GB-PVR plugin

zehd · Post by **zehd** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 10:49 pm

Hi there. Great piece of software.
Using beta 3.6, MCE 2005 ver2 Remote, GB-PVR plugin

With your latest beta software you introduced the GB-PVR plugin.

I noticed that 'ChannelUp' , 'ChannelDown' and '{F7}' (aspect ratio toggle) were missing. Perhaps the HipGuide and GB-PVR wiki may have missed those features.

Another feature of GB-PVR is being able to jump a certain amount of minutes forward or back by pressing a number or numbers and then either skip forward or backward. ( 1 + 0 + |> would jump the video ahead ten minutes)

The On/Off feature that is in the GB-PVR plugin does not seem to work for me, and I have not been able to come up with a macro/action combination that would let me toggle on and off status... (Start or Close GB-PVR)

Also, I noticed that the response with my remote (MCE 2005 ver 2) is a little too quick. (a quite a few double presses) I wondered whether adding a button press timing would be on the MCE plugin, the GB-PVR plugin, or whether it could only be a macro where the

Bitmonster · Post by **Bitmonster** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 11:35 pm

The plug-in is a one-to-one mapping of the messages found in the HIP guide. Without the right message numbers, I can't improve the plug-in. So you may ask the developer of GB-PVR if he has a better list.

I've just uploaded a new beta with a time-out value for the MCE plug-in. You can try to slightly increase the value to see if it helps with the double presses.

zehd · Post by **zehd** » Sat Apr 21, 2007 3:01 am

Thanks for the reply

Bitmonster wrote:The plug-in is a one-to-one mapping of the messages found in the HIP guide. Without the right message numbers, I can't improve the plug-in. So you may ask the developer of GB-PVR if he has a better list.

I've just uploaded a new beta with a time-out value for the MCE plug-in. You can try to slightly increase the value to see if it helps with the double presses.

If you'd like I could give you a copy of the XML that I put together, that was able to solve some of the issues.

Here are the missing codes...

31715 #
31714 *
31725 CH+
31724 CH-
31732 ENTER
31733 CLEAR
31707 DVD
31706 TV_LIVE
31705 GUIDE
31671 TV_REC

And then there is also the Aspect Ratio toggle of {F7}.

I will be trying the newer version. Thanks

zehd · Post by **zehd** » Sat Apr 21, 2007 3:11 am

The new beta works well. I noticed that if I set it to 0.00, there is no 'second' press either. Perhap you straightened something else out in the code.

Anyway thanks.

Bitmonster · Post by **Bitmonster** » Sat Apr 21, 2007 4:00 am

What kind of codes should these be?
As message number I see no reaction. As lParam for WM_USER I also see no reaction (these are actually the codes the MCE replacement driver delivers). The sometimes mentioned 32775 message also has no reaction.

Actually I'm a bit disappointed from GB-PVR. The documentation of this most essential SendMessage handling is a big mess. Contradictory and incomplete informations everywhere and mostly second-hand.

zehd · Post by **zehd** » Sun Apr 22, 2007 10:44 pm

Bitmonster wrote:What kind of codes should these be?
As message number I see no reaction. As lParam for WM_USER I also see no reaction (these are actually the codes the MCE replacement driver delivers). The sometimes mentioned 32775 message also has no reaction.

Actually I'm a bit disappointed from GB-PVR. The documentation of this most essential SendMessage handling is a big mess. Contradictory and incomplete informations everywhere and mostly second-hand.

It would seem that GB-PVR was written to receive keyboard input rather then sendmessage. HIP too needed to be configured to send keystrokes.

You are write, that if the interface exists, we'd need to bring in the author of GB-PVR...For now, it seems that the send keys works well...

zehd · Post by **zehd** » Sat May 19, 2007 7:36 pm

BitMonster, I took a while getting back to this because I was able to get further NOT using the GB-PVR plugin. But while I'm here for another issue I thought I'd pass on what the author said about GB-PVR...

Basically, GB-PVR receives Key strokes. You can still send SendMessage messages by sending the keystrokes as the values...

Here is a quote from the author, Sub...

Basically you can send message id 0x00008007, with wParam set to the key code. Some examples:

(from logs - NOT actual code...)
2007-04-23 17:08:36.883 VERBOSE [1] OnKeyDown: Up value=38
2007-04-23 17:08:37.437 VERBOSE [1] OnKeyDown: Down value=40
2007-04-23 17:08:37.940 VERBOSE [1] OnKeyDown: Left value=37
2007-04-23 17:08:38.459 VERBOSE [1] OnKeyDown: Right value=39
2007-04-23 17:08:40.491 VERBOSE [1] OnKeyDown: Return value=13
etc...

Sorry - your install wont generate these log messages, but these are standard key codes, so there should be a table somewhere. These give you a few matches to get you started.

As noted, the examples are not lines of sendmessage codes, but rather examples of the standard values that can be used.

Perhaps I'm missing something here, but I'm not sure what is the need for a GB-PVR plugin at all. The first xml that wakalaka created for us, used getwindow, emulate key, etc...

Would a Plugin do the same thing, just more tidy?

Bitmonster · Post by **Bitmonster** » Sat May 19, 2007 8:41 pm

A plugin is much more convenient for the user. Especially if the author of the target application changes anything. For example the GB-PVR wiki has a flaw, because the FindWindow action uses the window class in the search. This class looks like an compiler generated name in the case of GB-PVR. If a new GB-PVR version arrives, all actions can break, because the class name will likely change. For self-made actions every user will have to update every action to the new situation. In case of a plugin only one person can update it for all users.

Plugins are generally also faster. EG's FindWindow and SendKeys need much more computation.

The idea to use keystrokes for message passing is a bad one. Every good program should allow the user to modify his key layout (programmers should realize there are more languages and alphabets in the world then the English one). But if it is possible to modify it, the approach to use key messages will break, as Alt-P might not be Alt-P at the users setup for example. So this is a bad and half-baked design.

zehd · Post by **zehd** » Sun May 20, 2007 12:51 am

Bitmonster wrote:A plugin is much more convenient for the user. Especially if the author of the target application changes anything. For example the GB-PVR wiki has a flaw, because the FindWindow action uses the window class in the search. This class looks like an compiler generated name in the case of GB-PVR. If a new GB-PVR version arrives, all actions can break, because the class name will likely change. For self-made actions every user will have to update every action to the new situation. In case of a plugin only one person can update it for all users.

Plugins are generally also faster. EG's FindWindow and SendKeys need much more computation.

The idea to use keystrokes for message passing is a bad one. Every good program should allow the user to modify his key layout (programmers should realize there are more languages and alphabets in the world then the English one). But if it is possible to modify it, the approach to use key messages will break, as Alt-P might not be Alt-P at the users setup for example. So this is a bad and half-baked design.

This is twice that you slammed GB-PVR, sir. Your idea for EventGhost is good on the surface, but it's implementation and certainly your support is greatly lacking.

The author of GB-PVR would never say it himself, but he is a far better programmer than any of us may hope to be. I am a programmer myself, and know very well how to troubleshoot something as basic as your offering. Unfortunately your web presence is far too inflexible and conceited for me to ever recommend or support it within the GB-PVR community.

Thank you for your time, and my apologies to this community.