How to add a Song List to your introductory message

[64Guitars]

An introductory post in this forum is a good place to create and maintain a list of links to all of the songs that you've posted so that others can easily find your songs. Some members have already done this. Here are some examples:

Bluesberry

Geir

Osckilo

Saijinn Maas

Tony W

This tutorial will describe how to create your own Song List. I'll use a few of my own song posts as examples.


Each member can edit any of their own posts. To do so, just click the Modify link at the top-right of your message. This will allow you to update your Song List whenever you post a new song.

The simplest Song List can be created by typing the song title between a pair of [url] [/url] tags, then pasting the URL into the opening [url] tag. For example, if I want to create a link to my posting of "As Long As You Follow", I would start by clicking the (Insert Hyperlink) icon in the message editor. That will paste the following into my message:

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[url][/url]
The cursor will be placed between the opening tag [url] and the closing tag [/url]. I can now type the song title between the opening and closing tags:

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[url]As Long As You Follow[/url]
Now I need to get the link for this post so I can paste it into the opening tag. To do that, I go to my message and right-click on the message subject. Firefox will then display the following context menu from which I select "Copy Link Location".



If you use Internet Explorer (shame on you  ), your context menu will look different and it won't have a "Copy Link Location" menu item. Select "Copy Shortcut" instead. It does the same thing - copies the URL of the message to the Windows clipboard.

Now that I have the link in the clipboard, I can paste it into my Song List. I position the cursor to the right of the letter 'l' in the opening [url] tag. Then I type an equals sign "=" and paste the clipboard text after it. The Song List should now look like this in the message editor:

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[url=https://songcrafters.org/forum/br-864-b71/%27as-long-as-you-follow%27-(fleetwood-mac-cover)-instrumental-version/msg40032/#msg40032]As Long As You Follow[/url]

If I preview the message, the Song List will look like this:

As Long As You Follow

Clicking the song title will take me to the message where I originally posted the song. I can then play the song with the MP3 player gadget.

I can add more songs by repeating this procedure.

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[url=https://songcrafters.org/forum/br-864-b71/%27as-long-as-you-follow%27-(fleetwood-mac-cover)-instrumental-version/msg40032/#msg40032]As Long As You Follow[/url]
[url=https://songcrafters.org/forum/br-864-b71/doctor-who/msg40111/#msg40111]Doctor Who[/url]
[url=https://songcrafters.org/forum/micro-br-b65/neil-fest-%27heart-of-gold%27-by-greeny-bluesberry-and-64-guitars/msg28824/#msg28824]Heart of Gold[/url]


The song list now looks like this in the Preview:

As Long As You Follow
Doctor Who
Heart of Gold

It's important to note that each message in a topic has its own unique URL and, when you click a link containing that URL, the browser will scroll the page to position that message at the top. To make it easy for other members to listen to your songs, you should link to the message that contains the MP3 player and the latest version of your song. Often, this will be the first message in the topic. But sometimes (collaborations or merged topics), the message containing the latest version of your song and the MP3 player gadget will be further down in the topic, possibly even on a different page. So, when you get the link for your song by right-clicking on the message subject and selecting "Copy Link Location", be sure to do it on the message containing your latest version and the MP3 player. For example, if you click on my link for "Doctor Who" above, you'll see that it goes to a message that's about a third of the way down page 2 of that topic. This is the message that has the MP3 player which will play that song.


The list looks a bit plain so far:

As Long As You Follow
Doctor Who
Heart of Gold

I can improve the appearance a bit by adding bullets (an asterisk or other suitable character) and more text outside the [url] tags. For example:

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* [url=https://songcrafters.org/forum/br-864-b71/%27as-long-as-you-follow%27-(fleetwood-mac-cover)-instrumental-version/msg40032/#msg40032]As Long As You Follow[/url]  (instrumental)
 * [url=https://songcrafters.org/forum/br-864-b71/doctor-who/msg40111/#msg40111]Doctor Who[/url]  (instrumental - TV Theme)
 * [url=https://songcrafters.org/forum/micro-br-b65/neil-fest-%27heart-of-gold%27-by-greeny-bluesberry-and-64-guitars/msg28824/#msg28824]Heart of Gold[/url]  (collaboration with Greeny and Bluesberry)


* As Long As You Follow  (instrumental)
 * Doctor Who  (instrumental - TV Theme)
 * Heart of Gold  (collaboration with Greeny and Bluesberry)


An even better way to make a bulleted song list is by using the BB Code list feature. If I click on the (Insert List) icon in the message editor, the following code is inserted into my message at the current cursor position:

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[list]
[li][/li]
[li][/li]
[/list]

The [li] [/li] tag pairs are list items. I need one [li] [/li] tag pair for each song, so I'll just copy and paste one of these lines to make a third list item (alternatively, I could type in the tags manually).

