Constraints

[tomimatko]

I’ve noticed that Constraints work only within the same Library.
For example, if in a Category I select multiple Libraries instead of just one (Tracks), Constraints do not take other Libraries into account.
This means that rules are applied only inside each individual Library.

It would be very useful if Constraints could work across different Libraries — for example, to prevent Tag "Hot" from different Libraries from being played one after another.

 

[djsoft]

Constraints should also work across presets, I'll add it to the list of possible bugs to check.

 

[djsoft]

Update on this, checked in the latest version, the bug is not confirmed. Constraints work across all categories, including categories that use other categories as a source.

 

[tomimatko]

I’m not sure — it doesn’t happen very often, but sometimes it appears.
Here is an example.
In all cases I have:

• Constraint → After Tag “Hit” → Do not select Tag “Hit”
• Constraint → After Tag “Hit 2” → Do not select Tag “Hit 2”

In the Category, instead of Tracks, I selected Category, and I set Weight = 1 for all of them, so they should be played evenly.
However, this situation still happens again, as shown in the screenshot.
I checked everything several times. Each category has enough tracks, and in this case, the playlist length is set to 1 hour.
Out of 10 playlist loads, this issue appears in maybe 2 playlists.
RadioBOSS does not report any error.

 

[Guillaume]

I'm experiencing a similar issue with the "language" constraint.

Example: After Language Equals Français Do not select Language Equals Français.

And this happens to me every time in this case: the two music tracks are separated by another non-musical element (jingle, liner, etc.) in the "rotation" column of Playlist Generator Pro.

My category configuration:​

Source tracks: one or more folders (it doesn't matter)​

Filters: 2 Tags and 1 Rating​

Priority: none​

What I did as a test: I left only the music file types in the rotation. And I removed all the background elements (jingles, etc.). It works better. But I haven't done enough testing to verify this theory.
Because @tomimatko 's screenshot shows that the last two tracks have the same tag and they aren't separated by another element with a different file type.

Shouldn't the "Constraints" only apply to certain file types?
Only to music files, perhaps by selecting a new option that could be implemented in the next update?
This would allow elements with different file types to be included in the rotation.

 

[djsoft]

Out of 10 playlist loads, this issue appears in maybe 2 playlists.
RadioBOSS does not report any error.

This doesn't reproduce here. Please check, all the source categories must have the same constraints defined, otherwise "HIT" tag may come from one category (with or without constraints) and then from another category, where the constraints are not checked.

And this happens to me every time in this case: the two music tracks are separated by another non-musical element (jingle, liner, etc.) in the "rotation" column of Playlist Generator Pro.

This is a totally different situation, and you can exclude certain categories from constraints checks - on the Constraints tab, enable the "Skip this category when checking constraints rules" option. This will make it skip tracks from this category when checking constraints rules.

For example, in situation like

• Track 1
• StationID [constraints skipped]
• Track 2

It will check Track 2 against Track 1 (not against StationID because it has skipping option enabled).

 

[tomimatko]

I made a test setup.

I have two libraries, for example:
- Library HIT (tag: HIT)
- Library HIT 2 (tag: HIT 2)

Each library has a tag filter set to its own tag.

Constraints settings:
- After Tag HIT → Do not select Tag HIT
- After Tag HIT 2 → Do not select Tag HIT 2

Source type is set to Category and both libraries have the same weight.

Logically, the playlist should alternate tracks like: HIT → HIT 2 → HIT → HIT 2 → etc.

I have enough tracks in both libraries, but this does not happen.
Even if I add a third library that has no tag filter and no constraints, sometimes two tracks with the same tag are still placed one after another, for example:
HIT → HIT
or
HIT 2 → HIT 2

 

[djsoft]

Logically, the playlist should alternate tracks like: HIT → HIT 2 → HIT → HIT 2 → etc.

The categories are selected in random order, then the rules are checked, if it can't find a track from that category, there will be an error.
If you want categories interchanged, you can add them directly into the rotation. But in random-weighted selection, it may select one category two or more times in a row.

Even if I add a third library that has no tag filter and no constraints, sometimes two tracks with the same tag are still placed one after another

I set up a similar testing preset. Category1 has tracks with "Tag1", Category2 has tracks with "Tag2", each category has a single constraint rule defined: do not select the same tag:

(the same setup is for Category2, for Tag2).

With a setup like this, we're basically telling the playlist generator, that a category can't be selected two times in a row. And this is what in fact happens:

Creating playlist...
Error: No suitable track found (rule: constraints). Category: "Category2"
> 3 errors.
Total time spent: 00:00
Completed. Playlist duration: 1:01:35

Because of a random nature of selection, sometimes there are lots of errors:

Creating playlist...
Error: No suitable track found (rule: constraints). Category: "Category1"
Error: No suitable track found (rule: constraints). Category: "Category2"
Error: No suitable track found (rule: constraints). Category: "Category1"
> 1 errors.
Error: No suitable track found (rule: constraints). Category: "Category2"
Error: No suitable track found (rule: constraints). Category: "Category1"
> 1 errors.
Error: No suitable track found (rule: constraints). Category: "Category2"
Error: No suitable track found (rule: constraints). Category: "Category1"
> 1 errors.
Error: No suitable track found (rule: constraints). Category: "Category2"
Error: No suitable track found (rule: constraints). Category: "Category1"
Total time spent: 00:00
Completed. Playlist duration: 1:04:57

I had ran the test multiple times, and the number of errors varies, but in the end it had never created a playlist with constraints violated. The resulting playlist looks like this always:


This is due to how the selection works: first, it will select a category based on its weight. Then, it selects a track from it - or, if a track can't be selected, it logs an error, and skips the category. Then is selects another category randomly, based on weights, and tries to take a track from there, and so on.