Load program only if file exists

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polp6880
Posts: 36
Joined: 19 Apr 2020 19:04
Load program only if file exists

Post by polp6880 »

Hi,

We have a situation where at a particular point in time, we air several announcements. The way we have it now is that we first have a program set to load the intro track and the voice bed for these announcements. Then we have an overlay set that loads and plays the actual announcements track on top of the bed (played by the program mentioned above).

Now, the issue is that on some days, we have no announcements to air so what's happening in these cases is that we get the program to start playing but no announcements are played since the announcement track for that day doesn't exist.

Is there a way we can instruct the program to only start if a particular file exists on the system? This way, we only play the announcement program if the announcement track exists on the system.

Thanks!
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radio42
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Re: Load program only if file exists

Post by radio42 »

This actually works as expected, as the program and the overlays works completely independent.
Instead of creating complex dependencies, you might achieve this much more easily.
Simply use the 'Soundbed' option for a script-line (click on the flash arrow icon in the Options column).

Note, that if a script-line returns multiple entries, the 'Soundbed' is applied to each individual item/track returned - except you use the .

As I assume you would like to have a single 'Soundbed' for all tracks, please use the 'Container' script-line mode!
An embedded container plays multiple tracks as one continuous stream and as such the 'Soundbed' can be played looped as one underneath.
Typically you use a dedicated script, which returns exactly your announcements (probably you already have that script, use with the current overlay).
As such, don't use the overlay at all, but use a 'Container' script-line with the 'Soundbed' option.
polp6880
Posts: 36
Joined: 19 Apr 2020 19:04
Re: Load program only if file exists

Post by polp6880 »

Thanks for the reply. I will go through your notes and try to implement as you suggest.

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