Windows Media Center (MCE) - Beta

[stottle]

Thanks Brett, That's what I was looking for!

No problem. Glad you got it working!

Yes, the logs look like this.

Code: Select all

MceRemote.Right
   MCE: Right
      MCE: Right

Event, Macro, Action.

Ok, that looks like a problem in the plugin. Does it make any difference between fullscreen or not?

Here's the relevant code. Since you aren't getting the "MCE is not running" message, the FindMCE() call must be succeeding. My guess is that ehshell is made up of multiple windows, and the message is being sent to the wrong one.

Code: Select all

FindMCE = eg.WindowMatcher(u'ehshell.exe', u'Windows Media Center', None, None, None, 0, False, 0.0, 0)

class hotKeys(eg.ActionClass):
    
    def __call__(self):
        hwnds = FindMCE()
        if len(hwnds) != 0:
            eg.SendKeys(hwnds[0], self.value, False)
        else:
            self.PrintError("MCE is not running")
            return

Unfortunately the computer I have with MCE is occupied. Can you run the FindWindow action and see what windows MCE lists? Or better yet, use the FindowWindow results to see if you can find the parameters for WindowMatcher that work? Otherwise you'll have to wait until I bring the computer into my "lab".

Brett

[JasonD]

Unfortunately the computer I have with MCE is occupied. Can you run the FindWindow action and see what windows MCE lists? Or better yet, use the FindowWindow results to see if you can find the parameters for WindowMatcher that work? Otherwise you'll have to wait until I bring the computer into my "lab".

Brett

Good question about the fullscreen. I hadn't tried, as my TV is in being repaired, so I only had the one screen attached, and had MCE in windowed mode so I could see both it and EGs log at the same time.

When i get home, I'll try fullscreen as well as trying the findwindow at different levels.

[HappyHallsy]

Heya Guys just on a side note here....... I have modified this plugin ever so slightly to allow for the Jaycar / Digitech xc4889 Keymaps

Was a big problem for alot of people using this remote as a cheap replacement for the Media Centre one that is no longer available in Aus here....

File Attached

[JasonD]

Unfortunately the computer I have with MCE is occupied. Can you run the FindWindow action and see what windows MCE lists? Or better yet, use the FindowWindow results to see if you can find the parameters for WindowMatcher that work? Otherwise you'll have to wait until I bring the computer into my "lab".

Brett

Tried fullscreen and windowed, both give the same results.
Also tried checking different boxes in the "Find Window" action, (tried both fullscreen and windowed too) and still no luck. It is definitely finding the correct window though, because if I stick a "Bring to Front" command in before the "Emulate Keystroke", it brings Media Center to the front, and is then able to move the selector.

There has to be a way to do it, because MCE responds to the media buttons on my keyboard, even if another window has focus.

[nunovi]

Hi,

Any news on this? I'm also unable to control Media Center when it's out of focus...
It's a pain especially for the audio commands (play, pause, etc) whilst browsing, requiring me to switch back to WMC just for that. The Windows Media Player plugin works correctly for this but unfortunately it doesn't control videos, just the music in WMC.

Happy to provide any information necessary to help sort out the problem. I'm on Windows 7 Home Premium, EventGhost 0.3.7.r1194, MCE Plugin and Microsoft MCE Remote for Vista/Win7.

Appreciate your help.

Nuno

[porko]

I was trying to get EG running with XBMC, but it's takign a lot more effort than expected, which prevents the kids from watching their movies in MCE.

I added the MCE plug in and opted to disable the HID device. The remote control does not operate Vista MCE now (thats expected I guess).

So I need to re-enable it until I have a decent amount of time to play around with it.

Can anyone advise how I re-enable it so we can use MCE?

Many thanks
Paul

[porko]

Fixed.

Removed MCE plugin.
Added MCE Plugin but de-selected the option to remove the HID device.
Rebooted. Now all OK.
Common sense really.

Now I know how to do this I can spend some some playing with it.

Paul

[rausch101]

Nevermind. Fixed.

Works well...good job!

