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[Josephthomas]

I wonder if any Alexa users who follow this forum would take a look at a project I have undertaken to allow one to view an Alexa's saved settings, formatted for human consumption, in a web browser.
I would appreciate knowing if anyone besides me thinks this could be helpful, and also to get any comments on my approach.

http://josephthomas.info/Alexa

Thanks!

[Oliver Temmler]

I think it's helpful already if I prepare a number of setups and don't exactly remember what was in it.
It seems to me that your output is missing some information from the xml file. The REC OUT Gamma setting for instance.
To fine-tune readability, you could replace the strings from the xml file with what is written in the menus:
So REC OUT setting Rec_422_1_5g_SL would be 422 1.5G SL or Project frame rate Tc_23_976 would be 23.976 fps.

GOOD STUFF!

[Josephthomas]

I think it's helpful already if I prepare a number of setups and don't exactly remember what was in it.
It seems to me that your output is missing some information from the xml file. The REC OUT Gamma setting for instance.
To fine-tune readability, you could replace the strings from the xml file with what is written in the menus:
So REC OUT setting Rec_422_1_5g_SL would be 422 1.5G SL or Project frame rate Tc_23_976 would be 23.976 fps.

GOOD STUFF!

Yes, the stylesheet is not yet finished. I did, however, make some changes since you saw it, so that some of the cryptic values in the XML file now show up as they are shown on the menu on the camera. Tricky. Very tricky! Now, for instance, Tc_23_976, which is the string in the XML file, is displayed as 23.976.
http://josephthomas.info/Alexa/Setup_120511_140322.xml
Part of the delay is that I need to have access to an Alexa so that I can save various setups then read the file to see exactly what is written to the card. Then I can write the code that parses the XML value for each setting so that it is displayed "properly." The other delay is that I am learning to code as I go along.
I appreciate the encouragement and kind words!

[Jamie Metzger]

On a recent tv show, I had to match the settings on 3 cameras. We had custom white balance, FPS and  shutter angle lists. One of our camera's would actually corrupt the XML file so I couldn't share it with the other camera's. I found the editing of the XML file to be very easy (with an HTML background), but the thing that worries me the most is the syntax. A lot of it is very proprietary and arri-centric vernacular. I've asked the guys at arri to list the syntax variables so that I can edit the XML and know that I'm using the correct syntax and spelling.

For multi camera shows with lots of custom settings, it's so much easier to edit the XML on a computer with a keyboard then using the scroll wheel and tying up the camera.

[Josephthomas]

On a recent tv show, I had to match the settings on 3 cameras. We had custom white balance, FPS and  shutter angle lists. One of our camera's would actually corrupt the XML file so I couldn't share it with the other camera's. I found the editing of the XML file to be very easy (with an HTML background), but the thing that worries me the most is the syntax. A lot of it is very proprietary and arri-centric vernacular. I've asked the guys at arri to list the syntax variables so that I can edit the XML and know that I'm using the correct syntax and spelling.

For multi camera shows with lots of custom settings, it's so much easier to edit the XML on a computer with a keyboard then using the scroll wheel and tying up the camera.

I have found many of these by saving a setup file, making a change to the settings, re-saving the setup file, and comparing the two files on a computer. (I have a handy program called "File Compare" (Mac) that highlights differences in text files.)
I don't know why a camera would create a corrupt XML file. I did find that to load a setup file into a camera that the two cameras must be running the same firmware version. My work on my project has been interrupted by "work," but I hope to get back on it soon. As you have some coding knowledge, you can download my style sheet and find some of the code I used to convert strings of text from the XML file into strings that match the text in the menu choices. For example, in the XML file is the string "Rec_Log" which I convert to "LogC" in the stylesheet.