4.2. The RDCatch Main Window
Prev | Chapter 4. Automating Tasks with RDCatch | Next

## 4.2. The RDCatch Main Window

After starting up RDCatch, you will see the The RDCatch Main Window. The window consists of four areas: the record / play out decks at the top, the filter areas just below the decks, the events list and the audition buttons and other buttons at the bottom. We'll cover each of these in turn.

### 4.2.1. The Record / Play Out Deck Area

If the system administrator has configured one or more RDCatch record or play out decks, they will be visible at the top of the RDCatch main window. A record deck is a virtual 'recorder' that can be used to make automated recordings, while a play out deck can be used to automatically play out audio. It does not matter on which particular host a particular deck resides – all Rivendell decks throughout the system are visible in RDCatch, regardless of which host it is run upon.

Starting at the left-hand edge of each deck, there is the deck's name, consisting of the name of the deck's host machine followed by a number and a letter, an `R` to indicate a record deck and a `P` to indicate a play out deck. Next, for record decks, there is a `MON` button, used to monitor the audio present at the deck input, followed by an `ABORT` button, used to manually stop an event running in the deck. A description of the currently running event next appears (this area will be blank if no event is currently active), followed by the deck's status, which could be any of the values in Table 4.1, “RDCatch Event States”.

Table 4.1. RDCatch Event States

Status | Meaning
--- | ---
IDLE | The deck is available for events
READY | The deck has started monitoring audio but the transport is not yet rolling (record decks only).
WAITING | The deck is waiting for a GPI event (record decks only)
RECORDING | The deck is recording (record decks only)
PLAYING | The deck is playing out (play out decks only)
OFFLINE | The deck is configured but not available

The RDCatch Main Window

Finally, each deck has an audio meter on its right-hand end, used to verify audio levels in realtime.

### 4.2.2. The Filter Area

Immediately below the decks is the filter area, consisting of the `Show Only Active Events`, `Show Only Today's Events` `Show DayOfWeek` and `Show Event Type` controls, which are used to select which events will be visible in the events list area immediately below.

### 4.2.3. The Event List

The event list is a system wide list of all events to be executed by RDCatch on all of the various hosts on the Rivendell network, with each event occupying a single line. The status of each event is indicated by its background color, as shown in Table 4.2, “RDCatch Event State Colors”

Table 4.2. RDCatch Event State Colors

Color | Meaning
--- | ---
YELLOW | The event is next to be executed.
GREEN | The event is active.
CYAN | The event is in the READY state.
VIOLET | The event is in the WAITING state.
RED/PINK | The event is reporting an error.

Each entry in the event list starts with an icon that indicates the type of the event, as shown in Table 4.3, “RDCatch Event Icons”

Table 4.3. RDCatch Event Icons

[RECORD_ICON] | Record Event
[PLAYOUT ICON] | Play Out Event
[SWITCH ICON] | Switch Event
[MACRO ICON] | Macro Event
[UPLOAD ICON] | Upload Event
[DOWNLOAD ICON] | Download Event

Next on each line comes the `Description` (settable by the user) and `Location` for the event, the location being the name of the host/deck where the event will run. Then comes the `Start` and `End` parameters. These time-based parameters come in one of three different forms: a hard time, which is simply an absolute time (in twenty-four hour 'military' format), a length (in HH:MM format, relative to an earlier start time), or a GPI start. The GPI parameters can be somewhat involved. They are specified in the following format:

Gpi: <start-time>,<end-time>,<gpi-num>,<wait-time>

Where:

<start-time>

  The time, in HH:MM:SS format, when RDCatch will start looking for a GPI event (also sometimes referred to as the window start time).

<end-time>

  The time, in HH:MM:SS format, when RDCatch will stop looking for a GPI event (also sometime referred to as the window end time).

<gpi-num>

  The number of the GPI event to wait for, in the format MATRIX:LINE. We will deal with GPI matrix and line numbers in detail when we cover RDAdmin.

<wait-time>

  The amount of time to wait, in MM:SS format, between the reception of the GPI event and the actual start of the event (used only for Start parameters).

For example, the start parameter 'Gpi: 14:00:00,14:05:59,0:1,01:00' has a window start time of 14:00:00 [2:00:00 PM], a window end time of 14:05:59, looks for a GPI event on line 0:1 and will wait one minute [01:00] after receiving the GPI before starting the event.

Next come the `Source` and `Destination` fields. The uses of these will vary depending upon what type of event is being listed, but should normally be fairly self-evident. For example, for a record event, the source field indicates the audio source from which the recording is to be made, while the destination indicates the cat/cut combo to which the recording should be made. Some events may leave one or the other of these fields blank.

Now come the day of the week fields. These indicate on which days of the week the listed event should be executed, followed by the `Origin` field, which is simply a readout of the Origin data of the events underlying cut. There are a number of other fields which follow, but these are less important for understanding the operation of RDCatch.

### 4.2.4. The Button Area

At the bottom of the main window are various buttons. On the left-hand side, the `Add`, `Edit` and `Delete` buttons are used to manage events in the event list. Clicking the `Scroll` button toggles RDCatch into and out of 'scroll mode'. In this mode, the event list display will be advanced automatically so as to keep the first actively running event centered within the event list area.

On the right hand side, in addition to `Close`, are three audition buttons. These buttons can be used to audition the head and tail of each cut referenced by an event, thus making it possible to quickly verify that a set of automatic recordings were properly executed.

Prev | Up | Next
Chapter 4. Automating Tasks with RDCatch | Home | 4.3. Adding New Events