[Bitmonster]

I have some suggestions for this plugin:
1. I would rename it to "Windows Media Center Actions" or something like this, to make it more obvious, that this plugin is intended to operate the MCE program and not a plugin to use an MCE remote.
2. This plugin is a perfect candidate for setting createMacrosOnAdd = True.
3. A GUID for 0.4.0 would be fine.

Looking at the source code, I think some ideas of your ContextSwitch-Branch (or how was it called?), could be adapted to the core. But this we can discuss elsewhere.

[stottle]

I have some suggestions for this plugin:
1. I would rename it to "Windows Media Center Actions" or something like this, to make it more obvious, that this plugin is intended to operate the MCE program and not a plugin to use an MCE remote.

Good idea, will do.

2. This plugin is a perfect candidate for setting createMacrosOnAdd = True.

True, and I used createMacrosOnAdd originally. My branch doesn't work the same way, which led me to take it out.

3. A GUID for 0.4.0 would be fine.

I had a computer crash and when I tried to restore from my backup server I discovered my backup server had problems, too. Not nice. So I'm still recovering slowly and I don't have EG development working yet. I will make these changes/test out 0.4/add a GUID when I'm up and running again. I've got a couple other things on my plate, so it is taking longer than I'd expected.

Looking at the source code, I think some ideas of your ContextSwitch-Branch (or how was it called?), could be adapted to the core. But this we can discuss elsewhere.

Fair enough.

It's great to see you actively engaged on the forums again, BTW!

Brett

[per]

Message to Bitmonster,

I installed a fit-PC2 a few days ago which has a driver for EG. My reason for using the IR port and a basic remote controll is to run Windows Media Center and I was surprised to find that a plugin for WMC did not exist in EG.

After scanning this forum a few evenings I finally found MCE.zip which works really well.

Comments:
It would be great if MCE.zip was included as a plugin called "Plugin for Windows Media Center".
I was confused with the other MCE driver which is for the Microsoft remote, i.e. hardware.

Anyway, EG is a great program and I can now control WMC as I want.

Per

[adeb2]

Thank you for writing this plugin Brett.

Is there any change of implementing sending messages to Windows Media Center without it requiring focus ?
I know this is something more people are after.

I see your plugin uses eg.sendKeys(), which in turn calls SendRawCodes2(), which I expected to be able to send messages to non-focused windows.
As SendRawCodes1 explicitly states "Can only send to the frontmost window."

I will play with it a bit more..

Arend

[needsnumbers]

So this is my first reply. I've been trying to get get the plug-in to do what I need... which is control Netflix from within WMC. Trouble is that it doesn't work, fine when in focus and controlling music playback and various navigation but there is no control once the Netflix plug-in is started. Very disappointed and discouraged as I really like my small Sirius satellite remote
Is anybody else running into the same trouble? I haven't tried using this plug-in to control movie playback as I don't use WMC to play movies on my system... just Netflix. Ugh

[ruggie2]

So this is my first reply. I've been trying to get get the plug-in to do what I need... which is control Netflix from within WMC. Trouble is that it doesn't work, fine when in focus and controlling music playback and various navigation but there is no control once the Netflix plug-in is started.

Same exact issue here. The same problem also occurs with the PowerDVD plugin for WMC7. Also there is no workaround using the PowerDVD plugin because an event is not created when PowerDVD (or Netflix) is launched through WMC7. I found a few other people having this issue on other forums, but no resolution.

With the PowerDVD plugin you can use the arrow keys and enter only. Keyboard control does not work. The only solution I found is to use an official MCE remote. This is not an option for me because a dedicated PC in the basement runs a TV in one room and projector in another. I use a Firefly RF remote for both setups. Help with this issue would be greatly appreciated. The PowerDVD plugin is nice and seamless and Netflix is great. I hate having to grab the mouse to pause a Neflix movie.

[adeb2]

Windows Media Center lacks a decent API to control it externally. It is a real pain in the &%&^ to make any of this work consistently. I know because I have wasted a considerable amount of time creating a plugin that does not require MCE to have focus.