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[chrisjj]

Can anyone tell me what I need to do to fix this failure of my smartlist to show my playlists?


Thanks.

[MrC]

Don't' use Media Type=Playlists.

Instead, use Playlists is any ... and include the playlists or playlists groups you want.

[chrisjj]

Don't' use Media Type=Playlists.

Instead, use Playlists is any ... and include the playlists or playlists groups you want.

Thanks, but that too doesn't show any playlists - just audio files that are in playlists.

I used Media Type=Playlists because playlists is what I want included. I'd love to know how to get it to work.

[MrC]

The dialog you're working in is a Set rules for file display..., so it is used to select files for inclusion.

I don't know if there is a way to ask MC to "Show me all my playlists in a file list".  That's what the Playlists section in the tree does essentially.

[chrisjj]

The dialog you're working in is a Set rules for file display..., so it is used to select files for inclusion.

I see nothing to indicate it is limited to files. And the fact Media Type offers playlists indicates it is not limited to files.

Surely Media Type = Playlists can have been designed only for including media of type playlist.

I don't know if there is a way to ask MC to "Show me all my playlists in a file list".  That's what the Playlists section in the tree does essentially.

Rules aren't just for showing, note. What I need this one for is syncing.

[glynor]

Rules aren't just for showing, note. What I need this one for is syncing.

Why wouldn't you just select the Playlist Group itself in the sync system?  That syncs the playlist group and any child-playlists to the device in question...

[chrisjj]

Why wouldn't you just select the Playlist Group itself in the sync system?  That syncs the playlist group and any child-playlists to the device in question...

It syncs only the playlists present at the time. I have to manually add any new playlists each time I sync. I want automatic sync of all playlists. Smartlists are automatic. If I could get a smart list to include playlists, I'd add the smart list to the sync list - problem solved.

[glynor]

Ahh, I see...  

The Playlist Is Any rule can point at a Playlist Group, and it'll pull children automatically.

That's similar to the system I use to sync my Library to iTunes with MCiS.  You can make a "master sync" Smartlist, that points at any other Playlist Groups.  The only thing you can't do is point directly at the Playlists group itself (which contains all of the other Playlist Groups).  That's because technically, the Playlists item isn't a Playlist Group, it is a root View Item.

But, so long as you don't often add new top-level Playlist Groups, you should be able to pull it off.

Make a Smartlist at the Root of the Playlists part of the tree (or wherever, but that'd be a good place) called something like Master Sync List.  Then, point your sync at it.

HOWEVER... I'm not sure this will help.  Is you goal to get MC to actually sync the Playlists themselves over to the device, or the contents of the Playlist over to the device?

If the latter, this method will work fine.
If the former, then it won't.

But....

The Handheld engine doesn't automatically pick up new children when added to a Playlist Group?  Are you sure?

EDIT:  I didn't read properly.  MrC and you already covered enough above to explain what you're looking for.  Ooops.

[glynor]

* glynor goes off to test this...

EDIT:  Nope.  You're right.

They should fix that.  That's annoying.

In a perfect world, it should work like this:

1. If you've checked the box for a Playlist Group and then you go into it and de-select a child item or two, it should NOT automatically include any new children of that group (because you defined it manually, and the Playlist Box's Group checkbox is "gray" not "checked").

2. If you've just checked the box for a Playlist Group, but not otherwise messed with it (so the checkbox is checked in the UI), then it should automatically pick up any new children whenever you build a new sync list.

I don't use very many manual lists, and the ones I do sync over to iTunes don't change very often (and when they do, it is usually pretty structural), so I never noticed this before.  But, yeah, if you just want to be able to add new Playlists to MC and have them automatically end up on your device, there isn't a way to do it right now without manual intervention ever sync.

[chrisjj]

Is you goal to get MC to actually sync the Playlists themselves over to the device

Yes. I want sync to automatically sync the whole library - audio, playlists everything.

If the former, then it won't.

OK, thanks. Then Media Type Is Playlist is broken.

The Handheld engine doesn't automatically pick up new children when added to a Playlist Group?  Are you sure?

Yes e.g.

1) In Options, checkmark a playlist group
2) In media tree, add a playlist in this playlist group
3) View Options.

Hoped for: added playlist is checkmarked.
Observed: it is not:



Are you UNsure?

[chrisjj]

EDIT:  Nope.  You're right.
...
if you just want to be able to add new Playlists to MC and have them automatically end up on your device, there isn't a way to do it right now without manual intervention ever sync.

Thanks for the confirmation.

They should fix that.  That's annoying.

In a perfect world, it should work like this:

That change would suit me 100% but I would not say is it 100% perfect. The three checkbox states are insufficient to provide all the options, and there's no providable subset that avoids some possible inconvenience and/or confusion for unaware upgrading users. So I suggest:

 1) Handheld sync list Playlists has a new option checkbox: "[ ] automatically include groups and lists added to fully included groups" - unchecked by default.
 2) When user adds a group/list to a group that is checked in Handheld sync list, if the above option is checked, MC initialises the added group/list to checked.

There's no change to this behaviour:

 When user adds a group/list to a group that is unchecked or indeterminate (showing as block) in Handheld sync list, MC initialises the group/list to unchecked.

Does that look good?