How to Create Your Own Custom Navigation Trees

[Twonky_Rick]

I tried to get an update but was unsuccesful.

This is the newest one which exists.

- Rick

[GregR]

THANK YOU BRIAN!!!

I copied your modified files into my view folder and all my music surfing problems were solved.

Your modified view-definitions file was missing the <container name='album' id='video/albums' part so I pasted it from the original and added: sortcriteria='+upnp:originalTrackNumber' Awsome!

I tag my video like music so I would have album called "DeadwoodS1" and then episode number would be the track number entry, so my TV shows and other albums like "Pixar Feature Animation" display the content in sequence but still other albums like "Western Features" which have a null track number display in alpha order - Perfect.

Someday I would like to add Disk Number and Grouping to the database but for now I have to figure out remote access.

Greg R

[Briain]

Hi

No worries and thank you for alerting me to the missing video/album container (you can tell I only use Twonky for music and pictures). That's still really strange as I just used PV's standard picture and video containers; I must have deleted that one at some stage (maybe I was rushing and deleted it in error whilst doing some sort of heinous tree experiment).

Cheers
Bri

[pregolavazza]

Puh, this is overwhelming. I just installed the Twonky Server on my Synology 209 and found out that Twonkyvision changed the handling with the Navigation Trees. (ok, my last Version was 3.x

So I just need a Navigation Tree like this:

Artist index (1)-->Artist-->Album-->Track(s)
Album Index (1) -->Album -->Tracks
Playlists

This ist it! Other Entries such as "last added" would be nice but are not mandatory.

Can I download XML trees which have these or similar structures anywhere?

Thanks in advance
Henning

[pregolavazza]

Hi,
After I copied the xml files (posted here from Briain) into the directory "resources/view" and rebuild the database my server doesn't start anymore.

Do you have a hint for me?

[Briain]

Hi

I've not heard of that happening before; that's very odd. Which version of Twonky is installed on your NAS? Have you tried rebooting the NAS to see if that starts Twonky?

Bri

[pregolavazza]

Hi,

it's not on my NAS. I've installed a second (trial) Version on Win 7 PC (Latest Version)

Greetz
Henning

[Briain]

Hi

The trees are written for Linux NAS's and thus have a different 'end of line' format to the one Windows understands (you'll see the layout looks a mess when using Windows Notepad to view them). That said, I'm using these trees on a Windows XPSP3 machine and it doesn't bother it at all; they work very well. I don't know anything about Windows 7; maybe it is more fussy (i.e. less intelligent) than XP was!

If you let me know which tree pack you wish, I can open it in Notepad++, save it in Windows EoL format and send it to you. I don't have upload permissions on this forum, so PM me with your email address and the tree pack you wish, and I'll send it to you.

Bri

[Briain]

Hi Folks

Linn Products have revamped their web pages and forum resulting in my tree links breaking (a total deforestation in fact)

They have kindly moved the files onto another Linn server and I have updated the links in my post on the previous page (here) so all should now be well again.

Bri

[rom69]

Hi folks,

this navigation tree thing is driving me nuts. I use the "2011_7_albumartist" definition from here on a windows 7 pc with twonky server 6.0.37:
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=6219&start=100#p35803

My MP3 files are properly tagged, albumartist is set, but I cannot create a tree looking like this:
music -> track artist -> first letter of track artist -> track artist with selected first letter -> all tracks of artist (normal albums AND compilations)
e.g.
music -> track artist -> A -> Aerosmith -> list of all Aerosmith tracks including compilations

All my tests end up with a tree that shows just the tracks of normal albums, tracks of compilations are not shown.

Could one please post an example, how to set this up?

