A couple of further enhancements?

[Pastim]

(26-10-2014 22:11)simoncn Wrote:  

(26-10-2014 21:27)Pastim Wrote:  When one has a large list of groups of tracks it seems to me that the server must be the right place to randomise this. It has all the data, and (usually) the CPU power. Loading many thousands of entries to a client seems inherently the wrong thing to do. What's actually wanted is the ability for the control point to see a sensible number of tracks/groups in a pre-randomised playlist, and then have the list topped up when it has almost been played out.

Leaving aside the group/work aspect for the moment, there's a simple and efficient way for the control point to do this. It can send a UPnP Search query to generate a suitable result set on the server and it can then pull down individual items from this result set in a random order. For exaxmple, if the result set contains 1000 items, the control point can request item 123, then item 789, then item 456, etc. The control point never needs to request more items than it wants to play.

We are clearly on opposite sides of the thin vs fat client divide (I started life with dumb teletypes, then dumb VDUs, went through the complex client GUIs stage, and then saw it all roll back to dumb-ish browsers).

If I had enough skill I'd try to add such a facility to a control point myself, but I've never acquired the more up to date development skills. Still, I shall peruse the source of one and see if I can make any sense of it at all. It's fairly clear I won't get any help from anywhere else.

Thanks again for your patience in responding to my ponderings.