The browser is located on the right hand side of the playout window. It gives you access to your audio content – the database, folders on disk, playlist files – so that you can add items to the playlist or the cartwall. It can also host a few auxiliary tools such as clocks.
The browser can contain any number of individual browsers, which are displayed as a stack of panes (or as tabs, depending on the configuration). Click a pane’s header to bring it to the front.
The browser can be hidden, displayed in a separate window, or made to use the full height of the playout window. See the GUI configuration for these and other options.
Managing Browsers
The toolbar at the top of the browser contains the following buttons:
- Add: Opens a menu from which you can add a new browser (see Browser Types below). The menu also lists the Quick Folders set up in the configuration, and the commands for loading and saving presets.
- Refresh: Reloads the contents of the current browser, e.g. to pick up new files in a folder.
- Close: Closes the current browser.
To rename a browser, right-click its header and select Rename. Leave the name blank to return to the default name (e.g. the folder path for folder browsers).
Presets
The current set of browsers can be saved as a preset (*.mlb) through Save Preset…
in the Add menu, and restored through Load Preset…. The preset also contains the
column layout and sort order of each browser.
The default preset is loaded automatically when the playout application is started. To make the current set of browsers the default, select Save Default Preset. Note that changes are not saved automatically when you exit the software. Load Default Preset restores the default preset at any time. If no default preset has been saved yet, mAirList starts with a single Recycle Bin browser.
Adding Items to the Playlist
Items can be transferred from a browser to the playlist in the following ways:
- Drag them with the mouse to the desired position in the playlist or the cartwall.
- Double-click an item (or press Enter in the Database browser) to insert it into the playlist at the current insertion point. Hold down the Shift key to insert it at the top of the playlist instead, or the Control key to append it to the bottom.
Multiple items can be selected using the mouse while holding down the Shift or Control key.
Browsers can also be controlled through remote control commands, such as BROWSER NEXT,
BROWSER CURSOR DOWN, BROWSER INSERT or BROWSER INSERT NEXT. This is useful e.g.
for selecting and inserting items with hardware buttons on a mixing console.
The columns of list-based browsers can be resized and rearranged with the mouse. Click a column header to sort the list by that column.
Browser Types
Database
Displays the contents of the database as a tree. Below each database, you can browse the items by folder, artist, attribute and item type, among others.
Right-click a database to connect or disconnect it. Right-click an item to copy it, to listen to it in the PFL dialog, or to open its properties.
Database Search
Provides a search box for finding items in the database. Enter your search terms and press Enter (or click Go) to display the matching items. If more than one database is set up, you can select which database to search, or search all of them.
The way the search terms are matched depends on the Full Text Search setting of the database (see Database Setup). Click the magnifier glass icon in the search box and select Advanced Search… to search by specific criteria, as described in the Advanced Search section of the database documentation.
If enabled in the configuration, the most recently used search terms are remembered and offered in a dropdown list, optionally with autocompletion.
Database Playlist
Displays the playlist that is stored in the database for a particular hour, e.g. one generated by the music scheduler. Use the date and hour controls, or the arrow buttons, to navigate between the hours. Select Now from the hour list to jump to the current hour. If the database contains multiple playlists (e.g. for different stations), select the desired one from the dropdown list.
The menu button provides the following commands:
- Load into playlist: Replaces the contents of the playlist with the displayed items.
- Append to playlist: Adds the displayed items to the bottom of the playlist.
- Copy to clipboard: Copies all displayed items to the clipboard.
Folder
Displays the audio and playlist files in a folder on disk. When you add the browser, you are asked to select the folder. Optionally, the duration of each file can be displayed in an additional column (see the Show file durations option in the configuration).
Files can be dragged out of the browser and onto other applications, which will copy them.
Folder Tree
Same as Folder, but the subfolders are displayed as an expandable tree, so you can navigate the entire folder structure below the selected folder.
Playlist
Displays the contents of a playlist file. When you add the browser, you are asked to select the file. All playlist formats supported by mAirList can be used. Click Refresh to reload the file after it was changed by another application.
Recycle Bin
Lists the items that have been removed from the playlist, along with the time they were started. Depending on the playlist options, this includes items that were played or skipped, and items that were deleted manually. Use it to quickly bring back an item you accidentally deleted, or to repeat an item. Only one Recycle Bin browser can be opened at a time.
Comment Viewer
Drag an item into this browser to display the comment stored in the item’s properties.
Clock and LED Clock
Display the current time, either as plain digital text (Clock) or as a studio-style clock with LED dots (LED Clock).