Topic: Logitech iTouch Keyboards "Patch" (Read 4223 times)

d_pert · « **on:** October 09, 2003, 02:10:23 pm »

Hi,

Here is how I have made my Logitech keyboard with the fancy "media" buttons work properly with MC, meaning Windows Media Player does not always come up when you use the Play/Pause button regardless of MC's status and all the controls work exclusively and snapily with MC even if it doesn't have the focus...

I'm running Windows XP, with the latest version of Logitech's iTouch (2.15.264) www.logitech.com and MC 9.1.269 installed.

Steps

1. Copy the following text between the dashed lines into a new .txt file using Notepad, not including the dashed lines, and yes, the \\'s look wierd but must stay in:

---------------------
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\Media Center]
@="C:\\Program Files\\J River\\Media Center\\Media Jukebox.exe"
"Path"="C:\\Program Files\\J River\\Media Center"
---------------------

Note: You may wish to change to C: to another drive if your \Program Files is rooted in another drive. Also note that the paths referred in this registry key are the default location for MC and if you changed the default location when installing you will have to edit the paths to reflect. Ignore this note if your hard disk is C: and you just installed MC by defaults.

2. Rename the extension of the .txt file to .reg

Note: You may need to make your Windows display extensions by deselecting "hide extensions for known file types" in Folder Options.

3. Double-click the .reg file you have just created (from any folder location) and answer positively to any prompts until it has been added to the registry.

Note: I created the new key and strings in regedit and then exported it to what you see pasted above. It's not a manual hack job and is a valid key generated by regedit.

4. Do a search of your \Program Files folder for a file called "players.ini".

5. Open the players.ini file in Notepad and add the following test as a single line to the bottom of the file:

MediaCenter=wac,Media Jukebox.exe,MJFrame,xxx,xxx,xxx,xxx,xxx,xxx,xxx,0,1,Media Center

Note: the test shown above may wrap in the Interact/browser display window but it should appear as one neat line at the bottom of the players.ini file, and you will see that it conforms to the format established by all the other player entries above it. The simple Copy function should work fine.

6. Restart Windows for the the players.ini to be re-read when iTouch is initiated, etc.

7. Test and enjoy!

Note: The only thing you can't do is press Play to launch MC. Open MC as you would any normal program and then all the keyboard functions should work fine!

If it doesn't work and you're paranoid about the registry edit, just navigate the registry (using regedit at the Run line) to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\Media Center

...and outright delete the "Media Center" key (folder) from the tree. This totally reverses what was done by double-clicking the .reg file. Then just re-edit the players.ini file to remove the extra line you added. Restart Windows and you're back to square one.

But it worked perfectly for me!

mattsnuts · « **Reply #1 on:** October 30, 2003, 10:24:31 pm »

Thanks for that! It worked for me

-Matt
Listening to: 'Yer Blues' from 'White Album (Disc 2)' by 'Beatles' on Media Center 9.1

Sauzee · « **Reply #2 on:** October 31, 2003, 08:48:20 am »

Thanks for the great info. I was just about to follow your instructions but thought I'd try out MC with logitech one last time.

Guess what? It appears to be working without changing anything. Odd as I'd tried it in the past and got WMP popping up.

Not sure why it's working now but I'll use your tip if it stops working in the future.

BullishDad · « **Reply #3 on:** October 31, 2003, 09:47:42 am »

Thanks for the patch. This is just what I was looking for. I'll give it a try later when I'm on my machine at home.

I'm wondering, since many people have iTouch keyboards, whether a plug-in could be written to handle this task automatically.

LonWar · « **Reply #4 on:** October 31, 2003, 09:50:38 am »

Thanks. I'll test it out when I get home tonight.

PS, Anybody figure out how to get MC to open when you press the media button?
I don't want to pick the app, I just want it to open.

Shelly · « **Reply #5 on:** October 31, 2003, 10:56:15 am »

Quote from: imjustagamer on October 31, 2003, 09:50:38 am

Thanks. I'll test it out when I get home tonight.

PS, Anybody figure out how to get MC to open when you press the media button?
I don't want to pick the app, I just want it to open.

I haven't figured out how to open it via the media button, but pressing the play button, opens MC. I just ignore the media button.

Shelly

Edit:
I figured out a workaround. If you're sure that you don't want to use your media button for any media player but MC, remove all lines from the players section of players.ini, except the new line that you've added per d_pert's post. Save players.ini and restart windows. Now when you press the media button, MC will open.

graham131 · « **Reply #6 on:** October 31, 2003, 11:16:56 am »

Fantastic - it works.

Also Shelly is right, you don't necessarily need the media button, hitting play opens MC albeit straight into Playing Now.

Graham

jleerigby · « **Reply #7 on:** October 31, 2003, 12:04:01 pm »

Quote

If you're sure that you don't want to use your media button for any media player but MC, remove all lines from the players section of players.ini, except the new line that you've added per d_pert's post. Save players.ini and restart windows. Now when you press the media button, MC will open.

That doesn't happen for me. It just displays the selection list with only J River Media Core 9.1 in the list.

Shelly · « **Reply #8 on:** October 31, 2003, 12:44:58 pm »

Quote from: JLee on October 31, 2003, 12:04:01 pm

That doesn't happen for me. It just displays the selection list with only J River Media Core 9.1 in the list.

