Creating a publishing point automatically...

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August 5th, 2008, 02:31 AM

q97

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Creating a publishing point automatically...

Seems like there should be a way to create a publishing point in Windows Media Services automatically using a script...but I haven't found anything googling around.

What I would ideally like to achieve is that we create a directory on the server that we can use to upload videos, and have a script run every 15 minutes or so that automatically "ingests" the file and makes a publishing point called whatever the filename is.

Any ideas?

August 6th, 2008, 02:47 AM

Nilpo

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It would seem you can. Unfortunately, I don't have a machine running WMS to play with. However, I might be able to get you started. You can connect to WMS from VBScript using the WMSServer.Server ProgID. I'm not certain which methods and properties are actually exposed to VBS, but it would look something like this.

vb Code:

Original - vb Code

Set objServer = CreateObject("WMSServer.Server")

Const WMS_PUBLISHING_POINT_ON_DEMAND = 1
Const WMS_PUBLISHING_POINT_BROADCAST = 2
objPubPoint = objServer.PublishingPoints.Add("NewPubPoint", WMS_PUBLISHING_POINT_BROADCAST, _
	 "rtsp://server/pubpoint/movie.wmv")

' Set the publishing point to start broadcasting when
' the first client connects.
objPubPoint.AllowClientToStartAndStop = True

' Set the publishing point to allow splitting the stream.
objPubPoint.AllowStreamSplitting = True

objPubPoint.AnnouncementStreamFormats.Add("c:\wmpub\wmroot\content_clip1.wmv")

' Retrieve an IWMSPlugins object containing
' broadcast data sink plug-in information.
objPlugins = objPubPoint.BroadcastDataSinks

' Prepare the publishing point for announcement and
' create an NSC file to be used for client connection.
objPubPoint.Announce()
objPubPoint.AnnounceToNSCFile("c:\wmpub\wmroot\pubpoint.nsc")

' If the publishing point is currently stopped, start
' it and retrieve the shared playlist file.
Const WMS_BROADCAST_PUBLISHING_POINT_STOPPED = &H0
Const WMS_BROADCAST_PUBLISHING_POINT_STARTED_WITHOUT_DAT  A = &H1
Const WMS_BROADCAST_PUBLISHING_POINT_STARTED = &H2
Const WMS_BROADCAST_PUBLISHING_POINT_ARCHIVING = &H4
Const WMS_BROADCAST_PUBLISHING_POINT_CHANGE_IN_PROGRESS = &H8

If objPubPoint.BroadcastStatus = WMS_BROADCAST_PUBLISHING_POINT_STOPPED Then
	objPubPoint.Start()
	Playlist = objPubPoint.SharedPlaylist

' If the publishing point is currently running, retrieve the
' amount of time it has been broadcasting and then stop it.
ElseIf objPubPoint.BroadcastStatus & WMS_BROADCAST_PUBLISHING_POINT_STARTED Then
	lCount = objPubPoint.UpTime
	objPubPoint.Stop()
End If

' Set the buffer setting to minimize propagation latency.
Const WMS_BUFFER_SETTING_UNSPECIFIED = &H0
Const WMS_BUFFER_SETTING_MINIMIZE_STARTUP_LATENCY = &H1
Const WMS_BUFFER_SETTING_PROPOGATION_LATENCY = &H2
Const WMS_NUM_BUFFER_SETTING = &H3
objPubPoint.BufferSetting = WMS_BUFFER_SETTING_MINIMIZE_STARTUP_LATENCY

' Export the publishing point configuration to an
' XML file.
objPubPoint.ExportXML("c:\wmpub\wmroot\pubpoint.xml")

Set objServer = CreateObject("WMSServer.Server")
 
Const WMS_PUBLISHING_POINT_ON_DEMAND = 1
Const WMS_PUBLISHING_POINT_BROADCAST = 2
objPubPoint = objServer.PublishingPoints.Add("NewPubPoint", WMS_PUBLISHING_POINT_BROADCAST, _
     "rtsp://server/pubpoint/movie.wmv")
 
' Set the publishing point to start broadcasting when
' the first client connects.
objPubPoint.AllowClientToStartAndStop = True
 
' Set the publishing point to allow splitting the stream.
objPubPoint.AllowStreamSplitting = True
 
objPubPoint.AnnouncementStreamFormats.Add("c:\wmpub\wmroot\content_clip1.wmv")
 
' Retrieve an IWMSPlugins object containing
' broadcast data sink plug-in information.
objPlugins = objPubPoint.BroadcastDataSinks
 
' Prepare the publishing point for announcement and
' create an NSC file to be used for client connection.
objPubPoint.Announce()
objPubPoint.AnnounceToNSCFile("c:\wmpub\wmroot\pubpoint.nsc")
 
' If the publishing point is currently stopped, start
' it and retrieve the shared playlist file.
Const WMS_BROADCAST_PUBLISHING_POINT_STOPPED = &H0
Const WMS_BROADCAST_PUBLISHING_POINT_STARTED_WITHOUT_DAT  A = &H1
Const WMS_BROADCAST_PUBLISHING_POINT_STARTED = &H2
Const WMS_BROADCAST_PUBLISHING_POINT_ARCHIVING = &H4
Const WMS_BROADCAST_PUBLISHING_POINT_CHANGE_IN_PROGRESS = &H8
 
