INTERACT FORUM
More => Old Versions => Media Center 11 (Development Ended) => Topic started by: Matt on March 10, 2003, 03:51:18 pm
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The latest version of MC (9.0.125) adds a new system for controlling the program from external sources.
There's a list (soon to be released) of commands that cover basically everything that MC can do. (play, change modes, zone, etc, etc.)
What I'm wondering is, what's the best way to expose this?
We can easily make the command line support these commands. (i.e. mjextman /MC_COMMAND: 200, 2)
It'd also be nice to let Girder (and other similar programs) send these messages with windows messages.
Can Girder do custom, registered windows messages? If not, what can it send? We need both "what message" and also a "parameter", so WM_COMMAND won't work.
What would people like to see here, and what's the slickest way to expose it?
Thanks for any help.
Listening to: 'I've Got To See You Again' from 'Come Away With Me' by 'Norah Jones' on Media Center 9.0 with Sennheiser HD600's ( life is good :) )
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Matt:
I've posted a link to this thread in the Girder forums -- hopefully someone there will respond to your request. I'm not experienced enough to respond intelligently myself . . . . I suspect the Girder SendMessage plugin may do the trick .....
But I applaud your efforts to make integration with external controls more seamless. MC9 is my player of choice and one of the main reasons is its integration with Girder and NetRemote.
- Ken
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Why won't WM_COMMAND work? Doesn't it (like every other message) take 2 parameters?
There is an "Application Commands" function in Girder but I can't see any way to set the message id, only Wparam and Lparam. Maybe it's for future use.
I think we need both mechanisms...
mjextman is very handy for control from programs that can't send messages.
On the other hand, having the ability to send a message from another windows app avoids the overhead of calling an executable.
Either way, the newer features need to be added and some others need a little adjusting. Two that come to mind are Play and Pause. There should be versions of those commands that are non-toggling. Girder actually has a nice feature in that department. For Mute, for instance, if the argument is -1, the action is Mute (even if the output was already muted), if 0, the action is toggle, and if 1, it's always un-mute. Play and Pause would benefit greatly from that behavior.
Other things that need to be exposed:
DSP functions on/off
Specific zone selection
All the functions that have key shortcuts should also have commands exposed (sending keystrokes as an automation mechanism is problematic because of the possible interaction with the real keyboard)
Still thinking, but in the mean time, can we get mjextman turned back on? It's not working in 125.
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Why won't WM_COMMAND work? Doesn't it (like every other message) take 2 parameters?
It's used generically by dialog buttons and other controls so there'd be collisions. It's better to use a custom message or a WM_USER based message so there can't be collisions.
I saw that "Application Commands" thing in Girder, but couldn't figure it out.
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I'd vote for a Windows commands, with WParam and LParam... in addition to Mjextman...
Here are a couple of suggestions:
-Try to provide as many discrete commands as possible (Like On and Off rather than an On/Off toggle).
-If possible send some information back to girder or other programs (such as: send volume level after receiving a command to adjust the volume, or some other confirmation of what happened, or indicate if we are in full screen with hairstyle after moving to full screen, etc.). DVDSpy is a plugin that intercepts some of what MC does, but it would be more reliable if MC could be designed to send some consistent messages. This should also make it easy for people who want to control an LCD/VFD display
Eiffel
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I also believe the windows messaging system to be superior to external control apps or keypresses (though the control app is better than none)... My basis for this has mainly been due to using apps and GML's created around this structure.. they simply seem more robust / reliable/ useful... Of course this could be secondary to the fact that the coder was considering external control from the start...
I would also say include a command for everything... I mean every darn variable and switch you can think of... things like jump to points in the tree or jump to playing now should be considered...
I have read (though not tested, I let my ZP testing get behind in the last couple of months) that recent ZP releases have a tool that creates a GML (its an XML format IIRC) of every ZP command and its WM_Command details... If so what a tool... All you need to do is 'export' the command (like making a list of all the MJextman abailities) and then work in Girder to learn the IR codes for the one you want... You do this and I pledge to make you a Pronto CCF and RC5 codes to give you a pronto CCF and Girder GML pair combo that can be imported in minutes via even the most basic of novices...
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Cast my vote for Windows messaging as well--if not, I'll take what I can get from a command line app.
RonB (Girder Author) posted this as the Girder site:
Take a look at the sendmessage plugin, that should do what is required. ( Though it won't work with registered messages, they need to be static ).
The thread that's running there is at:
http://www.girder.nl/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3351
Is it possible to contact Ron to make this process the most efficient and extensible possible?
Best,
Brad
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We can easily make the command line support these commands. (i.e. mjextman /MC_COMMAND: 200, 2)
Please, keep also the command line support as it is a way that even non-programmer users can use easily.
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As already said here, definitely add support for auto-creating GML from MC9 (eg via a command-line setting). That is a killer feature of ZP, and means you don't have to constantly update some document about the interface - the program is self-documenting (from a Girder perspective).
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Here's a preview of what we've got so far.
Keep in mind that this won't work until 9.0.126 -- which should be released tonight.
http://ftp://ftp.jriver.com/pub/downloads/music/tmp/MCCommands.h
Advice and suggestions welcome.
Thanks everyone!
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This looks good Matt and very extensive... Would it be possible to call these using VBScript or JScript from within an HTML page or an XML page?? I'm thinking as in through a Track Info page or from within Hairstyle... If we could that would add the Dynamic element to Hairstyle that people have been asking about and a dynamic element to trackinfo...
This would be way cool...
Adam
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In the view section I see no jump to HairStyle command... Is this covered by the fullscreen switches ??
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Here are a few other thing's I'd like easy access to:
- Selecting JRSS5.1, 4.0, No surround processing, mono(?) etc.
