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[maxxsid]

Hello,
Maybe I got a wrong idea.. but I wanna have so to say a front end to a front end (MC) on my HTPC.
It's actually just an application launcher. However, it has to be a full screen application, replacing the desktop, with very few buttons which can be controlled either with a keyboard or a mouse or a remote.
- MC modes (Standard, Display, Theater)
- Monitor management (swap primary, move Windows to, disable)
- hide/unhide desktop items (taskbar and icons)

I tried:
- NetRemote -- would be ideal but doesn't support keyboard
- Flash (swf2exe) -- would be ideal but again it's mouse oriented (I can select buttons with the keyboard but cannot easily actally _press_ a button)
- Chameleon HTPC interface -- would be ideal but it's REALLY hard to configure/design (XML based - every element needs to be manually text-edited).

My question - is there an application which does what I need?
And - maybe there's another way of accoplishing what I need.
Here's what I need - well, see above (or below)

- MC modes (Standard, Display, Theater)
- Monitor management (swap primary, move Windows to, disable)
- hide/unhide desktop items (taskbar and icons)

Below is a mock-up (working with Flash but I am not happy with it)

[JimH]

Did you look at MusicLobby?  It's from cinemaronline.com.

[maxxsid]

Yes I know.. It's rather expensive for a simple task I need..

Did you look at MusicLobby?  It's from cinemaronline.com.

[maxxsid]

Tried one more thing.. DesktopX from Stardock.. Great desktop customization tool. Allows to do what I need and more. BUT again.. I cannot navigate with arrow keys there.. Only the mouse.
There should be some kind of full-screen application launcher out there.. Anyone knows one?

[risingdamp]

NetRemote & Girder is your best option.  How are you wanting to use the keyboard? 

NR can do keyboard commands but there are a limited number that can be set to run specific functions of your choice.  I think you can set about 15 different buttons.  In the NR designer they are referred to as 'Hard keys' because they are typically used to map the buttons on a Pocket PC but when run on a normal PC you can assign any of these to a keyboard button e.g. You could press T for Theatre View.

You can assign all of the hard keys listed in NR Designer even if your keyboard doesn't have that button because you map them within NR.  e.g. In NRD add an action to the 'Mute' hard key that switches MC to Theatre View.  Then in NR when mapping the hard keys, when you get to Mute just press 'T' on your keyboard and the T key is mapped to the function to switch MC to Theatre View.

Obviously with an NR interface the whole thing would look much slicker with a mouse or touch screen monitor but NR is so customisable with a little imagination you can still do almost anything you want with just a keyboard.  You could even use the keyboard to tab from button to button and then press enter to activate that function.  Something like that does not happen as standard but can be achieved with help from people on the NR forum.  Each time you press tab you would set a variable in the background and this would be used to highlight the appropriate button and to tell NR which function to run when you press enter.  Quite simple really!