How to check if the timeline window is active?

[Chiranjeev34789563zw0r]

I'm working on a Premiere Pro extension,
I want the extension to check if the timeline panel is active, then execute a code.
Is there a way to achieve this?

[bbb_999]

You'll want to check for an active sequence; PProPanel shows how.

[Tom_edit]

This doesn't determine if the timeline window is active or not at all though? it determines if any sequence is simply open. This returns true regardless of what panel is currently in focus.

Maybe I misinterpret OP, but to me it reads that they want to determine when the timeline panel has active focus as a lot of things in premiere require it

[bbb_999]

>it determines if any sequence is simply open.

Not so! It's possible to have several sequences (timeline panels) open, and even to have empty timeline panels; it is not possible for more than one sequence to be active. 

[Tom_edit]

But it doesn't differentiate it another panel other than the timeline is focused or not, if you click on the project window for example it still returns true which is my point.

[bbb_999]

You are correct in that the UI has nothing to do with PPro's currently active sequence, as determined by the (completely distinct) API.

PPro's ExtendScript API provides no reporting on, or control over, which UI panels are selected or front-most; UI states are distinct from the API's project model.

[Chiranjeev34789563zw0r]

@Tom_edit You're right, I'm looking for a way to determine when the timeline panel is in focus. 

@bbb_999 Using the Window Spy tool in AHK, I can see that it can detect Focus within Premiere Pro panels. Different panels have different ClassNN ID, and for my timeline it says Droverlord - Window Class 15.

Is there a way to check the ClassNN ID of the current panel?
Are there any other methods in the QE API for achieving what I want? 

[Tom_edit · Accepted solution]

the classNN value will change constantly; whether that be just randomly one day on reboot, anytime you adjust your layout slightly, etc. It's not really a reliable value when it comes to scripting premiere unfortunately.

I haven't found any simple way to determine timeline focus myself - personally I use the UIA.ahk library to determine the coordinates of the timeline once (as it's more reliable when it comes to determining them than using classNN values for whatever reason) and store that in a class, then check the timeline coordinates for the blue focus outline anytime I need to. It's the only reliable way I've found, but even then it falls victim to needing a reload anytime you adjust your layout (but idk I don't move my timeline all that often anyway personally but I know some might) and also requires you to pre-set your hotkey to focus the window to get the coordinates to start with.

By all means not a clean method but the cleanest I've found so far in the last couple of years

[Bruce Bullis]

What sort of workflows require that you be aware of UI selection/visibility?

[Tom_edit]

When automating things in premiere, being aware of the active panel is probably the thing you're juggling the most - some things only work when certain panels are in focus, or you may only want to fire some code WHEN certain panels have focus otherwise things will get desync'd and you'll end up with issues (premiere also gets slower and slower the bigger a project gets so you can't just plug in a sleep value and hope for the best, you have to approach things as programatically as you possibly can to avoid pitfalls)

Examples;

• repeatedly pressing the hotkey to focus the timeline CYCLES TIMELINES
  on one hand I get it... but at this point it also makes no sense this hotkey has this functionality tacked on top, they should be separate
• right click to move playhead 
  wouldn't want it to fire unless timeline has focus, otherwise you lose all right click functionality
• mouse button to swap to hand tool and hold LButton to easily move along timeline
  wouldn't want it to fire unles timeline has focus otherwise you'd have random H keys being thrown around when you don't want them to
• function to automate changing gain
  even if a clip is selected, opening the gain window only works when the timeline panel has focus, so if you're adjusting levels or something in the EC panel, then try to use it, you have to focus the timeline
• creating a script to use Previous/Next edit point anywhere
  even though the hotkey is listed as application wide, it requires you to refocus the timeline else it won't work. (and for hotkeys like Previous/Next keyframe you need to juggle focusing different windows because there's a bug with multicam timelines that causes the CTI to get stuck in the multicam window if you dont)
  
  

These are just to give a few examples, I have many, many more uses of my function to check for/focus the timeline

[bbb_999]

That list is terrifying. 🙂

None of those are supported or recommended workflows; if they work at all, it's a happy coincidence.

[Tom_edit]

I'd argue that editing has always been surrounded by people optimising workflow. ahk is an amazing tool to achieve that and fill in the gaps premiere leaves behind.

[bbb_999]

>I'd argue that editing has always been surrounded by people optimising workflow.

Agreed!

However, in this case, those 'optimizations' depend on things that were never intended to be depended upon.

As previously mentioned, PPro's UI state is 100% disconnected from and orthogonal to PPro's API state.

Depending on the particulars of the UI state is not supported, not recommended, and very likely to break with each new release.

[Tom_edit]

Yeah well unfortunately it's all we've got lmfao, I need to optimise my workflow and can only operate within the bounds I'm given. Whether it's "recommended" (by who exactly? aha, my examples, and by extention the "optimisations" I'm referring to extend beyond the api and well into completely custom code so this comment feels somewhat arbitrary) or not.

I create my own scripts as programmatically as I can so that any changes with premiere are relatively easy to adjust for and why an api function like the OP was originally asking about would actually be incredibly useful. Functionality within premiere is restricted based on the UI state (sometimes because of bugs mind you) so whether it's currently disconnected or not kinda just isn't really relevant..?