- Upsampling frequency (unless you plan on moving to a 2x, 4x scheme to replace the 88.2 96 176.4 198 which is not ideal IMO)
- Equalizer, etc.
Thanks
Eiffel
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Here's a preview of what we've got so far.
Keep in mind that this won't work until 9.0.126 -- which should be released tonight.
Advice and suggestions welcome.
Thanks everyone!
Oh, Matt--You Guys ROCK!
Here are some (well, many) thoughts:
1) I couldn't see any facility for direct track access--well Sequence number access.
2) How about navigation commands: Up/Down/Left/Right/ PgUp/PgDwn etc.
3) I also didn't see the existing "Jump to" command(s) in the tree to navigate to PN, Media Library, Web Media, etx.
4) When activating Party Mode, how will we get out of it. Can we pass a PIN number to deactivate Party Mode?
5) Does the shuffle command in the "Play" section take the place of the existing "Resuffle" command? [edit: oops, found it in the LIST commands]
6) Direct Ratings settings?
7) How about Locate file by Artist/Album/etc.? Very handy when listening to a smartlist and suddenly realizing you want to hear more by that Artist or from that Album. [edit: oops, found it in the LIST commands]
8) I see the LIST command to add to Playing Now, but can we retain the ability to set whether the track should be Next, At Beginning, To End, Replace, etc.?
9) How about Filter commands? Do Not filter, Play only (by view), Don't Play (by view)....
10) How about sorting? On any DB field would be great, but I'd take Artist, Album, Track Number, Sequence number.
11) Direct access to MegaMe, Hairstyle, Windowed Mode, Mini-Me (what PhatPhreddy said above).
12) I love the idea to show the DSP studio, Playback options, etc. Will there be a way to manipulate those dialog boxes? At the very least a way to access cross-fade style & time and to set which DSP effects are on....
13) Neat idea to expose the "Open..." command. Will it be possible to pass a filepath or URL to these commands?
14) I didn't see anything dealing with visualization or track information control. Plugin Forward/Back, Cycle All, None, Track Info, etc.
15) I'd also like to put in a plea to not lose the existing "Power" functionality or the "TREEPATH" functionality. It's nice to be able to "smart-toggle" MC with the Power command and direct access with the TREEPATH is great too--although if the form has to change, that's cool.
Whew, I think that's enough for now! (Note: I didn't focus on the image playback or TV/DVD systems at all because I'm not familiar with them, but we shouldn't forget them...)
Thank you very much!
Brad
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Here's a preview of what we've got so far.
Keep in mind that this won't work until 9.0.126 -- which should be released tonight.
http://ftp://ftp.jriver.com/pub/downloads/music/tmp/MCCommands.h
Advice and suggestions welcome.
Thanks everyone!
Great!!!
How about a "seek to time index" that takes a millisecond argument and seeks to that absolute position in the track and a "seek relative" that takes a positive or negative millisecond argument and seeks relative to the current position.
A few questions as well...
PLAY_PAUSE I'm guessing is the toggle.
What does PLAY do if it's already playing? I think now it restarts the current track which is what I like.
Is there a positive PAUSE?
What does SET_PAUSE do?
OK, I guess I could wait till tonight to test them but, you know...
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This file has been updated:
http://ftp://ftp.jriver.com/pub/downloads/music/tmp/MCCommands.h
It adds direct mode setting (Hairstyle, MEGA-ME, etc.) as well as a few other commands.
9.0.126 is required.
Thanks for all the feedback everyone.
(anyone feel like making the Girder group for these things?)
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I'm workin' as fast as I can!
Brad
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Okay,
Basic Girder group is done!
Because I can't attach things at this forum, check out:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=1979141#post1979141
As people find the bugs and discover what all the new options do, please let me know--I basically built the files in a vacuum--there has been NO testing on my machine yet.
Best,
Brad
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Thanks Brad!
Are you using the SendMessage(...) Girder plugin or the command line?
It sounded like Girder should be able to work with the WM_USER based message.
It probably doesn't really matter though. I haven't tested it, but I'd guess that mjextman.exe can probably handle like 20,000 or more commands a second -- so speed won't be an issue.
Anyway, thanks again!
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Well.....
I did it both ways. I knew what I was doing the the command line (mjextman), so I suspect that will work ok.
I didn't really know what I was doing with the Windows Messaging, and re-reading your question leads me to think I did it wrong. I didn't use the Send Message plugin, but the built-in Message action in Girder. That built-in message is a WM_COMMAND message only, so what I've done probably won't work.
(See what happens from relying on a Mac user? And one who knows diddly squat about programming to boot!)
Regardless, I've now seen that the Message number to use is 2024, the WParam is the command number and the LParam is the final argument. I'll rework what I've done and repost.
Best,
Brad
[EDIT: Reworking is done. Please download v1.0.1 from the above link. Sorry for the trouble...]
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The above commands still don't work via windows messages. The mjextman versions seem to, or at least the few I tried. I've never done the windows message thing before, but if I figure out whats wrong, I'll post it back here.
-Lou
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Yep, I can't get MC to respond to the commands sent via Girder/SendMessage either. Not sure if it's MC or the Girder plug-in.
Thanks Brad for the mjextman based commands though. They did the trick.
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Beat me up if this has been covered, but I'd like a discrete command system so you don't have to change to a zone to control it. In clear text: Play -1 starts playback on zone one no matter which zone is in the current "Playing now", Stop -3 stops playback in zone three no matter.... and so on. Is this possible? It would make the whole process a lot cleaner since somebody can use the PC display and hairstyle for a specific zone (probably the room the computer is in) while the other zones are controlled without sending any feedback to the display.
