FE 'tkGooie' Utilities
'VIDEOtools' group
A Tk GUI utility to Find-and-Play
a batch of Media Files
(video or audio)
FE 'tkGooie' Utilities'VIDEOtools' group
A Tk GUI utility to Find-and-Play
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'tkBatchMediaFindPlay'
tkGooie VIDEOtool Page
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INTRODUCTION to the In 2013 December, I contributed script code to the Tclers' Wiki at wiki.tcl.tk --- on a page titled
'tkImageViewer - for Mask-Selecting Images --- to provide a Tk GUI 'front end' to a combination of the 'find' command and a user-selectable image viewer command/program. The GUI was designed to offer the user a choice from several image viewer programs --- such as
Via simple changes to the Tcl-Tk script, it is quite easy to switch out any of these viewer programs/commands to replace them with another image viewer that is available in a user's operating environment. The 'tkBatchImageViewer' utility was implemented as a Tk script and 2 shell scripts. As such, it should be implementable with very few changes in various Linux, BSD, Mac, and Unix operating system environments. I added the 'tkBatchImageViewer' utility to my list of 'done and to-do' Tk script utilities. And soon I was thinking about another utility that I would like to add to that list. Soon after submitting (and updating/enhancing) the 'find-images-and-view' FrontEnd utility, I realized that, with relatively few changes, the Tk script and the 2 shell scripts could be altered to provide a way to 'find' movie (or audio) files and play them with any of the many 'media-player' programs that are available on Linux and other such systems. Some of the 'media-player' programs that I was aware of were:
Several of these are GUI front-ends to the 'mplayer' program --- or they use media library routines that were used to implement the 'mplayer' program. At least one uses the 'gstreamer' media library. Like for the 'find-images-and-view' utility, I made a 'text-sketch' for the GUI for the 'find-media-and-play' utility : |
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'find'-mediaplayer Front End - a Tk Multi-Movie/Audio-File-Player Utility
[window title]
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
{Exit} {Help} {LaunchPlayerJob} {CountFilenames} {ShowFilenames}
Full Filename Mask (for movie/audio): ________________________ {Browse...}
MediaPlayer : O 'mplayer' O 'ffplay' O 'gnome-mplayer' O 'totem' O 'VLC'
DisplaySize: O DEFAULT-size (up to fullscreen) O FULLSCREEN (without toolbars)
Search Levels for Mask: O ONE O ALL subdirectories of selected directory
Case Sense for Mask Search: O case-sensitive O case-INsensitive
File Size (MegaBytes): _________ O bigger-than O smaller-than
File Age (Days) : ________________ O older-than O younger-than
File Type: ___________ (Warning: SLOW) Examples: 'MPEG v4' or 'MPEG sequence'
or 'Flash' or 'Apple QuickTime' or 'Microsoft ASF' or 'layer III' or 'PCM'
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
where
Square brackets indicate a comment (not to be placed on the GUI).
Braces indicate a Tk 'button' widget.
Underscores indicate a Tk 'entry' widget.
A colon indicates that the text before the colon is on a 'label' widget.
Capital-O indicates a Tk 'radiobutton' widget.
Capital-X indicates a Tk 'checkbutton' widget.
