Showing PDF, PPT etc. in Session

[rkw]

Hi !

I recently found a comment on Cantabile in another forum, which indicated that it might fullfill my requirements. So I read more about it, installed the demo version of Performer, tried a few things, searched in this forum, but still did not find what I was looking for.

Besides all the good things that Perfomer already does for my goal to have a total recall per song for a live setup, I still don't know how to display a lead sheet (say PDF, PowerPoint etc.).

I found Triggers of course and the ability to Execute an external program (which works), however neither the documentation nor a topic in this forum indicated how one could open a dedicated file along with the application, eg. the leadsheet, the lyrics, the score etc. There are promising options like $(SessionTitle), but I haven't understood, how to make use of them.

I tried all sorts of combinations, but no success so far. It's probably simple, please bear with me....

Is there any example I could use to test it, which I overloooked ?

Thanks a lot in advance
RKW

[TiUser]

A simple solution to type text is the "VstNotes" Plugin from ProXL that displays text with programs instead of switching to a sound program.

See KVR: http://www.kvraudio.com/get/1855.html

[rkw]

A simple solution to type text is the "VstNotes" Plugin from ProXL that displays text with programs instead of switching to a sound program.

See KVR: http://www.kvraudio.com/get/1855.html

... I knew that plugin, but just found out that there's also the XL version, which does also provide large fonts (which I desperately need... ).

However, our leedsheets are already in word and I don't want to convert them.

I know some other workarounds like Bome's MIDI Translator Pro, which allows to start a pdf or word via a MIDI program change (or other event).

There is even the FCB1010 Editor (freeware), which provides that funktionality. You don't even need an Behringer FCB1010 to make use of it.

I even thought of writing a little controller app (eg. using MIDIOX COM object model or one of the many MIDI Java libraries).

But still.... it would be MUCH simpler if Cantabile would provide that.

Thanks and best regards
RKW

[TiUser]

Well, concerning opening dedicated files in certain apps, doesn't it work to pass the document names as a parameter after the program's name?

If not what about just specifying the file name with extension - the shell might resolve the extension and open the default app with it - if known.

Just ideas so far, haven't proved that...

The other ideas you suggest do sound not as easy and may result in some serious effort... but let me know if you find a thrilling solution here... ;D

[bradr]

Check out this which might help:

http://www.cantabilesoftware.com/blog/p ... -variables

Basically this should give you the ability to setup triggers that invoke external scripts, passing the name of the current sub-session or song.

eg, an execute external script trigger with command line of :

word "$(SubSessionName)".doc

should invoke word, opening a document with the the current sub-session name.

That said, there's no facility to explicitly close a previously opened document so you might need to write an actual script (eg: Windows Scripting Host or whatever) that directly automates Word, or whatever other program you're trying to control.

I haven't tested this heavily so it's only in the experimental build, let me know if it has problems.

[rkw]

Hi Bradr !

Thanks for your quick reply.

In the meeantime I tried a lot of things and got some succes, but not full.

What I managed to do:

1.
Creating a trigger with Execute and just putting in the name of the file to be opened works fine. The application associated with the filename extension is opened, eg. putting song.pdf (no quotes aor anything) in the Action field (along with the path to it in the Working Directory opens up Acrobat Reader with song.pdf.

2.
Same as above, but using song.vbs starts a wsh/vbs-script and would give me full control over the application. For the sake of simplicity the script looks like:

' song.vbs
set ws = CreateObject("Wscript.Shell")
Ws.run ("AcroRd32 c:\songs\song.pdf")

So with a little bit of programming it would be possible to size the window, control the position or even send additional commands with other triggers (eg. foot switch) to flip pages if necessary.


3. What didn't work

Basically this should give you the ability to setup triggers that invoke external scripts, passing the name of the current sub-session or song.

eg, an execute external script trigger with command line of :

word "$(SubSessionName)".doc

should invoke word, opening a document with the the current sub-session name.

Well, I tried

"$(SessionTitle)".pdf
AcroRd32 "$(SessionTitle)".pdf
"$(SongTitle)".pdf
AcroRd32 "$(SongTitle)".pdf

where both song title and session title are "song" to point to the associated song.pdf.

I also tried the suggestion to put alert: infront of the commandline for debugging purposes, but also no success. Ie. I tried

alert:"$(SessionTitle)".pdf
alert:AcroRd32 "$(SessionTitle)".pdf
alert: "$(SessionTitle)".pdf
alert: AcroRd32 "$(SessionTitle)".pdf

I even tried

alert:song.pdf
alert: song.pdf

Neither a message box appeared nor did the pdf open.

What am I doing wrong ?

I mean, I could live with what I found out works, eg. explicit filenames in the trigger action, but since you asked if I have problems with it.... yes, I do

Thanks and best regards
RKW

[bradr]

Hi rkw

What am I doing wrong ?

I'm guessing you're using the official build and not the experimental build. Experimental build is where I release new stuff to ensure it works/is suitable/incorporates feedback before rolling changes into the official build.

The experimental build is available here: http://www.cantabilesoftware.com/download/experimental . There's a scary disclaimer on that page, but nearly always the experimental build is almost identical to the latest official release... and often in fact more stable.

Brad

[rkw]

Hi Bradr !

Yes, you were right. It works with the experimental build.

I tried $(SongName),$(SessionTitle) and $(SessionFolder) and they work fine. I did not need the quotes either.

Also "alert:" did work.

Thanks and best regards
RKW

[bradr]

Good to hear. The quotes are only really necessary when the parameter you're passing contains spaces - most apps don't handle spaces in command line filenames without the quotes. ie: the quotes are probably a requirement of the target program you're invoking - not related to Cantabile.

Brad

[rkw]

Hi Bradr!

Well. then at least for .PDF and .VBS it also works without quotes, when the filename contains spaces. Just to make it easier for others going the same route....

thanks and best regards
RKW

[Sasu Honka]

Everybody should replace AdobeReader with Foxit!
http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/reader/
Adobe is one of the biggest resource hogs there are. Try the free Foxit reader and you will never start the Adobe monster again!

[TiUser]

...cool hint as I like independent software.

However I could not find significant trouble on resources or speed with Acrobat reader on my machine either.... and I can't drop pdf's into foxit to open them...

[Sasu Honka]

Maybe you have not noticed it, but since v7 or so AcrobatReader loads part of it in memory at startup to speed the opening which still takes about 20 sec on my XP laptop. Check the size of the install of AR. On my machine it was something like 200 MB! Foxit Reader - 3.89MB
PDF's open normally by dropping to Foxit here.

[TiUser]

...a bit OT but just to reply...

Empty Acrobat Reader v9 opens almost instant on my machine and consumes about 7 MB ram. When I open the cantabile manual ram increases to about 24MB. It may take some more during browsing - caching pages - but that's and up and down.

About install size on HD you are right. But who cares if a piano sample is more than 2 GB... or 20B'GB... and who takes it serious when it just takes 100 MB...? Since I have one of those 1TB HD's in my PC I ask myself what people do store on that to fill it...

If you want me to name a memory hog, well that's firefox... just has grabbed 200MB ram... LOL.