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[list]
[li][/li]
[li][/li]
[li][/li]
[/list]

Now I can paste in my song link code between each [li] [/li] tag pair.

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[list]
[li][url=https://songcrafters.org/forum/br-864-b71/%27as-long-as-you-follow%27-(fleetwood-mac-cover)-instrumental-version/msg40032/#msg40032]As Long As You Follow[/url][/li]
[li][url=https://songcrafters.org/forum/br-864-b71/doctor-who/msg40111/#msg40111]Doctor Who[/url][/li]
[li][url=https://songcrafters.org/forum/micro-br-b65/neil-fest-%27heart-of-gold%27-by-greeny-bluesberry-and-64-guitars/msg28824/#msg28824]Heart of Gold[/url][/li]
[/list]


• As Long As You Follow
• Doctor Who
• Heart of Gold

Again, I can add more text outside the [url] tags (but still inside the [li] [/li] tag pairs).

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[list]
[li][url=https://songcrafters.org/forum/br-864-b71/%27as-long-as-you-follow%27-(fleetwood-mac-cover)-instrumental-version/msg40032/#msg40032]As Long As You Follow[/url]  (instrumental) - I recorded this in January 2004 on my BR-864, less than two months after I got it. I'm not a bass player, but I really enjoyed learning and playing the bass part for this. I did the drum arrangement and custom patterns on the BR-864.[/li]
[li][url=https://songcrafters.org/forum/br-864-b71/doctor-who/msg40111/#msg40111]Doctor Who[/url]  (instrumental - TV Theme) - Here's a very short recording (0:39) of one of my favourite TV themes. I recorded and mixed it entirely on my BR-864 with a Godin xtSA. All effects are from the BR, and I programmed the drums on the BR as well.[/li]
[li][url=https://songcrafters.org/forum/micro-br-b65/neil-fest-%27heart-of-gold%27-by-greeny-bluesberry-and-64-guitars/msg28824/#msg28824]Heart of Gold[/url] - This is a collaboration with Greeny and Bluesberry for NeilFest. Greeny did the guitars, vocals and Micro BR drums, Bluesberry did the harmonica, and I did the bass, slide guitar, and 'slow attack' guitar.[/li]
[/list]

A nice feature of BB Code list items is that the text remains indented for each list item when it wraps around to the next line.

• As Long As You Follow  (instrumental) - I recorded this in January 2004 on my BR-864, less than two months after I got it. I'm not a bass player, but I really enjoyed learning and playing the bass part for this. I did the drum arrangement and custom patterns on the BR-864.
• Doctor Who  (instrumental - TV Theme) - Here's a very short recording (0:39) of one of my favourite TV themes. I recorded and mixed it entirely on my BR-864 with a Godin xtSA. All effects are from the BR, and I programmed the drums on the BR as well.
• Heart of Gold - This is a collaboration with Greeny and Bluesberry for NeilFest. Greeny did the guitars, vocals and Micro BR drums, Bluesberry did the harmonica, and I did the bass, slide guitar, and 'slow attack' guitar.

If you prefer, you can insert a blank line between each list item by adding a couple of [br] tags before the closing [/li] tags (not needed on the last list item):

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[list]
[li][url=https://songcrafters.org/forum/br-864-b71/%27as-long-as-you-follow%27-(fleetwood-mac-cover)-instrumental-version/msg40032/#msg40032]As Long As You Follow[/url]  (instrumental) - I recorded this in January 2004 on my BR-864, less than two months after I got it. I'm not a bass player, but I really enjoyed learning and playing the bass part for this. I did the drum arrangement and custom patterns on the BR-864.[br][br][/li]
[li][url=https://songcrafters.org/forum/br-864-b71/doctor-who/msg40111/#msg40111]Doctor Who[/url]  (instrumental - TV Theme) - Here's a very short recording (0:39) of one of my favourite TV themes. I recorded and mixed it entirely on my BR-864 with a Godin xtSA. All effects are from the BR, and I programmed the drums on the BR as well.[br][br][/li]
[li][url=https://songcrafters.org/forum/micro-br-b65/neil-fest-%27heart-of-gold%27-by-greeny-bluesberry-and-64-guitars/msg28824/#msg28824]Heart of Gold[/url] - This is a collaboration with Greeny and Bluesberry for NeilFest. Greeny did the guitars, vocals and Micro BR drums, Bluesberry did the harmonica, and I did the bass, slide guitar, and 'slow attack' guitar.[/li]
[/list]


• As Long As You Follow  (instrumental) - I recorded this in January 2004 on my BR-864, less than two months after I got it. I'm not a bass player, but I really enjoyed learning and playing the bass part for this. I did the drum arrangement and custom patterns on the BR-864.
  