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GUI Components From the GUI 'sketch' above, it is seen that the GUI consists of about
There are a couple of lines added to this GUI, compared to the GUI for the 'find-images-and-view' utility:
--- Front-End-for-Two-Commands This 'Front End' Tk script is essentially a 'wrapper' for TWO commands --- the 'find' command that assembles the files to be 'played' and a media-player command (of the user's choice, from among several). NOTE that among the 8 'parameter-lines' of this GUI, only 2 have to do with the media-player:
and
The other parameters are for the 'find' command. The Media Players As far as choosing which movie player to use, I am partial to using ones based on the 'mplayer' program, because I have encountered a few movies that would not play with 'VLC' but would play with 'mplayer'. And I have never experienced the opposite. However, in various Linux forums, I have seen many people express their preference for the VLC player. This may partly be because there seems to have been quite a bit of development time spent by VLC developers on handling streaming media via various Internet protocols. Since this 'find-media-and-play' utility is intended mainly for finding-and-playing files on 'local' disk drives, those Internet features do not come into play here. But there are still going to be those who prefer 'VLC', so 'VLC' is presented as an option on this GUI. Beauty (or lack thereof) I should point out here that I was not especially interested in coming up with a 'beautiful utility'. I just wanted a utility that would be able to sweep through a hierarchy of sub-directories and pick out movie and/or audio files to 'play' based on a rather 'rich' set of selection capabilities --- such as 'file-mask' and/or 'file-size' and/or 'file-age' and/or 'file-type'. I am certainly interested in making pretty GUI's --- as I have expressed via GUI experiments that I posted at wiki.tcl.tk in pages titled and But at this time, I am satisfied to implement the 'functionality', and let the 'beauty' go for a later date (when I have more beauty tools/code at hand). SOME GUI IMAGES On the basis of the sketch above, I ended up with the GUI seen in the following image. |
The GUI as it initially appears.
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Note that there are a couple of radiobuttons that allow you to choose whether application of the file-mask is 'case-sensitive' or 'case-INsensitive'. For example, if you chose 'case-INsensitive' and the mask were set to '*.mp3', then files with the suffix '.MP3' would also be selected. And there are a couple of radiobuttons that allow you to choose whether to do the 'mask-search' at the current directory level only --- or to sweep through all sub-directories of the current 'base' directory, looking for media files that satisfy the criteria chosen via this GUI. Here is a place where I MAY make a future enhancement : I may change the 'ONE' radiobutton to an 'N-levels' radiobutton --- and if that radiobutton is selected, an entry field will be activated where the user can enter a choice of N (with the entry field being initialized with '1'). Or I could simply use an N-levels 'spinbox'-like widget --- intialized to 1. --- Below is another image of the GUI, showing a different setting of most of the radiobuttons --- and entries placed in the file-size and file-age entry fields. |
Note entries for 'FileSize' and 'FileAge'.
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NOTE that most simple media-players --- like 'ffplay' --- are oriented toward playing a single file at a time. And the more complex media-players --- like 'mplayer', 'totem', and 'VLC' --- are oriented toward playing a single large movie file or a lot of smaller media files via a 'playlist'. This 'find-media-and-play' front-end utility is oriented toward SELECTING media files (based on criteria such as a file-mask, file-size, file-age, and/or file-type) from an ENTIRE HIERARCHY OF SUB-DIRECTORIES --- as well as allowing mask-search in a SINGLE directory. This utility SORTS the found-files by filename and then starts a loop in which each file is shown by the user-selected media player. When the user closes the media-player window, the next file is started up in the media-player. So this utility does not (currently) have the flexibility of a 'playlist' approach --- the flexibility to specify the order in which to play the media files. On the other hand, this utility offers the user the ability to quickly