QLab Load Time Scrip

After using QLab for a few years, I noticed a recurring theme during tight cue-to-cue rehearsals. Directors and designers would constantly ask, "Can we just jump to the last 10 or 15 seconds of this cue so we can see the next transition?"

While QLab has an excellent built-in "Load to time" function, digging through menus to type in a timestamp takes too long when you need to react in a split second. I needed a hotkey solution.

I dove into QLab scripting, and with some incredible help from the Figure 53 support team, I built an script that handles this instantly. Below is an video and explanation of how the script works, why it's built the way it is, and how you can use it to speed up your tech rehearsals.

Below is an example to load the selected cue to the last 10 seconds.

tell application id "com.figure53.QLab.4" to tell front workspace
    try
        repeat with currentCue in (selected as list)
            pause currentCue
            set theDuration to the duration of currentCue
            load currentCue time (theDuration - 10)
        end repeat
    end try
end tell

The "try" structure means that if this script is run with a selected cue that has no duration, the script will stop running without an error. This way, I will not be interrupted by the error and need to go deal with it. "Try" is like saying "do this code, but if it doesn't work, don't worry about it, and move on."

The "repeat" structure means repeat this script with all the selected cues.

I added the pause function, since after I jumped to the last portion of the cues, I will often need to wait for all the departments to be ready and start the cues again. This is optional.

Set the custom variable "theDuration" to the duration of the selected cues.

Load the selected cues' time to the last 10 seconds of their duration. This can be changed by replacing "10" with any other number to load that number of seconds before the end of the cues.

I setup the hotkey trigger to "control 1" for tricker of load to last 10 seconds scrip cue. It can be any key on the keyboard. Including modifiers "control" key is because in QLab no commands use only the "control" key for modifiers. I learn this form the Figure 53 support team.

I hope this can also be useful for you.