  
• Doctor Who  (instrumental - TV Theme) - Here's a very short recording (0:39) of one of my favourite TV themes. I recorded and mixed it entirely on my BR-864 with a Godin xtSA. All effects are from the BR, and I programmed the drums on the BR as well.
  
  
• Heart of Gold - This is a collaboration with Greeny and Bluesberry for NeilFest. Greeny did the guitars, vocals and Micro BR drums, Bluesberry did the harmonica, and I did the bass, slide guitar, and 'slow attack' guitar.

Well, I hope that gives you enough information to create your own Song List in your "Introduce Yourself" message. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask them here in this topic.

For more information on basic BB Code, see this message.

[64Guitars]

To make it easier for everyone to create their own Song Index, here's a template you can use.

Just copy all of the text from between the two lines and paste it into your "Introduce Yourself" message. If you want several different lists (Originals, Collaborations, Backing Track Challenges, etc.), paste the template once for each desired list.

[list]
   [li][url=LINK]SONGTITLE[/url] DESCRIPTION[/li]

   [li][url=LINK]SONGTITLE[/url] DESCRIPTION[/li]

   [li][url=LINK]SONGTITLE[/url] DESCRIPTION[/li]

   [li][url=LINK]SONGTITLE[/url] DESCRIPTION[/li]
[/list]

Then replace the word "LINK" with the actual link to your post, and the word "SONGTITLE" with the actual title of the song. The word "DESCRIPTION" should either be replaced by an actual description of your song, or deleted if you don't want a description.

To add more songs, just copy this line and paste it into the list as many times as needed:

   [li][url=LINK]SONGTITLE[/url] DESCRIPTION[/li]

And don't forget to use the message editor's Preview button to see how your message looks before you actually post it. That way, you can make as many adjustments as necessary until you get it to look the way you want.

I hope that helps.

[Tony W]

Easy to follow, and I really enjoyed doing this, Thank you 64!

[guitarron]

wow-umm it's too early to read all that
but thanks for doing it 64-will get to that later on after coffee

[Geir]

Thanx 64G.

Been think about doing that a while ..

Now it's done !

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<My index over music I've posted here>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

[64Guitars]

Creating Playlists for the new Songcrafters.org MP3 Player web page

Today I created another MP3 Jukebox web page. But this one has an important difference. Any member of Songcrafters.org can now create their own playlists which they can play on the jukebox. And you can post links that will allow other members to hear your playlists.

Here are a few examples:

• Songs by 64Guitars
• Collaborations
• Favourites

The above playlist files are attached to my Intro message.

Here's a brief overview of how it works, followed by a more detailed explanation:

• You create a plain text file containing a list of the MP3 URLs and the song titles they correspond with.
• You attach this playlist text file to your "Introduce Yourself" message and post it.
• After it's posted, you can right-click on the attachment to get its URL.
• Edit your "Introduce Yourself" message to include a link to the MP3 Player web page followed by a "?", then the URL of your playlist file.

That's it. You can now click that link in your "Introduce Yourself" message to go directly to the MP3 Player page and listen to your playlist.

Okay. Now I'll present some more details for those who need it.

• Create the playlist file. The playlist file is a plain ASCII text file. You can create it using any text editor. If you're a Windows user, you'll probably use Windows Notepad to create your playlist file. The name of the file isn't important. You can have several playlists for different purposes, so you might want to name them accordingly. For example, "MySongs.txt", "MyCollabs.txt", "Favourites.txt", etc.
  
  Each line in the playlist file should contain the data for one song. Start with the URL of the MP3 file. Follow this immediately with a "|" character. Then type the song title and any other info that you want displayed for that song. For example, here is the playlist data for 4 songs by Jemima's Kite:
  
  https://songcrafters.org/community/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=4409.0;attach=4384|"Sun and Sangria" by Jemima's Kite
  https://songcrafters.org/community/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=3906.0;attach=3890|"A Good Day" by Jemima's Kite
  https://songcrafters.org/community/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=3830.0;attach=3820|"Underwhelmed" by Jemima's Kite
  https://songcrafters.org/community/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=3810.0;attach=3790|"Camera" by Jemima's Kite
  
  Everything to the right of the "|" will appear in the MP3 Player as the song description, including any spaces. So, if you don't want extra spaces at the start of the description, your description should start at the first character after the "|" as shown in the Jemima's Kite example above.
  