Regards
rom69

[phibertron]

@rom69

Post the xml to the section you modified place it in [ code ] [ /code ] sections of a post from the menu above

[rom69]

Hi phibertron,
first I tried the original tree out of "2011_07_AlbumArtist" definition:

[code]
<container name='music' id='music' upnp:originalTrackNumber='1' sortcriteria='+upnp:originalTrackNumber' createClass='object.item.audioItem.musicTrack,object.item.audioItem.online.musicTrack'>
<container name='track artist' upnp:originalTrackNumber='2' id='music/artistindex' class='object.container' createClass='object.item.audioItem.musicTrack'>
<container buildon='upnp:artist[1]' class='object.container' createClass='object.item.audioItem.musicTrack'>
<container buildon='upnp:artist' class='object.container.person.musicArtist' createClass='object.item.audioItem.musicTrack'>
<container name='-List Tunes-' createClass='object.item.audioItem.musicTrack' class='object.container' />
<container buildon='upnp:album' albumart='1' sortcriteria='+pv:numberOfThisDisc,+upnp:originalTrackNumber' createClass='object.item.audioItem.musicTrack' class='object.container.album.musicAlbum' />
</container>
</container>
</container>
</container>
[/code]

This shows in -List Tunes- just tracks of normal albums and no tracks of compilations. Beside this, for one of my 3 test artists, it shows even one track less than the sum of the 3 albums of that artist (1 of 54 missing). The missing track has the same tags set as the other tracks. In the -Album Artists- view of this definition file, all tracks of all albums are shown.

Then I tried this:

[code]
<container name='music' id='music' upnp:originalTrackNumber='1' sortcriteria='+upnp:originalTrackNumber' createClass='object.item.audioItem.musicTrack,object.item.audioItem.online.musicTrack'>
<container name='track artist' upnp:originalTrackNumber='2' id='music/artistindex' class='object.container' createClass='object.item.audioItem.musicTrack'>
<container buildon='upnp:artist[1]' class='object.container' createClass='object.item.audioItem.musicTrack'>
<container buildon='upnp:artist' class='object.container.person.musicArtist' createClass='object.item.audioItem.musicTrack' />
</container>
</container>
</container>
[/code]

Here I get the same results as the -List Tunes- view above.

Then I tried this:

[code]
<container name='music' id='music' upnp:originalTrackNumber='1' sortcriteria='+upnp:originalTrackNumber' createClass='object.item.audioItem.musicTrack,object.item.audioItem.online.musicTrack'>
<container name='track artist' upnp:originalTrackNumber='2' id='music/artistindex' class='object.container' createClass='object.item.audioItem.musicTrack'>
<container buildon='upnp:artist[1]' class='object.container' createClass='object.item.audioItem.musicTrack'>
<container buildon='upnp:artist' class='object.container.person.musicArtist' createClass='object.item.audioItem.musicTrack'>
<container buildon='dc:title' sclass='object.container' createClass='object.item.audioItem.musicTrack' />
</container>
</container>
</container>
</container>
[/code]

I get a list of tracks, but again just out of normal albums and here are much more tracks missing (11 of 54 are missing).

Regards
rom69

[phibertron]

In the -Album Artists- view of this definition file, all tracks of all albums are shown.

Just tryiing to clarify, does that mean the returned list for you is correct in that part of the nav tree?
If that is the case
The biggest thing that is different is that the "-Album Artists-"
is using buildon with albumArtist
not Artist

I knot that there were some changes in 6.0.37 in relation to albumArtist
I think the change was if when doing a buildon with albumArtist
if the albumArtist tag is empty and artist tag has data
it would return the data from the artist tag
which may account for the reason that the -Album Artists- is showing all songs

[phibertron]

Here is a tactic I use for other scenarios
But it could also be leveraged to do what your looking for

Here is the original container from that xml your using

Code: Select all

<container name='-Track Artists-' upnp:originalTrackNumber='2' id='music/artistindex' class='object.container' createClass='object.item.audioItem.musicTrack'>
   <container buildon='upnp:artist[1]' class='object.container' createClass='object.item.audioItem.musicTrack'>
      <container buildon='upnp:artist' class='object.container.person.musicArtist' createClass='object.item.audioItem.musicTrack'>
         <container name='-List Tunes-' createClass='object.item.audioItem.musicTrack' class='object.container' />
         <container buildon='upnp:album' albumart='1' sortcriteria='+pv:numberOfThisDisc,+upnp:originalTrackNumber' createClass='object.item.audioItem.musicTrack' class='object.container.album.musicAlbum' />
      </container>
   </container>
</container>


