A playlist does not only contain tracks. RadioBOSS also knows commands and special entries: a network stream, a line input, a time announcement, a comment, an hour marker, a teaser, a container, a text-to-speech entry and about forty control commands. Each of them is a line of text with its own notation.

The command wizard builds these lines for you and takes an existing line apart again into its components. So you need to remember neither the command words nor the order of the details.


Where the wizard is opened

- In the event scheduler: in the window for editing an event, with the buttons "Edit line..." and "Append line...".
- In the playlist and in the OnAir list: from the context menu of the list, which you open with the menu key, the Enter key or a right-click.

The context menu holds two entries:

- Insert command (key M in the drop-down menu): Creates a new line. It is inserted behind the selected entry; if nothing is selected, it goes to the end.
- Edit command (key E in the drop-down menu): Opens the selected entry in the wizard.

"Edit command" is available for every entry that is not a plain track - that is, also for streams, comments, teasers and all other special entries. For an ordinary track the entry stays greyed out: tracks are edited in the tag and cue point editor, not here. In the OnAir list the entry that is currently playing cannot be edited either.


The window

On the left there is the list of all actions, arranged by category: Playback, Playlist, Broadcast, Scheduler, Relay, System and Other. Each line names the category first, then the action. On selecting it, what the action does is described.

On the right the fields belonging to the selected action appear. They differ for every action: sometimes a file name, sometimes a duration in seconds, sometimes a check box. Fields expecting a file or a directory on the server have a button with three dots next to them. It opens the file selection on the server so that you do not have to type the path; see the chapter "Server file picker".

At the bottom there is the field "Generated line". It shows at any time exactly the line that will result when you apply it.


Templates in the file name

Next to fields for a file or a directory sits a button with a question mark. It opens a menu with the templates of the scheduler. RadioBOSS replaces them only when the event runs, so a single event opens a different playlist every day, for instance with "?yyyy-?mm-?dd.m3u8".

These are on offer:

- ?yyyy and ?yy: year, four or two digits
- ?mm and ?dd: month and day, two digits
- ?hh and ?hp: hour in 24 hour or in 12 hour format
- ?nn: minute, two digits
- ?wd: day of the week, 01 to 07
- ?wk: week of the year, 01 to 53
- ?any: any text in the file name
- ?noeval: replace on playback start instead of when the event is launched
- ?+1d: shifts the date, here by one day

Where the meaning is beyond doubt, the menu entry also states today's value. For day of the week and week of the year it is missing, because the RadioBOSS help does not say which day starts the week or how the weeks are counted.

You can adjust the shift: the number after the sign, then y, m, d, h or n for year, month, day, hour or minute. The shift and ?noeval belong at the end of the line and are inserted there, no matter where the caret happens to be.

The shift moves the file name only, not the choice of tracks. If you use the generator to build tomorrow's list and rely on dayparting, you need both: the shift for the name, and in the generator wizard the field “Shift (minutes)” set to 1440, or the right start day to begin with.

For the day of the week RadioBOSS also knows the form ?dw. It means the same as ?wd. Only ?wd is in the menu, so that the same thing does not appear twice; an existing entry with ?dw is kept unchanged.


Editing as free text

With the check box "Edit as free text" you switch off the guided entry and write the line by hand. You write into the same field that otherwise shows the preview - so there is only one field and therefore only one valid version of the line.

If you switch free text off again, the line is generated from the selection and the fields once more.

The wizard switches free text on by itself if it cannot assign an existing line to an action. The line then remains unchanged. This is intentional: a line the wizard does not understand is not rewritten but presented to you in its original form for editing.


The buttons

- Read out: Reads the generated line out in full. Useful with long paths and internet addresses.
- Apply: Applies the line and closes the window. If the line is empty, you are told so.
- Cancel: Closes the window without changing anything. The Escape key does the same.


Notes

Some actions contain credentials, for example a download from a protected address. The wizard shows them in the fields, because otherwise a faulty line could not be repaired. They are only read out if you explicitly press "Read out".

For a directory from which all tracks are inserted, a trailing slash decides the order: without a slash alphabetically, with a slash randomly.

The wizard offers more actions than the event dialog of RadioBOSS itself shows. Commands such as "Run event", "Enable group" or "Switch scheduler" are not listed there but work just as well as an action line.
