File Availability

At any given time an action is executing on a specific number of files. This number can never be less than 1. When executing Grouped the number is always 1. When executing Stepwise the number is by default the number of files that were treated as selected when the action first started. The All Files and Always columns in the Action Manager can automatically modify the actual selections.

There are six file availability statements which can limit or possibly expand the set of files available when running stepwise. With the exception of the Active Files to List statement, these statements are ignored and return an action test state of false in the following conditions:

• The execution mode is Grouped.
• If a Load & Run statement is being executed.
• If a Run statement is being executed which sets the file availability by testing a track variable. The Run statement, when testing a track variable, is the only means of possibly executing an action zero times.
• Execution of the statement would cause no files to be available.

The following is a summary of the available statements. Each statement's name is a link to a more detailed explanation.

Ignore Files

The statement causes files to be ignored based on a track variable being true or false.

Restore Initial Set of Files

The statement restores the set of available files to those which were available when the action first started.

Constrain Execution to a Single File

The statement ensures that only a single file will being processed. This is useful in actions which do not actually need any audio files.

Expand Execution to Unselected Files

The statement causes all loaded visible files which were not initially selected to be made available.

Active Files to List

The statement saves an encoded list of the current available files to a named variable which can later be used to make the same set of files available again.

List to Active Files

The statement sets the current list of available files from a list in a named variable which was set by an Active Files to List statement.

Alternatives

Initially file availability statements were introduced to provide a means of changing the set of available files to reflect different conditions. As of Yate v6.16, the if-else-endif construct has an if Variable mode which can often be used to do the same and can be easier to code, read and understand than using Ignore Files and Restore Files statements.

Warning Please Read

If you change the file availability while executing under the control of a Repeat With or Repeat For statement, make sure you restore the available files to those available when the Repeat statement was started. If you do not, the execution flow may be unpredictable.