cecilia makes an error when opening WAV or AIFF file as soundfile input. "ERROR Audio file is not valid"

[sebastien]

Hy maintainer

Getting through the tutorial of the program (cecilia), I get an error when opening ANY soundfile, even and especially the AIFF and WAV files that should be supported as sound input files by cecilia.
what was expected ? the file to open, be displayed and be playabe in the general window of cecilia.
what happens instead? the Messagebox says: ERROR Audio file is not valid. and then no way to open any file.
see DETAILS section to reproduce the bug

versions:
package cecilia Version: 2.0.5-2.2ubuntu1
package csound : Version: 1:5.17.6~dfsg-1
$csound --version says :
Csound version 5.17 (double samples) May 30 2012
system Description: Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS Release: 12.04

FIXING tips :
this migth be because of csound is in version 5...., as the cecilia doc says csound (>= 4.23) needed.
maybe csound version 5.17 has different ouptut messages tha csound 4.23
the error message comes from function : getSoundInfo in file : lib/files.tcl
it is the result of test on the variable returned by function : getSoundFileInfo in file lib/unix/helpers.tcl:
   proc getSoundFileInfo {path}
but this procedure depends on shell execution, that returns info on the file :
the code (CODEA)
    catch {exec $prefs(help:CSND) -U sndinfo $path} stuff
basically the comand line is like $csound -U sndinfo /usr/share/cecilia/files/examples/beat.aiff
which returns : ----------
PortAudio real-time audio module for Csound
0dBFS level = 32768.0
Csound version 5.17 (double samples) May 30 2012
libsndfile-1.0.25
util sndinfo:
/usr/share/cecilia/files/examples/beat.aiff:
 srate 44100, stereo, 16 bit AIFF, 2.841 seconds
 (125307 sample frames)
--------
with such a string registered in the variable $stuff in getSoundFileInfo, the test TESTA :
   if {[lsearch $stuff "AIFF"] == -1 && [lsearch $stuff "WAVE"] == -1 } { (...) return 0}
is true because $stuff even converted as a list contains elements like "AIFF,"BUT NOT "AIFF"
so :
*** solution might be to replace the CODEA code previously quoted with something like CODEB
set stuff [lrange [exec file $path] 1 end]
(taken from lib/select.tcl file " set typer [lrange [exec file $fileselect(dir)/$path] 1 end] ")
 that code only returns :
IFF data, AIFF audio
or
RIFF (little-endian) data, WAVE audio, Microsoft PCM, 16 bit, stereo 44100 Hz

but doing this replacement, we might introduce bugs in the function getSoundFileInfo after the test TESTA ............
especially there :
   set type [lindex $stuff [expr [lsearch $stuff "soundfile,"] - 1]]
    if {$type == ""} {
        set type [lindex $stuff [expr [lsearch $stuff "soundfile"] - 1]]
    }
    set dur [lindex $stuff [expr [lsearch $stuff "seconds"] - 1]]
    set sr [string trim [lindex $stuff [expr [lsearch $stuff "srate"] + 1]] ", "]
    set tr [string trim [lindex $stuff [expr [lsearch $stuff ${sr},] + 1]] ", "]
    set siz [lindex $stuff [expr [lsearch $stuff ${tr},] + 1]]
    return "$dur $sr [string tolower $type] $tr $siz"
}

********
so a better solution would be to modify only lib/unix/helpers.tcl and :
a) to leave CODEA declaration intact
b) to introduce a new variable $stuff2
set stuff2 [lrange [exec file $path] 1 end]
c) to change the TESTA instruction for the following:
   if {[lsearch $stuff2 "AIFF"] == -1 && [lsearch $stuff2 "WAVE"] == -1 } { (...) }
d) to change the assignment of the variable $type as such :
   set type [lindex $stuff2 [expr [lsearch $stuff2 "audio"] - 1]]
   if {$type == ""} {
      set type [lindex $stuff2 [expr [lsearch $stuff2 "audio,"] - 1]]
    }
e) to leave the rest of the code intact
********

ouf,
we went through.
 I will try to fix the bug and submit a patch myself.
cheers.
Seb.

DETAILS :
reproduce the bug : follow tutorial
http://cecilia.sourceforge.net/man/tut1.html
(also included in the package : /usr/share/cecilia/files/doc/html/tut1.html )

section : Opening a module and choosing a sound.

choose a module with the New... cascade under the File menu. Choose the Transposer module in the Pitch class since it uses most of the features of CECILIA and is conceptually straightforward: it transposes a soundfile in pitch with a few bells and whistles thrown in.

Two things happen:

1- The Grapher window has opened up showing some colored lines (some of the lines are hidden under others), a couple of sliders at the bottom, some toggle buttons and some coloured buttons etc.

 2- The Main window has expanded showing a largish button, a couple of small icons and a small slider.

Bring up the Main window and click on the toLoad button. This brings up the fileselector.
When you choose a file, information about it is shown. If its a soundfile, even more information is shown. If its a sound file, you can play it by hitting the speaker icon and you can edit it with the scissors.
BUG : the SPEAKER icon never turns active, even when soundfile is selected.
then when a soundfile (AIFF or WAV) is selected,
press the OK button of the fileselector :
BUG : a message box showing "ERROR Audio file is not valid" appears.
then no sound file is ever opened.

criticity : this is serious bug because no input audio file can be played.