These instructions are formatted for the PHP version. To see them formatted for ASP, click hereHow to make a prefs fileAll you have to do is create a text file named andromedaPrefs.php and save it in the same folder as the Andromeda script. You can create it with any text editor.

a sample andromedaPrefs.php file:

<?php #siteName[tab] andromeda ?>

Note: the leading # is required. It prevents your preferences from being read by a web browser.

Download a sample andromedaPrefs.php file (zipped)

Each preference is stored on a separate line in the prefs file. The key (the preference you are setting) comes first, followed by a tab, and then the value that you want to set it to. Keys are case sensitive. Finally, don't put a space on either side of the tab.

The example above sets siteName, which Andromeda uses in the menubar and other places. General Preferences

siteName
Change the name which appears at the top of your copy of Andromeda. The default is "andromeda".

email

if you want your email address displayed, enter it here.

requireLogon

{true,false}
Turn this on to limit access to your site. Andromeda will then require users to log on when arriving at your site. This does not provide the same degree of security as setting file permissions through your operating system (Windows 2000, NT; UNIX), but it does the trick. Keep in mind that requireLogon cannot protect files from being accessed if the user knows its full url. you'll have to create & edit the andromedaLogons file. For info on how to manage the logon file, see the section on security in the manual.

editMode

{true,false}
asp version only
makes it easy for you to annotate your collection

localFilePlayback

{true,false}
ASP version >= 0.018 ASP; PHP version >= 1.9.3 PHP
this is a good feature which is off by default because of a bug with some versions of Internet Explorer. if you play mp3s on the same computer running Andromeda, turn this on to prevent them from being copied to your web cache. if playback fails, turn it back off.

displayNew

{true,false}
On by default in versions up to 1.7 off by default as of 1.7.1 Tells Andromeda to scan folders looking for new mp3s. If it finds any, it automatically marks all folders containing the new mp3s as 'new'. If you have an especially large collection this can be somewhat slow.

If you choose to disable displayNew you might also want to disable permitSearch (see next pref).

permitSearch

{true,false}
Set to false to disable the search feature.

displayAMG

{true,false}
By default, Andromeda displays a box to search AMG (allmusic.com) a the bottom of the page. If you don't want it to, you can disable this feature by setting displayAMG to false. A lot of you have turned this feature off, some thinking it's an advertisement. It's not an advertisement. Please give it a try before you turn it off - I find it very handy.

audioFileTypes

Andromeda 1.6 and up
Comma separated list of audio file type extensions which Andromeda will recognize. The default value is "mp3,wma,wav,aif,aiff,au,ogg,ra,mid,midi". ra, mid, and midi were added in version 1.6.3.

videoFileTypes

Andromeda 1.6 and up
Comma separated list of video file type extensions which Andromeda will recognize. The default value is "mpg,mpeg,mpe,asf,avi,wmv,vob,rv,rm,mov,qt". rv, rm, mov, and qt were added in version 1.6.3.

playlistFileTypes

Andromeda 1.6 and up
Comma separated list of playlist file type extensions which Andromeda will recognize. The default value is "m3u,asx,ram". ram was added in version 1.6.3.

tkNumTrimCodes

Andromeda 1.6.1 and up
Comma separated list of track numbers Andromeda will strip from file names. The default value is "## - ,##_-_,##_,##.".

Network Preferences

ftpPath
if you include a ftpPath, users will see a link to the ftp site entered here.

hostAddress

If your computer's IP address cannot be seen from the Internet you can enter an alternate IP address or host name (including the port if needed) here.

Let's say you want to use the domain name www.mydomain.com. All you need to do is set the hostAddress preference to www.mydomain.com (don't include a leading http:// or trailing /).

Let's say your IP address is 123.123.123.123 and you want to use port 8080. All you need to do is set the hostAddress preference to 123.123.123.123:8080 (again, don't include the leading http:// or trailing /). Alternatively, if you prefer to use a domain name, set hostAddress to www.mydomain.com:8080

mediaWebPath and mediaPhysicalPath

By default Andromeda looks in its folder for your mp3s. If you want Andromeda to look elsewhere, edit both mediaWebPath and mediaPhysicalPath to point to the preferred folder.