Is this possible? In that case I'd also like the ability to open a file the same way (d:\dokumenter\123.m3u -1 opens playlist 123 from the playlist directory in zone 1). That would really be brilliant! I feel that MC is almost there when it comes to multi-zone control, and this would go the rest of the way! 8)
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Considering it, would specific HairStyle navigaition be a good idea ?
UP
DOWN
LEFT
RIGHT
SELECT
RETURN
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Since it doesn't appear that we'll be getting Album Gain, how about adding in a way to turn Replay Gain on\off to this?
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Also, a command to set ratings would be nice.
And I have to agree that it would be most helpful to add in as many discrete commands as possible.
For instance, a command to start MJ\MC. If it's not running, start it. If it is running, do nothing.
Same for closing MC.
Also, discrete commands to jump directly to Hairstyle, regardless of where MC is now. Using toggles for this stuff just causes a lot of problems when it comes to automation. That's not to say that toggles aren't useful as well. The best way to go is to have toggles and discrete commands where appropriate.
Other things that I can think would benefit from discrete commands.
Replay Gain On & Off
Equalizer On & Off
Effects On & Off
(even go deeper into these 3 to allow control of individual settings)
TV
Fullscreen
Hairstyle
mini-me (actually I just saw that you have those last 3 already with the Set Mode command)
Adding a Zone parameter to any command where it's appropriate would be an obvious addition. Remotes that support macros can always set the zone, then issue the command, but for remotes that don't, allowing the passing of a zone parameter will make things really slick.
Also, if mjextman could be set up to accept a \\SERVER parameter to send these commands through a network, that would be really sweet.
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I previously missed Mastiffs multi zone suggestions... They sound very well thought out, plus he is the pioneer with the arrows in his back !!!
I know your system is nearly integrated but I found this Multi Zone solution which would provide volume control, IR passthrough, RS232 control, and solve the lack of syncronized zones... Apprently its not too pricey either... http://www.zonaudio.com/home/home.php I have mailed them for a full SDK and integrators info pack...
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Same for closing MC.
What for :D !!!
Seriously MJ is set to start in my startup folder and set to run minimized and then in MJ I set it to minimize to the system tray... It does not have any ill effects to my other apps and its always there serving Glissando clients...
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I feel that MC is almost there when it comes to multi-zone control, and this would go the rest of the way!
Oh sure. How many times have we heard you say that?
:P ;)
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Issuing commands to a specific zone
It'll be in the next build.
Also, a command to set ratings would be nice.
It's there: MCC_SET_CURRENTLY_PLAYING_RATING
DSP studio control
Would be nice, but it's tricky. We'll see...
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Can there be a command to go to Windowed Mode ?
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Can there be a command to go to Windowed Mode ?
I think that's what:
MCC_SHOW_WINDOW 10013 0
does....
(Haven't tried that one)
Brad
[EDIT: Now that I've tried it, it doesn't do what you're looking for. The above command brings MC to the front, making it the active window.]
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It is GREAT that all of this is happening!! :D :D
Here are a few requests:
1) Imagining a Pronto or PPC screen with a panel to
a. add playing or selected SONG to RATING, with buttons for each rating (i.e. push "RATE SONG", then push "1"-"10"
b. ditto, but to rate ALBUM
c. ditto but add SONG to PLAYLIST, then push button representing appropriate playlist.
d. ditto, but add ALBUM to PLAYLIST.
In the case of playlists, should allow multiple button pushes to add SAME song or album to MULTIPLE PLAYLISTS eg, "likes", "Rock", "wife hates", etc.
2) Allow letters from pronto keyboard or PPC writing area to cause movement in a tree, e.g. while in Artist/album, typing/pushing "V-A-N" selects Van Halen. Then up/down to further navigate.
3) Now I am likely dreaming, but... when not in front of a display, any chance of verbal feedback of all navigation/commands, e.g.
a. if jump to album/artist, words "album/artist" are heard
b. if expand tree "expanded" is heard.
c. if V-A-N is typed/pushed "Van Halen" is heard,
d. if down arrow is then pushed, "Van Morrison" is heard, etc, etc. If this could be done, "Verbal On" "Verbal OFF" buttons would be essential.
I think some of these things have already been covered/incorporated.
Thanks for this push to make MC maximally remote/ppc friendly :)
--Caleb
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Jim, I'm just the eternal optimist. Actually everything runs smooth, it's just the little finesses that I crave now. This is icing on the cake, not a make or break function. And thanks, Matt, I look forward to it! 8)
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Just updated the MCC stuff for tonight's build. (9.0.127)
The big change is zone specific playback commands.
Thanks everyone.
http://ftp://ftp.jriver.com/pub/downloads/music/tmp/MCCommands.h
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Any chance of getting specific commands to start MC up in different modes?
For instance, a desktop shortcut could start MC up in normal mode, the media key on my keyboard could start it up in mini-me mode, and the remote could start it up in Hairstyle?
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Any chance of getting specific commands to start MC up in different modes?
For instance, a desktop shortcut could start MC up in normal mode, the media key on my keyboard could start it up in mini-me mode, and the remote could start it up in Hairstyle?
I think it would be better if mjextman would always start MC if it isn't running (and if it has to start MC, wait until it's running to send commands). Then you can use the mjextman.exe /MCC 22009 series of commands to fire up any of the four modes: 0=Mega, 1=Mini, 2=Full Screen (Viz), 3=Full Screen (Hair).
Best,
Brad
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Heh, I can't stay away from this thread....
I spent some time today working on the Messaging side of the GML I posted last night. As far as I can tell, all the commands are entered correctly & everything is pointing at the right spot for the targeting. Nevertheless, nothing I did worked.
