Edit: 27 Apr 24 - Setting simplified in script, updated text
For some time now I was lurking the forum, the internet and beyond to make it possible to start a playlist instead of playing a single file each time. But now I have a solution that works for me and hopefully also for you.
Let me say first that my playlist requirements are not that high. My main goal is to select a folder and just play all the music in that folder one after the other, For output I want to send the stream to the available media players that I have in HA . For me that are VLC(-telnet), Mopidy, MPD, Google mini and my Samsung TV
Requirements
To make this work then the Media player you want to use has to support the Previous action. You can check this in the developer tools - Service: Media player: Previous and Targets: Choose entity.
See if the Media player you want to use is there.
The music files you want to play must be accessible from the HA machine !!
To make this possible for media that is not available on your HA server you have to make under Settings - System - Storage - Network Storage a new connection to your NAS or any other place where the media sits.
For me my HA server (HAOS) is a running on a miniPC. My media is on a external USB drive that is connected to a RPi3 configured as a NAS and available in my network as PiNas.
After this your files can be found under the media tab in HA or if you use an other PC like your desktop PC you can see the storage in your file browser when entering \[HA server IP address]\media
In my case its shows up there as a folder named PiNas
How this works
To make this work the following will have to happen
- Load all music files into the media player.
- Do media player.previous for each file load minus 1. (so 3 files loaded then 2x previous)
Now your media player will play your files one after the other.
Okay, I understand this is rather cumbersome to do.
‘Can’t you do better?’
Well yes I can. How? Read further.
I made a python script to handle this workflow for you. It’s not super well written because a lot of error checking is missing but the bare bones are there and the script isn’t doing any dangerous things to your system. Why in Python? Well that way I can support a wide range of OS’s to run it on.
Basically what is does is this.
- Read your media folder that you want as a playlist
- Make an automation to do all the actions
- Write this to a file in the same location as where this script is.
After that you take the file and copy the contents into an automation in HA.
This automation is then your actual playlist
This is the Python script.
Copy it and save it as Playlist_maker.py
There are a few settings that you have to fill in. Hopefully I added enough details for you to figure it out what to fill in. If not then at the end of this post there are more details
Start it with: Playlist_maker.py “playlist name in quotes if it contains spaces” the-music-folder-to-scan
Nothing or ? will to show the help info
# Playlist_maker
# by A.A. van Zoelen
# Version : 1.1 - 27 Apr 2024 - Simplified the settings
# Version : 1.0 - 26 Apr 2024 - Initial release
#
# Description
# This script creates an automation file for Home Assistant
# Just give a folder to scans for files and an automation is
# created to play all the files via VLC-Telnet in HA
#
# Works with the following media players in HA
# - VLC
# - Mopidy
# - Google home mini speakers might work too
#
# Work to do for you, Look at the settings below
#
# Issues
# - The files must be accesable from the HA machine!
# Adding as a Network storage is an option to us.
# - Not all media players supports the enqueue option and the
# previous action. Look in the developers window of HA if
# these actions are supported by the media player you like to use
import sys
import os
print ('', sys.argv)
if (((len(sys.argv)-1) != 2) or (sys.argv[1] == '?') ):
print('''
***************************************************************************
* Usage: Playlist_maker.py [playlist name] [music_folder] *
***************************************************************************
* Example:
* Playlist name: The name the automation and output file will get.
* If there are spaces in this then use quotes aroud it
* music_folder : Mody (folder containing the music seen from SHAREPATH)
***************************************************************************''')
sys.exit()
playlist_title = sys.argv[1]
output_file = sys.argv[1]
music_folder = sys.argv[2]
# ==============
# == SETTINGS ==
# ==============
# If running this on a different machine then your HA machine
# For example running it on a Windows system connecting to a NAS
# Path from share to media folder including trailing /
SHAREPATH = "X:/Media/Audio/"
# In HA you can set a Network Storage
# This is the path from HA(media) to the media folder itself
# containing your music sorted in folders (or not)
# Full path example:
# - //media_source/local/PiNas/Media/Audio/Moby/03-moby-porcelain.mp3
# Where //media_source/local/ is default
# See: https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/media_source/
# Path from HA share to media folder including trailing /
HA_SHAREPATH = "PiNas/Media/Audio/"
# Search for these files only
FILE_EXTENTION = ".mp3"
# Media player you want to use
MEDIA_PLAYER = "media_player.vlc_telnet"
# =====================
# == END OF SETTINGS ==
# == No need to edit ==
# == below this ==
# =====================
# Sanitize the folder path and make sure there is a / at the end
music_folder = music_folder.replace('\\','/')
music_folder = music_folder.strip('/')
music_folder = music_folder + "/"
# The header info of the automation
HEADER = "alias: " + playlist_title + """
description: 'Created with Playlist maker v1.0'
trigger: []
condition: []
action: """
# Building the service tag for the automation
SERVICE = """
- service: media_player.play_media
target:
entity_id: """ + MEDIA_PLAYER + """
data:
enqueue: 'yes'
media_content_type: music
media_content_id: >-
media-source://media_source/local/"""
# Building the previous action tag for the automation
PREVIOUS = """
- service: media_player.media_previous_track
data: {}
target:
entity_id: """ + MEDIA_PLAYER
# Making some complete folder paths
Complete_file_path = SHAREPATH + music_folder
Complete_HA_file_path = HA_SHAREPATH + music_folder
print("Searching for files in " + Complete_file_path + "\nFound\n\n")
files_found = []
for filename in os.listdir(Complete_file_path):
if filename.endswith(FILE_EXTENTION):
print(filename)
files_found.append(filename)
outputfile = open(output_file + ".yaml", "w")
count = 0
# Header for the automation
outputfile.write(HEADER)
#for line in inputfile:
for x in range(len(files_found)):
outputfile.write(SERVICE)
outputfile.write(Complete_HA_file_path)
outputfile.write(files_found[x])
count = count + 1
# Do previous to get to the first added track
# and start playing from there
while count > 1:
outputfile.write(PREVIOUS)
count = count -1
outputfile.close()
print ("\nReady\nFile saved as : " + output_file)
print ("Add this to Home Assistant as an automation")
Some additional setting details
SHAREPATH
For me this is the path when using my desktop PC with windows. The X drive is connected to my RPi NAS. When I go to this location “X:/Media/Audio/” then I am in my folder that contains my music. Each album is in it’s own separate folder with it’s own name
HA_SHAREPATH
This connects to the same folder as SHAREPATH only this is done from the HA server. In HA go to Media - My Media. From there note the path that you have to follow to get to the same audio folder as in SHAREPATH
FILE_EXTENTION
Include only files with this extension. Sorry, only 1 filetype for now because I don’t need any other. Everything is there for you to expand the code and make this work for you.
MEDIA_PLAYER
Enter here the HA media player you want to use
I am open to any remarks and improvements on this subject