What Is a Playlist?

A Playlist is a collection of pages included by reference from different publications within the same user account. This feature empowers account managers to effortlessly combine pages from multiple publications and reorganize them to suit various needs.

A common use case: Catalogues. A company may have several smaller catalogues, each representing different product lines. With Playlists, they can create larger catalogues by grouping product lines by type, or even compile a comprehensive catalogue containing all their products. Playlists make it easy to include a single page from one publication into an unlimited number of playlists. What’s more, when a page is updated in its original publication, the change is automatically reflected across all playlists where it’s referenced.

A practical example: Imagine a company with two digital catalogues—one featuring clothing for adults and children, and the other showcasing sports equipment for both age groups. With Playlists, they could quickly create a new catalogue that features only clothing and equipment for children, or another for adults. They can also build a comprehensive catalogue combining both original catalogues or even create a highly specific playlist, like one showing only children's t-shirts. Any updates to pages in the original catalogues will automatically update across all playlists where those pages appear.

Publishing your Playlist: Once a Playlist is created, it must be published to become publicly accessible. If the Playlist contains pages from unpublished publications, those publications will automatically be published when the Playlist goes live. Each Playlist is charged separately based on the account's subscription plan, and like any other entity, Playlists can be shared, added to apps and galleries, or accessed offline via the Uprez app.

How to Create a Playlist

Creating a Playlist is simple and can be done in two ways:

From Scratch: You can create a new Playlist by selecting the "Create" menu in Drive. The system will guide you through choosing the publications and pages you want to reference in your Playlist. Afterward, you can reorder the pages, remove or add new ones from different publications. There’s no limit to how many pages you can include—just ensure there’s at least one!

Using the Combine Action: Another way to create a Playlist is by using the Combine option in the Enrichments tab. When users add new pages from the editor to an existing publication, a new Playlist is automatically created. This new Playlist includes references to all pages from the current publication and the selected pages from the source publication.

What Is a Dynamic Playlist?

A Dynamic Playlist is a filtered and reordered view of a single publication, generated directly from URL parameters. Unlike a regular Playlist, it does not create a separate item in Drive. Instead, the Reader opens the original publication and displays only the requested pages, Summary chapters or Tabs, in the order defined by the URL.

Because a Dynamic Playlist is only a different view of the source publication, it is useful when you need many variations of the same catalogue without creating and maintaining a separate Playlist for every variation. Any update made to the source publication is automatically reflected when users open its Dynamic Playlist URLs.

A potential use case: Imagine a catalogue with a Wishlist feature. When users select and share specific products, the link they share can lead to a dynamically generated Playlist that shows only the relevant product pages, together with essential pages such as the cover or introduction. These additional pages can be configured as part of the Wishlist setup.

This example demonstrates a link to a product that was shared from a Wishlist via email. When the link is opened, the selected product appears in a popup. Once the popup is closed, only five pages from the original 53-page publication are displayed—these include the cover pages marked as important and the page featuring the selected product.

Regular Playlists vs Dynamic Playlists

Regular and Dynamic Playlists can both be used to create smaller or reorganized versions of larger catalogues, but they work differently.

  • Regular Playlist: a separate Drive item containing references to pages from one or several publications. It can be published, shared, added to an Uprez app or gallery, and downloaded for offline use in Uprez.
  • Dynamic Playlist: a URL-based view of one publication. It is created when the publication is opened with Dynamic Playlist parameters and does not exist as a separate Drive item.
  • Updates: both approaches avoid duplicating source pages. Regular Playlists reference the original pages, while Dynamic Playlists display the original publication directly. Updating the source content therefore updates the content displayed through either approach.
  • Offline use: regular Playlists can be used offline in Uprez. Dynamic Playlists cannot, because they depend on URL parameters and are opened as external web links.

How to Enable Dynamic Playlists

Dynamic Playlists must first be enabled for the publication. This is done in the publication's common-ui.xml configuration by adding a dynamic_playlist node inside <configs>:

<dynamic_playlist enabled="true"/>

This configuration is normally handled by the production or development teams. Once it is enabled, the publication can interpret the Dynamic Playlist URL parameters described below.

