Feature: allow multiple videos to be selected from a folder

[alextrofymenko]

A video will be randomly selected from the directory on screensaver start, and will loop once finished (as before) (requested in #13, and #4, though without the shuffle at the end of each playthrough)

[erickthesublime]

Hey alextrofy, I am looking forward to using your program. This feature of allowing multiple files to be played is it avaliable yet?

[alextrofymenko]

This is @tonyfederer's software, I just made a small change to the functionality.

Not sure if this will be merged as is, there will likely be some changes required, but if you are able to build this yourself, then you can already do so based on this branch.

[smoothnobody]

how do i use your version? i see your fork but when i click download it's the old version.

[alextrofymenko]

I just forked to make a pull request, there isn't an official downloadable yet.

I am attaching the version that I built and am using locally: EasyVideoScreensaverSetup-1.3-alpha.zip

[smoothnobody]

works great, thanks.

will you be working on this furfur? this is now the only video screensaver on github that has multi video support. there is one on google but it's 8 years old and doesn't work well with some codecs and often displays a black screen. this version is literally the only option on the net.

[alextrofymenko]

That was also my experience. This was the closest to what I wanted, and it was nice and easy to modify.
It wasn't my intention to develop it any further, except maybe add an option to shuffle videos at the end (instead of loop).

[smoothnobody]

shuffle instead of loop, HDR, exit on mouse move, getting rid of the exe installer and having a single click SCR file.

if you make any more tweaks, or decide on your own release, would appreciate a heads up. been waiting a few years for somebody to release something. it's crazy to think a good video screensaver does not exist.

[wiesshund]

Hello @alextrofymenko

I tried your above build.
When clicking settings, it just thinks for a moment, the buttons grey out
then it just returns back.

No errors at all.
Same thing is preview is clicked.

Any ideas?

[alextrofymenko]

I am not entirely sure, perhaps you don't have the codecs to play the video in Windows Media Player? Does the original executable work as expected?

[wiesshund]

I am not entirely sure, perhaps you don't have the codecs to play the video in Windows Media Player? Does the original executable work as expected?

Yes, the original works fine.
OS is windows 11 by the way.
Tried it on a windows 10 laptop to compare but got same results.

In your build, even the settings button does not do anything, thinks for a minute then the button lights back up
no dialog box to select a directory ever appears.
So it does not even get to the point of trying a video.

Clicking preview does the same thing.
Nothing happens at all.
In the original, clicking preview with no media selected just results in a black screen, as expected.

Don't see any events in event logs about it though.

[alextrofymenko]

Strange, I don't know what to suggest. Are you able to compile a version yourself? My fork contains this PR, and also the ability to shuffle videos instead of looping

[wiesshund]

Strange, I don't know what to suggest. Are you able to compile a version yourself? My fork contains this PR, and also the ability to shuffle videos instead of looping

No, don't have a dev environment set up.

Odd, i can get it to work on 1 machine, which has windows 10, and is a bit behind on updates.

2 machines that are new clean installs from latest ISO of win10 and win11, no go.
Nothing happens when trying to click the settings dialog.
But i can not see it being blocked or anything in events log

[alextrofymenko]

With the clean installs my guess would be codec again, especially if you have Windows KN (or whatever variety comes without WMP). But again, if original one works, I'm not really sure.

I wanted to take a stab at setting up a build using GitHub Actions. I don't know if that will fix anything, but at least it will be a reproducible build to play around with.

[wiesshund]

With the clean installs my guess would be codec again, especially if you have Windows KN (or whatever variety comes without WMP). But again, if original one works, I'm not really sure.

I wanted to take a stab at setting up a build using GitHub Actions. I don't know if that will fix anything, but at least it will be a reproducible build to play around with.

No, not KN, normal US version
And lack of codecs should not prevent opening of file selection dialog anyway?

[alextrofymenko]

True, I don't see how that would prevent the settings dialog from opening. Clutching at straws here.

I made a GitHub Action to built and publish the artifact, you can find the link to the first attempt here: https://github.com/alextrofymenko/EasyVideoScreensaver/actions/runs/8695008243/job/23845115862 (or if you can't view the logs, here is the actual download link - https://github.com/alextrofymenko/EasyVideoScreensaver/actions/runs/8695008243/artifacts/1415698727).
It just builds the main project, not the setup, but you can right click on the .scr file and install from the context menu. That worked for me, I hope that works for you.

[adaml30001]

Any chance you would know how I can set the source file via PowerShell so I could deploy it remotely? Is the source file held in a registry?
This works without issue when I install it manually.

[alextrofymenko]

I'm not actually sure, but the answers here suggest that you guessed correctly: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/49791065/silently-set-the-screensaver-on-windows-from-the-command-line

[adaml30001]

I'm not actually sure, but the answers here suggest that you guessed correctly: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/49791065/silently-set-the-screensaver-on-windows-from-the-command-line

Thanks for your reply!
I guess to clarify - I've been able to set the screensaver to something like mystify, but for your particular app, you have a window dialogue that pops up where I select the "Video to Play":

Maybe I'm asking the wrong questions, as I'm not super great at programing and still learning PowerShell fundamentals - but if I knew where your program stored this location, I could probably figure out the rest.

[smoothnobody]

hey alextrofymenko,

you tweaked this screensaver a bit after the 1.3 version you linked on 2/25/24 and added shuffle instead of loop. where can i find that version?

[alextrofymenko]

@smoothnobody I didn't realise Github Actions output/artefacts expire, lesson learned. I updated actions to use latest versions and triggered a re-build. I have now also attached the output manually - https://github.com/alextrofymenko/EasyVideoScreensaver/releases/tag/1.3x (I hope that one will be kept on the repo permanently)

[smoothnobody]

thanks dude. your little tweaks make such a big difference. i get lots of enjoyment seeing the apple aerial videos on my big screen tv in my living room. much appreciated.