So, I searched through the Girder forums for any kind of clue and came up with a thread that may shed some light on the situation.
http://www.girder.nl/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3892
The info in the MediaCore documentation says:
c) Post a WM_USER_MC_COMMAND based message to the MC frame
PostMessage(hwndMC, WM_USER_MC_COMMAND, MCC_PLAY_PAUSE, 0);
However, I think the SendMessage program only does "sendMessage" and not "postMessage". Not being a programmer, I'm not certain, but it looks like a smoking gun to me...
Best,
Brad
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PostMessage vs. SendMessage won't matter.
The only difference is that SendMessage doesn't return until the message is handled, where PostMessage adds the message to the "to do" list and then returns right away.
Are you sure that the message being sent is right? (2024 if I remember right) Also, are you sure it's sending it to MC?
If you don't get it working with a little more elbow grease, email me with what you have and I'll dig around. (matt @ jriver.com)
Thanks everyone!
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Thanks, Matt! You guys are totally amazing! Congrats to the whole team!
I will email you a GML configured for the messaging. I think I've hit a brick wall.
Also, see:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=1983733#post1983733
for a post containing another upgraded CCF/GML combo. It includes the changes for build 127 and a couple of bug fixes.
(For a masochistic evening, check out the control bugs in the thread for 9.0.127... :) )
Best,
Brad
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Will the multiple web remotes be implemented in MC9, or is this put on hold? 8)
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I think it would be better if mjextman would always start MC if it isn't running (and if it has to start MC, wait until it's running to send commands). Then you can use the mjextman.exe /MCC 22009 series of commands to fire up any of the four modes: 0=Mega, 1=Mini, 2=Full Screen (Viz), 3=Full Screen (Hair).
While it would be nice to have mjextman hold all commands until MC is ready to receive them, I would certainly prefer that MC start up in the mode I want, rather than watch it come up in normal mode and then quickly switch to Hairstyle or mini-me. Considering there are 989 slots available in the 22000-23000 range alone, I doubt we'll have to worry about 4 extra commands.
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This is a tiny bit OT for this thread, but I figured you guys are the best ones to ask. I've been putting off setting up girder on my HTPC for about 2 years now, but decided to finally bite the bullet and get it working, so I installed girder, turned on the IRMan input device, downloaded the MJ8 GML from the girder site, "learned" all the commands, etc.
Now when I press play on my remote, the girder icon in the task bar lights red, but that's it - nothing happens in MC9. I went into MC9's plug-in dialog, and saw that the v1.0.3 girder plug-in I had installed wasn't started, so I pressed start only to get an error message "could not open COM-port for IR". Hmmm - that was unexpected. What is the girder plug-in even doing trying to open the COM-port - isn't that girder's job? If I turn off input devices in girder, then MC9's girder plug-in starts OK, but then my remote still doesn't work (even if I then turn on input devices in girder).
So I did a search here, found this thread, and it seems like I'm working with the old stuff anyway. What should I do to get up to date? I'm a bit new to girder so sorry in advance if I'm doing something stupid.
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First, clear out all the stuff you currently have in Girder that involves MC9.
Then uninstall the Girder plugin. You don't need it.
Download the GML that was posted above. It's actually a zip file that has a GML file along with a Pronto CCF and a couple of other things. All you need is the GML file. Extract that. It doesn't matter where.
Open up Girder and go to File -> Import (import group?) and point it at the GML file you just extracted. It'll add all of the current commands that are available for MC9.
You'll probably have to edit the "mjextman.exe" line for each command to point to the location of the mjextman exe. Under XP it's in the System32 folder.
Then just learn the codes for the command you want to use, and you should be good to go.
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Now when I press play on my remote, the girder icon in the task bar lights red, but that's it - nothing happens in MC9. I went into MC9's plug-in dialog, and saw that the v1.0.3 girder plug-in I had installed wasn't started, so I pressed start only to get an error message "could not open COM-port for IR". Hmmm - that was unexpected. What is the girder plug-in even doing trying to open the COM-port - isn't that girder's job? If I turn off input devices in girder, then MC9's girder plug-in starts OK, but then my remote still doesn't work (even if I then turn on input devices in girder).
Here's a couple of things to check:
1) Make sure Girder is correctly receiving the events from your remote. If the Girder window is open, the view in the tree will move around to highlight the last command it received.
2) If that's not happening, check to make sure your input device is enabled in the Settings/Properties of Girder.
3) Red isn't a good color. I think that means that an IR event was received, but couldn't be matched. Check the getting started guide at the Girder website: http://www.girder.nl/help/gettingstarted/index.php
4) I'm confused as to what versions of things you are running. The last time I checked, the MJ Girder plugin didn't work with MC9. That (or Girder config troubles) could relate to the COM-port error...
Let me know if that helps...
Brad
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Forgot to respond the other day! I figured a few things out for you...
1) Imagining a Pronto or PPC screen with a panel to
a. add playing or selected SONG to RATING, with buttons for each rating (i.e. push "RATE SONG", then push "1"-"10"
Can be done with the new "Set Rating" Commands (but there are only ratings 1-5).
b. ditto, but to rate ALBUM
I think this is additional functionality that has been requested. Regardless, if you have your media library set up as whole albums, you could do this now (although you lose track-by-track control).
c. ditto but add SONG to PLAYLIST, then push button representing appropriate playlist.
d. ditto, but add ALBUM to PLAYLIST.
This is a great one! The newest remote functions allow for the creation of playlists, smartlists, view schemes & scheme groups, but there are no controls to "Send To..." the current track or current selection.
Can SEND TO be implemented in the remote functions?
