REACT (Run EAC Tasks) can be used in conjunction with Exact Audio Copy (EAC), as an external compressor.

It is, however, not an encoder, but an interim application that provides a scripting facility to call muliple encoders or pre-/post-encoding applications to process the WAVE files created by EAC, or the files created by the script itself. In short, REACT allows you to run multiple tasks on the audio extracted, instead of only one.

REACT integrates with Exact Audio Copy, adding some hotkeys combinations to access often used functions more quickly. It will also alter the default name for image files according to your INI settings, and close the extraction dialogue in order for the logfile to be created and used from within your script. It can auto-configure EAC, updating the external compression options so that EAC is ready to run REACT immediately. This feature is extremely useful for novice users.

REACT is configured using an INI file and config files. The commands used within the config files are command line/DOS commands, with the addition of numerous variables which REACT makes available. For example, any instance of @artist@ in the script will be replaced by the freedb artist name, while $artist$ will be replaced with a filename-friendly version of the artist name (with illegal characters replaced according to your requirements).

Hotkeys

REACT adds a few useful hotkeys to EAC:

Key	Function
F1	Wiki page for EAC.
Alt-F1	Wiki page for REACT (this page).
Ctrl-F2	Configure EAC to be used with REACT.
Alt-F2	Edit REACT.ini in notepad.
Alt-F3	Edit REACT-image.cfg in notepad.
F4	Copy selected tracks. This activates the function Shift-F5 in EAC by default. You may edit REACT.ini and set TracksHotVal=+{F6} if you want to do Test & Copy instead of Copy only. If the INI key CreateAllCuesheets=1, all four cuesheet types are saved as different files as well.
F10	Shortcut to menu "Action - Copy Image and Save CUE Sheet - Compressed...". REACT will fill in the image name, as defined in the ImageNaming INI key (template). REACT will also close the Save Wavform dialog automatically if you have configured EAC to extract to a fixed directory.

Available Variables

Variable	Description
PATHS AND FILES
@reactdir@	The path to the directory in which REACT resides
@tools@	The path to the directory in which the encoders reside. Set within the INI file
@mymusic@	The path to your 'My Music' folder
@sourcedir@	The path to the folder in which the ripped source files are located (WAV/LOG/CUE)
@basename@	The name of the file being created, excluding folders and extension
@source@	The path to the temporary source WAVE file
@image@	The path to the final image file, when used in Copy Image mode
@sourcecuesheet@	The path to the (temporary) source cuesheet, when used in Copy Image mode
@cuesheet@	The path to the final cuesheet, when used in Copy Image mode
@eaclog@	The path to the log file created by EAC
@albumfile@	The base path to the cuesheet files without extension, created when CreateAllCuesheets=1 in the INI file. E.g, "@albumfile@.[mg].cue" is the multiple wav files cuesheet with gaps.

METADATA
@cdartist@	The name of the CD artist. If @various@=1 @cdartist@ equals the variable @va@, otherwise @artist@. Use $cdartist$ in file paths
@artist@	The name of the track artist. Use $artist$ in paths
@album@	The name of the album. Use $album$ in paths
@title@	The song title. Use $title$ in paths
@track@	The track number. Use $track$ to zero-pad the track number, i.e.: turn 9 into 09
@numtracks@	The total number of tracks. Use $numtracks$ to zero-pad the number
@genre@	The album genre. Use $genre$ in paths
@year@	The album year
@comment@	The comment. Use $comment$ in paths
@freedbid@	The freedb ID

OTHER
@crc@	The CRC of the file
@bitrate@	The value of the Bitrate dropdown on EAC's External Compressor dialogue
@curdate@	The current date

Global INI Keys

The first section of the REACT INI sets some global keys, which can be used in any or all encoder configs. These variables refer to high level settings, like the path to EAC, rather than encoder-specific settings.

Here is an example:

[Settings]
Version=2.1
ImageExt=flac
ImageNaming=$artist$ - [$year$] $album$
ImageHotKey={F10}
TracksHotKey={F4}
TracksHotVal=+{F5}
VA=Various Artists
CreateAllCuesheets=0
RunCoverDownloader=1
CoverDownloader=C:\Program Files\REACT2\coverdownloader\albumart.exe
EAC=C:\Program Files\Exact Audio Copy\EAC.exe
MinimizeCompressionWindow=1
ProcessPriority=1
Sla_Bks_Col_Qst_Bar_Quo_Ast_Lt_Gt=-|-|-||!|'|#|[|]

A Few Of The Important INI Keys

Some of the keys are obvious, and some you really don't need to bother with unless you are a REACT Ninja, but here's a few to watch out for:

Variable	Description
ImageExt	Image mode only (F10). The format extension for the compressed image file + cuefile. E.g. flac, wv, or mp3. Set to wav when no compressed image is desired.
VA	Default set to 'Various Artists'. The variable @va@ holds this string. See @cdartist@ above for more details.
CreateAllCuesheets	If set to 1, all four availabe types of cuesheets will be saved to the extraction directory, which must be preconfigured in EAC. The cuesheet base name can be accessed using the @albumfile@ variable.
ImageNaming	This variable detirmines how image files, and their cuesheets, will be named when REACT is used in image mode. Variables available are: $album$; $artist$; $year$; $genre$; and $freedb$. These are populated from the values of EAC's textboxes, and therefore do not strictly relate to the extended variables available within your config. Please note: Your scheme must begin "$artist$ -" in order for Various Artists discs to be recognised properly.
Sla_Bks_Col_Qst_Bar_Quo_Ast_Lt_Gt	Some characters cannot be used in file or folder names. This variable allows you to specify what these characters should be replaced with. Slash; Backslash; Colon; Question Mark; Bar (Pipe); Quotes; Asterisk; Less Than; Greater Than. It is also possible to convert Space to e.g. _ by appending a Bar and a _ (after the Gt convert character).
Debug	If you are having problems with your config file setup, set this value to 1. REACT will then pause before exiting, so you can examine the console output to attempt to determine where your process fell down.

The Encoder Config Files

There are three config files in total; The INI file, one CFG file for ripping to audio track files, and one for ripping to an audio image with cuesheet. The config files are stored in the REACT folder, and are named:

File	Description
REACT.ini	Regular INI file with key=values pairs. Defines variables used by the CFG files.
REACT-tracks.cfg	- Used for "Copy Selected Tracks Compressed", default shortcut : F4
REACT-image.cfg	- Used for "Copy Image & Create CUE Sheet Compressed", default shortcut : F10

..To be continued...

Links

Ask REACT questions in this thread : http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=35158

Download REACT from this thread : http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=36261