Navigation help

[freaknout]

Hi all

I've been using Minimserver in a basic way for quite some time but need some help to setting up easy navigation for son.

My son has a Denon Ceol Picolo which allows access to minimsever running on my Qnap. Without an iPhone/iPad navigation via the Denon remote is very clunky and time consuming. What I'd ideally like to set up is have some selected Artists in the root directory (as per Radiohead and The Shins example below) or perhaps set-up some specific Artists playlists...

26 albums
241 items
3 playlists
Artist
Date
Genre
All Artists
Composer
Radiohead
The Shins
[untagged]
[folder view]

Can anyone help me set that up? I hope I've been clear.

Many thanks
Jay

[DavidHB]

I think that Simon will tell you that this is not possible, though I'd like to be wrong.

The top level 'list of contents' is, in effect, compiled when the library is indexed. It has a few special items (such as 'nn albums' and 'nnn entries'), but mostly it is a list of those tags you have asked MinimServer to index (in the indexTags property). At this level, it does not list by particular tag values. Because of the way that MinimServer browsing works (by progressive selection of particular tag values), I don't think that it will be possible to have both a tag and a particular value of that tag listed at the same menu level.

There may be workarounds for your problem. Have you looked at the MinimServer alphaGroup property? This gives you an index of first letters, and thereby hopefully reduces the amount of scrolling through long lists that is needed. But the obvious thought is that the Denon is DLNA certified, which means that it uses UPnP AV messaging. If Denon's own app (for Android as well as iOS) is not suitable for some reason, a control point app such as Bubble UPnP on Android. and perhaps even Linn Kinsky on Windows (Linn Kazoo will not work) may be suitable. Have you tried any of these alternatives?

Another idea is to use pre-built playlists in the .m3u format, and store them somewhere in the library folder indexed by MinimServer, which will then include an 'nnn playlists' entry in the top level list of contents; you can select this and will probably not need to scroll much to start playing the tracks you want. You could, for instance, create a playlist for each of your favourite artists. I can explain how you could do this if you are interested.

David

[freaknout]

Hi David

Very kind of you to reply in detail, thank you very much.

I'll check out the alphaGroup property, that sounds like it'll speed things up quite a bit. My son is 9 and he doesn't have "open" access to iPad/iPhone only the remote control (I know, a strict parent!). The remote can access the server, etc, but when you have 1800 artists it takes the poor guy a lot of time!

Pre-built playlists sound interesting and after spying the playlist folder I wondered how I could create some and then store them for access. I use Naim equipment with the excellent Naim app and I created a UPnP playlist but I think must store them within the app itself.

Basically any help on how I could do this would be super!

Thanks again
Jay

[freaknout]

Sorry David, I also can't find reference to alphaGroup in the User Guide.

Jay

[freaknout]

Hold the phone, I found that one!

[simoncn]

Are you trying to create a custom view just for your son or for both yourself and your son to use?

I didn't quite understand the point about your son not having "open" access to the iPad. In this case, how can he benefit from any customization of the MinimServer browse tree?

As DavidHB has said, there isn't much that can be done at present. I have some ideas about how a more suitable custom tree could be created in the future and I hope this discussion will help me understand what is needed for your situation.

[freaknout]

(24-07-2017 21:09)simoncn Wrote:  Are you trying to create a custom view just for your son or for both yourself and your son to use?

I didn't quite understand the point about your son not having "open" access to the iPad. In this case, how can he benefit from any customization of the MinimServer browse tree?

As DavidHB has said, there isn't much that can be done at present. I have some ideas about how a more suitable custom tree could be created in the future and I hope this discussion will help me understand what is needed for your situation.

Hi Simon

Thanks for replying. "Open" access means that he doesn't have his own iPad or iPhone. He accesses the server files through the denon mini hifi interface using the remote control.

I've used the alphaGroup feature that David mentioned and it's pretty much all we need to avoid having to use the remote to scroll through 400 odd artists.

I'm happy, it's working well.

All the best
Jay

[DavidHB]

(24-07-2017 20:27)freaknout Wrote:  My son is 9 and he doesn't have "open" access to iPad/iPhone only the remote control (I know, a strict parent!). The remote can access the server, etc, but when you have 1800 artists it takes the poor guy a lot of time!

I understand the problem, but, as my offspring were grown up by the time the Internet was invented, I don't pretend to know how to solve it. Watching my two year old granddaughter niftily calling up her choice of pre-recorded CBeebies programmes on her mother's tablet, I'd say you have an uphill struggle on your hands. Sooner rather than later, your son will want a phone . A hint for that moment is that, in my opinion, Bubble UPnP (or its stable mate BubbleDS Next for the Linn DS/DSM range), which is only available on Android, is the best currently available control point for UPnP/DLNA music streamers.

(24-07-2017 20:27)freaknout Wrote:  Pre-built playlists sound interesting and after spying the playlist folder I wondered how I could create some and then store them for access. I use Naim equipment with the excellent Naim app and I created a UPnP playlist but I think must store them within the app itself.

Yes, that's normal for control point apps. The problem with it is that the playlists are only available for that one control point. Putting them on the server makes much more sense.

