binlock will create an Avid bin lock (.lck) file with custom text. This can be used to programatically create a bin lock for a given Avid user, or to "permanently" lock an Avid bin while displaying a custom message.
binlock is intended to be run via the command line:
$ python3 binlock.py CustomText /output/path.lck...where CustomText is the text you would like displayed, and /output/path.lck is the filename of the lock you would like to create.
If CustomText is set to a username that exists in your Avid environment, the lock will simply belong to that user until they open and close the bin. But if CustomText is set to something else -- like a passive-aggressive message, for example -- the bin will be "permanently" locked until the .lck file is manually removed.
binlock will always ensure the file extension is .lck, no matter what is specified in the output path. Because of this, a more intuitive way to use binlock is to provide the path to the Avid bin (.avb) itself -- by simply dragging it into the terminal window -- and an accompanying .lck file will be created with the same name as the bin. For example:
$ python3 binlock.py "Do Not Touch" /Volumes/AvidProject/Bins/ImportantBin.avb...will create a lock file at /Volumes/AvidProject/Bins/ImportantBin.lck and the bin will be immediately seen as locked in Avid.
By default, binlock will never overwrite an existing lock.
Avid's bin lock file isn't anything wild. It's simply a UTF-16le (No BOM)-encoded text file, padded out to 255 characters. But... you know... I mean... I don't know. Maybe the script is a little bit quicker than setting up your text editor for a less-common character encoding.
binsmith- Create Avid bins with custom settings