specify (output) path with edit chain export

[dgoldsmith]

Hi! Just checking before I add this as a feature request: is there a way I'm not seeing to specify the output path with edit (or apply would be better for my purposes) chain Export<format>? (I found a forum thread which suggests that Export is capable of taking a Path parameter, but when I try to add that parameter manually in the ExportMP3 Parameters textbox in the Edit Chains dialog, I'm unable to enter anything at all.) And if this is presently a non-existing feature, I might be able to do it (know my way around wx a bit), so which source file(s) should I be looking in if I want to try?

OlyDLG

[Gale Andrews]

Hi! Just checking before I add this as a feature request: is there a way I'm not seeing to specify the output path with edit (or apply would be better for my purposes) chain Export<format>? (I found a forum thread which suggests that Export is capable of taking a Path parameter, but when I try to add that parameter manually in the ExportMP3 Parameters textbox in the Edit Chains dialog, I'm unable to enter anything at all.)

Do you have a link to that post? You can't specify any parameters in an Export command in chains (users in particular would like to set the quality/bit rate settings for the format).

Export is always to a folder called "Cleaned" - you can't change that. Since the logic where that "Cleaned" folder is created is obscure, this is how I "think" it works:

* Where the chain is applied to imported files, the "Cleaned" folder will always be in the directory from which the files were imported.

* Where the chain is applied to the current project, the location to be used for export will be stated in a message prompt, unless the tracks in the project were imported. The logic is:
** if the track in the project was imported, the "Cleaned" folder will be inside the directory from which the file was imported
** otherwise, the "Cleaned" folder will be in the last location that the chain process exported to. If the chain process has never been used for export before, it defaults to the location that the normal export dialogue would initialise to on a fresh installation.

if this is presently a non-existing feature, I might be able to do it (know my way around wx a bit), so which source file(s) should I be looking in if I want to try?

The most relevant files are

srcBatchCommands.cpp
srcBatchCommands.h,
srcBatchCommandDialog.cpp
srcBatchCommandDialog.h
srcBatchProcessDialog.cpp
srcBatchProcessDialog.h

It isn't all that clear what the best place for this feature would be. In some ways the cleanest would be to have a preference (in the Directories tab which is fairly empty) to turn off the above path/folder behaviour and force use of a fixed directory for batch exports. If so you might want to consider if that preference should apply to all exports (some people think there should be that choice).

OTOH it would be less complex (but possibly obtrusive) to have a regular export file dialogue open from "Apply Chains". Having a path parameter would be the most flexible but least generally useful.

If you want to discuss changes like this then having got Audacity SVN HEAD compiled and having had a look at the code it would probably be best to subscribe to audacity-devel and ask for opinions there.



Gale

[dgoldsmith]

Hi! Just checking before I add this as a feature request: is there a way I'm not seeing to specify the output path with edit (or apply would be better for my purposes) chain Export<format>? (I found a forum thread which suggests that Export is capable of taking a Path parameter, but when I try to add that parameter manually in the ExportMP3 Parameters textbox in the Edit Chains dialog, I'm unable to enter anything at all.)

Do you have a link to that post? You can't specify any parameters in an Export command in chains (users in particular would like to set the quality/bit rate settings for the format).

Sorry if I implied that I meant change it in Apply chain export - the thread I saw implied you could specify an output path in Prefs - if you doubt that's correct, I can find the thread...

Export is always to a folder called "Cleaned" - you can't change that. Since the logic where that "Cleaned" folder is created is obscure, this is how I "think" it works:

* Where the chain is applied to imported files, the "Cleaned" folder will always be in the directory from which the files were imported.

* Where the chain is applied to the current project, the location to be used for export will be stated in a message prompt, unless the tracks in the project were imported. The logic is:
** if the track in the project was imported, the "Cleaned" folder will be inside the directory from which the file was imported
** otherwise, the "Cleaned" folder will be in the last location that the chain process exported to. If the chain process has never been used for export before, it defaults to the location that the normal export dialogue would initialise to on a fresh installation.

if this is presently a non-existing feature, I might be able to do it (know my way around wx a bit), so which source file(s) should I be looking in if I want to try?

The most relevant files are

srcBatchCommands.cpp
srcBatchCommands.h,
srcBatchCommandDialog.cpp
srcBatchCommandDialog.h
srcBatchProcessDialog.cpp
srcBatchProcessDialog.h

It isn't all that clear what the best place for this feature would be. In some ways the cleanest would be to have a preference (in the Directories tab which is fairly empty) to turn off the above path/folder behaviour and force use of a fixed directory for batch exports. If so you might want to consider if that preference should apply to all exports (some people think there should be that choice).

OTOH it would be less complex (but possibly obtrusive) to have a regular export file dialogue open from "Apply Chains". Having a path parameter would be the most flexible but least generally useful.

If you want to discuss changes like this then having got Audacity SVN HEAD compiled and having had a look at the code it would probably be best to subscribe to audacity-devel and ask for opinions there.
Gale

Got it, thanks!

DG