The below example will build a tree that combine like items
Its kind of a way to do a double buildon for artist and albumartist

Code: Select all

<container name='-Track Artists-' upnp:originalTrackNumber='2' id='music/artistindex' class='object.container' createClass='object.item.audioItem.musicTrack'>
   <container buildon='upnp:artist[1]' class='object.container' createClass='object.item.audioItem.musicTrack'>
      <container buildon='upnp:artist' class='object.container.person.musicArtist' createClass='object.item.audioItem.musicTrack'>
         <container name='-List Tunes-' createClass='object.item.audioItem.musicTrack' class='object.container' />
         <container buildon='upnp:album' albumart='1' sortcriteria='+pv:numberOfThisDisc,+upnp:originalTrackNumber' createClass='object.item.audioItem.musicTrack' class='object.container.album.musicAlbum' />
      </container>
   </container>
   <container buildon='upnp:albumArtist[1]' class='object.container' createClass='object.item.audioItem.musicTrack'>
      <container buildon='upnp:albumArtist' class='object.container.person.musicArtist' createClass='object.item.audioItem.musicTrack'>
         <container name='-List Tunes-' createClass='object.item.audioItem.musicTrack' class='object.container' />
         <container buildon='upnp:album' albumart='1' sortcriteria='+pv:numberOfThisDisc,+upnp:originalTrackNumber' createClass='object.item.audioItem.musicTrack' class='object.container.album.musicAlbum' />
      </container>
   </container>
</container>


Basically any like returns at a given level will be combined at that level
and appear as one item
so say you had some songs with artist of aerosmith
and some had albumartist of aerosmith
you would see only one aerosmith in the tree

[rom69]

Hi phibertron,

I found the reason for the problems. I used "Various Artists" as albumartist for compilations. Although I set this in "basic setup -> sharing -> compilation directories" it did not work correctly. After changing to "Sampler" everything seems to work fine.

Thanks for your support and hints, which will be useful when doing the fine tuning of my trees.

Regards
rom69

[phibertron]

@rom69

Good to know that doing that worked
I had been wondering how removing that would effect things

[rom69]

Hi phibertron,

I finished the fine tuning of my trees, and I have just two open issues and want to ask you for a hint, how to solve them.

I import also M3U playlists. This works on a Windows PC without problems. On my DSN-323 it does not (same version of twonky server), although the playlist are working when I access them via NFS (I use relative path names, forward slashes and UNIX file format). What do I have to consider, to make them work on my NAS?

As I’m having many pictures files, I wanted to extend the keyword tree by date. So I used these two trees as a basis, which are working fine:

Code: Select all

   <container name='bydate' id='picture/date' createClass='object.item.imageItem.photo' class='object.container'>
      <container name='allname' createClass='object.item.imageItem.photo' class='object.container'>
         <container name='allname' createClass='object.item.imageItem.photo' class='object.container.album.photoAlbum' />
         <container buildon='pv:month' createClass='object.item.imageItem.photo' class='object.container.album.photoAlbum' />
      </container>
      <container buildon='pv:year' createClass='object.item.imageItem.photo' class='object.container'>
         <container name='allname' createClass='object.item.imageItem.photo' class='object.container.album.photoAlbum' />
         <container buildon='pv:month' createClass='object.item.imageItem.photo' class='object.container.album.photoAlbum' />
      </container>
   </container>
   <container name='keywords' id='picture/keywords' createClass='object.item.imageItem.photo'  class='object.container' >
      <container buildon='pv:avKeywords' createClass='object.item.imageItem.photo' class='object.container.album.photoAlbum' />
   </container>


And combined them like this:

