josvos/timeline-service

This git repository contains the source of the 2immerse Timeline Server, some auxiliary tools, some test software and a bit of documentation.

Running for debug and testing

Directory timelineService has all the code for the service itself. Run with

python -m timelineService

the --help option will show the arguments.

To run in a docker container build the container using Dockerfile and then start it:

docker build -t timeline .
docker run timeline

Normally, however, you would run the timeline service together with all other services through the docker-compose scripts from the deployment repository.

Checking your documents

To do a quick check of playback of a timeline document you can use

python -m timelineService.document mydocument.xml

This test script has a --help option again. Usually you will probably run it with

python -m timelineService.document --fast --dump --trace mydocument.xml

This does a syntax check of your XML document and a quick simulation run of the document (with various assumptions, such that events happen immedeately, and all A/V files are 10 seconds long unless otherwise specified). During the run, trace messages are printed to show when elements are sarted and stopped. At the end, the document is printed on standard output, with all elements annotated with their current state.

If you don't specify --fast the simulation runs in realtime (so "quick" may not be the correct term if you have a long document).

If you don't specify --trace the starting and stopping of elements isn't printed. Alternatively, if you specify --debug you get more verbose messages.

If you don't specify --dump the document dump at end of run is not shown.

Helper scripts

There are a number of helper scripts in the bin directory:

• dumptimelines.py contacts a running timeline service (default https://timeline-service.platform.2immerse.eu/timeline/v1 but can be overriden with an argument) and can show all active contexts, optionally with the current state of their document. --help option gives more help.
• validate_timeline.py performs the document checking menthioned above.
• validate_layout.py performs some checking of the layout of a document. May not work anymore.
• srt2scrolltxt.py converts SRT-style subtitles to 2immerse-style scrolling text.

Other files and directories

• client is a Python client for the timeline service. It uses the REST API of the service to run documents. It does not play media, but it goes through the whole motion. It does not work at the moment.
• test has the test files for acceptance testing. Run with cd test ; python -m unittest discover.
• samples has some old sample documents which may no longer work.
• api has some documentation on the REST api, but it may be outdated.