Add standalone HTTP API command to turn Playlist Repeat On/Off

[noelburke82-coder]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.

I have been working with Extron Australia on integration between Falcon Player and Extron control systems.

Extron has already developed an FPP driver for Global Configurator Pro, and there is also interest in supporting Global Scripter/Python.

While testing the integration, I found that the current HTTP API does not provide a simple way to turn the Repeat state on or off by itself.

At the moment, Repeat is tied into playlist start commands such as:

GET /api/playlist//start/true

GET /api/playlist//start/false

These are Start commands, so they are not suitable for simply changing the Repeat state.

What I need is the equivalent of ticking or unticking the Repeat checkbox in the FPP web interface, without having to start playback, restart playback, or select a playlist first.

I tested the Repeat checkbox directly in the FPP web browser and confirmed that it can be changed independently of playback.

Describe the solution you'd like

I would like a standalone HTTP API command that simply turns Repeat on or off.

For example:

GET /api/playlist/repeat/true

GET /api/playlist/repeat/false

or similar.

The important behaviour is:

• Repeat can be turned On or Off independently
• no playlist needs to be selected first
• it does not start playback
• it does not restart a running playlist
• it simply changes the current Repeat state

FPP already reports this state through:

GET /api/fppd/status

using:

repeat_mode: 0
repeat_mode: 1

So I would like a simple HTTP method to set that same state.

This would be extremely useful for my Extron integration, where Repeat needs to operate as its own independent control.

Describe alternatives you've considered

I have not found a workable HTTP alternative.

I tested this outside the Extron environment directly against FPP.

The existing start commands can set Repeat as part of starting a playlist, but they cannot simply change the Repeat state by itself.

The FPP web interface can change the Repeat checkbox independently, so exposing that same function through the HTTP API would solve the issue cleanly.

I also need reliable feedback of the current Repeat state so an external control system can keep its UI in sync. In my case, the Extron touch panel needs to know when Repeat has changed so the button state can update correctly.

/api/fppd/status already appears to expose this through repeat_mode, so ideally the new Repeat On/Off API command would update that value immediately and consistently whenever the state changes.

[OnlineDynamic]

Thanks for the detailed writeup — the use case is clear, and the gap is real. I've put together a change that adds this.

New endpoint

GET /api/playlist/repeat/true
GET /api/playlist/repeat/false
1 and 0 work as well. It returns:

{"Status": "OK", "Message": "Repeat Enabled"}
It does exactly what you asked for on a running playlist: nothing is started, stopped or restarted, the playlist keeps playing uninterrupted, and repeat_mode in /api/fppd/status updates immediately. I verified that by toggling it mid-show and watching elapsed time and item index keep advancing across the toggles, then setting it to false and confirming the playlist finished its current loop and stopped — so the running playlist genuinely picks the new value up.

Under the hood this is a new Set Playlist Repeat FPP command rather than a bare route, so it's also usable from Command Presets, the scheduler, and event triggers — not just HTTP.

One caveat on the "no playlist needs to be selected first" requirement

This is the one part of your request I wasn't able to deliver as specified, and I'd rather be upfront than ship something that looks like it works.

Repeat in FPP is a property of a playlist that is actually running. When the player is idle there's nowhere for the value to live: the idle playlist is reset to repeat=0, starting a playlist reloads the value from the playlist file and then overwrites it with whatever the start command passed, and /api/fppd/status reports a hard-coded 0 while idle. So setting repeat while stopped would return success, never show up in repeat_mode, and then be silently discarded the moment anything started.

Rather than do that, the endpoint returns an error when nothing is playing:

{"Status": "Error", "Message": "No playlist is running; pass the repeat flag to "Start Playlist" instead"}
The Repeat checkbox in the web UI behaves the same way, which I think is the source of the confusion — while the player is idle it's just a local checkbox that gets read when you press Play, and it's actually disabled during playback. So the web UI can't change repeat independently of playback either; this new endpoint can do something the UI currently can't.

For a touch panel this should be fine: use /api/playlist//start/true|false to launch with the desired state, and /api/playlist/repeat/true|false to change it live while the show runs. If you genuinely need repeat to be settable and remembered while idle, that's doable but a broader change to how playlists carry their repeat field — worth its own issue if it matters for the integration.

On state feedback

repeat_mode in /api/fppd/status is the right thing to poll, and it reflects the change straight away.

One thing to watch out for when parsing it: repeat_mode is a JSON string ("0") while the player is idle, but an integer (0 / 1) while playing. That's pre-existing and not something I changed here, since fixing the type could break existing consumers — but it will bite a strictly-typed parser, so compare loosely or coerce before testing it. Worth its own issue if you'd like it made consistent.

Also, in case it's useful for the Extron work: the same state has been settable over MQTT for a while via /set/playlist/${PLAYLISTNAME}/repeat with a 0/1 payload, with the same "applies to the running playlist" semantics.

[noelburke82-coder]

Hi Stuart,

Thanks for putting this together and for the detailed explanation.

I’ll update my FPP build and try to test the new Repeat endpoint properly this week, including changing Repeat while a playlist is already running and checking the repeat_mode feedback.

I’ll report back on the issue once I’ve had a chance to test it.

Thanks again,

Noel

[noelburke82-coder]

Just a quick follow up, I have sent the required information off, and they have acknowledged the required changes.
It will take them some time to update the custom Extron Driver, I will report back here once I know more.