Timer Record automatic saving in Audacity 2.1.0

[waxcylinder]

Split from http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic ... 07#p267407

In the next 2.1.0 version of Audacity, recording a Timer Record into a saved project will automatically save the project when the recording ends or if you stop the recording early.

Provided that you saved the project (normally empty) before setting up the Timer Record session - otherwise when it finishes it will ask you if you want to save the project.

The visual cues, sadly, are minimal to say the least

WC

[Gale Andrews]

In the next 2.1.0 version of Audacity, recording a Timer Record into a saved project will automatically save the project when the recording ends or if you stop the recording early.

Provided that you saved the project (normally empty) before setting up the Timer Record session

Yes, that is what I said.

otherwise when it finishes it will ask you if you want to save the project.

This will need a new topic if you want to discuss in detail, but as you know I think that Timer Record should have a checkbox "Save Project automatically" and "Name Project Automatically" (if the former is enabled). There could be a lot of implementation detail around name and location of automatically saved projects.

The visual cues, sadly, are minimal to say the least

I'm not sure what you mean. This sounds if it needs a new topic.


Gale

[waxcylinder]

The visual cues, sadly, are minimal to say the least

I'm not sure what you mean. This sounds if it needs a new topic.

I mean it doesn't tell you what it's doing - and thus it's not very discoverable

Peter

[Gale Andrews]

The visual cues, sadly, are minimal to say the least

I'm not sure what you mean. This sounds if it needs a new topic.

I mean it doesn't tell you what it's doing - and thus it's not very discoverable

You mean it does not tell you what it's doing if you already saved a project before you Timer Record?


Gale

[waxcylinder]

You mean it does not tell you what it's doing if you already saved a project before you Timer Record?

Eaxctamundo

Nor does it tell you, or indicate in any way, when setting up the TR that if your project is pre-saved then it will save the project on completion (or interventional Stop).

To do that you have to read the Manual or the Release Notes - experienced TR users are very unlikely to go back to the Manual for TR ...

If you haven't pre-saved the project you do at least get the Save Project dialog on completion, but any sensible user would be doing that then anyway.

Peter.

[Gale Andrews]

You mean it does not tell you what it's doing if you already saved a project before you Timer Record?

Eaxctamundo

Nor does it tell you, or indicate in any way, when setting up the TR that if your project is pre-saved then it will save the project on completion (or interventional Stop).

Would that not at least be partially solved by a checkbox in Timer Record to enable automatic saving or not?


Gale

[waxcylinder]

You mean it does not tell you what it's doing if you already saved a project before you Timer Record?

Eaxctamundo

Nor does it tell you, or indicate in any way, when setting up the TR that if your project is pre-saved then it will save the project on completion (or interventional Stop).

Would that not at least be partially solved by a checkbox in Timer Record to enable automatic saving or not?

Personally I think I'd rather see a "Save Project" button in the TR dialog, with a note saying that saving the Project will effect an automatic save of the recordes session on completion.

The "Save Project" would then go through the normal save process forcing the user to choose where to save to.

Peter

[Gale Andrews]

You mean it does not tell you what it's doing if you already saved a project before you Timer Record?

Eaxctamundo

Nor does it tell you, or indicate in any way, when setting up the TR that if your project is pre-saved then it will save the project on completion (or interventional Stop).

Would that not at least be partially solved by a checkbox in Timer Record to enable automatic saving or not?

Personally I think I'd rather see a "Save Project" button in the TR dialog, with a note saying that saving the Project will effect an automatic save of the recordes session on completion.

The "Save Project" would then go through the normal save process forcing the user to choose where to save to.

But then you have to click that button every time (or not) don't you, rather than the choice be remembered in case you don't want to change it.

Don't you see a need for a really automatic method even if recording into an unsaved project, so that the location and file name is not asked for?

Gale

[waxcylinder]

But then you have to click that button every time (or not) don't you, rather than the choice be remembered in case you don't want to change it.

Don't you see a need for a really automatic method even if recording into an unsaved project, so that the location and file name is not asked for?

Not if you've already remembered to save the project to a named location as soon as you open it (which is what we often advise users to do - and yes there are lots of use cases where that is not necessary e.g. transcribing an LP - but for a TR it seems to me to always make sense even before Vaughan's latest automatic saving as otherwise you have to wait while it copies from the Temp location to the user's named location which can take a while for a longish recording).

So if you have done that there will be no need to click the button to make the save, but the accompanying text will remind you that an automatic save will take place on TR completion.

And I would also like to see a message on TR completion/user-interrupt to say that the project has been automatically saved - remember that TR is primarily designed for unattended recording (that is why it is seen as acceptable for the controls to be inaccessible) and that thus the user is likely to come back to the screen long after TR has completed.

Peter

[Gale Andrews]

But then you have to click that button every time (or not) don't you, rather than the choice be remembered in case you don't want to change it.

Don't you see a need for a really automatic method even if recording into an unsaved project, so that the location and file name is not asked for?

Not if you've already remembered to save the project to a named location as soon as you open it (which is what we often advise users to do - and yes there are lots of use cases where that is not necessary e.g. transcribing an LP - but for a TR it seems to me to always make sense even before Vaughan's latest automatic saving as otherwise you have to wait while it copies from the Temp location to the user's named location which can take a while for a longish recording).

So if you have done that there will be no need to click the button to make the save, but the accompanying text will remind you that an automatic save will take place on TR completion.

And I would also like to see a message on TR completion/user-interrupt to say that the project has been automatically saved - remember that TR is primarily designed for unattended recording (that is why it is seen as acceptable for the controls to be inaccessible) and that thus the user is likely to come back to the screen long after TR has completed.

Timer Record controls are not inaccessible when you start the recording.

I rarely use Timer Record but exactly because it "should" be unattended and as automatic as possible I take a completely different view. It should not be necessary to pre-save an Audacity project. And if you don't pre-save you should not be left looking at a Save Project warning and nothing's been saved at that point.

It should not be necessary to save a project at all - you should also be able to go straight to an unattended export in the same way Chains export automatically if there is such a command.

I somewhat agree there should be a more prominent indication that the recording has been saved when you return to a Timer Record into a saved project. There is already the usual "Saved <project name"> in the Status Bar (if you attend the recording you'll see it) but it is not persistent, so you remove it just by going back to the Audacity window.


Gale