How to beat the inconsistency of scripts in SoundFlow?

Thanks for contacting SoundFlow support.

Please note, that the best way to get help with a script, macro or other content installed from the Store or content that you've made yourself, is to select the script/macro, then click the red Need help button, and then click "Get help with this script or macro".
By using this method, we will get access to more information and so should be able to help you quicker.
You can read more about how this works here: bit.ly/sfscripthelp

If you're seeing an error that isn't related to scripts or macros, and you think this is a bug in SoundFlow, please file a Help/Issue bug report.
You can see how to do this by going to bit.ly/sfhelpissue

Hi Jonas,

I'm sorry to hear that you're seeing instability. The way to troubleshoot these things is to try to narrow down exactly what part of the script is acting in an unexpected way. Of course that can be difficult if it happens apparently randomly, however, with some patience, it's usually possible to narrow down to something that has some degree of meaning. That's the idea of troubleshooting - to take the seemingly random and make sense of it.

In your case, I don't see anything immediately wrong with your script, so we would have to dive deeper and try to figure out exactly when in the script the error occurs.
There's many ways to try to approach that. For example, you could add log entries between lines of script code, so that you'd have a better idea of which line of code causes the error. Once you start narrowing it down, you'd have to try to look for which types of situations could be patterns that trigger the incorrect behavior. The more structured this search, the smaller amount of time you'd typically spend on it.

Note that having other simultaneously running keyboard/mouse automation software is a general source of potential instability as they might be interfering with what SoundFlow is doing.

Another way to approach troubleshooting is to try to isolate wrong behavior by ruling out:

• triggers - different ways to launch the scripts
• hardware - potentially conflicting hardware
• configuration - different ways things might be configured that may trigger the wrong condition
• software - other software that might be interfering

Note that this process of ruling out is not intended as a way to try to solve the problem, but as a way of identifying the actual source of the problem out of the seemingly random sets of behaviors.

Hopefully, if you're able to follow these routes, it will help you have a better understanding of what leads to certain problems. We'd be very happy to hear any findings you have, so we can use that to further improve the product.

Lastly, I notice that you have not opened any new threads since December of 2021. I would highly encourage you to look for support whenever something is happening, as it's much easier to help with concrete scenarios of a script needing help, rather than a general feeling of inconsistency that has built up over time and thus we would no longer have access to any log files that could help explain any past issues.

Thank you, Christian, that is very helpful.

I will give this a try.

Hi @Jonas_Kroon,

Kitch here from the SoundFlow team. Hopefully, I can help you troubleshoot the root cause of the issue you are experiencing. :-)

As Christian mentioned, having other simultaneously running keyboard/mouse automation software is a general source of potential instability as those apps might be interfering with what SoundFlow is doing. Are you using any keyboard/mouse automation software in your setup (for example apps like Keyboard Maestro)?

Also, be sure to check that you have installed the most recent stable version of SoundFlow (currently SoundFlow 5.4.8) which can be downloaded and installed from my.soundflow.org/install.

Be sure to check out the "Known Issues" article from the following link.
https://soundflow.org/docs/getting-started/install-soundflow/known-issues which details some specific known issues that can sometimes cause problems with SoundFlow scripts/macros.

Hey @Jonas_Kroon,

Responding to your post here.

I had previously tested on macOS 12.7, Pro Tools 23.09, SoundFlow 5.4.8.
I also just tested on macOS 13.5.2, Pro Tools 23.09, SoundFlow 5.4.8.

let targetOutputPath = "Bus 1-2 (Stereo)";

/// ↑ Define your Desired Output Path Here ↑ ///

// Function to capture status of whether we are focused on the "Edit" or "Mix" window. 
// Enables us to revert to Mix Window after we finish if necessary.
function mainWindowStatus() {
    if (sf.ui.proTools.invalidate().getMenuItem('Window', 'Mix').getString('AXMenuItemMarkChar') == '✓') {
        return "Mix";
    } else {
        return "Edit";
    }
}

// Function to capture the state of the Link Track and Edit Selection mode as on or off represented as true or false;
function waslinkTrackAndEditSelectionOff() {
    if (!sf.ui.proTools.invalidate().getMenuItem('Options', 'Link Track and Edit Selection').isMenuChecked) {
        return true;
    } else {
        return false;
    }
}

function main() {
    // Activate Main Window
    sf.ui.proTools.appActivate();

    // Use our function to capture the main window status
    let startingWindow = mainWindowStatus();
    // Use our function to capture the Link Track and Edit Selection Mode status and turn it on.
    let linkTrackAndEditSelectionOff = waslinkTrackAndEditSelectionOff();

    try {
        // Go to Edit 
        if (startingWindow == "Mix") {
            sf.ui.proTools.menuClick({
                menuPath: ["Window", "Edit"],
            });
        }

        // First store the selected tracks
        let selectedTracks = sf.ui.proTools.invalidate().trackGetSelectedTracks().trackHeaders.map(t => t.normalizedTrackName);

        // If Track and Edit Selection was off, Turn it on. 
        if (linkTrackAndEditSelectionOff) {
            sf.ui.proTools.getMenuItem('Options', 'Link Track and Edit Selection').elementClick();
        }

        // Select the top most track
        sf.ui.proTools.trackSelectByName({ names: [selectedTracks[0]], deselectOthers: true });

        // Scroll to the top most track
        sf.ui.proTools.selectedTrack.invalidate().trackScrollToView();

        // Select all of our tracks
        sf.ui.proTools.trackSelectByName({ names: selectedTracks, deselectOthers: true });

        // reset the UI so SF has the most up-to-date information about current state
        sf.ui.proTools.invalidate();

