EEL for dummies..

[Viente]

So i've decided to slowly move to EEL because i like the idea of portability and GUI creation.

Now as i have some experience in Python i must admit i don't know nothing about EEL really...I only heard its syntax is similar to JS. So i've decided to start with something really simple and already stuck.

I want to create a simple script as exercise : Count selected tracks and do simple if/else function with it. So i've googled how to do it in JS and found this:

if (condition)
  {
  code to be executed if condition is true
  }
else
  {
  code to be executed if condition is not true
  }

okay..

so in ELL it should look like this then

a = CountSelectedTracks(0);

if (a < 1)
}
ShowMessageBox("No Tracks Selected.", "Error", 0)
{

And i've got error.

Whats wrong?

P.S. I want to make this topic like FAQ about EEL.
Of course i want to try everything by myself first. So if there anything like syntax guide to EEL somewhere i would really like to check it out too!

[Banned]

For one, the } and { look the wrong way around...

Try this (not tested...):

a = CountSelectedTracks(0);

a < 1 ?
(
    ShowMessageBox("No Tracks Selected.", "Error", 0);
);

See reference here, re: "conditional branching":

Conditional branching is done using the ? or ? : operator, rather than if()/else.
a < 5 ? b = 6; // if a is less than 5, set b to 6
a < 5 ? b = 6 : c = 7; // if a is less than 5, set b to 6, otherwise set c to 7
a < 5 ? ( // if a is less than 5, set b to 6 and c to 7
    b = 6;
    c = 7;
);

The ? and ?: operators can also be used as the lvalue of expressions:
    (a < 5 ? b : c) = 8; // if a is less than 5, set b to 8, otherwise set c to 8

[Viente]

Thanks for reply
it was typo...even with correct {} it still shows error.

I will try your solution

[Viente]

Yes it works...so my question now is...Where to learn it if its not really like JS syntax?

EDIT : Oh..looks like a lot of stuff could be found here (I look in ReaScript section before and didn't find anything about EEL)
http://www.reaper.fm/sdk/js/basiccode.php#js_basic

[Banned]

Good.

Something else which may be confusing (to noobs like me, anyway): things seem to be slightly different in OSCII-bot (which also uses EEL2 as a scripting language) as they are in JS or ReaScript...

[Viente]

Thanks Banned!

So its not worth to search for JS examples on Google then?

[Banned]

Originally Posted by Viente

So its not worth to search for JS examples on Google then?

Well, to some extent. I think that you should never simply expect code to be interchangeable between environments like JS, ReaScript or OSCII-bot, simply because they all (can) use EEL.

The biggest difference to keep in mind is that typical code examples affect quite different domains. I'd guess that for ReaScript, knowing how to use REAPER's API (and/or how .RPP files are structured) is most important, and JS doesn't do any of that. Conversely, for JS you typically need to know more about DSP and/or MIDI to do useful things, while ReaScript typically doesn't get into the DSP domain (afaik).

But for some basic stuff, like learning the proper syntax, you may definitely still be able to find many useful bits of code.

[Viente]

Im trying to make a script which check the start and end coordinates of item

But for some reason ShowConsoleCommand don't work because im doing something wrong and i can't debug my script because of this. What im doing wrong?

function GetSelectedItem()
(
	selItem = GetSelectedMediaItem(0,0);
);

function CheckItemStart()
( 	
	getPos = GetMediaItemInfo_Value(selItem, "D_POSITION");
	modeOverride = 2; // 2=beats
	#itemStart = "";
	format_timestr_pos(getPos, #itemStart, modeOverride);
);

function CheckItemEnd()
( 
	getLength = GetMediaItemInfo_Value(selItem, "D_LENGTH");
	modeOverride = 2; // 2=beats
	#itemLength = "";
	format_timestr_pos(getLength, #itemLength, modeOverride);
	itemEnd = itemStart + itemLength;
);

CheckItemStart();
CheckItemEnd();

ShowConsoleMsg(itemEnd);

[airon]

Don't you have to call GetSelectedItem at least once first ?

[timlloyd]

Originally Posted by Viente

Im trying to make a script which check the start and end coordinates of item

But for some reason ShowConsoleCommand don't work because im doing something wrong and i can't debug my script because of this. What im doing wrong?

A few things have gone a bit wrong there

In EEL you can only print strings to the console. All other types have to be converted to string first, using sprintf.

