This script blueprint provides an easy to way play media from a set of content. A list of media is sent in and one is randomly chosen to play. The following field parameters can be given when the script is called:
- [required] Primary media player
- [required] List of content IDs (typically URLs) where one will randomly be chosen to play
-
[required] Content type of the media to play (defaults to
music) - [optional] List of additional media players (to group together for a multi-room setup, e.g. Sonos)
- [optional] Volume (it is applied to all grouped players)
- [optional] Shuffle
- [optional] Repeat
The script also has a few fail safes based on observed behaviour including:
- Double checking that shuffle and repeat actually get set and if not, set again
- If shuffle didnāt get set the script also forces skipping to the next song so you donāt always hear the first song in an album or playlist
This script is particularly convenient when:
- You want to set a sleep timer but donāt want the same music each night
- You have a set of playlists you frequently listen to but like to mix it up
Additional Notes
- I recommend setting the mode to
parallelwhen using the same script for multiple automations - This blueprint is very similar to my
play_mediascript, except it takes a list of content ids instead of one - This blueprint has no inputs, but is meant to be a script called from automations
Ā
# ***************************************************************************
# * Copyright 2022 Joseph Molnar
# *
# * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
# * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
# * You may obtain a copy of the License at
# *
# * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
# *
# * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
# * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
# * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
# * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
# * limitations under the License.
# ***************************************************************************
# Plays media, randomly chosen from the list given, on the specified devices with various options for shuffle, repeat, etc.
blueprint:
name: "Play Random Media"
description:
"This blueprint is used to add a script for playing media. The script randomly chooses which media
to use from the list given and provides shuffle, repeat and volume options. \
If you have a multi-room setup (e.g. Sonos) additional media players can be specified. The players \
will be grouped together with the primary media player."
domain: script
fields:
media_content_ids:
name: "Content IDs"
description: "The list of IDs and one will be randomly chosen to play"
example: "https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DX4fQhfyVRsHW"
required: true
selector:
object:
media_content_type:
name: "Content Type"
description: "The type of content that will play. Platform dependent."
example: "music"
required: true
selector:
text:
entity_id:
description: "The entity id that will be used to play and control the specified media."
name: "Entity"
required: true
selector:
entity:
domain: media_player
group_members:
description: "The entity ids of the additional entities to group together in a multi-room system. This ignores all types but entity ids."
name: "Group Members"
required: false
selector:
target:
entity:
domain: media_player
shuffle:
name: "Shuffle"
description: "True/false for enabling/disabling shuffle. If not set, current setting is used."
required: false
selector:
boolean: null
repeat:
name: "Repeat Mode"
description: "Repeat mode set to off, all, one. If not set, current mode is used."
required: false
selector:
select:
options:
- "off"
- "all"
- "one"
volume_level:
name: "Volume Level"
description: "Float for volume level. Range 0..1. If a value isn't given, volume isn't changed. If you specified Group Members the volume will be applied to all members."
required: false
selector:
number:
min: 0
max: 1
step: 0.01
mode: slider
variables:
# we put this here so we can easily see what was chosen and was seeing some
# oddities when put directly in the call itself
media_content_id: >-
{% if media_content_ids is string %}
{{media_content_ids}}
{% elif media_content_ids is mapping %}
"dictionary object isn't support"
{% elif media_content_ids is iterable %}
{{ media_content_ids | random }}
{% else %}
"specified object isn't support"
{% endif %}
sequence:
# if group members are defined then we do a grouping
- choose:
- conditions: >
{{ group_members is defined }}
sequence:
- service: media_player.join
data:
group_members: >-
{# can't modify a list or reset a variable, so using a replaceable array in a mutable container as work around#}
{# we only uses entity_id, and there will only be one given it is a dictionary #}
{# but in the future we can look at converting areas and devices into entities #}
{%- set workaround = namespace(members = []) -%}
{%- for key in group_members if key == 'entity_id'-%}
{%- set workaround.members = group_members[key] -%}
{%- endfor -%}
{{ workaround.members }}
entity_id: "{{ entity_id }}"
# we only set repeat if the repeat value was given
- choose:
- conditions: >
{{ repeat is defined }}
sequence:
- service: media_player.repeat_set
data:
repeat: "{{ repeat }}"
entity_id: "{{ entity_id }}"
default: []
# it appears that if you set shuffle and repeat
# that both do not happen all the time (at least
# on Sonos), so delay is here to help
- choose:
- conditions: >
{{ repeat is defined and shuffle is defined }}
sequence:
- delay:
hours: 0
minutes: 0
seconds: 1
milliseconds: 0
default: []
# we only set shuffle if the shuffle value was given
- choose:
- conditions: >
{{ shuffle is defined }}
sequence:
- service: media_player.shuffle_set
data:
shuffle: "{{ shuffle }}"
entity_id: "{{ entity_id }}"
default: []
# we only set the volume if the volume value was given
- choose:
- conditions: >
{{ volume_level is defined }}
sequence:
- service: media_player.volume_set
data:
volume_level: "{{ volume_level }}"
entity_id: "{{ entity_id }}"
- choose:
# if we have additional members, we set all their volumes
- conditions: >
{{ group_members is defined }}
sequence:
# need to make the right target definition
- service: media_player.volume_set
data:
volume_level: "{{ volume_level }}"
target: >-
{{ group_members }}
default: []
default: []
# no matter what, we get the media playing
# assuming we have the right media type
- service: media_player.play_media
data:
media_content_id: "{{ media_content_id }}"
media_content_type: "{{ media_content_type }}"
entity_id: "{{ entity_id }}"
# now we double check shuffle state and set
# again because sometimes it doesn't take
- choose:
- conditions: >
{{ shuffle is defined and is_state_attr(entity_id, 'shuffle', shuffle) == false }}
sequence:
- service: media_player.shuffle_set
data:
shuffle: "{{ shuffle }}"
entity_id: "{{ entity_id }}"
# in this case we wil also force the next
# track just to be sure
- choose:
- conditions: >
{{ shuffle == true }}
sequence:
- service: media_player.media_next_track
data:
entity_id: "{{ entity_id }}"
default: []
default: []
# now we double check repeat state and set
# again because sometimes it doesn't take
- choose:
- conditions: >
{{ repeat is defined and is_state_attr(entity_id, 'repeat', repeat) == false }}
sequence:
- service: media_player.repeat_set
data:
repeat: "{{ repeat }}"
entity_id: "{{ entity_id }}"
default: []
mode: parallel
max_exceeded: silent
icon: mdi:music-box-multiple-outline
Revisions
- 2022-11-06: Fixed issue with radio stations not working due to string quote handling in the media content id
- 2022-04-24: Initial release
Available Blueprints
- Automation: Lutron Pico Media Remote for Contextually Handling Music or Xbox on Sonos Speakers
- Automation: Automation for Sonos + Lutron Picos to Magically Manage Sleep Alarms and Music
- Script: Script for Sonos Speakers to do Text-to-Speech and Handle Typical Oddities
- Script: Script for Sonos Speakers to Announce Upcoming Alarm
- Script: Script for Sonos Speakers to Stop Current Alarm or Temporarily Disable Upcoming Alarm
- Script: Play Random Media w/ Shuffle, Repeat, Multi-room, Volume support
- Script: Play Media w/ Shuffle, Repeat, Multi-room, Volume support
- Others in my GitHub repository