This feature is typically used for advanced security. If you simply want to access music stored on a different drive, check out the section on virtual directories in the manual.

A typical setting for mediaWebPath is /mp3s

A typical setting for mediaPhysicalPath is c:\inetpub\wwwroot\mp3s

This is an advanced feature; clear them both to revert to the default behavior.

Image Handling

useImageFiles
{true,false}
By default, Andromeda uses internally stored binary images. This makes Andromeda a simple single-file download, but it isn't the fastest way to display images. If you set useImageFiles, Andromeda will instead use standard gif files, each saved in the same folder as the Andromeda script. Get a copy of the images here,

Turn this on to improve performance. Make sure to set up the images too.

imageFolderPath

If you choose to set useImageFiles (see above) but you don't want to put the individual image files in the same folder as the Andromeda script, set imageFolderPath to the path where you want to store the images. It must be a web path, and end with a "/". For example, "/images/" (excluding the quotes).

Other Preferences

customHeader
this puts whatever you want up in the menubar; use html to make it look nice; carriage returns will be removed.

customBlock

this puts whatever you want at the bottom of every folder/file list; use html to make it look nice; carriage returns will be removed.

cBlockSize

Andromeda 1.5 and up
The playlist is stored in the browser's cookies. This setting determines the number of bytes per cookie. A cookie can hold a maximum of 4k (4096 bytes, or characters), but since the playlist will be encoded (and thereby grow longer) it should be set to less than 4k. By default it is set to 3100.

cBlockCount

Andromeda 1.5 and up
The number of cookies used to store the playlist. The maximum size of a playlist is thus cBlockSize * cBlockCount. Unfortunatly for you Apache users, Apache has an incoming limit (DEFAULT_LIMIT_REQUEST_FIELDSIZE) which you probably have set to 8k. So, on the php version, cBlockCount defaults to 2. With the asp version, it defaults to 8.

getID3info

Andromeda 1.7 and up
Activates Andromeda's MP3 ID3 reader for ID3v1, ID3v1.1, and ID3v2 tags (Artist, Album, and Track name). Also determines track length and quality.

skipID3v1

Andromeda 1.7 and up
Tells Andromeda not to scan for the ID3v1 tag. With the ASP version I've set skipID3v1 to default to true (don't scan for ID3v1 tag), as ASP seems quite slow in finding its way to the end of the MP3 file (where the ID3v1 tag is).

fileLinks

Andromeda 1.6.3 and up
Turns off the download links. Turn off both fileLinks and playLinks (see below) for a "view only" site.

playLinks

Andromeda 1.6.3 and up
Turns off the streaming play buttons. Turn off both playLinks and fileLinks (see above) for a "view only" site.

permitPlaylists

Andromeda 1.6.3 and up
Turns off the playlist features.

playSelectionMode

Andromeda 1.9.3.4 and up
{disabled, post, get}
IE6 has a bug that can sometimes affect the use of Andromeda's play selection button (the gray play button down at the bottom -- this issue has no effect on the regular green play buttons).

Specifically, some IE6 installations are unable to submit a FORM via POST and then generate dynamic content.

You can set playSelectionMode to the following values:

disabled - Because IE6 has a large browser share, the play selection button is disabled by default.

post - This is the "right" way for the play selection button to work. Post works fine with most browsers (with the notable exception of some IE6 installs).

get - This overcomes IE6's bug, but can have trouble with longer lists.

cssLinkHref

Andromeda 1.6.3 and up
Inserts <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="your css file here"> (more css-specific markup coming soon...)

playlistMime

Andromeda 1.6.3 and up
Set to audio/x-pn-realaudio for exclusively Real Media sites.

protocol

Andromeda 1.6.3 and up
Set to rtsp if you are running a proper Real server.

includeHeader

Andromeda 1.7.1 and up
enter the path to an external file to have Andromeda include it just after the <BODY> tag. Note for the asp version: this only works version 5 & up of the script engine, and the scope of includeHeader is limited to itself - it cannot share information with the main script or the includeFooter, and vice-versa. Note for the php version: this takes an OS path, not a web path. You might also want to check the ini setting of include_path.

