Is it possible to start recording LabRecorder from a shortcut?

[BCIstorm]

I think the title says it all but here goes:
I have written a config file to pre-load all the required streams (with argument -c config_filename.cfg) but I would also like LabRecorder to start recording as soon as it is called (from batch file).
Is it possible? What is program argument?

[Chadwick Boulay]

It's currently not possible as you describe.

Without changing LabRecorder, the best you can do is use the remote control socket control and send it a command to start recording via another application. I'll post a C# sample on how to do that when I find it a little later.

I think this is a worthwhile feature to have though. Rather, I would add a checkbox that enables automatic recording start when all required streams are found. This isn't too difficult to do but I don't have time to do it today. If you want to try to modify LabRecorder this way then I can direct you.

[Chadwick Boulay]

I should also mention that there is a command-line-interface (CLI) version of LabRecorder. Here is an example from @agricolab on controlling / configuring LabRecorder CLI from a Python program: https://github.com/pyreiz/pyliesl/blob/master/liesl/files/labrecorder/cli_wrapper.py

[Chadwick Boulay]

Here are a few snippets of C# code we use to control LabRecorder through the remote-control-server:

For setting filename:

using System.Net.Sockets;

private Socket lrSocket;
private IPEndPoint ipe;

ipe = new IPEndPoint(IPAddress.Parse(LRInIP), LRInPort);
lrSocket = new Socket(ipe.AddressFamily, SocketType.Stream, ProtocolType.Tcp);
lrSocket.Connect(ipe);

For filename control:

            string msg = "filename ";
            if (LRStudyRoot != "")
                msg += "{root:" + LRStudyRoot + "}";
            if (currentExperiment != "")
                msg += "{task:" + currentExperiment + "}";
            if (patientID != "")
                msg += "{participant:" + patientID + "}";
            if (sessionID != "")
                msg += "{session:" + sessionID + "}";
            if (acquisitionParams != "")
                msg += "{acquisition:" + acquisitionParams + "}";
            msg += "{modality:" + bidsModality.ToString() + "}";
            msg += "\n";

            Byte[] bytesSend = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(msg);
            return lrSocket.Send(bytesSend);

To start / stop recording:

string msg = "start\n";  // Or "stop\n";
Byte[] bytesSend = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(msg);
return lrSocket.Send(bytesSend);

[Chadwick Boulay]

I think the way I would modify LabRecorder is as follows...

here, I would add an else block with the following:

refreshStreams();
if (missing.empty() && ui->check_autostart->isChecked()) {
    startRecording();
}

We'd still need to add that checkbox to the GUI (default unchecked) and then hook it up to some config file parameters, but that's mostly copy-paste-modify examples that are already there.