[Banshee-List] Playlist Import/Export functionality

["Trey Ethridge" <tethridge gmail com>]

Hello all,

I'm working on playlist import/export functionality now and I wanted
some feedback on the way that it should be implemented.  I think that
this should be part of Banshee and not a plugin, so I was planning on
putting it into Banshee.Base.   I really want this to be accepted into
Banshee so if there is something that will prevent it from being
accepted please let me know.

One of my first questions when I started looking at playlists was
whether or not to save the file paths using relative or absolute
paths.  I'm thinking the file paths should be relative to the location
that you save the playlist.  This way you can save the playlist into a
folder named playlists that sits in your root music directory.  Then
you could move or export your music directory via NFS and any player
should be able to use the playlist.  I can't think of how I would use
a playlist with absolute paths for anything other than a backup, which
can also be done with relative paths.  Let me know if there is a valid
case for absolute paths and we can make it an option some how.

Now let me explain how I was thinking of implementing this
functionality from a user's point of view within Banshee.

import functionality would be a new entry under the "Music" menu.  The
user would select this menu item.  Banshee would open a file chooser
dialog so that the user could select the playlist to import.  Any of
the supported playlist types would be selectable.  After the user
selects a playlist, the playlist will be added to the left pane in
Banshee.  The name of the playlist will default to the playlist
filename.  Progress will be displayed as it does during normal music
importing.  If the files listed in the playlist don't yet exist in the
library, they will be added to the library.

Export functionality would be accessible for smart playlists and
normal playlists.  To export a playlist the user would right click the
playlist and select "Export Playlist...".  The user would be prompted
with a dialog to select the save location and playlist format.  I
think this will look similar to the import location dialog.  The
dialog will have a browse button and a playlist type selector.  The
user will select the location to save the playlist and optionally
change the playlist format.  Then the user would hit an export button.
The export dialog will remember the last selected format.  I'm not
sure how long it would take to export, but if it takes more than a few
seconds, I would add a progress indicator.

Playlist formats that I had planned to implement are: m3u, pls, and
xspf.  The xspf format is a new open source format.  You can read more
about it at www.xspf.org.  I'm not sure which should be the default.

Please let me know your thoughts on this functionality.  I'm open to
suggestions.

Thanks,
-- Trey