Also, check your usage of itemStart vs #itemStart etc. They are not the same variable.

function demo()
(
    test = "hello";
    // this will work:
    ShowConsoleMsg(test);

    // this will not ...
    // ShowConsoleMsg(#test);
);

demo();

Here's a demo of how to do what you want:

function check_item_start_end()
(
    sel_item = GetSelectedMediaItem(0, 0);
    start = GetMediaItemInfo_Value(sel_item, "D_POSITION");
    end = start + GetMediaItemInfo_Value(sel_item, "D_LENGTH");

    ShowConsoleMsg("Item start and end in 'time'\n");
    // change float to string before printing
    ShowConsoleMsg(sprintf(#, "%f", start));
    ShowConsoleMsg("\n");
    ShowConsoleMsg(sprintf(#, "%f", end));
    ShowConsoleMsg("\n\n");

    ShowConsoleMsg("Item start and end in 'measures.beats'\n");
    // change format to measures.beats
    // this is a string (e.g. 17.4.15), so no need for sprintf
    format_timestr_pos(start, #start_beats, 2);
    format_timestr_pos(end, #end_beats, 2);
    ShowConsoleMsg(#start_beats);
    ShowConsoleMsg("\n");
    ShowConsoleMsg(#end_beats);
);

check_item_start_end();

[Viente]

Originally Posted by airon

Don't you have to call GetSelectedItem at least once first ?

Its still the same.

Originally Posted by timlloyd

A few things have gone a bit wrong there

In EEL you can only print strings to the console. All other types have to be converted to string first, using sprintf.

Also, check your usage of itemStart vs #itemStart etc. They are not the same variable.

Thanks Tim for great explanation! What is # means then? a string variable?

[witti]

Thank you guys for all the nice eel scripts. Good starting points to get into this stuff and some scripts are already filling a couple of editing holes.

I have a question. How would you change track names with eel ?
For some macros i want to add a slash (/) as a suffix to track names,
so when rendering reaper creates a subfolder for the rendered items.
After rendering i want to remove the slash again.

(Edit: Oops. Wrong thread ? Sorry !)

[Banned]

Originally Posted by Viente

Its still the same.



Thanks Tim for great explanation! What is # means then? a string variable?

I think that's for a mutable string.

(I also think they do NOT exist in OSCII-bot's flavor of EEL...)

[spk77]

Three (ShowConsoleMsg) functions for debugging (converts float/int to string):

// m = string
function msg_s(m)
(
  ShowConsoleMsg(m);
  ShowConsoleMsg("\n");
);

// m = int (convert int to string and show "m")
function msg_d(m)
(
  ShowConsoleMsg(sprintf(#, "%d", m));
  ShowConsoleMsg("\n");
);

// m = float (convert float to string and show "m")
function msg_f(m)
(
  ShowConsoleMsg(sprintf(#, "%f", m));
  ShowConsoleMsg("\n");
);

// example:
a = "Some string";  // a = string
b = 4;  // b = int
c = 5.343243; // c = float

msg_s(a);
msg_d(b);
msg_f(c);

[spk77]

Originally Posted by witti

Thank you guys for all the nice eel scripts. Good starting points to get into this stuff and some scripts are already filling a couple of editing holes.

I have a question. How would you change track names with eel ?
For some macros i want to add a slash (/) as a suffix to track names,
so when rendering reaper creates a subfolder for the rendered items.
After rendering i want to remove the slash again.

(Edit: Oops. Wrong thread ? Sorry !)

This is the "add suffix" part:

i = 0;
loop(CountSelectedTracks(0),
  (track = GetSelectedTrack(0, i)) ? (  // if track pointer != 0 -> do the code inside brackets
    GetSetMediaTrackInfo_String(track, "P_NAME", #track_name, 0); // get track name
    #track_name += "/"; // add "/" suffix
    GetSetMediaTrackInfo_String(track, "P_NAME", #track_name, 1); // set track name
  );
  i += 1;
);

[witti]

Cool. Thanks !

[Viente]

Thanks spk77!

This is exactly what i need

[Banned]

Originally Posted by Banned

I think that's for a mutable string.

(I also think they do NOT exist in OSCII-bot's flavor of EEL...)

LOL, two days later, with OSCII-bot v0.3, this statement no longer seems to be true. That's how fast Cockos moves.

[Viente]

What is #retvals_csv means here?

bool GetUserInputs("title", int num_inputs, "captions_csv", #retvals_csv)

[heda]

Originally Posted by Viente

What is #retvals_csv means here?

bool GetUserInputs("title", int num_inputs, "captions_csv", #retvals_csv)

the variable where the user inputs will be stored. it's a comma separated string.

[Viente]

Originally Posted by heda

the variable where the user inputs will be stored. it's a comma separated string.

Thank you.

[X-Raym]

@Viente
Check this:
ReaScript : user inputs possibilities :P

[Viente]

Originally Posted by X-Raym

@Viente
Check this:
ReaScript : user inputs possibilities :P

Thank you! Very nice example here.

[Viente]

Is anybody have a snippet of code to check if time selection is set?

I'll appreciate if somebody could share

[X-Raym]

@Viente
You can start with the doc:

GetSet_LoopTimeRange2(ReaProject proj, bool isSet, bool isLoop, &startOut, &endOut, bool allowautoseek)

We can say that if startOut and endOut is equal (or equal to 0 in EEL or nil in Lua - I dont verify it but I guess it is that-, then there is no time selection.

On what are you working?

[Viente]

Thats my problem (shame)....

