Exporting upcoming tracks with full tag data (publisher, BPM) — is there a way?
Posted: 20 Aug 2026 13:58
Hello Bernd,
I run a themed web radio with ProppFrexx (v4.x) and I have built a small automation around it. Before asking, I have read the manual appendix and searched the forum, so I hope the question is precise enough.
What I am doing
An external script reads the tracks that are about to play and prepares some material for each one in advance. It needs a few minutes of lead time, so it works from a queue of upcoming tracks rather than from the current one.
What I have now
On OnTrackLoad I use two commands:
EXEC_WRITE_FILE C:\ProppfrexxMAJ\LOAD.txt|nu|${artist}|${title}|${year}|${composer}|${cplname}|0|${now}|${genre}|${album}
PLS_CURRENT_SAVEAS C:\ProppfrexxMAJ\PLAYLIST.m3u8
EXEC_WRITE_FILE gives me exactly the fields I want for the current track, in a custom pipe-separated layout. I can add ${publisher} and ${bpm} there without any problem.
PLS_CURRENT_SAVEAS gives me the upcoming queue (currently 184 tracks), which is what I need — but the M3U8 format is fixed. Each entry is only #EXTINF:<seconds>,Artist - Title, so genre, album, publisher and BPM are lost.
What I tried and why it did not work
I looked at EXEC_WRITE_PLAYLISTFILE with a template file, hoping to combine both. But if I read the manual and the forum correctly, its numbered macros go backwards through the playback history, not forwards through the queue:
Previous5: ${05trackname}
Current: ${01trackname}
Next: ${nexttrackname}
The manual says "note, that the 01 macros relate to the current track", and only ${next*} looks ahead — a single track, and the documented ${next*} set does not include publisher or bpm.
My question
Is there any way to export the upcoming tracks with their full tag data?
Specifically:
1. Can PLS_CURRENT_SAVEAS (or another PLS_* command) write a playlist using a custom template, so I could produce a pipe-separated line per track instead of plain #EXTINF?
2. Do forward-looking macros exist that I may have missed — something like ${02artist} meaning the next but one, or ${nextpublisher} / ${nextbpm}?
3. If neither exists, is there another supported route to read the upcoming queue with full tags? A control command, an API, or a playlist file format that keeps the tags?
I do not need all 184 tracks — even 5 or 10 tracks ahead with full tags would solve my problem entirely.
Thank you very much for ProppFrexx and for the time you give to this forum.
I run a themed web radio with ProppFrexx (v4.x) and I have built a small automation around it. Before asking, I have read the manual appendix and searched the forum, so I hope the question is precise enough.
What I am doing
An external script reads the tracks that are about to play and prepares some material for each one in advance. It needs a few minutes of lead time, so it works from a queue of upcoming tracks rather than from the current one.
What I have now
On OnTrackLoad I use two commands:
EXEC_WRITE_FILE C:\ProppfrexxMAJ\LOAD.txt|nu|${artist}|${title}|${year}|${composer}|${cplname}|0|${now}|${genre}|${album}
PLS_CURRENT_SAVEAS C:\ProppfrexxMAJ\PLAYLIST.m3u8
EXEC_WRITE_FILE gives me exactly the fields I want for the current track, in a custom pipe-separated layout. I can add ${publisher} and ${bpm} there without any problem.
PLS_CURRENT_SAVEAS gives me the upcoming queue (currently 184 tracks), which is what I need — but the M3U8 format is fixed. Each entry is only #EXTINF:<seconds>,Artist - Title, so genre, album, publisher and BPM are lost.
What I tried and why it did not work
I looked at EXEC_WRITE_PLAYLISTFILE with a template file, hoping to combine both. But if I read the manual and the forum correctly, its numbered macros go backwards through the playback history, not forwards through the queue:
Previous5: ${05trackname}
Current: ${01trackname}
Next: ${nexttrackname}
The manual says "note, that the 01 macros relate to the current track", and only ${next*} looks ahead — a single track, and the documented ${next*} set does not include publisher or bpm.
My question
Is there any way to export the upcoming tracks with their full tag data?
Specifically:
1. Can PLS_CURRENT_SAVEAS (or another PLS_* command) write a playlist using a custom template, so I could produce a pipe-separated line per track instead of plain #EXTINF?
2. Do forward-looking macros exist that I may have missed — something like ${02artist} meaning the next but one, or ${nextpublisher} / ${nextbpm}?
3. If neither exists, is there another supported route to read the upcoming queue with full tags? A control command, an API, or a playlist file format that keeps the tags?
I do not need all 184 tracks — even 5 or 10 tracks ahead with full tags would solve my problem entirely.
Thank you very much for ProppFrexx and for the time you give to this forum.