        // Set the color of the selected tracks to Medium 10
        sf.ui.proTools.colorsSelect({
            colorBrightness: "Medium",
            colorNumber: 10,
        });
        
        // small wait
        sf.wait({ intervalMs: 50 });

        // Set input to "no input"
        sf.ui.proTools.invalidate().selectedTrack.trackInputSelect({
            inputPath: ["no input"],
            selectForAllSelectedTracks: true,
        });

        // Set input to output Path defined at top of the script
        sf.ui.proTools.invalidate().selectedTrack.trackOutputSelect({
            outputSelector: menuItems => menuItems.filter(mi => mi.path[mi.path.length - 1] === targetOutputPath)[0],
            selectForAllSelectedTracks: true,
        });

    } finally {
        // Restore the Link Track and Edit Selection Mode status
        if (linkTrackAndEditSelectionOff && sf.ui.proTools.invalidate().getMenuItem('Options', 'Link Track and Edit Selection').isMenuChecked) {
            sf.ui.proTools.getMenuItem('Options', 'Link Track and Edit Selection').elementClick();
        }

        // Restore main window status
        if (startingWindow == "Mix" && sf.ui.proTools.invalidate().getMenuItem('Window', 'Mix').getString('AXMenuItemMarkChar') !== '✓') {

            sf.ui.proTools.menuClick({
                menuPath: ["Window", "Mix"],
            });
        }
    }
}

main();

@Jonas_Kroon, one more option using some extra magic that @Kitch shared with me.

This allows you to define input, output, and color at the top, and then it will do the rest as expected. Much more re-usable overall.

Note - you mentioned that you felt like "Link Track and Edit Selection" was often required for SF functions. I removed the commands related to that in this most recent script to show that it's unnecessary for this workflow. It should work the same regardless. SF's built-in API will typically turn it on and off automatically when needed.

When you want to explore moving your tracks around, feel free to make a new post in the "How To" section of the forum, and we'll be happy to help you out! There are also many options for this workflow on the forum and the store.

const settings = {
    inputPath: "no input",
    outputPaths: ["Bus 1-2 (Stereo)", "Bus 3-4 (Stereo)", "Bus 5-6 (Stereo)"],
    trackColorSettings: {
        colorBrightness: "Medium",
        colorNumber: 10,
    }
}

/// ↑ Define your Settings Up Here ↑ ///

function setupRestore(callback) {
    // Activate Pro Tools
    sf.ui.proTools.appActivate();
    // Reset UI Cache
    sf.ui.proTools.mainWindow.invalidate();

    if (sf.ui.proTools.getMenuItem('Window', 'Hide All Floating Windows').isEnabled && !sf.ui.proTools.getMenuItem('Window', 'Hide All Floating Windows').isMenuChecked) {
        sf.ui.proTools.menuClick({ menuPath: ['Window', 'Hide All Floating Windows'] });
    }

    // Get Mix Window State
    const isMixWindowActive = sf.ui.proTools.getMenuItem('Window', 'Mix').isMenuChecked;

    // Activate Edit Window if Mix Window is Active
    if (isMixWindowActive) {
        sf.ui.proTools.menuClick({ menuPath: ["Window", "Edit"], });
    }

    // Try our Main Script
    try {
        callback();
    }
    catch (err) {
        log(err)
    }
    finally {
        // Restore Mix window
        if (isMixWindowActive) {
            sf.ui.proTools.getMenuItem("Window", "Mix");
            sf.ui.proTools.menuClick({ menuPath: ["Window", "Mix"], });
        }

        if (sf.ui.proTools.getMenuItem('Window', 'Hide All Floating Windows').isEnabled && sf.ui.proTools.getMenuItem('Window', 'Hide All Floating Windows').isMenuChecked) {
            sf.ui.proTools.menuClick({ menuPath: ['Window', 'Hide All Floating Windows'] });
        }

    }
}

function main(settings) {
    setupRestore(() => {
        const currentWinPosition = sf.ui.proTools.mainWindow.position;

        // Destructure our Settings
        const { inputPath, outputPaths, trackColorSettings } = settings;

        // First store the selected tracks
        let selectedTracks = sf.ui.proTools.invalidate().trackGetSelectedTracks().trackHeaders.map(t => t.normalizedTrackName);

        // Select the top most track
        sf.ui.proTools.trackSelectByName({ names: [selectedTracks[0]], deselectOthers: true });

        // Scroll to the top most track
        sf.ui.proTools.selectedTrack.invalidate().trackScrollToView();

        // Select all of our tracks
        sf.ui.proTools.trackSelectByName({ names: selectedTracks, deselectOthers: true });

        // Small Wait
        sf.wait({ intervalMs: 50 });

        // Set the color of the selected tracks to settings
        sf.ui.proTools.colorsSelect(trackColorSettings);

        // Error Handling - Sometimes colorSelect() will move the main window for some reason.
        if (sf.ui.proTools.mainWindow.position.x !== currentWinPosition.x) {
            sf.ui.proTools.colorsSelect(trackColorSettings);
            sf.ui.proTools.mainWindow.windowMove({ position: currentWinPosition })
        }

        // Set input to "no input"
        sf.ui.proTools.selectedTrack.trackInputSelect({
            inputSelector: menuItems => menuItems.filter(mi => mi.path[mi.path.length - 1] === inputPath)[0],
            selectForAllSelectedTracks: true,
        });

        // Set output paths defined at top of the script
        outputPaths.forEach((path, i) => {
            sf.ui.proTools.selectedTrack.outputPathButton.popupMenuSelect({
                menuSelector: menuItems => menuItems.filter(mi => mi.path[mi.path.length - 1] === path)[0],
                isControl: i == 0 ? false : true,
                isShift: true,
                isOption: true,
            });
        })

    });
}

main(settings);