Remove Empty or Non-relevant folders

[puntloos]

I suspect that this has been asked already and/or is not possible due to some DLNA limitation but:

* Why do I see Video folders when browsing for music? Etc?

- In the music crossbar, hide all subfolders that do not contain any music
- In the video crossbar, hide all subfolders that do not contain any video
- In the photo crossbar, ... you get the idea?

[meskibob]

... is not possible due to some DLNA limitation ...

Bingo.

[edrikk]

How could this be a DLNA limitation? I think what you meant by that is:

"Setting a 'hide this folder' because it has no contents" is a functionality that DLNA protocol does not contain. And that I assume is true.

HOWEVER, given that the client (and obviously "DLNA") doesn't see the physical contents of the server, there is no reason why the Server, while reading the files/folders that it has been told to watch could not based on a new flag "Ignore Directory branches without files" behave as follows:

- Read directory, if no supported files are contained within it, then ignore this directory (meaning not added to DB, DLNA message, etc)
- If directories are nested, only directories with supported files should be read/stored/etc. If no directory within a branch contains a supported file, then the entire branch is ignored until a valid file is added somewhere in the branch.


This logic has nothing to do with DLNA... It could be written to write a CSV file of "file system branches with valid files" if so desired (or used to create DLNA structure)...

[ExSport]

Did you ever started PMS?
If yes, you will know that there is a feature "Hide empty/non media folders".
But when you are talking about hiding audio files when browsing video category on PS3......check for meskibob answer (PMS doesn't know which category is browsed on PS3 so it can't filter it)

[puntloos]

Did you ever started PMS?
If yes, you will know that there is a feature "Hide empty/non media folders".
But when you are talking about hiding audio files when browsing video category on PS3......check for meskibob answer (PMS doesn't know which category is browsed on PS3 so it can't filter it)

Hm, are you certain about this? Given the way I phrased my post, this is kinda what I expected, but I do find it surprising that no hints whatsoever are exchanged between ps3/server on where it is currently looking...

(and yeah Im aware of the hide empty folders thing, but really thats something that I do server-side anyway.)

[meskibob]

Hm, are you certain about this? Given the way I phrased my post, this is kinda what I expected, but I do find it surprising that no hints whatsoever are exchanged between ps3/server on where it is currently looking...

I haven't read the spec myself, but
a) shagrath has stated that it's not possible through the current DLNA spec
b) I see no other servers that are able to do this with the PS3 through the standard DLNA interface

And yes, there's a setting to hide the empty/non-media folders, but that wasn't really part of the initial post's content (despite the header) so I ignored it.

[edrikk]

wow! i have to say that I personally hadn't noticed that option!

[jmullan99]

Sorry to revive this thread. And I'm just trying to learn a little something. I am assuming that it is not possible via DLNA because the server has no clue what media types the client is looking for. So if on your PS3 you select the Video category, it doesn't tell the server "please show me the videos you have available". So the server pretty much just sends the list to the client (which includes all folders/media) and the client is left to filter what is pertinent. So you while on your PS3 you are in the Video category, you will see your Movies, Music, Photos folders, but browsing the music and photos will be empty since the PS3 doesn't recognize any of the files within as being videos.

It would be nice if DLNA supported this. Then the client can say "videos please" and the server only listing those folders with the appropriate content.

Oh well, maybe some day.

Cheers.

[franktx]

Hi,

Couldn't this be easily fixed by creating multiple server identities?

I am thinking like a web server that can have several virtual web servers or by using different ports? If I remember correctly the default port is 5001 couldn't something like this be done:

http://myps3mediaserver:5001 <- Music
http://myps3mediaserver:5002 <- Photos
http://myps3mediaserver:5003 <- Video

In reality following the same line of thinking:
http://myps3mediaserver:50011 <- Music - Rock
http://myps3mediaserver:50012 <- Music - Alternative
http://myps3mediaserver:50013 <- Music - Slow
etc.

You get the idea..

[WorldOfHurt]

That sounds like it would work, but it would be a fairly complicated thing to implement on the server end.

Raise a bug request and see if shagrath takes the bait