Spotify upload helper

The website builds each message page from the details you type into Spotify for Creators: the title, the description, and the season and episode numbers. If those are in the right format, the message appears on the website within the hour, in the right series. The helper fills them in for you and checks them as you go.

Install it

The helper works in Chrome and Microsoft Edge. Install it with one line, then finish in the browser.

On Windows

1. Open PowerShell: press the Windows key, type PowerShell and press Enter.

2. Paste this line and press Enter:

   irm https://www.spekebaptistchurch.org.uk/tools/spotify-upload-helper/install.ps1 | iex

   Version 0.4.4. Read the script before you run it, if you like: it's short. Or download the zip and install it by hand (below).

On a Mac or Linux

1. Open Terminal. On a Mac: press Cmd+Space, type Terminal and press Enter.

2. Paste this line and press Enter:

   curl -fsSL https://www.spekebaptistchurch.org.uk/tools/spotify-upload-helper/install.sh | sh

   Version 0.4.4. Read the script before you run it, if you like: it's short. Or download the zip and install it by hand (below).

Then, in the browser (the first time only)

1. Type chrome://extensions in Chrome’s address bar, or edge://extensions in Edge’s.
2. Turn on Developer mode.
3. Click Load unpacked and choose the folder the script installed. It copied the folder’s path, so you can paste it: on Windows press Ctrl+V; on a Mac press Cmd+Shift+G, then Cmd+V; on Linux press Ctrl+L, then Ctrl+V. Then select the folder.
4. Click the Extensions button (the puzzle piece) in the toolbar and pin SBC Spotify upload helper.

Update it

Run the same line again, then click the reload arrow on the helper in chrome://extensions (or edge://extensions), or restart the browser. The helper tells you when there’s a newer version.

Install it by hand

Download the zip, unzip it into a folder you’ll keep, and follow “Then, in the browser” with that folder.

Use it on a Sunday

1. Open Spotify for Creators and click the helper’s toolbar button. A panel opens beside the page and stays open while you work. (The button only works on Spotify for Creators pages; elsewhere it’s greyed out.)
2. Press New episode at the top of the panel, and choose the audio file in Spotify. While it uploads, fill in the details in the panel.
3. The newest series is already selected. Choose a different one, or New series…, or No series (stand-alone).
4. Choose the book and type the chapters and verses. Choose the speaker, or Someone else… to type a new name.
5. Add a title only if the message has one. Without a title, the passage leads.
6. Check the preview. When Spotify shows the Details step, press Fill in Spotify.
7. Check the details in Spotify, then press Next yourself. The helper never presses Next or Publish. If you change the details after filling them, it asks before letting Next go ahead.

The panel keeps what you typed until the browser closes; Start again clears it.

On Spotify’s episodes page, the panel lists the same episodes as Spotify, each with a marker: green when it’s on the website; amber when it’s published but not on the website yet (that usually takes under an hour); grey when it isn’t published yet, such as a draft. Red means the website skipped it: the reason under it says what to fix. Open it, correct the details in Spotify and save; it turns green at the next update. On other pages the panel lists the website’s recent messages, and any it skipped.

Change an existing episode

1. The panel lists the last 10 episodes under New episode: click one. (On Spotify’s episodes page, the panel follows Spotify’s list, so you can reach older ones by paging through it.) It opens on its Details tab.
2. The panel reads the episode’s details and shows “Editing:” with its title. Under that, the same marker as in the list says whether the episode is on the website, and if the website skipped it, why. If it couldn’t read something, such as a book the website doesn’t know, it says so: choose or type it again.
3. Change what needs changing. The episode keeps its season and episode numbers; change them in the panel if it moves to another series.
4. Press Fill in Spotify, check the details in Spotify, then press Save yourself.

What you’d typed for a new episode is kept, and comes back when you leave the episode. A new title gives the message a new web address on the website, at the next update.

The rules

The helper follows these, so you only need them when filling the details in by hand.

What goes where

• Title or passage: give at least one. With both, the title is the message’s name on the website and the passage shows separately. With only a passage, the passage is the name: Passage - Speaker. With no passage: Title - Speaker.
• Teaching type: Sunday message or Course. Only Sunday messages appear on the home page.
• Speaker: first and last name, spelt the same way every time.
• New series: give it a name in the description and use the next season number after the most recent one. That’s episode 1.

Passages

Write passages as Bible Gateway would accept them:

The helper writes the simplest form: you can type Mark 4:1-41 and it will use Mark 4. It also stops you if a chapter or verse doesn’t exist.

Examples

A series message:

• Title: Hope in the Darkness #5 - Revelation 3:7-14 - Ste Casey
• Description: Sunday message: Hope in the Darkness
• Season: 46, episode: 5

A series message with only a passage:

• Title: Psalm 139 - Dean Kirkbride
• Description: Sunday message: Summer in the Psalms '25
• Season: 52, episode: 2

A stand-alone message:

• Title: Baptism Service - John 9:1-8 - Ste Casey
• Description: Sunday message
• Season and episode: empty

Things that stop a message appearing

• A name already used that year. The website names each message’s page after its title, or its passage when there’s no title. A second “Psalm 23” in the same year won’t appear: give one of them a title.
• A book the website doesn’t know, or a misspelt one.
• A series episode with a missing season or episode number.

If a message hasn’t appeared after an hour, check its details in Spotify against these rules.