and auto-magically sweep through a directory hierarchy, selecting files by a 'rich' set of criteria, and 'play' the selected movie files (and/or audio files) --- which may be scattered throughout that hierarchy. By using the file-mask option (and file-age and file-size and file-type options), the user has quite a bit of selection ability. The user can avoid a lot of 'manual' searching for files by letting the 'find' command find the desired files --- in a flash (pun intended). ALSO, note that this utility can be useful without even using any of the 'player' programs. Say you want to know the NUMBER or NAMES of the media files satisfying a set of criteria (file-mask, file-size, file-age, file-type) --- under a certain directory. Then set the criteria and click on the 'CountFilenames' or 'ShowFilenames' button. IN FACT, by using the 'ShowFilenames' button you can get a list from which to build a 'playlist' file. The filenames are shown in a popup Tk 'text' widget --- from which you can paste the names into a text-editor window of your choice. --- Note also that this utility can be used to 'play' a single file. Just select a full filename of a media file and do not change the last part of the filename to a mask. Then click the 'LaunchPlayer' button. (Remember to unset any criteria which the selected file would not satisfy. Note that you can click on the 'CountFilenames' button to see if it returns a value of 1, rather than 0.) --- The File-Type search option The 'file-type' search capability is based on using the 'file' command to return a file-type string --- FOR EACH FILE being processed by the 'find' command. The 'file' command returns text strings like the following, for MOVIE files: |
Typical file suffix 'file' output (not the video or audio
('container' indicator) format, but the 'container' format)
---------------------- -----------------------------------------
mp4 ISO Media, MPEG v4 system, version 1
mpg or mpeg MPEG sequence, v1, system multiplex
flv Macromedia Flash Video
mov ISO Media, Apple QuickTime movie
wmv Microsoft ASF
avi (with DivX video) RIFF (little-endian) data, AVI, 640 x 480, 30.00 fps,
video: DivX 3 Fast-Motion
avi (with Xvid video) RIFF (little-endian) data, AVI, 640 x 480, 30.00 fps,
video: XviD
avi (w. Cinepak video) RIFF (little-endian) data, AVI, 160 x 120, 10.00 fps,
video: Cinepak, audio: uncompressed PCM (mono, 8000 Hz)
MPEG = Motion Picture Experts Group
ASF = Advanced Systems Format
RIFF = Resource Interchange File Format
AVI = Audio Video Interleave
PCM = Pulse Code Modulation
And 'file' returns text strings like the following, for AUDIO files:
Typical
suffix 'file' output
------- -----------------------------------------
mp3 MPEG ADTS, layer III, v1, 128 kbps, 44.1 kHz, Stereo
wav RIFF (little-endian) data, WAVE audio, Microsoft PCM, 8 bit, mono 22050 Hz
ADTS = Audio Data Transport Stream
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Although the file-mask and file-size and file-age options can reduce the number of files to which the 'file' command is applied, adding 'file' command processing to files processed by the 'find' command will add a lot of processing to the find-search. So be aware that specifying 'FileType' on the GUI will often result in much slower response than when leaving that field blank. But the FileType capability is useful when one is dealing with media files for which the WRONG SUFFIX was supplied --- OR media files that were NOT PROVIDED WITH A SUFFIX. The following image shows the 'File-Type' entry field being employed. See the 'ASF' entry at the bottom of the GUI --- and the '*' file-mask being used in the entry field near the top of the GUI. |
Note the entry for 'FileType'.
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DESCRIPTION OF THE CODE Below, I provide the Tk script code for this 'multi-subdirectory' 'tkBatchMediaPlayer' utility. I follow my usual 'canonical' structure for Tk code for this Tk script : |
0) Set general window & widget parms (win-name, win-position,
win-color-scheme, fonts, widget-geometry-parms, win-size-control,
text-array-for-labels-etc).
1a) Define ALL frames (and sub-frames, if any).
1b) Pack ALL frames and sub-frames.
2) Define & pack all widgets in the frames, frame by frame.
Within each frame, define ALL the widgets.
Then pack the widgets.
3) Define keyboard and mouse/touchpad/touch-sensitive-screen action
BINDINGS, if needed.
4) Define PROCS, if needed.
5) Additional GUI initialization (typically with one or more of
the procs), if needed.
