Control_and_use_stations

Control and use stations

• Connecting to a station
• Controlling a station

Connecting to a station

If MesonCast is configured and running then you are able to connect to the radio server. You should use the following URL:

http://<server's host>:<station's port>

where \<server's host> is host name or IP address of a machine MesonCast is located on; \<station's port> is a port specified in TRANSMITTER.port.

For example:

http://localhost:8000
http://192.168.0.100:8001/
http://example.com:8080

Also, you are able to retrieve an M3U playlist which contains a stream URL as a single entry. You'll need to append "/m3u" to above mentioned station URL.

For example:

http://localhost:8000/m3u
http://192.168.0.100:8001/m3u
http://example.com:8080/m3u

This will give you something like this:

#EXTM3U
#EXTINF:-1,Station Name
http://192.168.0.100:8000

Controlling a station

If you've specified a control password in TRANSMITTER.controlPassword then you may control the server using HTTP requests.

The common request format is as follows:

http://<server's host>:<station's port>/command?password=<controlPassword>&command=<command>&<param1>=<value1>&<param2>=<value2>

The response will be a JSON object in UTF-8. If "result" property of the returned object is 1, then request was successful, otherwise "err" property will hold a string representation of the error. Additional info can be also returned. See exmples below a table.

Command	Params	Description	Additional response JSON params
track	index=\<track_index>	Change the current track to \<track_index>. Indexes are zero-based. If the index is out of range, then the first track is selected. You can also specify "prev" or "next" as an index, that will switch a station to a previous or next track respectively. "index" property of response will hold an actual track index, that was actually set. If a file at a specified index cannot be played, then MesonCast tries to play next file. If none of files in the playlist cannot be played, then an error is returned. Note, that because of buffering, the tracks will not be switched instantly.	index\<current_track_index>
stop	no	Stop the station. The station will no longer transmit any music, but it still can be accessed via HTTP requests.	no
start	no	Start or restart the station. The playback will be resumed from the last file played.	no
is_running	no	Returns 1 if the station is running, otherwise - returns 0.	is_running:{1
list	no	Returns playlist as an array.	list:[\<filename1>, \<filename2>, ...]
listhash	no	Returns MD5 hash for a "list" command response. This is useful, when you want to know if the playlist changed or not.	hash:\<md5_hash>
index	no	Returns current track index. Note, that the "current track" means a "track which is now decoded", so it may not be the same track your listeners are listening to.	index:\<current_track_index>
listeners	no	Returns a number of currently connected clients.	count:\<number_of_listeners>
ping	no	Does nothing. Useful for checking the connection only.	no
name	no	Returns a name of the station (as specified in TRANSMITTER.name).	name:\<station_name>
title	no	Returns a title of a current track title. Note, that the "current track" means a "track which is now decoded", so it may not be the same track your listeners are listening to.	title:\<current_track_title>
queue	indexes=\<track index 1>, \<track index 2>, ... index=\<track index>&pos=\<insert position>	Inserts tracks in a playback queue. If "indexes" param is specified, then the queue will be set according to provided values (this will remove an existing queue, of course). You may specify parameters "index" and "pos". This will place track number \<track index> at \<insert position> in a playback queue. If pos=0, then it will place a track at the beginning of the queue; if pos=end or not specified then a track will be placed at the end of the queue. You cannot specify "indexes" and "index" params at the same time. If no parameters are specified, then the curent queue is returned in the "queue" parameter.	queue:[\<track index 1>, \<track index 2>, ...]
queue_remove	indexes=\<track index 1>, \<track index 2>,...	Removes tracks with specified indexes from a playback queue.	no
nexts	count:\<number_of_indexes>	Returns \<number_of_indexes> track indexes which will be played after the current track (or after the end of the playback queue). Note, that a playback queue is ignored when processing this request, so if you've got a non-empty playback queue then you'll get a list of indexes which will be played after the queue ends. Read more about playback queues	no

Examples:

Request (switch to a next track):
http://localhost:8000/command?password=123&command=track&index=next
Response:
{"result":1, "index":13}
Explanation:
switched to a next track which index is 13

Request (switch to a track #150):
http://localhost:8000/command?password=123&command=track&index=150
Response:
{"result":1, "index":153}
Explanation:
tried to switch to track #150, but failed; invalid track were skipped; now playing track #153

Request (clear a queue and insert track #12, then track #3):
http://localhost:8000/command?password=123&command=queue&indexes=12,3
Response:
{"result":1}
Explanation:
queue is now contains tracks 12 and 3

Request (insert track #45 into the queue at position 5):
http://localhost:8000/command?password=123&command=queue&index=45&pos=5
Response:
{"result":0,"err":"position is out of range"}
Explanation:
request failed because specified position is out of queue boundaries