Getting Started

Invoking

Launch the program by running pylux as a module. Alternatively, you can add an entry point into your system PATH.

-h Print the usage message then exit
-v Print the version number then exit
-f FILE Load FILE as the current show file

File Management

In addition to loading a file whlist launching, you can also load a file by issuing the File Open path command once open, which will discard the current file buffer and load the file at path. When you need to save the file, run File Write path.

If you do not have an existing file, you can begin working straight away. If no file is specified on startup, the program will load autosave.json.

The CLI

The CLI is the default and only included interface to the command interpreter. It is a curses-style interface which will completely take over your terminal window. The screen is split into four areas: a large pane on the left called the Fixed Output Pane, a large pane on the right called the Dynamic Output Pane, a single line at the bottom which is your command-line entry and a line above the command line which displays command history and feedback.

The contents of the Dynamic Output Pane will change based on the commands you run and will display any output the interpreter sends from commands.

The contents of the Fixed Output Pane are dependent on the context you are in. The current context is given by the word preceding the command line. By default this is Fixture. In the Fixture context, the Fixed Output Pane will display a list of all fixtures in your show file. Similarly for cues, groups, etc. There is a special context, All, which will display all items in your show file.

You can change the context by typing the name of the new context twice and pressing enter. For example to change to the cue context type Cue Cue. This is a function specific to the CLI and is not sent to the interpreter so is not considered a ‘command’ as such.

You will notice as you type that many keys do not function as normal. That is because there is a substantial autofill provision. For example, pressing the key x will type Fixture in the command line for you, to save time typing out the entire word. You can enable and disable autofill by pressing Ctrl+A. This will change the letter preceding the command line from an A (indicating autofill is active) to an X.

Syntax

Most commands take the form object refs action params where:

  • object is the type of object you will be acting on, for example Fixture.
  • refs is a single or list of references to these objects, for example 1.
  • action is what you are doing to this object, for example CopyTo.
  • params is any further information the command requires. The number of parameters will vary from command to command. For example, CopyTo takes one parameter: the destination references.

References can be a single number:

1

A range:

1>10

A list of numbers:

1,8,11,15

Any combination of the two:

1,3>10,13,15

A special character meaning all:

*

A filtered list of numbers or ranges (this means apply filter 1 to the range in brackets):

1[2>8,10]

A combination of filtered and unfiltered ranges:

1[2>8],11,12,2[22,26,29>40]

You can also apply a filter to the all character:

1[*]

Or combine a filter of everything with unfiltered references too (this means show everything which matches filter 1, and also show 8 and 9, regardless of whether they meet the requirements of filter 1 or not:

1[*],8,9