MinimServer can index playlists in the .m3u format. The playlist file is a plain text file with a particular layout. To give you an idea of what they look like, here is one:

#EXTM3U
#EXTINF:609,Montreux Alexander (30th Anniversary Edition) [Live] - 1 - Night Mist Blues
../Jazz and Blues/Monty Alexander/Montreux Alexander/01-01-The_Monty_Alexander_Trio-Night_Mist_Blues-LLS.flac
#EXTINF:186,Jazz on Film: Film Noir (Disc 1) - 2 - Four Deuces
../Jazz and Blues/Jazz on Film - Film Noir/Jazz on Film; Film Noir, Disc 1/102 - Four Deuces.flac
#EXTINF:410,Mali to Memphis: An African-American Odyssey - 7 - Don't Ever Let Nobody Drag Your Spirit Down
../World/Mali to Memphis; An African-American Odyssey/07 Eric Bibb - Don't Ever Let Nobody Drag Your Spirit Down.flac
#EXTINF:164,Mali to Memphis: An African-American Odyssey - 5 - You Don't Know My Mind
../World/Mali to Memphis; An African-American Odyssey/05 Guy Davis - You Don't Know My Mind.flac
#EXTINF:239,Mali to Memphis: An African-American Odyssey - 9 - My Home Is in the Delta
../World/Mali to Memphis; An African-American Odyssey/09 Muddy Waters - My Home Is in the Delta.flac

You'll get the idea that, for all except the terminally geeky among us, putting something like this together is not high on our list of enjoyable activities. So I use
Playlist Creator (sorry, Windows only) to drag and drop file entries from the music folder into the playlist layout. This makes setting up a playlist the work of moments.

A couple of hints. Firstly, MinimServer needs you to create the playlists in the Music folder on the NAS. I set Playlist Creator to do relative addressing (so the file paths all begin with '../'), and store all my playlists in a 'Playlists' folder within the Music folder. So it makes sense that the music folder is (or is within) a Windows share, so it is easily accessible from the Windows computer running Playlist Creator.

Secondly, for use on the NAS, you need to save the playlists with forward rather than backward slashes in the file paths. There is a setting in Playlist Creator to do this automatically.

Since writing the above, I see that alphaGroup has helped to solve your problem. Even so, you might also like to try the odd saved playlist.

David

[freaknout]

(24-07-2017 21:19)DavidHB Wrote:  I understand the problem, but, as my offspring were grown up by the time the Internet was invented, I don't pretend to know how to solve it. Watching my two year old granddaughter niftily calling up her choice of pre-recorded CBeebies programmes on her mother's tablet, I'd say you have an uphill struggle on your hands. Sooner rather than later, your son will want a phone (:rolleyes. A hint for that moment is that, in my opinion, Bubble UPnP (or its stable mate BubbleDS Next for the Linn DS/DSM range), which is only available on Android, is the best currently available control point for UPnP/DLNA music streamers.

Oh don't worry, he wants his own tech and is FULLY versed in how it all works, believe me I'm just trying to hold that off for a while !

Quote:Yes, that's normal for control point apps. The problem with it is that the playlists are only available for that one control point. Putting them on the server makes much more sense.

MinimServer can index playlists in the .m3u format. The playlist file is a plain text file with a particular layout. To give you an idea of what they look like, here is one:

#EXTM3U
#EXTINF:609,Montreux Alexander (30th Anniversary Edition) [Live] - 1 - Night Mist Blues
../Jazz and Blues/Monty Alexander/Montreux Alexander/01-01-The_Monty_Alexander_Trio-Night_Mist_Blues-LLS.flac
#EXTINF:186,Jazz on Film: Film Noir (Disc 1) - 2 - Four Deuces
../Jazz and Blues/Jazz on Film - Film Noir/Jazz on Film; Film Noir, Disc 1/102 - Four Deuces.flac
#EXTINF:410,Mali to Memphis: An African-American Odyssey - 7 - Don't Ever Let Nobody Drag Your Spirit Down
../World/Mali to Memphis; An African-American Odyssey/07 Eric Bibb - Don't Ever Let Nobody Drag Your Spirit Down.flac
#EXTINF:164,Mali to Memphis: An African-American Odyssey - 5 - You Don't Know My Mind
../World/Mali to Memphis; An African-American Odyssey/05 Guy Davis - You Don't Know My Mind.flac
#EXTINF:239,Mali to Memphis: An African-American Odyssey - 9 - My Home Is in the Delta
../World/Mali to Memphis; An African-American Odyssey/09 Muddy Waters - My Home Is in the Delta.flac

You'll get the idea that, for all except the terminally geeky among us, putting something like this together is not high on our list of enjoyable activities. So I use
Playlist Creator (sorry, Windows only) to drag and drop file entries from the music folder into the playlist layout. This makes setting up a playlist the work of moments.

A couple of hints. Firstly, it makes sense to create the playlists in the Music folder on the NAS. I set Playlist Creator to do relative addressing (so the file paths all begin with '../'), and store all my playlists in a 'Playlists' folder within the Music folder. So it makes sense that the music folder is (or is within) a Windows share, so it is easily accessible from the Windows computer running Playlist Creator.

Secondly, for use on the NAS, you need to save the playlists with forward rather than backward slashes in the file paths. There is a setting in Playlist Creator to do this automatically.

Fantastic, thank you very much. We're pretty much sorted with the alphaGroup feature but I'd like to play around with this myself.

Kind regards
Jay

[simoncn]

(24-07-2017 21:19)freaknout Wrote:  Thanks for replying. "Open" access means that he doesn't have his own iPad or iPhone. He accesses the server files through the denon mini hifi interface using the remote control.

Does the denon mini hifi interface using the remote control provide access to the MinimServer browse tree? If so, is this the same browse tree that you are viewing on your iPad?