I'm just a little confused because I'm not really trying to say anything you're saying about the api/UI is wrong, I just don't really see how it relates to why being able to retrieve the active panel would be useful.

[bbb_999]

>Whether it's "recommended" (by who exactly?)

By me (I've supported Adobe's video partners since 1996), the entire Premiere Pro team, and Adobe. 

If it's completely custom code for your own purposes, which you have no intention of sharing, marketing or monetizing...have fun. However...

>whether it's currently disconnected or not kinda just isn't really relevant..?

...it's 100% relevant if you were to market your custom work, for others to use. That might give others the mistaken impression that such work is supported or recommended, leading to user confusion and pain. 

[Tom_edit]

I'll be completely honest, it feels like we're having completely different conversations here, from the start of this it feels like you've misunderstood multiple things I've said.

> That might give others the mistaken impression that such work is supported or recommended, leading to user confusion and pain

If I were to hypothetically sell my code, it's irrelevant whether adobe supports the functionality or not, at that point it'd become my burden to bare, now and into the future, so again, I'm not sure why these abstract tangents are relevant to the original discussion.

Excalibur seemingly achieves some things that at least to me seem well outside adobe's api functions and it's one of the most useful plugins there is for premiere.

My whole point boils down to "it would be incredibly useful to have this" that's basically it, nothing else. I only dived deeper into the other aspects because you asked me to but then seemingly scoffed at the idea that I'd even need to optimise my work in those ways?

I agree that I wouldn't need to if premiere offered a solution (or fixed the bugs that require some of my workarounds...), they don't however, so I have to continue to optimise my workflow as needed. Adobe's official recommendation ultimately means nothing to people that need a solution to their workflow pitfalls. We're looking for a solution, not a corporate statement.

I'd love to replace as much as I can with api calls, trust me, it'd make my life so much easier, but the api just isn't that extensive and lacks a lot of even seemingly obvious things but that's besides the point.

[Bruce Bullis]

>it's irrelevant whether adobe supports the functionality or not...

Not to our shared customers, who might reach out to Adobe support for assistance. 

Sorry if I seemed to scoff, that wasn't my intent. I was more concerned that you were investing development effort into areas we know were never designed to support integration or extensibility; that's what I found terrifying. 

We're happy to consider specific API feature requests, for inclusion in future releases.

[Ivan Stepanov]

@Tom_edit for your AHK scripts, do they have alternative logic if timeline is not focused?
If it has only one type of execution, I would just use switch focus with shortcuts trick:

switch focus for another panel (e.g. Project panel) and then switch it back to timeline. This way you will make sure your active seuqnece is focused (without cycling to another one).

[Chiranjeev34789563zw0r]

@Ivan Stepanov I can't believe I have you on this thread. A big fan of your work. Excalibur is what inspired me to build something like Amrta. Would love to show it to you if possible.

[Ivan Stepanov]

Thank you for kind words!

> Would love to show it to you if possible.

Of course, write me to support@knightsoftheeditingtable.com

[Tom_edit]

@Ivan Stepanov 

That use to be the way I did it but I found this method to be increasingly unreliable, especially the larger a project tends to get as premiere slows down, without needing to implement increasing levels of sleep delays to ensure premiere actually reacts to the panel change shortcut. It more or less added arbitrary delay when there didn't need to be any and in large multi hour timelines when premiere is barely reacting as it is that just wasn't acceptable for my workflow.

[Ivan Stepanov]

Understood.

[Chiranjeev34789563zw0r]

I'm developing an extension that allows users to set shortcuts for audio-video effects.

Let's say a particular key (eg 'a') is set as the shortcut key for a particular effect(eg warp stabilizer).
Now, if the user has to search in a text box or simply write text on the video, or it could be any other requirement that causes them to type characters, and they press the 'a' key while typing the text, the effect is also applied to the clip. This is unintended. But if the extension only applies the effect when the timeline panel is active, then this unintended effect application can be avoided.

[Chiranjeev34789563zw0r]

Yeah, I realized that. When I opened a different project, the ClassNN value for the timeline was different. So I decided to work with the UI to figure out the timeline focus. I'm currently developing a C++ program that captures the screen, searches for the timeline icons, and checks 50 vertical pixels along top left pixel of the icon  to see if it is blue or not(definitely not clean, so I understand your method)

[Tom_edit]

I'm sure you're aware but just incase, be careful with imagesearch's, they're generally pretty slow comparitively and can be even slower the larger the area you need to search, if it's being fired constantly while a user may be typing per your example it could really impact those on lower end systems.
You can also run into dpi issues where images will render differently on different systems, especially timeline icons right now in premiere they can render blurry if you make tracks smaller as an example
But idk how fast/slow ahk's imagesearch is compared to what you'd be able to produce, but even on my system which is near top end a fullscreen search can take 500-2000ms and generally increases in latency the more you do in a row (so typing could cause issues). I imagine there are faster methods available but it's generally why I try to avoid them at all costs if I can.

(funnily enough excalibur also experiences the same issue where it will fire even during typing)