Code: Select all

   <container name='-By Keyword-' id='picture/keywords' upnp:originalTrackNumber='3' createClass='object.item.imageItem.photo' class='object.container' >
      <container buildon='pv:avKeywords' sortcriteria='-dc:title' createClass='object.item.imageItem.photo' class='object.container' >
        <container name='-All Years-' sortcriteria='-dc:title' createClass='object.item.imageItem.photo' class='object.container'>
           <container name='-All Months-' createClass='object.item.imageItem.photo' class='object.container.album.photoAlbum' />
           <container buildon='pv:month' createClass='object.item.imageItem.photo' class='object.container.album.photoAlbum' />
        </container>
        <container buildon='pv:year' sortcriteria='-dc:title' createClass='object.item.imageItem.photo' class='object.container'>
           <container name='-All Months-' createClass='object.item.imageItem.photo' class='object.container.album.photoAlbum' />
           <container buildon='pv:month' createClass='object.item.imageItem.photo' class='object.container.album.photoAlbum' />
        </container>
      </container>
   </container>


I expected a tree like this “keyword->year->month”, where pictures are listed after selecting a month. But it shows already pictures when selecting “keyword” (and also a list of years), after selecting a year it shows just months and no pictures (as expected) and after selecting the month it shows the pictures (as expected).
How can I avoid already showing the pictures when selecting the keywords?

Regards
rom69

[phibertron]

@rom69

dont know why the m3u arent working from the nas
I think I saw some notes on that in the revision notes

As to the picture navtree I noticed you had some syntax errors
too many /> and missing </container> statements

I think I know what you want

This one would give you just pictures under the month

Code: Select all

<container name='keywords' id='picture/keywords' createClass='object.item.imageItem.photo'  class='object.container' >
   <container buildon='pv:avKeywords' createClass='object.item.imageItem.photo' class='object.container.album.photoAlbum' />
   <container buildon='pv:avKeywords' createClass='object.item.imageItem.photo' class='object.container.album.photoAlbum' >
      <container buildon='pv:year' createClass='object.item.imageItem.photo' class='object.container.album.photoAlbum' >
         <container buildon='pv:month' createClass='object.item.imageItem.photo' class='object.container.album.photoAlbum' />
      </container>
   </container>
</container>


This one would give you pictures under keyword
and would give you the ability to drill down to month

Code: Select all

<container name='keywords' id='picture/keywords' createClass='object.item.imageItem.photo'  class='object.container' >
   <container buildon='pv:avKeywords' createClass='object.item.imageItem.photo' class='object.container.album.photoAlbum' >
      <container buildon='pv:year' createClass='object.item.imageItem.photo' class='object.container.album.photoAlbum' >
         <container buildon='pv:month' createClass='object.item.imageItem.photo' class='object.container.album.photoAlbum' />
      </container>
   </container>
</container>


[rom69]

Hi phibertron.

Thank you for your answer. Unfortunately both of the posted options show pictures under keywords. Just to make sure, I explained myself well, I describe my requirements more detailed:

When selecting the pictures->keywords option, I want to get a list of all keywords set in my pictures (just a list of keywords, no pictures).
Keyword1
Keyword2
Keyword3
…

When selecting one of these keywords, I want to get a list of all shooting years of pictures that contain the selected keyword (just a list of years, no pictures).
Year1
Year2
Year3
…

When selecting one of these years, I want to get a list of all shooting months of pictures that contain the selected shooting year and keyword (just a list of months, no pictures).
Month1
Month2
Month3
…

When selecting one of these months, I want to get a list of all pictures that contain the selected shooting year, shooting month and keyword.
Picture1
Picture2
Picture3
…

Is there a way to reach these requirements?

Regards
Rom69

[phibertron]

This should have worked as you want but...

Code: Select all

<container name='mykeywords' id='picture/mykeywords' createClass='object.item.imageItem.photo'  class='object.container' >
<container buildon='pv:avKeywords' createClass='object.item.imageItem.photo'  class='object.container' >
<container buildon='pv:year' createClass='object.item.imageItem.photo'  class='object.container' >
<container buildon='pv:month' createClass='object.item.imageItem.photo' class='object.container.album.photoAlbum' />
</container>
</container>
</container>


It appears that the line buildon='pv:avKeywords'
is the culprit
If use a different buildon, things work as expected
When I used the keywords it would always do as you describe
I tried messing with the classes, no luck

I think you found a new bug =)

[rom69]