In Python i know how to parse thru values in the list like

def checkTimeSelection(): return RPR_GetSet_LoopTimeRange(0,0,0,0,0)[2]

if checkTimeSelection() != 0: # Check if there is time selection set

etc..

But in EEL i have no idea

I'm converting a lot of my old Python scripts to EEL

[X-Raym]

@Viente
There is nothing to parse here
try this.

GetSet_LoopTimeRange2(0, 0, 1, startOut, endOut, 0);

startOut == endout ? (
            // ACTIONS
);

Some EEL functions can return variable named in parameters. They have the & symbol on the doc.
These are not parameters that will influence the action, but variable name that will stock the returning values of the functions.

[Viente]

Originally Posted by X-Raym

@Viente
There is nothing to parse here
try this.

GetSet_LoopTimeRange2(0, 0, 1, startOut, endOut, 0);

startOut == endout ? (
            // ACTIONS
);

Some EEL functions can return variable named in parameters. They have the & symbol on the doc.
These are not parameters that will influence the action, but variable name that will stock the returning values of the functions.

I'm starting to understand how things works in EEL Thank you!

[semiono]

Please, help me. I need example eel no GUI no dialogs, simply minimalist. One Click.
How to select midi notes all/odd/even etc?
How to move, rundomize midi notes?
Where is examples to start language?

[X-Raym]

@semiono
For what you want to do, use lua. it will be simpler and you will have access to way more resource. And existing MIDI scripts shared for free via reapack you can mod.

[semiono]

Howto insert something before code that get "SELECT ALL" to midi notes?
LUA/EEL

--- SELECT ALL MIDI NOTES AND RUN CODE?


-- @description Select only odd notes
-- @version 1.0
-- @author me2beats
-- @changelog
--  + init

local r = reaper; local function nothing() end; local function bla() r.defer(nothing) end

function bool_to_num(bool)
  if bool == true then return 1 elseif bool == false then return 0 end
end

take = r.MIDIEditor_GetTake(r.MIDIEditor_GetActive())
if take then
  _, notes = r.MIDI_CountEvts(take)
  if notes > 1 then
    t = {}
    t_pos = {}
    for k = 0, notes-1 do
      _, sel, _, start_ppq = r.MIDI_GetNote(take, k)
      if sel == true then t_pos[#t_pos+1] = start_ppq end
    end

    table.sort(t_pos)
    tabu = {}
    for k = 0, notes-1 do
      _, sel, muted, start_ppq, end_ppq, chan, pitch, vel = r.MIDI_GetNote(take, k)
      if sel == true then
        for j = 1, #t_pos do
          if t_pos[j] == start_ppq then
            for i = 1, #tabu do
              if j == tabu[i] then
                found = 1
              break
              end
            end
            if not found then
              t[j] = {bool_to_num(muted), start_ppq, end_ppq, chan, pitch, vel, k}
              tabu[#tabu+1] = j
              break
            else found = nil end
          end
        end
      end
    end

    last = -1
    
    r.Undo_BeginBlock()

    
    r.MIDIEditor_LastFocused_OnCommand(40214, 0) -- unselect all notes
    for i = 1, #t do

      muted, start_ppq, end_ppq, chan, pitch, vel, k = table.unpack(t[i])
      if start_ppq > last then
      
        if not pass then
          pass = 1
          r.MIDI_SetNote(take, k, 1, muted, start_ppq, end_ppq, chan, pitch, vel)
        else pass = nil end
        last = start_ppq
      elseif start_ppq == last then
        if pass then
          r.MIDI_SetNote(take, k, 1, muted, start_ppq, end_ppq, chan, pitch, vel)
        end
      end
    end
    
r.Undo_EndBlock('Select only odd notes', -1)
  else bla() end
else bla() end

How it look a func or procedure for keep all notes?

// DO CTRL+A :)


take = MIDIEditor_GetTake(MIDIEditor_GetActive()); // GET TAKE IN MIDI EDITOR
MIDI_CountEvts(take, notes, ccs, sysex); // COUNT MIDI NOTES
j = 0; // INIT
loop(notes, // EXECUTE THE ACTION BASED ON NUMBER OF NOTES
  MIDI_GetNote(take, j, sel, muted, start, end, chan, pitch, vel); // GET NOTE J
  sel == 1 ? ( // IF NOTE IS SELECTED
    vel = 80; // Optionnal calc based en vel
    MIDI_SetNote(take, j, sel, muted, start, end, chan, pitch, vel); // SET NOTE J
  ); // END IF NOTE IS SELECTED
  j += 1; // INCREMENT
); // END OF LOOP

UpdateArrange();

ha-ha! I get it

-- ...
function bool_to_num(bool)
  if bool == true then return 1 elseif bool == false then return 0 end
end
-- ///////////////////////////////////////////////////
r.MIDIEditor_LastFocused_OnCommand(40006, 0) -- Ctrl+A
-- ///////////////////////////////////////////////////
take = r.MIDIEditor_GetTake(r.MIDIEditor_GetActive())
-- ...