add logging per chunk, and put chunk size to 50 in config

settings/Config.Example.ini

@@ -91,6 +91,11 @@ events_api_url = "https://events.helioviewer.org"
 ; Timeout in seconds for Events API requests
 events_api_timeout = 10
 
+; Number of timestamps per Events API batch request when building a movie.
+; Smaller = faster individual requests, more requests total; larger = fewer
+; round-trips but slower per request. 50 is a balanced default.
+events_api_events_per_frame_chunksize = 50
+
 [movie_params]
 ; FFmpeg location
 ffmpeg = ffmpeg

src/Config.php

@@ -18,7 +18,8 @@ class Config {
 
     private $_bools  = array('disable_cache', 'enable_statistics_collection', 'db_events','sentry_enabled');
     private $_ints   = array('build_num', 'ffmpeg_max_threads',
-                             'max_jpx_frames', 'max_movie_frames');
+                             'max_jpx_frames', 'max_movie_frames',
+                             'events_api_events_per_frame_chunksize');
     private $_floats = array('events_api_timeout');
     private $config;
 
@@ -86,7 +87,9 @@ private function _fixTypes() {
 
         // integers
         foreach ($this->_ints as $int) {
-            $this->config[$int] = (int)$this->config[$int];
+            if (isset($this->config[$int])) {
+                $this->config[$int] = (int)$this->config[$int];
+            }
         }
 
         // floats

src/Event/Api/EventsApi.php

@@ -156,7 +156,7 @@ public function getDistributions(string $size, int $fromTimestamp, int $toTimest
     }
 
     /** {@inheritdoc} */
-    public function getEventsBatch(array $timestamps, array $sources): array
+    public function getEventsBatch(array $timestamps, array $sources, int $chunkSize = 50, string $logLabel = ''): array
     {
         // Only allow known sources
         $validSources = self::filterSources($sources);
@@ -166,9 +166,12 @@ public function getEventsBatch(array $timestamps, array $sources): array
         if (empty($timestamps)) {
             return [];
         }
+        if ($chunkSize < 1) {
+            $chunkSize = 50;
+        }
 
         $sourcesParam = implode('::', $validSources);
-        $chunks = array_chunk($timestamps, 150);
+        $chunks = array_chunk($timestamps, $chunkSize);
         $url = "/helioviewer/events/{$sourcesParam}/observations";
 
         // Closure to fetch a single chunk of timestamps
@@ -193,12 +196,26 @@ public function getEventsBatch(array $timestamps, array $sources): array
             }
         };
 
+        $logChunk = function (int $i, int $total, int $size, int $elapsedMs) use ($logLabel) {
+            if ($logLabel === '') {
+                return;
+            }
+            error_log(sprintf(
+                "[%s] EventsApi chunk %d/%d (%d timestamps) took %dms",
+                $logLabel, $i + 1, $total, $size, $elapsedMs
+            ));
+        };
+
         // First chunk returns full response (event_types + events + observations)
+        $start = microtime(true);
         $merged = $fetchChunk($chunks[0]);
+        $logChunk(0, count($chunks), count($chunks[0]), (int) round((microtime(true) - $start) * 1000));
 
         // Subsequent chunks only add new observations (event_types and events are the same)
         for ($i = 1; $i < count($chunks); $i++) {
+            $start = microtime(true);
             $chunk = $fetchChunk($chunks[$i]);
+            $logChunk($i, count($chunks), count($chunks[$i]), (int) round((microtime(true) - $start) * 1000));
             $merged['observations'] += $chunk['observations'];
         }
 

src/Event/Api/EventsApiInterface.php

@@ -45,8 +45,10 @@ public function getDistributions(string $size, int $fromTimestamp, int $toTimest
      *
      * @param string[] $timestamps Array of observation datetime strings
      * @param string[] $sources Array of source names (e.g. ['HEK', 'CCMC', 'RHESSI'])
+     * @param int $chunkSize Max timestamps per upstream POST request
+     * @param string $logLabel Optional label prepended to per-chunk error_log lines (e.g. "Movie:Xp66n")
      * @return array Keyed by timestamp, each value is legacy-format event categories
      * @throws EventsApiException on API errors or unexpected responses
      */
-    public function getEventsBatch(array $timestamps, array $sources): array;
+    public function getEventsBatch(array $timestamps, array $sources, int $chunkSize = 50, string $logLabel = ''): array;
 }

src/Image/Composite/HelioviewerCompositeImage.php

@@ -646,6 +646,7 @@ private function _addEventLayer($imagickImage) {
 
         // Fetch events via batch (movies have pre-fetched, screenshots fetch for single timestamp)
         if (empty($this->batchEventResponse)) {
+            error_log("[date={$this->date}] batchEventResponse empty, fetching single timestamp");
             try {
                 $this->batchEventResponse = $this->eventsApi->getEventsBatch(
                     [$this->date],

src/Movie/HelioviewerMovie.php

@@ -423,9 +423,11 @@ public function getCurrentFrame() {
             }
         }
 