Hi phibertron.
Thank you very much for your help. I'm not really proud of finding that bug . Where can I report it to the devs?
Regards
rom69

[phibertron]

@rom69

I usually just inform/ask rick to pass it along

Hey, every bug we find is a good thing, from a perspective
as if unchecked, they may never get attended to
intended functions should work as intended =)

[gregorv]

Hi,
I am currently running TwonkyServer 6.0.34 on my FritzBox (twonkymedia-mipseb-uclibc-0.9.28-6.0.34).
I have two classes of MP3s - Music and Audio Books
So I don't want my Audio Books appear under a section Music. I tried several view changes and run into two problems.
1. When I add the following container into view-definitions.xml as a new container into the navtree section:
[Code]
<container name='speech' groupid='speech' upnp:originalTrackNumber='2' createClass='object.item.audioItem.musicTrack' >
<container name='artist' groupid='speech/artists' class='object.container.person.musicArtist' createClass='object.item.audioItem.musicTrack'>
<container name='allname' createClass='object.item.audioItem.musicTrack' class='object.container' />
<container buildon='upnp:artist' class='object.container.person.musicArtist' createClass='object.item.audioItem.musicTrack'/>
</container>
<container name='album' groupid='speech/albums' createClass='object.item.audioItem.musicTrack' class='object.container' >
<container buildon='upnp:album' albumart='1' sortcriteria='+pv:numberOfThisDisc,+upnp:originalTrackNumber' createClass='object.item.audioItem.musicTrack' class='object.container.album.musicAlbum' />
</container>
</container>
[/Code]
and the following section into e.g. simple.view.xml
[Code]
<container goupid='speech'>
<link groupid='speech/artists' />
<link groupid='speech/albums' />
<link groupid='speech/folders' />
<link groupid='speech/playlists' />
</container>
[/Code]
I expected an entry "Hörbuch" below Music - but it does not appear.

If I move the container code into the music container and add the line '<link groupid='speech' />' into the file simple.view.xml (music ID section) I get, as expected, an entry "Hörbuch" inside the Music view.

What do I need to do to get a seperate entry as the second entry below Music ?

2. Of course I also would like to only appear audio books (genre Hörbuch) below that entry.
I tried to add: filteron='upnp:genre=Hörbuch' into the container definition but my FritzBox crashed after short time. During that time I can see a twonky process running with high cpu load.

Any ideas ? - and yes, of course audio books should not appear under Music.
My first idea was to create a new id and assign it to a folder, but this seems to be hardwired to music,pictures and videos.
A possibility would be to missuse the video id and adapt the container to my requirements. But I think there should be a better way - if not, let me know wether that could work.

Thanks for help
Gregor

[misi]

Is it possible to filter by directory and/or by a special genre? For example: I have two directories, containing music-files, one for my girlfriend and one for me. Both are scanned by the software. But I don't find a way to seperate them in the navigation-tree. So I need a filter, where all files from the directory /xxx/person_a/music are in a navi-tree-element and everything below /xxx/person_b/music is in a second item.
In the next step, i will filter for a specific genre. Everything with the genre "Hörspiel" should be in an other item than the music. How can I filter this?

[gregorv]

Hi misi,

you should have a look to the posts from phibertron who described some ways how to do that.
Nevertheless these are working around a major issue with Twonky.
It really would be nice to have the possibility to use custom IDs - or at least sub IDs.
Many people seem to have the problem that there exist different types of the same media and Twonky does not allow to really separate them.
Sample: Audio can be music or audio book (or my music and someone else's music)
So I want to see a view that just presents my audio books and of course for audio books it makes no sense to see e.g. all.
'All' would deliver ALL audio book files, which means 01 - MyCrime, 01 - MyComedy.... 02 - MyCrime, 02 - My... which clearly makes no sense.
For audio books one needs 'Author' and 'Title', for Music the same should be 'Interpret' and 'Album'...

This could be cleanly solved by having custom IDs, that can be assigned to specific directories and creating own views for them.
But as long as Twonky developers do not allow such possibility, there are only workarounds and there is the best one (to my guess), to run multiple instances of Twonky.

Gregor