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.CHB Quick Editor

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Codeweasel
Starting to get to grips with FreeStyler
Posts: 17
Joined: December 20th, 2017, 3:51 pm
FreeStyler Version: 3.638
I Use FreeStyler for: Band

.CHB Quick Editor

Post by Codeweasel »

Hi All,

Recently, I was faced with a situation where I found out I had made a mistake in setting the "home" position for my moving head spots. Sadly, I had programmed up several hundred sequences with this mistake built in and rather than have the moving heads spinning about randomly during my band's show, I started editing all the incorrect sequences....manually!!!!

As a software programmer, I couldn't help thinking there would be a quicker way, so I set about decoding the format of .CHB files as used in the current version of FS (3.6.45) and created a little VB .NET utility to ease my pain...

I'm posting it here just in case it is useful for anyone else. Here's what it does:

Install the program... You will need .NET Framework 4.6.1 or better already installed (but I think that is pretty much default on all recent Windows machines). If not, the installer will tell you.

Launch the program and enter the channel(s) you are interested in modifying and the value to set (from 0-255) - You can apply the value to a single channel or a list of channels as long as the list is comma-delimited, like 1,2,55,131,244... etc

Click "Process" to start things going.

What happens: First, as a safety precaution, the program will ask for the location of your freestyler install and will then backup anything it finds in the 'chases' sub-folder... NOTE: This quick utility doesn't know anything clever about file locations, it assumes the .CHB files are all in the 'chases' folder (and/or sub-folders below that one). I've added this automatic backup in case my program (or your input) screws up all your lovingly crafted sequence files, at least you will have a backup to return to. It puts a file called "backup.zip" in a folder called "ChaseBackup" below the FS root install folder.

Next, the program iterates through each sequence file it finds and replaces the value at the given channel (or channels) with the value specified. Currently, the program will process ALL files it finds, so if there are any you don't want changing, move them out of the 'chases' folder temporarily.

Once done. it will tell you so.

Disclaimer:
This is a quick and dirty utility I wrote for personal use and there is very little error-checking programmed in. I have tried to ensure it is as bug-free as possible, but I disclaim all responsibility for any screwed up .CHB files that may result from its use/misuse.

That said, please let me know if you find any bugs and I will try to fix them. Also, any other suggestions for additional features are welcome.

Enjoy.

Graham
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Laudrin
Can now teach FS to others (Hopefully!)
Posts: 77
Joined: December 20th, 2017, 12:48 pm
FreeStyler Version: 3.6.49
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Re: .CHB Quick Editor

Post by Laudrin »

Hey Codeweasel, I hadn't tried your tool yet, but it seems to be a very handy utility, thank you for sharing it with us! :-)

Is there any way you could add functions like re-addressing or adding fixtures to the sequences?
heythereitsme
Knows how to turn Lights ON
Posts: 4
Joined: January 27th, 2015, 3:36 pm
FreeStyler Version: 3.5.9
I Use FreeStyler for: Nightclub Lighting

Re: .CHB Quick Editor

Post by heythereitsme »

would love it if this tool could be used to find & replace a DMX address in all my sequences
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djSupport
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Re: .CHB Quick Editor

Post by djSupport »

I've not delved into it but can you open it up in the free opensource text editor Notepad++ (https://notepad-plus-plus.org/)

then you can use find and replace functions
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