If the publication uses chapters or Tabs to build Dynamic Playlists, it is recommended to configure the corresponding Summary (Contents) or Tabs in Settings → Design → Menu Manager. This makes the structure easier to manage and provides stable chapter IDs that can be reused in Dynamic Playlist URLs.

Dynamic Playlist URL Parameters

There are several ways to define which content should be displayed. The parameters can also control the order in which the selected pages or chapters appear.

Pages: dpp

Use dpp when you want to specify the exact page numbers to display and their order.

?dpp=1,4,5,6,45,13,14

In this example, only the listed pages are displayed, in exactly that order.

Tabs: dpt

Use dpt to display chapters defined with the publication's Tabs feature. The values are the Tab chapter IDs.

?dpt=intro,france,bulgaria,conclusion

Summary chapters: dps

Use dps to display chapters or subchapters defined in the publication's Summary (Contents). The values are the Summary chapter IDs.

?dps=intro,france-location,bulgaria,conclusion

Mixed selections: dpm

Use dpm when the same Dynamic Playlist needs to combine different selection types. Each value is prefixed to indicate what it represents:

  • p for a page number
  • s for a Summary chapter ID
  • t for a Tab chapter ID
?dpm=p1,s77,tid1,p20-22

This makes it possible to build a single Dynamic Playlist from individual pages, Summary chapters and Tabs. Page ranges such as p20-22 can also be used.

Stable Dynamic Playlist URLs with Aliases

Dynamic Playlist aliases provide a way to create cleaner, stable URLs whose underlying selection can be changed later without changing the link already shared with users.

An alias is configured in common-ui.xml inside the existing <dynamic_playlist> node. Each alias maps an ID to one of the existing Dynamic Playlist parameters and its value.

<dynamic_playlist enabled="true">
  <alias id="mypages" key="dpp" value="2,4,6,8,11"/>
  <alias id="mixed" key="dpm" value="s200,s1,s7"/>
  <alias id="summary" key="dps" value="77,92"/>
  <alias id="tabs" key="dpt" value="id1,id13"/>
</dynamic_playlist>

The alias is then called with the dpa parameter:

?dpa=mypages

With the configuration above, ?dpa=mypages behaves exactly as if the publication had been opened with ?dpp=2,4,6,8,11. If the desired selection changes later, only the alias configuration needs to be updated; the public URL can remain unchanged.

An alias can point to any supported Dynamic Playlist mode: dpp, dpt, dps or dpm. Existing Dynamic Playlist parameters continue to work normally alongside aliases. If an alias ID is not found in the configuration, the Reader handles the missing value gracefully rather than creating a new selection.

Dynamic Playlists in Uprez and Offline Mode

A regular Playlist can be added directly to an Uprez app and downloaded for offline use because it exists as its own Drive item. A Dynamic Playlist is different: it is generated from an online URL, so it cannot be used offline.

Dynamic Playlist URLs can be added to Uprez as external links, but external links open in a browser and require an internet connection. The URL parameters also remain visible to the user. For example, a user could remove ?dpt=..., ?dpp=... or ?dpa=... from the address and open the complete source publication.

For this reason, Dynamic Playlists should be considered a content presentation and sharing mechanism, not an access-control mechanism. If users must never be able to reach the rest of a catalogue, a separate publication or another access-control solution should be used instead.

Which Playlist Type Should You Use?

  • Use a regular Playlist when you need a separate Drive item, want to combine pages from several publications, need to add it directly to Uprez, or require offline access.
  • Use a Dynamic Playlist when you need many filtered or reordered views of one publication without creating separate Drive items.
  • Use a Dynamic Playlist alias (dpa) when the URL must remain stable even if the pages or chapters behind that URL change over time.

Conclusion

The Playlist feature is a powerful tool for organizations that manage large volumes of digital content. It offers the flexibility to reorganize and repurpose content without duplicating work or disrupting original publications. Whether you're managing complex catalogues or simply want to create custom content collections, Playlists streamline the process, ensuring that any updates are reflected everywhere instantly. With additional features like Dynamic Playlists, the possibilities for customization and content management are endless.

Take advantage of this innovative tool to efficiently manage your content and enhance your users' experience.

Published by Webpublication in Uncategorized