Moniker - Active file manipulator

This package contains a standalone script which allows the user to configure different inputs, manipulate the data and send it to an output file. This script can for example help with setting up dynamic files which can be read by OBS.

Installation

In order to run this script, you need to have Python 2.7 installed the correct version can be found here: https://www.python.org/ftp/python/2.7.13/python-2.7.13.msi To use the script without changing any code, Python should be installed to: C:\Python27 (the same as for the Streamlabs Chatbot).

If it is installed elsewhere, open the execute_moniker_background.bat and execute_moniker_foreground.bat files in a text editor and change the location in those files.

Once Python in installed go to the latest release and download the ZIP file by clicking on Source code (zip). Unpack this ZIP file to the desired location.

Configuration

The configuration file is located at config/monikers.json.

inputs

In the inputs node, a moniker key can be connected to a filename. This will swap out the moniker in the output, with the content of the input file. The inputs can have an unlimited amount of entries

For example:

{
    "inputs": {
        "input-file": "example-files\\input-file.txt"
    }
}

Will create an {input-file} moniker, which contains the contents of the file example-files\input-file.txt. The input file should always exist. The path can be an absolute path (full path) or a relative path (relative to the root of the script).

fetchInputs

Inputs can also be configured to listen to an endpoint on the web. This can be done through the fetchInputs node. An entry in the fetchInputs node should have a key which is also present in the inputs node. This will become the file where the contents of the web endpoint is being written to.

The fetchInputs can have an unlimited amount of entries as long as their key exists in the inputs node.

In the following example the contents of the endpoint are being written to example-files\input-file.txt and can then be used as a moniker as well:

{
    "fetchInputs": {
        "input-file": "https://pastebin.com/raw/LfNbBpEm"
    },
    "inputs": {
        "input-file": "example-files\\input-file.txt"
    }
}

customInputs

Custom inputs can be created to import information from for example an API. These custom inputs can return multiple inputs to the main script. A custom input can be configured as follows, in the monikers.json file add an additional node to the main configuration with the name customInputs:

{
    "customInputs": {
        "my-custom-type": {
            "type": "mycustomtype",
            "config": {...myconfig}
        }
    }
}

The name of the first key my-custom-type will represent the prefix in the output. The value of type will be the reference to the custom handler (up next). The config node will be passed to the custom handler to pass for example API keys.

To create a custom handler, add a new class to the lib/handlers/__init__.py file:

class MyCustomHandler():
    def handle(self, customKey, config={}):
        resultSet = {}
        # Your custom logic here
        return resultSet

The resultSet is expected to be a key-value(string) pair. Then the custom handler can be registered in moniker.py by registering it by a key as the second parameter of the Handler initiation:

handler = Handler(
    Config(configFile), 
    {
        "mycustomtype": MyCustomHandler(),
    }
)

Now the handler will be called in each iteration.

fetchFrequency

The fetchFrequency can be configured to determine the polling rate of any URL being called. Every increment is one second. So the default of 10 will result in one poll of the endpoint every 10 seconds. This can only be defined once.

{
    "fetchFrequency": 10
}

outputs

In the outputs node you can configure where the files are being written to and how they are contextualized. The initial key someoutput (of the example below) has no internal value, so it is purely used as a placeholder for organizing the configuration.

In the file node the output file can be set. This can be an absolute path (full path) or a relative path (relative to the root of the script). The output file doesn't have to exist, but the directory should be created before running the script.

The text node contains the output that is being transmitted to the output file. The text can be modified with the monikers (from the inputs) by adding their keys between curly braces. Any combination of monikers can be used in the output.

The outputs can have an unlimited amount of entries.

{
    "outputs": {
        "someoutput": {
            "file": "example-files\\output-file.txt",
            "text": "PulseBear has written {input-file} scripts today"
        }
    }
}

It is also possible to conditionally give an alternative result as output when a field is empty. This can be done by also adding the onEmpty configuration to the output entry.

{
    "outputs": {
        "someoutput": {
            "file": "example-files\\output-file.txt",
            "text": "PulseBear has written {input-file} scripts today",
            "onEmpty": {
                "field": "input-file",
                "result": "No scripts today!"
            }
        }
    }
}

In the above example, the result in the output file will be No scripts today! when the field input-file is empty.

Running the script

To run the script in the foreground (seeing a terminal window), double click on the execute_moniker_foreground.bat file. To run it in the background, use the execute_moniker_background.bat file.

When the file is running in the background, it is located under the pythonw.exe process in the task manager.

If everything is left as is, the code should run as follows:

• The input-file.txt is read.
• The data from input-file.txt is written to output-file.txt with an alternated string PulseBear has written 0 scripts today
• After 10 seconds, the input-file.txt is updated to 3 and the output-file.txt is immediatly updated as well: PulseBear has written 3 scripts today

Feedback

Feedback for this package can be provided through issues, or by creating a pull request with a fix or improvement.

MIT License

Copyright (c) Marcel Frankruijter

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.