It did the same for me until I rebooted. Now it opens MC directly. Here's what my players.ini file looks like now:

#List of supported players
#{btn|key|msg|emg|cmd|wac},exeName,wndClass,wndCaption,xxx,play_delayplay,pause,stop,prev,next,remove_flags,ShowOSD,menu_item
[Players]
MediaCenter=wac,Media Jukebox.exe,MJFrame,xxx,xxx,xxx,xxx,xxx,xxx,0,1,Media Center

I also applied the registry patch.

Shelly

jleerigby · « **Reply #9 on:** October 31, 2003, 01:02:01 pm »

Yeh mine looks the same and I have restarted windows but it's still not working. Maybe I'm not on the newest version of ITouch? Have 2.15

Shelly · « **Reply #10 on:** October 31, 2003, 01:56:28 pm »

Quote from: JLee on October 31, 2003, 01:02:01 pm

Yeh mine looks the same and I have restarted windows but it's still not working. Maybe I'm not on the newest version of ITouch? Have 2.15

2.15.264 is the latest build

Hopefully someone else can jump in here to help. I tried this sometime ago, but only removed some of the media players in players.ini. It didn't work for me then, either and kept displaying all of the players. The only thing I did differently this time was to delete all the other lines.

LonWar · « **Reply #11 on:** November 01, 2003, 06:53:06 am »

Quote from: Shelly on October 31, 2003, 10:56:15 am

Quote from: imjustagamer on October 31, 2003, 09:50:38 am
Thanks. I'll test it out when I get home tonight.

PS, Anybody figure out how to get MC to open when you press the media button?
I don't want to pick the app, I just want it to open.

I haven't figured out how to open it via the media button, but pressing the play button, opens MC. I just ignore the media button.

Shelly

Edit:
I figured out a workaround. If you're sure that you don't want to use your media button for any media player but MC, remove all lines from the players section of players.ini, except the new line that you've added per d_pert's post. Save players.ini and restart windows. Now when you press the media button, MC will open.

Well I got the Play and stop key's working.
But even after I delete all the entries in players.ini except for MC when I press it I get the entry for ATI multimedia Centre.. Oh well.

Sauzee · « **Reply #12 on:** November 01, 2003, 12:57:59 pm »

Why do I not need this "plug-in"?

Logitech and MC work perfectly together without changing anything. Only thing that doesn't work is pressing the media key. But I just need to press play and it opens MC.

Once MC is open, all volume, skip to next track, etc work with logitech.

Are you guys sure J River haven't done something to get MC and logitech working together in recent builds.?

BullishDad · « **Reply #13 on:** November 03, 2003, 09:49:54 am »

I installed the patch and the play and stop keys now work as they're supposed to with MC open.

However, I can't seem to get MC to on the list of Media Players when I press the Media button. When I deleted all except MC, the list had nothing in it, and pressing the Play button brought up Real Player, which had been the last selected player, even after rebooting. It seems like I need MC on the list in order to launch MC from the Media or Play/Pause buttons. I tried hitting Enter on the Media Player to get the progam to scan for MC and add it to the list, but it didn't. Any other suggestions for the players.ini file?

jleerigby · « **Reply #14 on:** November 03, 2003, 11:07:06 pm »

Did you follow ALL of D_pert's instructions?

BullishDad · « **Reply #15 on:** November 04, 2003, 10:11:17 am »

JLee, I followed d_pert's instructions and I have no problems with the keys working as d-pert described once Media Center is opened. Thank you d-pert.

It was when I tried to implement Shelly's workaround that I couldn't duplicate the results. I was hoping to use the either the Media or Play button to launch into MC. I tried modifying the players.ini file by clearing out everythng except the MC line, but MC wasn't displayed on the Media Players list, nor would MC launch when hitting the Play button.

MangyCheshire · « **Reply #16 on:** November 17, 2003, 09:32:49 am »

Quote

It was when I tried to implement Shelly's workaround that I couldn't duplicate the results. I was hoping to use the either the Media or Play button to launch into MC. I tried modifying the players.ini file by clearing out everythng except the MC line, but MC wasn't displayed on the Media Players list, nor would MC launch when hitting the Play button.

I found a workaround for this, it's another registry entry. This one lets you set the program opened by the play button. Reg file is as follows, same format as the first posted in this thread:

___________________________________________________________

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Logitech\iTouch\CurrentVersion\]
"MediaPlayer"="C:\\Program Files\\J River\\Media Center\\Media Jukebox.exe"

___________________________________________________________

I'm not able to get Media Center 9 to show up in my Media List, but that's a good thing in a way because I still want to use other players and yet have Media Center 9 as my default. Oh well, now to see if I can add something for Media Player Classic. =^_~=

Rob L · « **Reply #17 on:** November 17, 2003, 11:54:13 am »

I was playing around with this recently myself.

It's definitely something that would be good to have built into the MC install.... if anyone's listening :-)

All the other players include it already ;-)

BullishDad · « **Reply #18 on:** November 17, 2003, 10:34:51 pm »

Thank you MangyCheshire. Now my Play key will launch into Media Center

MangyCheshire · « **Reply #19 on:** November 18, 2003, 04:59:15 am »

You're welcome. =^_^= I should be the one thanking d_pert. I was going insane trying to figure out the wndClass of Media Center 9, messing with the ini myself. Now if only someone could figure out what the rest of the calls in the ini config are for so we could do more cool stuff with the keyboard, maybe? <g>

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Author Topic: Logitech iTouch Keyboards "Patch" (Read 4223 times)

jleerigby

jleerigby

jleerigby