if you nest all of andromeda within an enclosing table, that can seriously degrade perceived performance, as the browser will not be able to incrementally write rows, and will instead have to wait for *all* rows to be returned before writing the page.

includeFooter

Andromeda 1.7.1 and up
enter the path to an external file to have Andromeda include it just before the </BODY> tag. Note for the asp version: this only works version 5 & up of the script engine, and the scope of includeHeader is limited to itself - it cannot share information with the main script or the includeFooter, and vice-versa. Note for the php version: this takes an OS path, not a web path. You might also want to check the ini setting of include_path.

absoluteHeader

Andromeda 1.7.1 and up
just like includeHeader, but your HTML code is stored directly in the preferences file.

if you nest all of andromeda within an enclosing table, that can seriously degrade perceived performance, as the browser will not be able to incrementally write rows, and will instead have to wait for *all* rows to be returned before writing the page.

absoluteFooter

Andromeda 1.7.1 and up
just like includeFooter, but your HTML code is stored directly in the preferences file.

disableHTMLheaders

Andromeda 1.7.1 and up
if you want to include your own <HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE></TITLE> <SCRIPT></SCRIPT> <LINK> </HEAD> <BODY> and </BODY></HTML> tags in your include/absolute header/footer. I don't recommend this one, because: 1) if you also requireLogon, then the redirect after successful logon will not work, and you will have to click to continue after logon, 2) Andromeda will not be able to give dynamic titles your pages.

includeJavascript

Andromeda 1.7.1 and up
includes a .js file in a <SCRIPT src="yourfile.js"></SCRIPT> tag in the header.

folderListInfo

Andromeda 1.7.1 and up
sets the name of the text file andromeda looks for to use in a 'folder list view' annotation. DO NOT include the ".txt" extension. (defaults to _folderListInfo)

folderOpenInfo

Andromeda 1.7.1 and up
sets the name of the text file andromeda looks for to use in a 'folder open view' annotation. DO NOT include the ".txt" extension. (defaults to _folderOpenInfo)

folderListImage

Andromeda 1.7.1 and up
sets the name of the image file andromeda looks for to use in a 'folder list view' annotation. DO NOT include the ".gif" or ".jpg" extension. (defaults to _folderListImage)

folderOpenImage

Andromeda 1.7.1 and up
sets the name of the image file andromeda looks for to use in a 'folder open view' annotation. DO NOT include the ".gif" or ".jpg" extension. (defaults to _folderOpenImage)

folderListImageDims

Andromeda 1.7.1 and up
if you want to hardwire the dimensions of the folderListImage set this to the pixel width,height. for example "128,64" no spaces. (defaults to _folderListImageDims)

folderOpenImageDims

Andromeda 1.7.1 and up
if you want to hardwire the dimensions of the folderOpenImage set this to the pixel width,height. for example "128,64" no spaces. (defaults to _folderOpenImageDims)

skinFile

Andromeda 1.7.1 and up
points andromeda to a skin file. defaults to andromedaSkin.txt

logonFile

Andromeda 1.7.1 and up
points andromeda to a logon file. defaults to andromedaLogons.asp or andromedaLogons.php

includeEXTM3U

Andromeda 1.7.1 and up
tells Andromeda to include #EXTM3U info in the playlists. defaults to false as it is incompatible with some UNIX players, but it is nice with Winamp...your choice...

defaultLanguage

Andromeda 1.8 and up
Lets you choose Andromeda's 'startup' language (default = EN)


AR Arabic BS Bosanski (Bosnian) BG Bulgarian CA Catala (Catalan) CS Cesky (Czech) ZH-cn Chinese Simplified ZH-tw Chinese Traditional DA Dansk (Danish) DE Deutsch (German) ET Eesti (Estonian) EL Ellinika (Greek) EN English ES Espanol (Spanish) FR Francais (French) IS Íslenska (Icelandic) IT Italiano (Italian) JA Japanese

