Preview mode warning (Pro Tools)

Hey !

I m really not a java script guy but i really like the idea and i m trying to figure something out by searching bits of code...
I have some trouble and maybe some more advance coding people could help me out.

My idea is to display a big surface green or red if preview is on or off ( i tried on the mac but it makes pro tools display buggy so i going my telephone route for now.)

my first problem is this :

this works :

sf.ui.proTools.appActivateMainWindow();

//Button
var previewAutomationBtn = sf.ui.proTools.automationWindow.buttons.whoseTitle.is('Enable Auto Preview Mode').first;

//Check if button is enabled
if (previewAutomationBtn.invalidate().value.value == "Selected") {
sf.surfaces.get('user:cl1tm5xan000cng10ohmfnl97:cl1tm65u1000dng10tv58qn5w').open({
    device: sf.devices.mobile.getByDeviceId('mobile.25bbc8803fdd3389--Galaxy-S9-de-Lucas'),
});
} else {
    log("Automation Preview is not enabled");
};

but this doesn't :

sf.ui.proTools.appActivateMainWindow();

//Button
var previewAutomationBtn = sf.ui.proTools.automationWindow.buttons.whoseTitle.is('Enable Auto Preview Mode').first;

//Check if button is enabled
if (previewAutomationBtn.invalidate().value.value == "Selected") {
sf.surfaces.get('user:cl1tm5xan000cng10ohmfnl97:cl1tm65u1000dng10tv58qn5w').open({
    device: sf.devices.mobile.getByDeviceId('mobile.25bbc8803fdd3389--Galaxy-S9-de-Lucas'),
});
} else {
 sf.surfaces.get('user:cl1tm5xan000cng10ohmfnl97:cl1tmex7x000lng109pifex9x').open({
    device: sf.devices.mobile.getByDeviceId('mobile.25bbc8803fdd3389--Galaxy-S9-de-Lucas'),
});

I suppect it's coding basics but that where i am at..

for now my the script is set to an application trigger but is there a way to SF to monitor the preview state constantly? without making everything buggy or slow obviously?

Wow great! I can’t do coding unfortunately.. Would be even better if it turns orange when in preview suspend, but I dont want to push 😉

This is something I'd really be interested in too.
Is there a way to get Soundflow to flash a button on a streamdeck or surface?
I have 2 commands/Streamdeck buttons I use for entering preview and then writing to selection.
One could switch on the flashing and the write command could switch it off?
Maybe a notification would work or just opening a graphic and then closing it.
'It would save me a lot of useless passes because I was still in preview...'
I feel your pain Erik. ;-)

Thanks for your interest Martin,
I think i m pretty close to have something working with the script above , but we need some javascript guru to helps us..,

i ll try to post on the script help forum and maybe we ll have more luck..

After having been diving into this for more time today than I really wanted to, the hardest thing to figure out so far in Javascript is how to find the status of sf.ui.proTools.automationPreview. I have tried invalidate, but that does not seem to be a recognized action.

Thanks for this, Chad. I like to build Surfaces for my workflow so I'm curious if items from the Automation Package can be added to one of my Surfaces and still reflect the automation state. Thanks!

You need to get this app https://apps.apple.com/us/app/overlays/id868499627?mt=12 - the fucntion basically quits and opens this app depending on Preview status. Run script to start the run forever, run script again to stop the run forever.

let lastPreviewStatus;

globalState.runAutoFollowOutputWin = !globalState.runAutoFollowOutputWin;

function main() {
    // Get current state of Automation Window
    const isClipListEnabled = sf.ui.proTools.getMenuItem("Window", "Automation").isMenuChecked

    // Open Automation Window if It's not
    if (!isClipListEnabled) {
        sf.ui.proTools.menuClick({
            menuPath: ["Window", "Automation"],
        });
    }
    try {
        const automationWindow = sf.ui.proTools.automationWindow.invalidate();

        if (automationWindow) {
            // Check the status of the "Enable Auto Preview Mode" button
            let previewStatus = sf.ui.proTools.automationWindow.buttons
                .whoseTitle.is("Enable Auto Preview Mode")
                .first.value.value;

            if (previewStatus === lastPreviewStatus || previewStatus === undefined) return;

            lastPreviewStatus = previewStatus;

            // Log based on the status of the preview button
            if (previewStatus === 'Selected') {

               /*  log("Preview is on!") */

                sf.app.launch({ path: '/Applications/Overlays!.app' });

            } else if (previewStatus === '') {
                
                /* log("Preview is off!") */
                
                sf.ui.app('es.abbiecod.overlays').appQuit({ onError: "Continue" });
            }
        }
    } catch (err) {
        /* log('Error: ' + err.message); */
    }
}

function runForever(name, action, interval, timeout) {
    sf.ui.proTools.appActivate();

    sf.ui.proTools.invalidate();

    log('Preview Warning Activated')

    let now = (new Date).valueOf();

    if (now - globalState[name] < timeout) throw 0; // Exit if we were invoked again inside the timeout

    globalState[name] = now;

    sf.engine.runInBackground(function () {
        try {
            while (true && globalState.runAutoFollowOutputWin) {
                sf.engine.checkForCancellation();
                globalState[name] = (new Date).valueOf();

                action();

                sf.wait({ intervalMs: interval, executionMode: 'Background' });
            }
        } finally {
            globalState[name] = null;

            log('Preview Warning Deactivated')
        }
    });
}

// Start the runForever process
runForever("isFollowPreviewStatusRunning", main, 500, 5000);