ffe.. that ffmpeg front-end
It's amusing to me that programs I slave over for weeks and months can take months, even years to gain any sort of audience, whereas programs I've tossed off in a lunch-break or less can get almost instant world-wide attention, and praise, download-fests. *cough*KDE-Sizer*cough* Did I say "amusing"? I meant something else.
ffe falls squarely into the middle of this scale; thrown together one afternoon a couple of years back, it has served us well, front-ending for ffmpeg; putting a handle on its many controls, making them accessible, usable. But like most programs, ffe had some annoyances, and even a
bug. Also, there were a few things I "always wanted" for it, each new inward link reminds, thanks! I planned another afternoon. Did I say "Afternoon"? I meant, whole effin week-end! Well, on and off..
1.0
+ Portable usage is now fully supported. Simply drop your ini file next
to ffe.exe. You're done.
+ Added a special "portable install" switch, which is "portable", e.g..
c:\path\to\ffe.exe portable
This will copy a fresh ini file into place for you. This is useful for
new portable installs, or if you just can't be bothered locating / don't
need any settings from, your existing ini file.
You only need to use this one time, if at all.
+ ffe can now accept file paths on its command-line, so you can launch
with a video file ready-to-go. This also means you can use it in an
Explorer Context (right-click menu) command.
+ You can load presets at launch time by using the spacial parameter,
"load", followed by the name of the preset in braces..
C:\path\to\ffe.exe load(Preset Name Here) E:\path\to\video.flv
Files can be processed immediately, using the switch, "go", like so..
C:\path\to\ffe.exe go(Preset Name Here) E:\path\to\video.flv
If your preset contains specified in and out files, those will be,
used. If file names are supplied on the command-line, any file
names stored inside the preset will be temporarily ignored.
If MATOF is enabled, the output file name will contain all the ffmpeg
parameters used in the conversion, as usual.
See the ffe page for more details.
~ STDERR reading has been improved in AutoIt. So now console output is
only updated when STDERR actually contains new data, eliminating the
flicker you get when building on recent versions of AutoIt.
~ The console output window is now editable, so you can copy and paste out
of it, or whatever.
* Fixed a bug where ffe could disable your "q" key during conversion.
~ Removed the "Enter" Hotkey ({F1} (or Alt+D) now starts the process).
~ ffe now always scrolls to the bottom of the log output when complete,
regardless of whether or not log append is enabled.
+ Added the total time taken to the foot of log.
~ Drag & Drop a new file onto file input now updates the output file input
[sic] automatically, regrdless of whether or not MATOF is enabled, and
whether or not there was already a file path in the output file input.
While potentially annoying someone, this is much more generally useful
for ffe's intended usage.
+ If the ffmpeg binary (ffmpeg.exe) is not present, ffe will now present
the user with a dialog where they can locate it. If all that fails, to
avoid confusion, ffe will not draw the "Do It!" button.
~ I updated the codec definitions to match the new formats. I'm currently
using ffmpeg rev12665. e.g. "xvid" is now "libxvid", "mp3" is now
"libmp3lame". They didn't make it backwards-compatible.
+ ffe got a new program icon! I Included a 48x48, version for tiled windows.
+ Also created new icons for the file locate buttons. Like the old ones,
but documents this time, not folders. What was I thinking?
+ Ctrl+F now brings up the Find dialog. Clever, huh!
+ Shift-click the help button to instead open the help file with your
system's default .nfo file viewer. Clicking normally (to get the help in
the console output window) will now also activate the console window, if
it wasn't already.
* Fixed a few other minor gui irregularities, things that happen in states
that I don't normally put ffe into (e.g. run with console window disabled).
~ I ported across my window-sizing routines, so the ffe window will now
remain in-desktop, nomatter what you do.
+ ffe now stores its version number inside its preference file, and uses
this to decide if your ini file needs to be upgraded.
+ You can now override the log path (log_file), as well as disable logging
altogether.
+ ffe can now handle ffmpeg prompts, and pass a y/n response back to
ffmpeg. So far, I've only seen this prompting when ffmpeg needs to
overwrite a file, but there may be other prompts. If you see any others,
please let me know (ffe can already handle them, but it would be good to
know so that I can post specific title bar messages).
+ And more!
For hackers and compilers..
~~ ICON INDEXES HAVE SHIFTED BY ONE. You must compile with a recent version
of AutoIt, or else revert the indexes to their previous values (-5, etc).
I've also added a couple more extra icons for the buttons. Use or ignore.
~ AutoIt Update: _GUICtrlEditScroll -> _GUICtrlEdit_Scroll
Associated constants are also updated.
~ I've added compile directives for Obfuscator. Although it does no actual
Obfuscating (I detest the very notion!), it does strip comments, unused
functions, constants and more before compiling and can make a big
difference not only to the final size of the executable, but also its
memory usage. If, like me, you don't use SciTe, note that Obfuscator
needs to be in a folder named "Obfuscator", sitting NEXT to your
AutoItWrapper folder, mimicking its position inside the SciTe
installation.
Obfuscator can be downloaded from the AutoIt site, SciTe downloads page.
Big thanks to wraithdu for pointing me at Obfuscator.
There's also an updated source pack containing all the new code, icons, documentation, everything you need (at least from me) to build a custom ffe for yourself, if that's your bag.
I've updated the ffe page with all the new goodies, you can get there by clicking the funky new logo at the top of this post.
Have fun!
;o)
(or
