SkipTool Support thread

[cakes]

What do you think about using the windows task queue to run the transcodes?
...
You would need to set all the parameters for the job and then hit a button to load it in the queue.

Do you mean that every transcode job would be a scheduled task in windows? How can you then prevent several jobs running at the same time?

I am not an expert in this, but if with this setup you could control when the transcode jobs runs (eg. 'immediately', or 'not before or after a certain time' or ...), then it looks fine to me. It would also be good to be able to check somewhere (in the windows scheduler?) howmany jobs are still scheduled.

(EDIT) Oh yes, and it would be great if we could specify which batch script will actually do the transcoding

[cakes]

Hi Pastro,

I'v been trying the 1.0.4 and it works very smooth with the remote. Great work !

I have one suggestion how it could be even smoother. Most manipulations when tweeking a comskip file (counted on remote keypresses) are done by navigating left or right (<,>) in the movie and increasing/decreasing the step size (<<,>>). Now these keys are not that close to eachother on the remote. And with my clumsy fingers, I sometimes hit the |<< button instead of the <<, and then I have to navigate all over again...

So here is the suggestion: why not using the up & down arrows for the stepsize?

[TomH]

There are a couple of values that are picked up from the base skin that I don't think are showing up in community skin.
Add the following to the either the baseskin.xml in the community skin dir, or to the mediapopup.xml in the skiptool skin dir.
...snip...
There are a couple of colors that were picked up in the baseskin also.
Here are all the colors from the baseskin: You can add these to the baseskin or the mediapopup skin.
...snip...

Bingo!
I added the changes to the mediapopup.xml in the skiptool skin dir. My version of the Community3/baseskin.xml did NOT have these values nor colors. Would you have expected them to be there -- or are they SkipTool Specific, and as such rightly belong in the SkipTool/mediapopup.xml ?

Thanks for saving the free world from anihilation! Ooops, there is no free world any more... second choice: thanks for SkipTool and for your help getting it working!

[pastro]

Hi Pastro,

I'v been trying the 1.0.4 and it works very smooth with the remote. Great work !

I have one suggestion how it could be even smoother. Most manipulations when tweeking a comskip file (counted on remote keypresses) are done by navigating left or right (<,>) in the movie and increasing/decreasing the step size (<<,>>). Now these keys are not that close to eachother on the remote. And with my clumsy fingers, I sometimes hit the |<< button instead of the <<, and then I have to navigate all over again...

So here is the suggestion: why not using the up & down arrows for the stepsize?

The up and down keys are used for navigating the menus and the listbox which is consistent with the rest of the interface so I think that should leave that as is.
For the transcode queue, the job can be set to run when windows is idle for x period of time. I was hoping that would keep multiple jobs from kicking off. I planned on implementing custom scripts with the caveat that we come up with a universal set of parameters for all scripts. I'm guessing the list of custom scripts would be defined in the config application.

[pastro]

Bingo!
I added the changes to the mediapopup.xml in the skiptool skin dir. My version of the Community3/baseskin.xml did NOT have these values nor colors. Would you have expected them to be there -- or are they SkipTool Specific, and as such rightly belong in the SkipTool/mediapopup.xml ?

Thanks for saving the free world from anihilation! Ooops, there is no free world any more... second choice: thanks for SkipTool and for your help getting it working!

Glad that worked and the free world is safe again, if and when we find it.

Re: missing values, that's a good question, they exist in baseskin.xml for the main distribution, so I'm surprised they didn't exist in community3's baseskin. I thought the idea there was to be able to change all the plugin's appearances at once by not putting these common values in the plugin's skins. I'll check in with the community3 thread, and see what they think.

[cakes]

The up and down keys are used for navigating the menus and the listbox which is consistent with the rest of the interface so I think that should leave that as is.

It would have been nice, but I understand.

[gEd]

It would also be good to be able to check somewhere (in the windows scheduler?) howmany jobs are still scheduled.

schtasks /query

[pastro]

Working on the transcode queue and ran into a little bit of a problem. Throwing it out here, to see if there are any good alternate ideas.
The windows scheduler doesn't allow a task to run once and on idle. If the tasks is set for onidle apparently it has to run whenever the computer is idle and can't be configured for just once.
So I don't really have a way to block other tasks from starting if one is running using the windows scheduler.

[cakes]

Hi Pastro

why not like this?

1. When in skiptool a recording is marked for transcoding, a textfile is created (in a dedicated skiptool directory) which just contains the filname with full path of the recording to be transcoded.

2. a batch script that is checking the directory for recordings to transcode. (the textfiles). If there are, rename the the .txt file to .busy and calls a transcode script (see 3) for the recording. When transcoding is done, rename the .busy file to .done.
The batch script is executed as a scheduled task, with the advantage that everyone can adjust it to their needs (eg only run when idling, start at midnight....)

3. a batch script that does the actual transcoding for one recording. I guess the script from statik could be used, but any other transcoding script could do.

I am not a .net programmer, hence all the batch scripts here... If a hammer is your only tool, every problem looks like a nail...

But I certainly would like a batch script solution. I actually already have scripts for 2 & 3....

[pastro]

Hi Pastro

why not like this?

1. When in skiptool a recording is marked for transcoding, a textfile is created (in a dedicated skiptool directory) which just contains the filname with full path of the recording to be transcoded.

2. a batch script that is checking the directory for recordings to transcode. (the textfiles). If there are, rename the the .txt file to .busy and calls a transcode script (see 3) for the recording. When transcoding is done, rename the .busy file to .done.
The batch script is executed as a scheduled task, with the advantage that everyone can adjust it to their needs (eg only run when idling, start at midnight....)

3. a batch script that does the actual transcoding for one recording. I guess the script from statik could be used, but any other transcoding script could do.

I am not a .net programmer, hence all the batch scripts here... If a hammer is your only tool, every problem looks like a nail...

But I certainly would like a batch script solution. I actually already have scripts for 2 & 3....

Just so we are on the same page, what I have now is four menu lists. The first list contains the name of the batch to do the transcode.
The second list provides argument 2
The third list provides argument 3
The fourth list provides argument 4
The first argument is always filled in as the filename.
So what you do is pick the correct items from the lists to create the command for the transcode. The menu lists are fully programmable via a text file that is read in when the submenu is entered. You specify what to display in the list, then what to actually use as the argument, and then extra text for the description which shows up in a text box as you scroll around. It's very flexible and could be used to do a lot besides transcode as long as it fits in the executable, filename, arg, arg, arg format. For example you could start a program up like VLC, comskip, whatever you want just by editting the menu script.

I had planned to just queue the commands up, but I like your idea about writing a queue of text files, and then letting a batch or program pick these up that is scheduled via windows scheduler whenever you want it to run. That program will need some smarts though because it needs to determine if the process is done, crashed or whatever to clear the queue entry.

How does that all sound?