File Manager
A web based file browser is introduced in Blind Testing U8 (1.1.8).
This feature gives you another option to manage your music and playlists, compared to the more traditional way of file sharing. Here is the look and layout of the File Manager:
Created initially as a simple way to copy music files to your RAM disk, it has slowly expanded into a full file management module. The File manager is split into 3 logical components: Summary, Contents and Command Panel. Read on to find learn the functionalities of each panel.
System Limitations
A HTML5 based application has limitations, here is a non-exhaustive list:
| Limitation | Description |
|---|---|
| Modern Browser | This is a HTML5 application, and thus require a modern HTML5 browser. Internet Explorer or Safari will be hit and miss. Please use modern browsers as recommended here. |
| File Permissions | File operations are performed by the root user (UID=0). The root user need to have full access to the music and playlists folder. This means you need to grant READ/WRITE permissions to your share folder if you are mounting this from a NAS. |
| Single File Operation | You can only drag and drop one file at a time. Only the first file is uploaded when you drag and drop multiple files. |
| Overwrite Existing Files | Existing files with the same name will be overwritten. Overwritten files will be gone forever. |
| File Encodings | This is tested only with UTF-8 filenames. Please file a bug if the manager has problem managing your files that's using a different encoding system. |
| No Recycle Bin | There is no recycle bin. Any files deleted will not be recoverable. |
| Double Clicks | You need to use a mouse to navigation the directory structure. Not sure if MacOS have double clicks? |
You can always fallback to the traditional methods for file management duties if the above limitations are unacceptable,
Summary
The summary panel contains all the information associated in the files currently viewed under the Contents panel.
RAM Disk Status
This shows whether RAM Disk is working properly or not. The commands Add To RAM and Replace RAM will be available if this is ticked (✓). This is a sign that your RAM disk is configured and working normally.
A cross (✗) indicates one of the following:
- RAM Disk is disabled
- RAM disk creation failure
Refer to the Snakeoil RAM configuration for details. Note that RAM disk is an experimental feature for now and only configurable if you're Snakeoil is activated. Refer to this wiki for more information about activation,
Refresh File Contents
Click on this button to refresh the file contents.
Useful if you have managed files from another interface and want the contents to be updated here. Or you want to reset your selections.
Switch Views
You can switch between Music and Playlists to manage your media library.
MusicPD (MPD) and Logitech Media Server (LMS) are configured to look under the Music share for music content (wav, flac, dsd, dsf, etc) and the Playlists share for playlists (.m3u). Other players do not necessary follow this convention. You are free to manage your media library any way you see fit. The file locations are as follows:
| View Name | File Path |
|---|---|
| Music | /media/music |
| Playlists | /media/playlists |
Path
This shows you file path you're currently in (i.e. how "deep" you are from the root).
You can move around the directory structure easily by double clicking on any path here. In the example above you double click on two to switch to /media/music/two, and so on. To return to the root, click the Home (🏠) button.
Contents
This panel display the files under the path. The items here scrollable remember to scroll down or up if the file you are looking for is not in view.
Sub-directories have a folder icon (🗀) prefixed to the name. You can double-click the folder to go in, or single-click to select all the contents in this folder. You can quickly move around the directory structure by clicking on any path in the Summary panel. You can also click on the up arrow (🠙) to return to the parent folder.
Everything else are files, and they can only be toggled on or off. The Command Panel will change accordingly. Refer to the next section for more details.
You can always reset your selection by clicking the refresh button in the Summary panel.
Drag And Drop To Add File(s)
You can now add files easily to your Snakeoil PC. Simply drag and drop any file into the contents window to add the file to the current location. Note this yellow box is shown in this wiki for illustrative purposes only. You will not see this yellow box in the Snakeoil WebApp. You can also click on the Add button in the Command Panel to upload the file.
You should see this when adding files, please wait patiently for the operation to complete.
The file will be shown automatically once the upload is complete.
If you have more files to add, drop them one after another now.
Multiple uploads will hopefully be supported in a future update.
Command Panel
Here you can perform basic file system operations on your media files. Some functions are only active if
New Folder
This command is only available when no folders/files are selected.
Click on this button to create a new sub-folder. Do now use any of the following disallowed characters:
\ / : * ? | " ' &
The Confirm will be activated when you enter a valid name. Click this button to create the folder. Or Cancel to return.
You will be placed automatically inside this child-folder on creation.
Add
This command is only available when no folders/files are selected.
Clicking this button will pop up a file selection picker. Select a single file to upload to the current path. This is a backup method where drag & drop upload do not work.
Delete
Note that you need to grant READ/WRITE permissions to the root user (UID=0) if you are mounting a NAS share.
Add To RAM
Replace RAM