Creating playlists

Hi,

Currently there is no formal way to manage playlists within the module. Using the tag you can point the file parameter to an external playlist xml file but you can't manually build a playlist using the Upload Module. It should be possible to use the http://drupal.org/project/xspf_playlist module and point the file parameter to the relevant node URL.

In the future though we will be adding a proper playlist manager to simplify this process.

Thanks.

Since you already support rss feeds and views can output rss feeds, building playlists via views shouldn't be much of a stretch should it? Of course the rss format would have to change, so there would need to be a different feed type specific to jwplayer - like "jwplayer feed".

I'm just brainstorming here: If a node has a single video file on it, attached via the upload module, or via filefield, or via filefield with flashvideo involved, it wouldn't matter to views, right? One could construct the view following a convention set by this module and the rss feed would come out OK. For example, I think the upload module exposes file paths, as does the filefield module. Presumably, a site would be using one of the above methods. If their views columns were named "location" for whichever method they use - filefield or upload - then the rss feed could target that as the video source. Likewise, other columns should be titled "title", "creator", "info", "annotation", "author", "provider", "duration".

Then one could simply construct one or more views and have multiple playlists. The player wouldn't care about the other views items, like filters, which aid in the construction of the view; it would only care about the resulting rss feed. In this way, one could even construct "top 5" or "most recent" playlists.

As I have done with the flashvideo patch, manually adding the player to a node is not necessary. It would be nice if this could be extended into a cck field similar to how the new (and not ready for prime-time) mediafront player does it. It would also be nice if there were two cck field types - player and playlist player. The player field type would allow the admin to designate which player to use. In my case with the flashvideo patch, I have 3 different players, each the same but with different sizes. I then have 3 content types, each specifically for uploading a certain sized video, thus:

Content type 1 uses Player 1 (video size 512x384)
Content type 2 uses Player 2 (video size 640x480)
Content type 3 uses Player 3 (video size 768x432)

If my consumers ask for other sizes, I'll construct more content types and jwplayers.

It would be cool if, instead of my patch, there were a player cck field one could add to a content type, and in its configuration select both the player and which field to play - regardless of whether it is a filefield or upload attachment.

For flashvideo compatibility, a third config field would be needed - "fallback file". The reason for this is that flashvideo allows one to upload flv and mp4 videos which are not converted. Converted videos end up in one filefield, and uploaded files are in another. If there is no converted file, that first field is empty and only the uploaded one has contents. So for flashvideo, you would designate the "final video" field as the preferred field to play, and the "upload field" as the fallback. Or there could just be a checkbox asking if flashvideo should be used. Flashvideo already stores in its settings which fields to use as "final" and "upload" and so this module could simply read those. The first idea for handling flashvideo would allow for modules other than flashvideo that similarly use two fields, whereas that second idea using the checkbox would be specific to flashvideo.

The playlist cck field type would be similar. You would select which player to use, but also which view to use, or at least the url of the rss feed produced by the view.

For both cck field types, the player and the playlist player, the cck field would add the appropriate jwplayer tag to the body.

Of course, other config options could be added to the field configurations, similar to how a tag can override the default player.

I really don't think this approach would be a tremendous amount of work. If my consumers (my video server will be serving an intranet) request playlist-playing ability, I'll write this myself if you don't get to it first. But I know that I probably won't get such a request for at least a few months, maybe not until next year. So I'd encourage that you add something like this as soon as you can. I'm sure it would be a tremendous draw for further use of your player.

BTW, I think you need to do a better job advertising the free-to-use version of the jwplayer. When I first came across this module when evaluating which player to use, I thought it was pay-only. Speaking of which, do you have a third option for non-profit and not-for-profit orgs? We really don't fit your requirements for getting a commercial license, especially since this is an intranet application, but would still like to change out the logo.

care to elaborate?

@rconstantine,

Sorry for the delay in responding. I'm currently swamped with several other projects right now. I have definitely made note of your patch and your suggestions for better CCK field integration. They will definitely be part of the discussion for the next version of the module as admittedly playlist management is lacking at the moment.

Edit: I forgot to add that unfortunately you will still have to buy the JW Player license if you would like to remove the watermark.

@btopro,

I would also be appreciative if you shared some of the details of your implementation. It sounds very interesting.

Thanks.

yep. a recipe would be fine.