  
• Attach the file. Edit your message in the "Introduce Yourself" board. Or, if you haven't yet created a message there, do so now. Click "Additional Options..." below the message editor. Then click the Browse button and locate your playlist file on your hard drive. If you want to add another playlist, click "(more attachments)" to the right of the Browse button. After you've attached all of your playlists (max 3), click the Post button.
  
  
• Get the URL. After you've posted your attachments, view your message and right-click on one of the playlist attachments. Select "Copy Link Location" to put the URL into the Windows clipboard.
  
  
• Link to the MP3 Player. Edit your Intro message again. Click the (Insert Hyperlink) button to insert a pair of [url] tags into your message. Type a descriptive name between the [url] tags. For example:
  
  [url]My Playlist[/url]
  
  In the opening tag, insert a "=" between the letter "l" and the closing "]". After the "=", paste the URL of your playlist from the Windows clipboard.
  
  [url=https://songcrafters.org/community/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=4443.0;attach=4447]My Playlist[/url]
  
  Now copy the following URL for the MP3 Player web page into the Windows clipboard:
  
  https://songcrafters.org/Festivals/mp3player.html
  
  Move the cursor back to immediately after the "=" again and paste the URL there. Follow it with a "?", so that the "?" separates the web page URL from the playlist URL. It should look something like this:
  
  [url=https://songcrafters.org/Festivals/mp3player.html?https://songcrafters.org/community/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=4443.0;attach=4447]My Playlist[/url]
  
  The web page URL comes first, then the "?", and then the playlist URL.
  
  When you Preview or Post the message, the link will look like this:
  
  My Playlist
  
  

You can revise your list at any time by removing the checkmark beside the filename (under "Additional Options") to delete the attachment, then attaching the revised playlist text file. Note that the number of the attachment at the end of the URL will change, so you'll have to update any links to the playlist.

Note: The MP3 Player web page uses JavaScript. If you've disabled JavaScript in your web browser, you'll get a default playlist which I threw together instead of your own. To play your own playlist in the MP3 Player, you'll have to enable JavaScript in your browser. Most browsers install with JavaScript enabled by default, so you shouldn't have any trouble unless you've subsequently disabled it.

I hope that Pedro will get the multi-song MP3 player widget working soon so that we can embed the player directly into our messages. But until then, I hope you find this MP3 Player web page useful. And don't worry - the playlist files you create now will work directly with the embedded MP3 Player widget when Pedro gets it working. So your efforts in creating playlists now will not be wasted.

If you have any questions or need help getting started, don't hesitate to ask.

[Geir]

Is there an easy way to list the url for the mp3?

I've got the list of the songs I've posted ( from sorting the mbr board by name of poster and pasting into excel) but it looks like there's no connection between the number on the post and the number of the attached mp3-file.

Any suggestions other than crawling through all the posts?

[64Guitars]

Sorry Geir. You'll have to visit each page to get the URL from the download button at the right of the player. It's a time-consuming job but, fortunately, it doesn't have to be done all at once. You can add a few songs to your playlist today, then a few more tomorrow, and a few more the next day, and so on.

You might save a bit of time by getting some of your URLs from the festival jukeboxes (NeilFest, woodstock, etc). There you can find download links for several of your songs all on one page. Here are links to the Song Challenge Jukebox and the NeilFest Jukebox, from which you can get to the other jukeboxes.

https://songcrafters.org/Festivals/Challenge.html

https://songcrafters.org/Festivals/NeilFest.html

You should also keep the song list that's currently in your Intro message. One disadvantage of the MP3 Player page is that there's no way to link the songs to the discussion topics. But your current song list fulfills that need already, so keep it.

[Geir]

Ok !!

Thanx 64G !!

Going diving now !

[Wiley]

Oh!!  MY head is totally swimming now!! I have been afraid and am very afraid!!  I thought you told me I had to download this or that so I haven't done it.  I started out following you and now I am lost.  Not good at this html stuff. Now I don't have to downlOad?  will read this again in the morning when I first get up! Head is always clearer then.
P.J.

Ok I tried I lost !!  I give up until morning.