MEL How-To #35

How do I get/set the name of the scene that's currently loaded, the current project and the default project?

Scene Name

  string $fileName = `file -q -sceneName`;
  // Result: C:/projects/default/scenes/untitled.mb //

Note: If the scene has just been cleared, querying the sceneName will return an empty string.

If you want to change the name of the scene, you can use:

  file -rename "newSceneName";
  // Result: C:/projects/default/scenes/newSceneName.mb //

Maya will use the current scene type (mayaBinary or mayaAscii) and the current path by default.

  file -rename "C:/projects/toy_story/woody";
  // Result: C:/projects/toy_story/woody.mb //

Here Maya will use the specified filepath and keep the current scene type (mayaBinary or mayaAscii). At this point Maya doesn't care if the path exists.

  file -rename "C:/projects/toy_story/woody.ma";
  // Result: C:/projects/toy_story/woody.mb //

If the scene type is "mayaBinary" Maya will ignore the extension and keep the name "woody.mb".

  file -type "mayaAscii";
  // Result: C:/projects/toy_story/woody.ma //

Maya changes the filetype.

You cannot specify the filetype in conjunction with the −rename flag, but you can specify it in conjunction with the −save flag.

Note: After you perform a ‘file -rename’ Maya does not update the title of Maya's main window to reflect the change. It only does this upon a ‘file -save’. Be careful.

Project (a.k.a. Workspace)

The current Workspace can by queried using:

string $workspace = `workspace -q -fullName`;

// Result: D:/AW/projects/hulk //

If you intend to use this result as the folder for the "getFileList" command then you'll need to ensure a slash is specified as the last character. A variation which includes this trailing slash is the '-dir' flag.

string $workspace = `workspace -q -dir`;

// Result: D:/AW/projects/hulk/ //

getFileList -fld $workspace;

// Result: scenes sourceImages workspace.mel //

The default Workspace may be determined using:

string $workspaces[] = `workspace -q -listFullWorkspaces`;
print ( "Default workspace is: " + $workspaces[0] + "\n" );

Note: This is a bit of assumption on my part that the default Workspace will always be the first item in this array.

15 Sep 2004