KO Korean HU Magyar (Hungarian) NL Nederlands (Dutch) PL Polski (Polish) NO Norsk (Norwegian) PT Portugues (Portuguese) PT-br Portugues (Brasil) RU Pycckuu (Russian) RO Romana (Romanian) SQ Shqip (Albanian) SL Slovenscina (Slovenian) SK Slovensky (Slovak) SR Srpski (Serbian) FI Suomi (Finnish) SV Svenska (Swedish) TR Turkce (Turkish) VI Viet Ngu (Vietnamese)

globalAnnotations

Andromeda 1.8 and up
if you have added annotations to your site, but you only want them displayed when a visitor is viewing your site in the defaultLanguage, set this to false. (default = true)

permitTranslation

Andromeda 1.8 and up
if you don't want users to be able to change languages (hides the pull-down menu) set this to false. (default = true)

skipPrefix

Andromeda 1.8 and up
when set, Andromeda will ignore all folders and files whose names begin with the folderSkipPrefix. Defaults to "." in the PHP version.

folderSkipNames

Andromeda 1.8 and up
a list of specific folder names for Andromeda to ignore, defaults to:
"_private,_fpclass,_vti_cnf,_vti_pvt,System Volume Information,_derived,_overlay,RECYCLER,Recycled"

checkboxDefault

Andromeda 1.8 and up
determines whether the checkboxes next to files are checked by default. the default behavior is true. set checkboxDefault to false if you want files unchecked by default.

moduleOnly

Andromeda 1.8.2 and up
If you're running andromeda as a Nuke module and you want to prevent standalone, direct access to the script, set moduleOnly to true. defaults to false

iconSize

Andromeda 1.8.4 and up
If you're running Andromeda on a high-res display, or if you have limited vision, you can increase the icon sizes. Try setting iconSize to an integer (2 or even 3). It defaults to 1.

useExtLogon

Andromeda 1.8.5 and up
Tell Andromeda to use Nuke and phpWebSite authentication. It defaults to false. If you're running Andromeda as a Nuke module, make sure to also set moduleOnly to true.

hideMenubar

Andromeda 1.8.5 and up
Set to true to hide the menubar. It defaults to false.

rootName

Andromeda 1.8.5 and up
Lets you assign an alternate name to the topmost folder.

usePlaylistIcons

Andromeda 1.9 and up
You can revert to the old form buttons by setting usePlaylistIcons to false. If you're using local image files, make sure to download the icons.

maxPlaylistTracks

Andromeda 1.9 and up
Limits the number of tracks returned in a playlist. Defaults to 5000.

timeout

Andromeda 1.9 and up
Sets the maximum script execution time (in seconds). Leave blank to use the system default. In version 1.9 it defaulted to 90, with version 1.9.1 and up it defaults to blank. Note that PHP installations running in "safe mode" will report an error if you attempt to set the timeout.

logonMessage

Andromeda 1.9.2 and up
displays a message on Andromeda's logon screen (if you're using it)

compactSearch

Andromeda 1.9.2 and up
Set it to true to simplify the search box. Note, however, that the default 'split' search (ie compactSearch is false) can improve performance.

vbrScanCount, vbrSkipCount, cbrCutoff

Andromeda 1.9.2 and up
To improve performance, Andromeda guesses the bitrate and duration of VBR encoded MP3s. You can tune these preferences to find the best balance of performance vs. accuracy. vbrScanCount sets the total number of MP3 frames to consider (the default is 50), vbrSkipCount sets the total number of MP3 frames to ignore from the front of the file (the default is 50), and cbrCutoff sets the total number of identical MP3 frames before Andromeda assumes the file to be CBR (the default is 5).

A typical 128 kbit/s MP3 file is roughly 40 'frames' per second.

fileCount

Andromeda 1.9.3 and up
Adds track numbers to file listings.

fileCountWidth

Andromeda 1.9.3 and up
Sets the amount of horizontal space allocated for the track numbers. Defaults to 20 (pixels).

hidePoweredby

Andromeda 1.9.3 and up (not available with free evaluation)
Hides the 'Powered by' link at the bottom.

hideMetasearch

Andromeda 1.9.3 and up (not available with free evaluation)
Hides the 'Metasearch' link.