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[JackSprat]

I'm using XMPlay as a portable app on my flash drive.  But the playlist stores files as absolute paths instead of relative.  At home, my flash drive is G:, but at work it's F:

Is there anyway I can have the files stored as relative paths?

Thanks!

[saga]

When saving a playlist, there's an option "store full path", which should be disabled. I dunno if it applies to the xmplay.pls in xmplay's directory, though.

[Ian @ un4seen]

The XMPLAY.PLS file does currently always include full paths, but one thing you could try is enabling the "Automatically check other drives for missing files" option (in the "Dead" options page).

[JackSprat]

When saving a playlist, there's an option "store full path", which should be disabled. I dunno if it applies to the xmplay.pls in xmplay's directory, though.

Thanks -- that doesn't do it. 

[JackSprat]

The XMPLAY.PLS file does currently always include full paths, but one thing you could try is enabling the "Automatically check other drives for missing files" option (in the "Dead" options page).

Thanks. Will do. Seems like it would be so easy for the developers to include an option to save a playlist with relative paths.

[Dotpitch]

Seems like it would be so easy for the developers to include an option to save a playlist with relative paths.

Ian is the only developer. Relative paths would work if you keep everything on one drive, but automatically checking other drives works properly on multiple drives as well.

[JackSprat]

That's the Catch-22 for me.  I'm using it as a portable app on my flash drive.  So I don't really want it to check other drives.  But it may just work anyway.  I'm going into work today.  So I'll give it a shot.  Otherwise, awesome piece of software. 

[Jimmy Neutron]

You might want to look at PortableApps.com.  For most programs, the launchers developed by the folks at PortableApps.com will address registry, directory, and drive letter portability issues.

Although XMPlay stays away from the registry and sticks in its own installed directory, the drive changes are a portability issue.  You can find the beta version of the XMPlay launcher in their forums.  There is a note from the launcher developer:

Known Issues:
The library will not follow a changing drive letter as the launcher is unable to write to the relevant files. You can get around this by saving your playlists as M3U files. All paths are written relative to the root of the drive by default.

I'm not sure if the library issue will be resolved in future beta versions, but I don't think so.

You might want to try maintain different copies of the library and swap the right one in.  Way complicated, but do-able.  It would be much better if the library understood relative paths and used something like %drive% if it was necessary to qualify full path for the output of the library.  Or maybe use an XMPlay.ini entry to identify the root path to the library, and let the library entry take it the rest of the way.  Or maybe if the library can't find the contents, give a file-open style dialog to allow the user to point the library to the right place.

[JackSprat]

Saving as an m3u worked!  Thanks!

Yes, the solutions you mentioned are all quite viable.  As a professional software engineer, it would seem relatively easy to implement at least one of those.  But for free, I can't complain.  It's a great app.

[Jimmy Neutron]

Happy to help!

[Dotpitch]

It would be much better if the library understood relative paths and used something like %drive% if it was necessary to qualify full path for the output of the library. Or maybe use an XMPlay.ini entry to identify the root path to the library, and let the library entry take it the rest of the way.

How would you go around with files that are not on the same drive as xmplay.exe?

There is a note from the launcher developer:

Known Issues: The library will not follow a changing drive letter as the launcher is unable to write to the relevant files. You can get around this by saving your playlists as M3U files. All paths are written relative to the root of the drive by default.

I'm not sure if the library issue will be resolved in future beta versions, but I don't think so.

Ian once posted the file format of the library (here), so the launcher could edit xmplay.library to use the right drive. Still, you end up with problems if your music collection spans multiple (removable) drives.

[Jimmy Neutron]

How would you go around with files that are not on the same drive as xmplay.exe?

OK, that seems to support relative paths?

Maybe I don't have a good handle on the differences between the playlist, queue and library.  I probably use XMPlay in a strange way.

Ian once posted the file format of the library (here), so the launcher could edit xmplay.library to use the right drive. Still, you end up with problems if your music collection spans multiple (removable) drives.

I'll pass that info to the launcher developer, thanks!

[saga]

Saving as an m3u worked!  Thanks!

That's just what I suggested in the very first post.

[Jimmy Neutron]

I'm using XMPlay as a portable app on my flash drive.  But the playlist stores files as absolute paths instead of relative.  At home, my flash drive is G:, but at work it's F:

Is there anyway I can have the files stored as relative paths?

JackSprat:
After our discussions here, and the link to the library format (thanks, Dotpitch), some launcher developers are working on having the PortableApps.com launcher for XMPlay adjust the drive letters in the library file.

I'll post back here once a beta launcher incorporating this feature is released.

[Dotpitch]

After our discussions here, and the link to the library format (thanks, Dotpitch), some launcher developers are working on having the PortableApps.com launcher for XMPlay adjust the drive letters in the library file.

In that case, please note:

This update also adds a "rating" column to the library. ... Note that the library file format is changed, so it won't be possible to switch back to a previous XMPlay version (and keep the library) after the library has been updated.

Ian, can you please share the new library format? I'm using a little tool to clean up the library, so I'd have to update that one.

[Jimmy Neutron]

Yeah, I already mentioned that in the other forum:

The latest beta version of xmplay.exe changes the library format to allow "ratings" of items in the library. So if you decide to muck around in the library, you might want to be aware of that format change.

Thanks for the reminder, though.

[Jimmy Neutron]

The PortableApps.com developer who is working on the XMPlay launcher has solved the library portability issue.

Anybody interested can download DevTest #4 from the forum post.