Add flag to omit timestamp in output directory (#253)

* Add flag to omit timestamp in output directory

* Redefine constructor test using pytest monkeypatching rather than unittest's mock (for consistency with the rest)

* Simplify test for tracking constructor

* Reduce number of fixtures in test_tracking_constructor using factories

* Add test_prep_outputs using mock_mkdir

* Parametrize test_prep_outputs

* Adapt constructor tests to new fixtures

* Update README

* Small fixes to docs

* Small changes to docstrings and comments

README.md

@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ To track crabs in a new video, using a trained detector and a tracker, run the f
 detect-and-track-video --trained_model_path <path-to-ckpt-file> --video_path <path-to-input-video>
 ```
 
-This will produce a `tracking_output_<timestamp>` directory with the output from tracking under the current working directory.
+This will produce a `tracking_output_<timestamp>` directory with the output from tracking under the current working directory. To avoid adding the `<timestamp>` suffix to the directory name, run the command with the `--output_dir_no_timestamp` flag. To see the full list of possible arguments to the `detect-and-track-video` command, run it with the `--help` flag.
 
 The tracking output consists of:
 - a .csv file named `<video-name>_tracks.csv`, with the tracked bounding boxes data;
@@ -153,8 +153,6 @@ If a file with ground-truth annotations is passed to the command (with the `--an
 
 <!-- When used in combination with the `--save_video` flag, the tracked video will contain predicted bounding boxes in red, and ground-truth bounding boxes in green. -- PR 216-->
 
-To see the full list of possible arguments to the `evaluate-detector` command, run it with the `--help` flag.
-
 ## Task-specific guides
 For further information on specific tasks, such as launching a training job or evaluating a set of models in the HPC cluster, please see [our guides](guides).
 

crabs/tracker/track_video.py

@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ def __init__(self, args: argparse.Namespace) -> None:
 
         # input video data
         self.input_video_path = args.video_path
-        self.input_video_file_root = f"{Path(self.input_video_path).stem}"
+        self.input_video_file_root = Path(self.input_video_path).stem
 
         # tracking output directory root name
         self.tracking_output_dir_root = args.output_dir
@@ -92,15 +92,19 @@ def prep_outputs(self):
 
         This method:
         - creates a timestamped directory to store the tracking output.
+          Optionally the timestamp can be omitted.
         - sets the name of the output csv file for the tracked bounding boxes.
         - sets up the output video path if required.
         - sets up the frames subdirectory path if required.
         """
         # Create output directory
-        timestamp = datetime.now().strftime("%Y%m%d_%H%M%S")
-        self.tracking_output_dir = Path(
-            self.tracking_output_dir_root + f"_{timestamp}"
-        )
+        if self.args.output_dir_no_timestamp:
+            self.tracking_output_dir = Path(self.tracking_output_dir_root)
+        else:
+            timestamp = datetime.now().strftime("%Y%m%d_%H%M%S")
+            self.tracking_output_dir = Path(
+                self.tracking_output_dir_root + f"_{timestamp}"
+            )
         self.tracking_output_dir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
 
         # Set name of output csv file
@@ -366,13 +370,23 @@ def tracking_parse_args(args):
         default="tracking_output",
         help=(
             "Root name of the directory to save the tracking output. "
-            "The name of the output directory is appended with a timestamp. "
+            "By default, the name of the output directory is appended with "
+            "a timestamp. The timestamp can be omitted with the "
+            "--output_dir_no_timestamp flag. "
             "The tracking output consist of a .csv. file named "
             "<video-name>_tracks.csv with the tracked bounding boxes. "
             "Optionally, it can include a video file named "
             "<video-name>_tracks.mp4, and all frames from the video "
             "under a <video-name>_frames subdirectory. "
-            "Default: ./tracking_output_<timestamp>. "
+            "Default: tracking_output_<timestamp>. "
+        ),
+    )
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "--output_dir_no_timestamp",
+        action="store_true",
+        help=(
+            "Flag to disable appending a timestamp to the output "
+            "directory name. "
         ),
     )
     parser.add_argument(