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[DeleteMe]

Is there a way to have an Interface Plug-in take over the entire desktop?  The Hairstyle feature of MC is awesome, however, I'd like to create a custom version of my own (more than what is supported by main.xml etc.).  So I guess I'm looking for a Hairstyle Plug-in SDK or a Fullscreen Interface Plug-in SDK.

[Matt]

Sorry, you can't currently do this.

Maybe in a future version...

[DeleteMe]

Matt,

First of all, thanks for the reply!  I know it can be tedious answering all these questions.

I have another idea that I'd like to run by you.

The Metamorphis skin documentation has an EXTRA for COM dlls and a PLACEHOLDER for placing the COM Controls in a WINDOW.

Here's my idea; create a mini-me Main window that takes the entire display and make it 'always on top'.  PLACEHOLDER the COM Control to fill the entire Main window.  Pass the MJAutomation object to the COM control via Metamophis script in an init function (if necessary).  Will this allow a Fullscreen COM control with access to the MJAutomation object?

[DeleteMe]

I just tried this and it ended out working quite well, I was surprised.

I referenced the BusyBox Interface Plug-in in the Main.xml using the PLACEHOLDERS tag:


<WINDOW Name="Visualization" Bitmap="visualization.gif" TransColor="FF00FF">
     <PLACEHOLDERS>      
           <Entry Type="{E76AD3A4-1254-44D2-99C1-9972BC9FE02B}" Name="Vis" Rect="0,0,400,300" />
     </PLACEHOLDERS>
</WINDOW>


In the script file in the OnInitialize function I called the COM Controls Init method and passed it the MJAutomation object:


function OnInitialize() {
     Vis.Init( MJAutomation );
}


There is one problem however, the player crashes when it exits or when the mode is changed to Mega-Me.  I've tried this with several COM contols (including MC's Vis Studio Display Plugin) and it still seems to crash (with build 91222).  Is is possible to have a developer look into this?   :-)


One other question, what does the EXTRAS - COM tag do?  Is it used to resolve CLSID's that aren't registered?

<EXTRAS>
     <Entry Type="COM" File="C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center\Visualizations\Vis Studio\Vis Studio.dll" />
</EXTRAS>

[Matt]

Sizing is going to be tricky since mini-me can't really resize.

One idea is to make an Interface plugin that creates it's own topmost popup window.  That'd do what you wanted, but I don't know how smooth it'd integrate.

One final option is a display plugin, but it's only available while MC is playing.

[DeleteMe]

Sizing is going to be tricky since mini-me can't really resize.

I see your point; it's not the best solution but it should suit my needs. . . although I doubt I'd make this available to others (it wouldn't be clean enough).

One idea is to make an Interface plugin that creates it's own topmost popup window.  That'd do what you wanted, but I don't know how smooth it'd integrate.

This sounds like a great idea, I did think I was able to draw outside the client site however.  I'll give this a whirl though, thanks for the suggestion.

One final option is a display plugin, but it's only available while MC is playing.

This was acutally my original idea, and I ran into the problem that you described.  In addtion, when the mouse is moved, the top and bottom control bars always appear (is there a setting to prevent this?).

- - - -

Any word on the crash when placing COM controls in Mini-Me using the PLACEMENT tag (crashes when returning to Mega-Me or when exiting)?  It would be nice to have this fixed before 9.1 is released.  Should I post this in the 'Media Center 9.1.224 beta available' thread?


Thanks again!