2) Allow letters from pronto keyboard or PPC writing area to cause movement in a tree, e.g. while in Artist/album, typing/pushing "V-A-N" selects Van Halen. Then up/down to further navigate.
This is already there. The tricky part is making sure the focus is correct. I think that with the new commands if you "jump to" a basic node (MCC_SHOW_TREE_ROOT with the appropriate index number), your keyboard should work.
3) Now I am likely dreaming, but... when not in front of a display, any chance of verbal feedback of all navigation/commands, e.g.
a. if jump to album/artist, words "album/artist" are heard
b. if expand tree "expanded" is heard.
c. if V-A-N is typed/pushed "Van Halen" is heard,
d. if down arrow is then pushed, "Van Morrison" is heard, etc, etc. If this could be done, "Verbal On" "Verbal OFF" buttons would be essential.
I've seen this proposed on the AVS Forums and in the Girder forums (maybe even in the Developer Forum here). I think some folks have made Girder do this....
Good thoughts, Caleb!
Best,
Brad
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3) Red isn't a good color. I think that means that an IR event was received, but couldn't be matched. Check the getting started guide at the Girder website: http://www.girder.nl/help/gettingstarted/index.php
Brad
Acutally red is a totally acceptable color when it comes to the Girder tray icon. It's the only flash it can make, it just means that Girder received an event.
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Then just learn the codes for the command you want to use, and you should be good to go.
OK - thanks a lot for the advice. I did everything you said, and now when I press a button on my remote, something happens, although it's not what should happen:
MC9 starts up (if it isn't already started), clears "Playing Now", and shows a dialog box which says "Please select file(s) to play". This dialog shows twice every time I press a button on the remote, it does this no matter which command I press.
Any ideas?
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OK now I checked, and I have two mjextman.exe files on my hard drive - an older one in the MC9 directory, and a newer one in SYSTEM32.
I renamed the older one in the MC9 directory to have a .old extension, and now I only get the "Please select file(s) to play" dialog once. Am I crawling forward here, or running on the spot?
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Well, what command are you trying to issue?
If it's just Play, and there's nothing in Playing Now, then that's what will happen.
You may also want to set the antirepeat interval in Girder to avoid commands being issued twice.
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> If it's just Play, and there's nothing in Playing Now, then that's what will happen.
Playing Now gets cleared, and the same thing happens regardless of which button I press - I tried them all. I am running build 127, and my MJEXTMAN is v1.0.17 (according to Explorer's File Properties).
The problem could simply be that someone/thing is clearing playing now before executing the command - that would explain everything, but why would that happen?
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Zoner,
A couple of things could help troubleshoot this:
1) With the Girder window open, press your remote buton for a command that is exhibiting this behavior. Girder will highlight which command it executed in the tree on the left. Let us know which command it is.
2) If you are not using the MC9 group I created to run with the mjextman commands, you should then look in the "Action" pane of Girder (that's the area in the lower right, with all the tabs). Let us know what Action & all the parameters are for that command.
Assuming it's my GML, it will be something like: Action-"O.S." (the tab); Dropdown box="Execute"; File="mjextman.exe"; Step Size="/MCC 10000,0"; StartupOptions="Default"
3) Finally, start simply--Manually add some files to "Playing Now" and try the play/pause command to see if you can start & pause playback.
I haven't seen the problems you're having. I suppose it's possible that there are problems with build 127--I haven't moved up to it.
I know that when I started with Girder I had lots of problems with unexpected behavior. One of my main problems was that I had accidentally assigned the same eventstring (IR command) to several actions. Girder matches the first eventstring it finds in its tree, so if you have the same IR code assigned to "Play" and "Next", and you want to go to the Next track, but "Play" is ahead of "Next" in the tree, you will never be able to access the "Next" command. Knowing which command Girder is trying to execute (#1 above) will help.
Troubleshooting Girder & multi-program interactions is always a complex chore. Keep at it--we'll get it! :)
Brad
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Updated the MCC file for 9.0.129. You should be able to use SendMessage(...) stuff now.
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Thanks Matt!! Brad's Windows Messaging runs great from Girder now (thanks again Brad).
Couple of issues...
I still haven't figured out what the stop_conditional and set_pause commands or the bNotActualNext parameter of the next command do.
Why would I want the stop command to pop up a dialog that says "MC encoutnered errors"?
If dialogs are popped-up up via the commands (like Playback options) and MC is not in the foreground, the dialog comes up behind the foreground window and there's no way to get rid of it or bring it to the foreground (the show_window command doesn't work here).
Each invocation of playback_options brings up an additional dialog window. I had 20 open before I realized that they were coming up behind the active window.
Calling set_currently_playing_rating with an argument of 0 seems to be ignored instead of setting the rating to ?
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Thanks Matt!! Brad's Windows Messaging runs great from Girder now (thanks again Brad).
You're welcome, but I took WindowsMessaging out until just now. You must have upgraded yourself! :)
Anyway, the build 129 version of my CCF/GML is at:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=1992010#post1992010
The big inclusion is the set of commands using Windows Messaging. It works great, Matt! Thanks for including it!
I still haven't figured out what the stop_conditional and set_pause commands or the bNotActualNext parameter of the next command do.
Me too... Other commands I'm not sure about are in my build bug post(s). Is it possible to pass non-numeric parameters? I thought some of that extra stuff in the MCC document was for build/documentation/real programmers only...?
Each invocation of playback_options brings up an additional dialog window. I had 20 open before I realized that they were coming up behind the active window.
Yep. I've seen this too. build 129...
Calling set_currently_playing_rating with an argument of 0 seems to be ignored instead of setting the rating to ?