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This Tk coding structure is discussed in more detail on the page A Canonical Structure for Tk Code --- and variations. This structure makes it easy for me to find code sections --- while generating and testing a Tk script, and when looking for code snippets to include in other scripts (code re-use). I call your attention to step-zero. One thing that I have started doing in 2013 is using a text-array for text in labels, buttons, and other widgets in the GUI. This can make it easier for people to internationalize my scripts. I will be using a text-array like this in most of my scripts in the future. Experimenting with the GUI As in all my scripts that use the 'pack' geometry manager (which is all of my 100-plus scripts, so far), I provide the four main 'pack' parameters --- '-side', '-anchor', '-fill', '-expand' --- on all of the 'pack' commands for the frames and widgets. That helps me when I am initially testing the behavior of a GUI (the various widgets within it) as I resize the main window. I think that I have used a pretty nice choice of the 'pack' parameters. The label and button and radiobutton widgets stay fixed in size and relative-location if the window is re-sized --- while the entry widgets expand/contract horizontally whenever the window is re-sized horizontally. You can experiment with the '-side', '-anchor', '-fill', and '-expand' parameters on the 'pack' commands for the various frames and widgets --- to get the widget behavior that you want. --- Additional experimentation with the GUI: You might want to change the fonts used for the various GUI widgets. For example, you could change '-weight' from 'bold' to 'normal' --- or '-slant' from 'roman' to 'italic'. Or change font families. In fact, you may NEED to change the font families, because the families I used may not be available on your computer --- and the default font that the 'wish' interpreter chooses may not be very pleasing. I use variables to set geometry parameters of widgets --- parameters such as border-widths and padding. And I have included the '-relief' parameter on the definitions of frames and widgets. Feel free to experiment with those 'appearance' parameters as well. If you find the gray 'palette' of the GUI is not to your liking, you can change the value of the RGB parameter supplied to the 'tk_setPalette' command near the top of the code. Some features in the code There are plenty of comments in the code to describe what most of the code-sections are doing. You can look at the top of the PROCS section of the code to see a list of the procs used in this script, along with brief descriptions of how they are called and what they do. The main procs are : |
'get_filemask' - called by the 'Browse...' button
next to the filemask entry field
'check_for_criterion_change' - called by the proc
'findFiles_andCountPrintOrView'
'findFiles_andCountListOrPlay' - called by the 'LaunchPlayerJob' button
--- and the 'CountFilenames' and
'ShowFilenames' buttons
'popup_msgVarWithScroll' - called by 'Help' button to show HELPtext var.
Also used via the 'CountFilenames' and
'ShowFilenames' buttons.
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Like with the 'find-images-and-view' Tk GUI utility, I used the following statement to allow the GUI to be expanded in the x-direction, but NOT the y-direction. wm resizable . 1 0 It is my hope that the copious comments in the code will help Tcl-Tk coding 'newbies' get started in making GUI's like this. Without the comments, potential young Tcler's might be tempted to return to their iPhones and iPads and iPods --- to watch videos from cameras that Russians seem to commonly have mounted in their cars --- and which, thanks to that, provide us with many videos of irate Russian motorists pounding on other Russian motorists. The Tcl-Tk CODE Here is a link to CODE for the Tk script 'find_and_mediaPlayer_FrontEnd.tk'. Shell script #1 (called by the Tk script) : And below is the code for the first of 2 shell scripts called by this Tk script. This is a wrapper script for the 'find' command. You can put this script in the same directory with the Tk script. The Tk script includes some code (involving the 'argv0' variable) to determine the location of the shell script by extracting the name of the directory in which the Tk script lies. Here is a link to CODE for the SHELL script 'findMediaFiles_forCriteria.sh'. Shell script #2 (called by the Tk script) : And below is the code for the shell script that provides the 'for' loop that feeds each media filename to the chosen player program. You can put this script in the same directory with the Tk script. Shell script #1 includes some code (involving the '$0' variable) to determine the location of the directory containing this shell script (and all 3 scripts) by extracting the name of the directory in which shell-script-1 lies. Here is a link to CODE for the SHELL script 'forLoop_playListOfMediaFiles.sh'. INSTALLING THESE SCRIPTS: This set of 3 scripts could be put in a sub-directory of the user's home directory, such as $HOME/apps/tkBatchMediaPlayer. Then the user can use their desktop system (such as Gnome or KDE) to set up the Tk