Crazy idea for new feature - Command Line Switches

[petenun]

I know this is the height of laziness, but I was just thinking how awesome it would be to be able to schedule downloads via Windows Task Scheduler. I'm not suggesting that the GUI be eliminated. In fact, it's really awesome the way it is. I'm just thinking that adding command line option would be a nice addition that would allow one to automate daily tasks.

I'm imagining running CRD.exe with command line parameters that would enable refreshing and download. So for example, running "CRD.EXE /RefreshHistory /AddToQueue" would launch the executable, perform the specified actions using the configuration parameters as configured in the GUI, then once completed, the program would exit, all without requiring user input or interaction. This command-line option would also allow you to create a Windows Scheduled Task to be automatically executed on one's own schedule.

The ultimate goal would be for downloads to happen in the background, with new episodes appearing in the download directory on a daily basis.

I told you it was a lazy suggestion. 😂

[Elwador]

1. --headless - starts without UI (you can't use the downloader with conmand line inputs)
2. --historyRefreshAll - refresh the history on startup
3. --historyAddToQueue - add all new missing episodes to queue
4. --exit - exit the downloader after all commandline tasks are finished

[petenun]

Wow! That's amazing for you to add this feature! Can commands be daisy-chained within the same command, or do they need to be issued in subsequent commands, like in a batch file?

Example:

crd.exe --headless --historyrefreshall --historyaddtoqueue --exit

vs

crd.exe --headless
crd.exe --historyrefreshall
crd.exe --historyaddtoqueue
crd.exe --exit

[Elwador]

one command - crd.exe --headless --historyRefreshAll --historyAddToQueue --exit

[petenun]

Cool. I'll give it a try this afternoon. 😊

[petenun]

This is working perfectly and is really awesome. I configured a Windows Scheduled Task to execute the full command on a timed schedule. I just kicked it off manually and it executed exactly as expected. You are a genius @Elwador !!

[WOSSFOSS]

Would it be possible to operate entirely command-line-based in the future?

[petenun]

I think it would help if you defined what "entirely command-line-based" means to you.

For example, I'm using the program via command line on a daily basis via task scheduler (pictured above) to scan and download videos. It's zero-touch on a daily, run-state basis. I do use the GUI however, for application configuration, managing media, truing-up my libraries if anything gets missed, and of course, viewing at the calendar to see what's been posted for the day and If I'm missing something that I have not yet added to my library. To me, these are all visual tasks, for which the GUI is well-suited (and nicely designed). However, I can still go on vacation for two weeks and my daily downloads will still happen in the background at 5pm daily.

So, what are the things you feel would be better done via command line? Please be as descriptive as possible, as if you're painting a picture of what you're wanting to see. Not trying to argue, but I do want to understand.

[WOSSFOSS]

I'm currently using the app to make one-off web-dl season packs for existing seasons. Currently I have to use the UI to do everything, but I would basically like being able to queue downloads in this form:

./CDL --headless queue --url <my url> --episodes all --video-quality best --audio-lang ja-JP,en-US --audio-quality best --softsub-lang all  --hardsub-lang none --filename "./${seriesTitle} - S${season}E${episode} [${height}p]" --exit`

[WOSSFOSS]

My minor annoyance is that I can either grab best, or one video quality. It would also be nice if I could select 1080p,720p and it would loop for both.

[petenun]

Have you considered having two instances of CRDL? For example, one instance (configured for 720p) would be at C:\CRDL720p\CRD.exe. the second instance would be configured for 1080p and located in D:\CRDL1080p\crd.exe. Each instance would have its own unique config file, and would be executed independently of each other via scheduled task. You could have different download locations or use different naming rules to avoid file conflicts or unintentional overwriting.

Just an idea.

[WOSSFOSS]

Have you considered having two instances of CRDL? For example, one instance (configured for 720p) would be at C:\CRDL720p\CRD.exe. the second instance would be configured for 1080p and located in D:\CRDL1080p\crd.exe. Each instance would have its own unique config file, and would be executed independently of each other via scheduled task. You could have different download locations or use different naming rules to avoid file conflicts or unintentional overwriting.

Just an idea.

Thank you, I didn't consider having two installations (although I wonder if there would be ratelimiting issues). However, even a reduced command-line feature set of just being able to do ./CDL --headless queue --url <my url> --episodes all would be very useful.