This was a problem in 126 (& probably 127), but it's fixed in build 129. However, there is a more insidious bug in that the rating commands only take effect on the actively playing track, regardless of what you have selected in the list pane.
Best,
Brad
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Keep in mind that MC internally uses this same MC command system.
That's why there's some commands that don't make sense to fire from Girder. (like Stop with a warning for example) Some commands may even crash MC if you fire them from weird places.
I'd recommend not trying to figure out every single MC command. Just focus on the commands that you'd actually want to use with your remote.
Thanks again everyone.
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That's why there's some commands that don't make sense to fire from Girder. (like Stop with a warning for example) Some commands may even crash MC if you fire them from weird places.
Gotcha. Do you have an idea which commands should generally be "no-no"s? So far, nearly every command I've tried does do something...
I'd recommend not trying to figure out every single MC command. Just focus on the commands that you'd actually want to use with your remote.
Too late! :)
Best,
Brad
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This was a problem in 126 (& probably 127), but it's fixed in build 129. However, there is a more insidious bug in that the rating commands only take effect on the actively playing track, regardless of what you have selected in the list pane.
The extra zero... Hmmm. I must have looked at that command for 10 minutes trying to figure out why it didn't work and I didn't catch that.
I'm not sure I'd consider rating taking effect on the currently playing track a bug. That's how I'm using it. Maybe there should be a set_current_selection_rating command.
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When in Hairstyle mode, going to VIS mode doesn't work with the 22009,2 command
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One thing that comes in the way of the control system (at least visually) is the "Please select files to play" box. Couldn't there be an option to make it dissappear after a second or so, as well as the "Playlist is empty" box? Or even an option not to show those at all, just to play a warning sound? 8)
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Mastiff,
I meant to catch you and your multizone expertise. I've upgraded the MC9 GML I've been working on to control 6 zones directly, per Matt's information. However, I don't have multiple zones available for even rudimentary testing, so I haven't released it yet.
Would you be interested in taking a look? Let me know...
Also, I can confirm the bug listed above--trying to activate Full Screen mode only activates Hairstyle: MCC 22009,2 & 22009, 3 do the same thing...
Best,
Brad
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When in Full Hairstyle Mode (22009,3), it is not possible to switch to Full Visualisation mode (22009,2) via the new MCC commands, it stays in Full Hairstyle Mode.
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So is there any chance of getting a set of commands to start MC up in specific modes? I haven't heard any word on this...
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bspachman,
thanks for the .gml seems so work great (and saved me quite some work :-))
matt,
there are a few things I'm missing... It would be great to navigate in MC9 without needing MC9 to be the top window. Could you add MCCs for UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT and ENTER (select)?
Girders keyboard stuff only seems to be able to target MC9 when it's in forground.
and one more thing: is it possible to import a folder(-strukture) using mjextman.exe? I couldn't find anything that worked for MC9.
and one last thing: It would be great to have a command (for mjextman) that syncronises a folder strukture with MC's database. This would a) import all files in these folder/sub folders and b) remove any entries from MC's database that point to files in that area that don't exist anymore...
Thanks for considering these things.
Ingo
p.s.: everytime I try something new with a new version of MJ/MC it's just great. kind of boring that is.... ;-) keep up the good work.
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So is there any chance of getting a set of commands to start MC up in specific modes? I haven't heard any word on this...
I haven't tried this in a while, (and I keep forgetting to mention it...) From the Developer's page on command line parameters:
"mjextman.exe /Mode [modename] if the app is not running the call starts MJ in the specified mode, if it's already running the call switches Media Jukebox to the specified mode. List of Mode names: Megame, Minime, Fullscreen. If modename is empty MJ will start in user defined mode."
Best,
Brad
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there are a few things I'm missing... It would be great to navigate in MC9 without needing MC9 to be the top window. Could you add MCCs for UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT and ENTER (select)?
Girders keyboard stuff only seems to be able to target MC9 when it's in forground.
You have to send the keystrokes to either SysTreeView32 or SysListView32 instead of MJFrame.
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You have to send the keystrokes to either SysTreeView32 or SysListView32 instead of MJFrame.
no I didn't... thanks for the tip... it works, but (real big one):
how do I find out which pane is active, which mode (MM,mm,hairstyle or fullscreen) is active?
I think it would make sense do provide means of navigation via MCCs...
matt,
even more stuff to come... it doesn't seem to be possible to target MC while it's minimized to the tray (when minimized to the taskbar it works....) is this going to change?
Ingo
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Version 1.5 of the CCF/GML combo is available at:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=2019739#post2019739
The major changes are directly targeted playback commands for multi-zone setups (6 zones currently defined) & the inclusion of a GML that has pre-assigned eventstrings for the USB-UIRT.
Best,
Brad
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no I didn't... thanks for the tip... it works, but (real big one):
how do I find out which pane is active, which mode (MM,mm,hairstyle or fullscreen) is active?
I think it would make sense do provide means of navigation via MCCs...
I don't think there's anyway to find out which input area is active... :(
I've tried to work around this in MJ8 (& MC9) a couple of ways:
1) Assign buttons for navigation in each pane...
(This just got confusing and ended up irritating me.)
2) Accept the fact that I would need to look at the screen when navigating and just use keyboard commands with MJ as the front-most app.
#2 worked out the best for me since I actually don't navigate that often. I use the /TREEPATH modifier to jump around in the tree directly. That allows me to get just about anywere I want with a single button--although it did require a bunch of setup.
Best,
Brad
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I don't think there's anyway to find out which input area is active... :(
that was my guess as well..
so we are either left with targetting MC in forground or have to see what Matt is going to implement ;-) (hi Matt, any hope for this? ;-))
Ingo
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And how about a command to send a file (like a numbered playlist, hint, hint) to a specific zone? Right now I can use Brad's setup for playback, but have to use my setup which changes the active zone first to be able to open a playlist. Is this easy to implement, or even possible?