script as an icon on the desktop. Then the user can click on the icon to startup the 'front end'. SOME ENHANCEMENTS : This set of 3 scripts adds another utility to my list of 'done' utilities --- in the 'Front Ends' category. I plan to work on front ends for 'mplayer', 'ffmpeg', and other front ends to 'find'. But I may return to this set of 3 scripts to provide some enhancements --- like the following. maxdepth N I indicated near the top of this page that I may change the 'ONE' radiobutton --- of the 'ONE-directory' and 'ALL-subdirectories' pair of radiobuttons --- to an 'N-levels' radiobutton. If the 'N-levels' radiobutton is selected, an entry field could be activated where the user can enter a choice of N (with the entry field being initialized with '1'). Or, better yet, replace the pair of radiobuttons with a single 'spinbox'-like widget for integers --- where zero specifies 'ALL-subdirectories' --- and with the widget initialized to '1'. This capability would be implemented via the '-maxdepth' parameter of the 'find' command. There is also a '-mindepth' parameter of the 'find' command. But I have never encountered a situation where I felt I needed to use that parameter. (Is this such a situation?) prune Probably even more useful than the 'maxdepth' capability would be allowing on the GUI for use of the '-prune' parameter of the 'find' command. To implement the '-prune' feature would require adding yet another entry widget to the GUI --- to allow for entering one or more sub-directory names (or masks). As I pointed out on the 'find-images-and-view' FrontEnd page, I found a simple example that verifies that the 'find' command can prune using 'masks' as well as complete directory names. The example :
find . -type d -name '.git*' -prune \ With this command, subdirectories with names of the form '.git*' are skipped (pruned). Otherwise, the name of the currently encountered file is printed (sent to 'stdout'). --- I leave the 'N-levels' and '-prune' enhancement possiblities to a future date. These two features are similar in that they allow the user to avoid 'dropping into' a sub-directory of image files which the user does not wish to process. If I encounter a need for either of those features ('N-levels' or 'prune'), I may implement them and update the code on this page. --- There are a lot of parameters available with the 'find' command, but I think I have probably implemented the ones that are most useful to use for this 'multiple-subdirectory media-file-select-and-display' utility. That said, I will probably find a '-prune' capability to be quite desirable. --- I could install these 3 scripts in a $HOME/apps/tkBatchMediaPlayer directory, as suggested above in an 'install' section above. Then I could define an icon on my desktop by which I could start up this GUI. However, since I have this utility in the 'VIDEOtools' toolchest of the 'tkGooies' system, I can simply access this utility by starting up the main menu of 'tkGooies'. IN CONCLUSION As I have said on several other code-donation pages on this wiki ... There's a lot to like about a utility that is 'free freedom' --- that is, no-cost and open-source so that you can modify/enhance/fix it without having to wait for someone else to do it for you (which may be never). A BIG THANK YOU to Ousterhout for starting Tcl-Tk, and a BIG THANK YOU to the Tcl-Tk developers and maintainers who have kept the simply MAH-velous 'wish' interpreter going. UPDATE 2014jan08 In doing some testing for a 'front end' Tk GUI for the 'find' command, I found that the 'find' command does some unexpected 'round off' stuff when processing a '-size' parameter. For example, if one has a size parameter like '-size +1M', this asks for files that are greater than 1 Megabyte in size. However, as the 'find' command checks each file, it apparently rounds off its size to the nearest Megabyte BEFORE the comparison. Hence any file less than 1.5 Megabytes in size is not included in the strictly-greater-than-1Meg 'found' list. In other words, a 1.4 Meg file is considered to be a 1 Meg file and does not pass the greater-than-1Meg test. Furthermore, unlike the age test (example: '-mtime +$Ndays') which does a greater-than-or-equal-to test triggered by the plus sign, the 'plus' size test does a greater-than test --- but no equal-to test. So I have made several changes to the Tk script and the shell script above --- to improve the size-checking:
Now there should be no 'holes' in the search for files of a 'bigger or smaller' size. I have replaced the code for the Tk script and the shell script above with the new code with the few lines of changes. UPDATE 2014apr26 In using this 'tkBatchMediaPlayer' on 'deep' directories --- that is, a 'find' search on about 200-plus subdirectories with 2,000-plus files in those subdirectories --- I found a few improvements that I needed to make in this Tk script and 2 associated shell scripts. I found the following 'needs'.
To handle these needs, I made the following changes to the 3 scripts.
I have made these changes and replaced the Tk script and the 2 shell scripts above. Now I am feeling like this is a quite robust utility. |
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