-        // Do not call closedir boolean if we can not open directory
+        // The frames directory may not exist yet when getMovieStatus is polled
+        // very early in PROCESSING -- before _buildMovieFrames has created it.
+        // Treat that as "0 frames written so far" instead of throwing.
         if (false === $handle) {
-            throw new \Exception("Could not find requested movie frames");
+            return 0;
         }
 
         @closedir($handle);
@@ -502,6 +504,14 @@ private function _buildMovieFrames($watermark) {
 
         $this->_dbSetup();
 
+        // Pre-create the frames directory so getMovieStatus polls that arrive
+        // while the events prefetch is still running don't see a missing dir
+        // (status flips to PROCESSING the moment build() is invoked).
+        $framesDir = $this->directory . 'frames';
+        if (!@file_exists($framesDir)) {
+            @mkdir($framesDir, 0775, true);
+        }
+
         $frameNum = 0;
 
         // Movie frame parameters
@@ -520,21 +530,48 @@ private function _buildMovieFrames($watermark) {
             'switchSources' => $this->switchSources
         );
 
-        // Preload events for all frames in 1-2 batch requests
+        // Preload events for all frames. EventsApi handles chunking internally
+        // using the configured chunk size and labels per-chunk logs with the movie ID.
         $timestamps = $this->_getTimeStamps();
         $eventsApi = new EventsApi();
         $batchResponse = [];
         $sources = $this->_eventsManager->getSources();
+        $movieId = $this->publicId;
+
+        error_log(sprintf(
+            "[Movie:%s] Starting movie build, frames=%d, sources=%s, hasEvents=%s",
+            $movieId,
+            count($timestamps),
+            $sources ? implode(',', $sources) : '(none)',
+            $this->_eventsManager->hasEvents() ? 'true' : 'false'
+        ));
 
         if ($this->_eventsManager->hasEvents()) {
+            $chunkSize = defined('HV_EVENTS_API_EVENTS_PER_FRAME_CHUNKSIZE')
+                ? HV_EVENTS_API_EVENTS_PER_FRAME_CHUNKSIZE
+                : 50;
+
+            $totalStart = microtime(true);
             try {
-                $batchResponse = $eventsApi->getEventsBatch($timestamps, $sources);
+                $batchResponse = $eventsApi->getEventsBatch(
+                    $timestamps,
+                    $sources,
+                    $chunkSize,
+                    "Movie:{$movieId}"
+                );
             } catch (EventsApiException $e) {
-                error_log("[Movie:{$this->publicId}] Batch events failed: " . $e->getMessage());
-            } catch (\Exception $e) {
-                error_log("[Movie:{$this->publicId}] Unexpected error fetching events: " . $e->getMessage());
+                error_log("[Movie:{$movieId}] Batch events failed: " . $e->getMessage());
+            } catch (\Throwable $e) {
+                error_log("[Movie:{$movieId}] Unexpected error fetching events: " . $e->getMessage());
                 Sentry::capture($e);
             }
+            $totalMs = (int) round((microtime(true) - $totalStart) * 1000);
+            error_log(sprintf(
+                "[Movie:%s] all event chunks done in %dms (%d frames)",
+                $movieId, $totalMs, count($timestamps)
+            ));
+        } else {
+            error_log("[Movie:{$movieId}] No event types selected, skipping EventsApi request");
         }
 
         $options['batchEventResponse'] = $batchResponse;

tests/autoload.php

@@ -9,6 +9,14 @@
  * included in every main php source file...).
  */
 
+// Redirect PHP's error_log destination off stderr. PHPUnit's
+// @runInSeparateProcess tests use stderr as their IPC channel with the child
+// process, so any stray error_log() call in production code corrupts the IPC
+// and surfaces as a PHPUnit\Framework\Exception. Sending to a temp file keeps
+// the messages around for inspection without breaking the tests.
+ini_set('log_errors', '1');
+ini_set('error_log', sys_get_temp_dir() . '/helioviewer-test.log');
+
 // Load Helioviewer Configuration. This defines all the HV_* variables
 // seen throughout the project
 require_once __DIR__ . '/../src/Config.php';

tests/unit_tests/events/api/GetEventsBatchTest.php

@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ public function testItShouldPaginateTimestampsAt150(): void
 
         $this->mockLegacyEvents->method('convertAll')->willReturn([]);
 
-        $this->eventsApi->getEventsBatch($timestamps, ['HEK']);
+        $this->eventsApi->getEventsBatch($timestamps, ['HEK'], 150);
     }
 
     public function testItShouldThrowAndCaptureSentryOnHttpError(): void
@@ -156,6 +156,6 @@ public function testItShouldMergeObservationsAcrossChunksAndPassToConverter(): v
             }))
             ->willReturn([]);
 
-        $this->eventsApi->getEventsBatch($timestamps, ['HEK']);
+        $this->eventsApi->getEventsBatch($timestamps, ['HEK'], 150);
     }
 }