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What's wrong with still using the MJ Girder plugin?
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What's wrong with still using the MJ Girder plugin?
Well, it doesn't install under MC9 (I'm guessing it's primarily the registry key issue that affects several other plugins...)
Besides that, the new Media Core Command interface opens up several hundred commands that can now be manipulated with Girder.
If you are still running MJ8, you will be limited to the MJ-Girder plugin.
Is there something you prefer about the plugin as opposed to the new system?
Brad
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The plugin installed just fine for me... I'm using it on the latest version of the beta. I'm not sure when I installed it, but I remember asking about it - and I was told it was "coming". A few weeks later, it came.
I like the plugin becuase it doesn't care about focus!
I had thought all the plugin did was let me send Commands (Wparam and Lparam) to the plugin vice the .exe - making for a cleaner integration.
Am I missing something?
Scott-
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Does that mean that MC has to have focus for the windows messages to work? In that case I'll go for the mjextman-commands since I want MC to take commands when it's minimized as well, without taking focus away from what I'm doing (maybe playing a game or something).
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not sure for MJ's girder plugin, but MC will take MCCs while minimized to the taskbar, it won't when minimized to the tray.
hope this will change. I'm so used to minimize it to the tray to save some space on the tastbar, it would be hard to give that up....
Ingo
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FYI, girder works fine for me now with MC9 build 133 and the latest GML, using Windows messages. No idea why it didn't work before with MJEXTMAN.
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Mastiff,
No, MC does not need to have focus to use either the messaging parameters or the mjextman controls. (Except for the possible system tray problem that Ingo has noticed). I run MC minimized all the time, but to the task bar.
Scott,
Good to know the plugin is still working for someone. I haven't bothered with it since build 126 came out with the new MCC commands. The MCC commands don't care about focus either. MC can be maximized, minimized, or partial screen. You are right, the plugin basically translates Wparam/Lparam values to the EXE, but with the new MCC commands, you don't need the plugin to do it. MC9 itself understands the parameters. Plus, the new MCC commands are a much larger set of commands than the old plugin had available. See:
ftp://ftp.jriver.com/pub/downloads/music/tmp/MCCommands.h
for a full list. I've put together a GML that includes all of these commands (plus some) that folks appear to find useful as a starting point. See the posts earlier in the thread for details...
Zoner,
Good to know that messaging works! I use it myself so that I rely on as few "helper" programs as possible.
Best,
Brad
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Good to know the plugin is still working for someone.
it works for me as well... but you're right, we probably don't need it any longer.... with one exception: the girder plugin even works whith MC minimized to the tray.
It doesn't help for navigation with MC not in forground. Even though navigation is possible without having to target it as 'forground', it doesn't work when it isn't in foreground.
Ingo
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Brad, thanks. Now let's see if Matt can help us out with the "start playlist in specific zone"-problem. ;D
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Thanks for the explanation... although I still don't understand what the functional difference is between the Sendmessage and the Girder plugin is. Don't both effectively send the wParam and lParam message to Media Jukebox.exe? Why wouldn't the Girder plugin also work with the new commands?
As Ingo pointed out, the Girder plugin works regardless of the state of MC. It can be in focus, out of focus, minimzied to systray, or in mini-me. This is a must have for me!
Scott-
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Thanks for the explanation... although I still don't understand what the functional difference is between the Sendmessage and the Girder plugin is. Don't both effectively send the wParam and lParam message to Media Jukebox.exe? Why wouldn't the Girder plugin also work with the new commands?
I don't know if it would work. I haven't tried to make the MJ-Girder plugin work with MC9. It would be good to know if the old plugin does work with all the new commands...let us know if you find out!
As Ingo pointed out, the Girder plugin works regardless of the state of MC. It can be in focus, out of focus, minimzied to systray, or in mini-me. This is a must have for me!
Well, apparently except for "minimized to tray", so does the mjextman/MCC parameters....
Best,
Brad
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Well, apparently except for "minimized to tray", so does the mjextman/MCC parameters....
and MiniMe. MCCs don't work in MiniMe, doesn't hurt me very much.... didn't use it for ages. just for testing.....
Ingo
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NOTE: file updated to be current with 9.0.134
http://ftp://ftp.jriver.com/pub/downloads/music/tmp/MCCommands.h
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OK, I got to admit that I'm totally lost with windows messages and advanced stuff like that. But am I right in thinking that it's now possible to for instance open a certain playlist in the zone you want, without chaning the active zone? In that case: Thanks a lot, Matt! I think I'm done (as soon as Brad releases a new version of his fantastic combo, with this function in it - I won't even try to start to understand this stuff), and this time I really mean it! ;D
Now I'm working on my car system, I bought a new motherboard and an AMD Duron 1,2 yesterday (I don't need more, and I don't want any more heat than necessary) for just over a 100 dollars. I could simply restore on of my older images from the HT/Media computer, so installation was fast. Startup time with Windows XP pro from hibernation: 10 sec! From full shutdown: 30 sec! Shutdown to hibernation: 6 sec! Full Windows shutdown: 12 sec. In other words totally acceptable as a car audio system. 8)
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OK, I got to admit that I'm totally lost with windows messages and advanced stuff like that. But am I right in thinking that it's now possible to for instance open a certain playlist in the zone you want, without chaning the active zone? In that case: Thanks a lot, Matt! I think I'm done (as soon as Brad releases a new version of his fantastic combo, with this function in it - I won't even try to start to understand this stuff), and this time I really mean it!
