dshow it appends ?=.wma )

yeah if you can send me those files then i can look at trying to limit the duplication though by default i'll leave things as they are and possibly add it in as an extra option (since prefs, etc need to go in still to determine what file types are going to be supported or not instead of being hard coded as they currently are).

with the <title> part, because i add the file/streams straight into the playlist it's upto Winamp and it's plugins to read the information. i do have some code in there which will output a m3u and then load that into the playlist that way (it's part enabled anyway for dubugging - chucks the files in the Winamp directory which i forgot was on until last night ). so the m3u way is the best way i can think of to do this for the time being i think but not till after 1.0 as i don't want to break the current reading code

-daz

[ujay]

I'm loving this plugin already, it's going to improve listening no end.
I still can't get over the speed you get these things developed

Attatched are the .asx files I spoke of in the previous post.

UJ

[DrO]

i code speedily when i get the chance to sit down and work on things and if i know it's going to be easy to fix/update things (as was the case with getting 0.9.5.0 finished though the drag+drop stuff had been in dev for a few months, just never quite finished it until last night)

i'll be having a look through the files at some point this weekend in between getting the car serviced and the gf

[edit]
the 0.9.5.0 changelog is now up

-daz

[DJ Egg]

@ujay

Re: asx files in attachment

Do you come across a lot of sites where they use .asx for shoutcast streams?
Haven't these people heard of .m3u or .pls?
Or are they just trying to force people to use WiMP or something?
Hopefully for the next build, DrO will make it so it won't add anything to the end of an sc stream url (ip:port)

The 2nd asx in the zip seems to load and play fine.
It adds 3 intro file links (which all play ok, but is a bit excessive methinks), 2 mms:// main streams which play ok, then mmsu:// and mmst:// alternate url's (neither of which play for me, but who cares) and then a "problems" link, which plays ok if you get that far. Best bet is to manually edit the .asx and remove all the garbage so it just adds 1 intro and 1 main stream url.

[ujay]

Originally posted by DJ Egg
Do you come across a lot of sites where they use .asx for shoutcast streams?
Haven't these people heard of .m3u or .pls?
Or are they just trying to force people to use WiMP or something?

This comes about because of the way their site is set up. They provide different buttons for what they consider the three most popular players, Winamp, WMP and Real Player. They all use the same Shoutcast stream but are packaged as .pls, .asx and .smil respectively.

Originally posted by DJ Egg
Hopefully for the next build, DrO will make it so it won't add anything to the end of an sc stream url (ip : port)

Don't forget there may be port 80 URLs with stream numbers in there as well.

Originally posted by DJ Egg
The 2nd asx in the zip seems to load and play fine.
It adds 3 intro file links (which all play ok, but is a bit excessive methinks), 2 mms:// main streams which play ok, then mmsu:// and mmst:// alternate url's (neither of which play for me, but who cares) and then a "problems" link, which plays ok if you get that far. Best bet is to manually edit the .asx and remove all the garbage so it just adds 1 intro and 1 main stream url.

As far as I can tell this type is for listeners who may have certain protocols blocked for whatever reason. From looking at WMP and other players this type of file should be handled as follows :

Play 1st pre roll. If successful skip the rest of the pre roll section and go to the corresponding stream protocol in the main section. If that is successful skip the problem section.
If the 1st pre roll is unsuccessful then move to the next in the pre roll section and repeat as above.
If all pre rolls are unsuccessful then go to the problem section.

------------------

I've taken the plugin out for the time being, I find I'm missing double click and drag and drop from Explorer too much at the moment and gone back to Play > URL and bookmarks.

Look forward to seeing the final release.

UJ

[DrO]

Originally posted by ujay
I find I'm missing double click and drag and drop from Explorer too much at the moment and gone back to Play > URL and bookmarks.

i saw this first thing this morning and i don't quite get what you mean about 'missing' it??

as for the other issues i'll be working with Egg (since he's got a better idea about these things) for getting the handling of say the SC streams, etc to work correctly and all that. with the multiple pre-roll parts (i've not had a chance to look at the test files) but are they meant to indicate they are pre-roll or is it effectively guess work since adding checks in for things like that can get messy at times

as for the last comment, there's no such thing really as a final build, just the most current build

-daz

[ujay]

I'm finding, in Explorer, that any action that sends anything to Winamp fails (except right click > Enqueue in Winamp).
Double click, right click > Play in Winamp, right click > Open, or Drag and Drop no longer work with the plugin installed.
I couldn't work out from what you've said so far if this was expected to happen until that functionality was included in the plugin.

As regards the multi protocol file. It could be that only one stream gets played from each <entry> block, that would fit with the behaviour in other players. I'll make up some ASX files over the weekend and get back to you.

UJ