Help with raw data passthrough

[Mekoides]

IÔÇÖm new to EventGhost, so please forgive me if this is a dumb question, but how do I pass raw button press data directly to Windows?

I installed EventGhost because I needed to modify the actions of a few buttons on my MCE remote, but most of the buttons were fine as-is. IÔÇÖve used EventGhost to re-map all of them, but when the buttons are pressed without EventGhost, their actions change depending on context within WMC.

For example, when watching Live TV or browsing the guide in WMC, pressing the number buttons ONLY outputs numbers, but when using WMC extensions or viewing media libraries, they output letters (2 outputs 2, A, B, or C, etc). IÔÇÖve managed to get multitap working to output letters in addition to the numbers, but now watching live TV and changing to, say, channel 11 is a big pain because I have to wait for the multitap timeout before pressing 1 a second time. There are other instances of button behavior changing depending on context in WMC, but this one is the easiest to describe.

IÔÇÖm sure I could figure out an extremely complicated web of if statements looking for specific content in the currently open window, but I figured I would ask here first. Can I just have custom macros for a couple of buttons and have the rest pass directly to the currently active window?

IÔÇÖm running EventGhost 0.4.1.R1722 on Windows 10 version 1511 with WMC for Windows 8.1 installed. Currently using two plugins, Microsoft MCE Remote ÔÇô Vista/Win7 and Multitap.

[kgschlosser]

I am thinking part of your problem is that you are using WMC at the same time as event ghost for the remote. So WMC is doing its thing with the remote at the same time as EG I do not know if the installation of the MCE remote plugin for EG stops the remote from natively working I n WMC. If it does then there is an issue with your setup in EG. And if it doesn't then you have 2 programs trying to tell your computer what to do and they are bumping heads to test this create a new event ghost tree add the Vista/7 MCE remote plugin make sure you run event ghost as administrator before doing this. Because it needs to have admin privileges in order to install the alternate MCE service properly.. once installed when you press buttons in the remote you should see actions in EG

Leaving EG running go and run WMC and see if the remote still functions

And if so then there is part of the problem

And if not then go back to your original tree and try it again. The reason for this is because if you installed the original service without running EG as admin it may not have done it properly. And see if it starts to work better also. I am going to test this myself because I have not done a whole ton of experimenting with WMC and EG because WMC is pretty much dead. And everyone that is currently making software for it has jumped ship since Microsoft stated they are no longer going to release it. So it's going to be hard to find anything that will have any kind of support for it.

Kinda stinks I know


But I have changed over to media portal it has been a daunting task but it is a true multiseat pvr and is very good at it. And it's solid. And also has a nice 10 foot GUI

So this may be an indicator that it's time to start looking for an alternative

Because support is going to be hard to find

K

[kgschlosser]

And also how did you manage to get WMC running on Windows 10?

[Mekoides]

Thank you for your quick and detailed reply.

AlternateMceIrService is installed and running. I did run as admin on install, and with that service running MCE does not accept IR commands at all. Stopping it restores MCEÔÇÖs ability to act normally with the remote. I do see all button press actions in EG.

Perhaps IÔÇÖm just not sending the correct keystroke with EG? When I try with just a keyboard on a different computer, it only does numbers in WMC even when a remote would cycle through its assigned letters. Do you know the proper command/keystroke combo to be sending to WMC? Right now I just have a number, which does not cycle through the associated letters or I have multitap which has the issue I described in my OP.

