Usage Commands

Usage

As said above, you can use remotebox to control your Rhythmbox remotely through a TCP socket. Once the plugin is installed and Rhythmbox is running, a typical remote session might be as follows (using netcat as a client, assuming Rhythmbox us running locally and playing a file):

 $ netcat localhost 30666

next # -> Client request
ok # -> remotebox response

prev
ok

vol
1.0

vol 0.3 
ok

vol
0.3

pause 
ok

goto file://path/to/a/file.mp3
ok

stop
ok

list # -> Request the list of all files on Rhythmbox library
... # -> Response is a xml-formatted string. See "Avaliable commands" for more information.

Available commands

Request	Response	Explanation
play	`ok\n`	If there isn't any file selected, the response is `Error on play: no track selected!`
pause	`ok\n`
stop	`ok\n`
next	`ok\n`
prev	`ok\n`
vol	`0.9\n`	The response is the current volume setting, a float point between 0.0 and 1.0
vol 0.7	`ok\n`	Sets the volume to a float point between 0.0 and 1.0. If the requested setting is invalid, returns `Invalid volume setting.`
goto file://path/to/a/file.mp3	`ok\n`	Plays the specified file. If it doens't exist, return ``
list	XML-formatted string containing base64 encoded information about the files on rhythmbox library.	See example below

###Example of a xml-formatted file list in response to a list request###

<xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'>
  <tracks>
    <track>
      <artist>VGhlIEJlYXRsZXMK</artist>
      <title>V2l0aCBhIGxpdHRsZSBoZWxwIGZyb20gbXkgZnJpZW5kcwo=</title>
      <album>U2d0LiBQZXBwZXLigJlzIExvbmVseSBIZWFydHMgQ2x1YiBCYW5kCg==</album>
      <url>ZmlsZTovL215L2F1ZGlvL2ZvbGRlci90aGUlMjBiZWF0bGVzJTIwLSUyMHdpd
          GglMjBhJTIwbGl0dGxlJTIwaGVscCUyMGZyb20lMjBteSUyMGZyaWVuZHMubXAzCg==
      </url>
    </track>
    <track>
      <artist>VGhlIEJlYXRsZXMK</artist>
      <title>THVjeSBpbiB0aGUgc2t5IHdpdGggZGlhbW9uZHMK</title>
      <album>U2d0LiBQZXBwZXLigJlzIExvbmVseSBIZWFydHMgQ2x1YiBCYW5kCg==</album>
      <url>ZmlsZTovL215L2F1ZGlvL2ZvbGRlci90aGUlMjBiZWF0bGVzJTIwLSUyMGx1Y
          3klMjBpbiUyMHRoZSUyMHNreSUyMHdpdGglMjBkaWFtb25kcy5tcDMK
      </url>
    </track>
 .
    .
    .
  </tracks>
</xml>

The values in every field (<artist>, <title>, <album>, <url>) are base64 encoded uft8 strings. If we decode these fields, we get:

<xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'>
  <tracks>
    <track>
      <artist>The Beatles</artist>
      <title>With a little help from my friends</title>
      <album>Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band</album>
      <url>file://my/audio/folder/the%20beatles%20-%20with%20a%20little%20help%20from%20my%20friends.mp3</url>
    </track>
    <track>
      <artist>The Beatles</artist>
      <title>Lucy in the sky with diamonds</title>
      <album>Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band</album>
      <url>file://my/audio/folder/the%20beatles%20-%20lucy%20in%20the%20sky%20with%20diamonds.mp3</url>
    </track>
    .
    .
    .
  </tracks>
</xml>