If objPubPoint.BroadcastStatus = WMS_BROADCAST_PUBLISHING_POINT_STOPPED Then
    objPubPoint.Start()
    Playlist = objPubPoint.SharedPlaylist
 
' If the publishing point is currently running, retrieve the
' amount of time it has been broadcasting and then stop it.
ElseIf objPubPoint.BroadcastStatus & WMS_BROADCAST_PUBLISHING_POINT_STARTED Then
    lCount = objPubPoint.UpTime
    objPubPoint.Stop()
End If
 
' Set the buffer setting to minimize propagation latency.
Const WMS_BUFFER_SETTING_UNSPECIFIED = &H0
Const WMS_BUFFER_SETTING_MINIMIZE_STARTUP_LATENCY = &H1
Const WMS_BUFFER_SETTING_PROPOGATION_LATENCY = &H2
Const WMS_NUM_BUFFER_SETTING = &H3
objPubPoint.BufferSetting = WMS_BUFFER_SETTING_MINIMIZE_STARTUP_LATENCY
 
' Export the publishing point configuration to an
' XML file.
objPubPoint.ExportXML("c:\wmpub\wmroot\pubpoint.xml")

I'm basing this example on the .Net documentation. This is purely my own conversions so these methods may or may not be exposed to VBS. I have no way of examining the objects or testing the code since I'm not running WMS. Hope this gets you in the right direction.

Comments on this post

q97 agrees: Thanks for the info - a very good start

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August 6th, 2008, 08:07 PM

q97

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Oooh..niiice.

Thanks heaps for that. I'll start mucking around with it on our internal server and see if I can get something happening.

August 6th, 2008, 09:46 PM

Nilpo

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Quote:

Originally Posted by q97

Oooh..niiice.

Thanks heaps for that. I'll start mucking around with it on our internal server and see if I can get something happening.

Awesome. Let me know how that pans out and be sure to post the code if you get it working.

August 7th, 2008, 02:37 AM

q97

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Nilpo

Awesome. Let me know how that pans out and be sure to post the code if you get it working.

Yeah will do. I like having it where I can get it from job to job...

August 7th, 2008, 02:56 AM

q97

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The following code seemed to get things going, you'll notice there isn't all that much left! So if that works on our live server, I just need to add code to collect an uploaded file, move it to where we keep all the streamed files, create the publishing point and off we go.
Hopefully it works out to be as easy as that...

Code:

Set objServer = CreateObject("WMSServer.Server")

Const WMS_PUBLISHING_POINT_ON_DEMAND = 1
Const WMS_PUBLISHING_POINT_BROADCAST = 2
set objPubPoint = objServer.PublishingPoints.Add("NewPubPoint", WMS_PUBLISHING_POINT_ON_DEMAND, _
	 "C:\wmpub\WMRoot\pinball.wmv")

objPubPoint.ExportXML("c:\wmpub\wmroot\pubpoint.xml")

August 7th, 2008, 07:34 AM

Nilpo

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Very cool. I thought that would get you in the right direction.

August 7th, 2008, 09:42 PM

q97

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Ok, this seems to work on my test server, so I'll upload it to the live server, change some paths and hopefully that will be it:

Code:

On Error Resume Next
dim objFSObject, strFolder, strFileName, objRootDir, pubName, x, newFilePath

Set objFSObject = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")

strFolder = "C:\wmpub\WMRoot"

Set objRootDir = objFSObject.GetFolder(strFolder)

For Each file in objRootDir.Files
	'msgbox file.name
	x=len(file.name)-4
	pubName = left(file.name,x)
	'msgbox pubName
	if right(file.name, 3) = "wmv" then
		newFilePath = (strFolder & "\a\" & file.name)
		file.move newFilePath
		call CreatePubPoint (pubName, newFilePath)
		
	end if
next

set objRootDir = nothing
set objFSObject = nothing

sub CreatePubPoint(PubPoint, WMVFilePath)

Set objServer = CreateObject("WMSServer.Server")

Const WMS_PUBLISHING_POINT_ON_DEMAND = 1
Const WMS_PUBLISHING_POINT_BROADCAST = 2
set objPubPoint = objServer.PublishingPoints.Add(PubPoint, WMS_PUBLISHING_POINT_ON_DEMAND, _
	 WMVFilePath)
set objServer = nothing
End Sub

So basically what it will do is take all the files in a dump directory, run through them and create the publishing points. If you upload the a file with the same file name, it should replace the existing file, and because of on error resume next it will go past the error which I don't know how to handle when the publishing point is already there

A bit of a dodge, but it seems to be working nicely at the moment. I'll see if I can dig up some proper documentation on the WMSServer object and see if I can't refine it a bit.

August 8th, 2008, 07:03 AM

Nilpo

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Again, I can't test this, however, the Add method that is used to create a publishing point actually adds a reference to the PublishingPoints collection. Theoretically, trying to add a new object with the same name as an existing object should not generate any errors--much like updating an existing valu