A new combo is coming... I'm trying to decide what's the best way to add the new commands. Should I add the new commands to a "new" folder at the end of the GML or should I intersperse them to the groups throughout? Adding at the end is good because it lets you get rid of the commands you may have already assigned IR codes to or tweaked after you import and lets you just deal with the new ones.
Adding in the middle is good because it keeps things synched with what JRiver is maintaining. I'm leaning to adding new commands to the end of the GML. Any ideas?....
Also, I've looked through the new info intently, but I don't see the ability to open a playlist in a specific zone. Am I missing something, or is Mastiff guilty of wishful thinking...? ;D If it's there, I'll be adding it.
Best,
Brad
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I suggest the end, since it saves time when you won't have to go through the old commands to see what you need to weed out. :D
As for the zone specific file opening it seemed like you could open a file in any zone by adding the prefix for that zone, but I might be wrong. As I said I know naaaaaaaathing (even though I'm not from Barcelona) about windows messages. 8)
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not sure for MJ's girder plugin, but MC will take MCCs while minimized to the taskbar, it won't when minimized to the tray.
Not true. I have been using windows messages to send to tray icon since that feature was added. The trick is in girder. In the Target dialog for the command you want, the only checkboxes that should be set are "Match Invisible Tasks" and "Executable". Executable should be set tp "Media Jukebox.exe" No other boxes need to be checked, but there may be other combinations that work.
-Lou
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(I don't need more, and I don't want any more heat than necessary)
So let me see if I have this straight - you don't want extra heat, but you bought AMD? Ok, interesting choice.
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Lou,
thanks for pointing this out.... didn't change a lot in Girder during the last months and totaly forgot about that...
you're right. this way it is possible to target mc9 when it's minimized to the tray or in MiniMe mode.
so all that is left to add for Matt is navigation... ;-)
Ingo
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So let me see if I have this straight - you don't want extra heat, but you bought AMD? Ok, interesting choice.
Yes...and no. First of all I had a perfectly working image that could be transfered directly to this system, which saves me some hours of setup. Second of all it was a question of cost. The new parts to this system cost around 100 dollars, that wouldn't even buy the CPU if I went with P4. And finally the heat generated by a very moderatly taxed (playing three MP3 files at the same time) on a Duron 1.2 really doesn't crate much heat. 8)
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So let me see if I have this straight - you don't want extra heat, but you bought AMD? Ok, interesting choice.
Yes...and no. First of all I had a perfectly working image that could be transfered directly to this system, which saves me some hours of setup. Second of all it was a question of cost. The new parts to this system cost around 100 dollars, that wouldn't even buy the CPU if I went with P4. And finally the heat generated by a very moderatly taxed (playing three MP3 files at the same time) Duron 1.2 really doesn't crate much heat. 8)
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Not true. I have been using windows messages to send to tray icon since that feature was added. The trick is in girder. In the Target dialog for the command you want, the only checkboxes that should be set are "Match Invisible Tasks" and "Executable". Executable should be set tp "Media Jukebox.exe" No other boxes need to be checked, but there may be other combinations that work.
Lou, thanks for the reminder!
The next version will have "Match Invisible Tasks" enabled by default (unless it screws up other things--I don't think it wil).
Best,
Brad
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Hey, Brad, have you managed to find out if it is possible to open to a specific zone now?
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With these control codes I noticed that I can access some of the commands from the file menu. If I want to access commands that are not there (unless I missed them) what is the best way to determine what the code is if there is one...for example - if I want to get at one of the Media Library groups that I have created that breaks the albums into alphabetcial groupings ("a-c","d-f" etc...) can I use these control codes for that purpose...and if so is it trial and error to find the correct code under the "File" section (20000). As you can path to it from File-Quick Play-Media Library etc...
I want to be able to cleanly - from grider/netremote - filter down my album list for easy searching - I know that the new remoteserver will allow me to control this but I want to display it within some of my NetRemote windows...(i.e. press a button for "a-c" and those are the albums that are displayed - I think this may be a little more user friendly for others at home...)
Thanks for any help and/or suggestions
Kevin
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With these control codes I noticed that I can access some of the commands from the file menu. If I want to access commands that are not there (unless I missed them) what is the best way to determine what the code is if there is one...for example - if I want to get at one of the Media Library groups that I have created that breaks the albums into alphabetcial groupings ("a-c","d-f" etc...) can I use these control codes for that purpose...and if so is it trial and error to find the correct code under the "File" section (20000). As you can path to it from File-Quick Play-Media Library etc...
Just making sure I understand:
You want to jump directly to a custom view scheme you've created with the MCC commands.
Matt may correct me, but I don't think there is a built-in way to do this now. The closest command is MCC_SHOW_TREE_ROOT (#22003), but I think that only allows you to jump to the top level of each tree entry (eg. Start, Playlists, etc.) The "File" section of the MCC commands don't accept parameters, so they only do what their description says.
I can think of 3 possible ways to (maybe) work around this with Girder. One is to try to capture the command values with Girder's built-in sniffer. A lot of times this won't work because the parameters used are not persistent between sessions. This has hung up my ability to "Girder-ize" the filters in a useful way.
Another possibility is to investigate Girder's "HidePopUp" plugin, which allows access to contextual menus without needing the application in the foreground.
The third way is the only way I know that will work. It's to use the old "TREEPATH" parameter for mjextman.exe. Each viewscheme would need a separate command, but this should work well. Your Girder command will be something like: "mjextman.exe /Play TREEPATH=Media Library\Audio\yourViewSchemeHere". See http://www.musicex.com/mediajukebox/DevZone/CommandLine.html for more details.
Best,
Brad