It took about 6 months after Win10 was released for someone to port it gracefully, but now there are several that work perfectly. This is the one I used. http://www.windowscentral.com/install-m ... windows-10

[kgschlosser]

yeah i found it also. some forum people saying it's buggy tho, how is your experience with it??


and as far as the remote it is working correctly. what we need to do is get the thing working properly in EventGhost.

i am not that familiar with multitap. seemed a bit confusing to set up tho. been a while since i looked at it. so the only problem you are having is the text entry side of things???

i could jam something out for that alone. and how i would set it up is all you would have to do is marry the remote code to actions numbered 0-9 and if one of them is pressed it would start a timer so if the same button wasn't pressed in say 150 milliseconds it would shoot out the number. and if pressed 2 times would be the first letter (emulated on the keyboard)

have it so that you could adjust the timer that way you can zero it in to how fast you are able to press the button.

or maybe we can use on of the buttons on the remote to edit the routine.

i would make it so that if the button was only pressed one time then it would do the timer and then post an event that you could marry to the proper action and if pressed more than one time it would then start emulating the keyboard

i am going to take a look at multitap again. i don't know much about it and i might be able to sort it without having to write anything

[kgschlosser]

ok i'm back that was quick. i get it now.

this is what you should have your tree look like for the multitap. and you have to use the emulate keyboard action that is built into eventghost

if you copy this code you can paste it right into you eventghost tree and it will create the items make sure you have the multitap plugin installed first.

Code: Select all

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<EventGhost Version="1700">
    <Folder Name="MultiTap Example" Expanded="True">
        <Macro Name="Multitap: Key: RemoteKeysPressed: 1">
            <Event Name="MCERemote.Button.1" />
            <Action>
                Multitap.Key(u'numbers', ['1'])
            </Action>
        </Macro>
        <Macro Name="Emulate Keystrokes: 1">
            <Event Name="Multitap.RemoteKeysPressed.1" />
            <Action>
                Window.SendKeys(u'1', False)
            </Action>
        </Macro>
        <Macro Name="Emulate Keystrokes: a">
            <Event Name="Multitap.RemoteKeysPressed.11" />
            <Action>
                Window.SendKeys(u'a', False)
            </Action>
        </Macro>
        <Macro Name="Emulate Keystrokes: b">
            <Event Name="Multitap.RemoteKeysPressed.111" />
            <Action>
                Window.SendKeys(u'b', False)
            </Action>
        </Macro>
        <Macro Name="Emulate Keystrokes: c">
            <Event Name="Multitap.RemoteKeysPressed.1111" />
            <Action>
                Window.SendKeys(u'c', False)
            </Action>
        </Macro>
        <Macro Name="Emulate Keystrokes: A">
            <Event Name="Multitap.RemoteKeysPressed.11111" />
            <Action>
                Window.SendKeys(u'A', False)
            </Action>
        </Macro>
        <Macro Name="Emulate Keystrokes: B">
            <Event Name="Multitap.RemoteKeysPressed.111111" />
            <Action>
                Window.SendKeys(u'B', False)
            </Action>
        </Macro>
        <Macro Name="Emulate Keystrokes: C">
            <Event Name="Multitap.RemoteKeysPressed.1111111" />
            <Action>
                Window.SendKeys(u'C', False)
            </Action>
        </Macro>
    </Folder>
</EventGhost>

i hope this helps you. and there is an adjustable timer for multitap.

what it does is will combine events into one event depending on the number of times you press the buttton. and then you can associate that event with the proper keystroke

K

[Mekoides]

I was actually able to get the exact effect I was looking for by using EG horribly against the intended design. I uninstalled AlternateMceIrService to get my remote working normally, did an export of [HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\HidIr\Remotes], reinstalled the service, and merged the key backup. The effect is to have the remote perform its default Windows action in addition to whatever I want EG to do, rather than have EG replace the action. This way I get the exactly-as-designed numpad behavior and still have the ability to re-assign the keys on my remote that donÔÇÖt do anything (Red, Green, Blue, Yellow, sleep, etc) and add functions to the keys that do.

Thanks for your help!

[kgschlosser]

yeah yeah there are 2 registry keys that are removed when the service installs. i completely forgot about those. because if you leave the serivce installed and then just add the keys back in you get the double thing going


dum dum dum.


well i know how to use multitap anyways.

kind of a goofy plugin tho. maybe i will just make that other plugin anyways. just so it's made and is one piece and isn't as complicated to get going for someone that doesn't know eventghost.

this plugin would be a drag and drop kind of solution and really wouldn't be all that hard. works on the same principal as the multitap just without all the tree items.