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[negopus]

I think that MC should turn your PC into an entertainment station. You should always be able to control its main functions, no matter what other program you are using. Right out of the box, MC is just another Windows application. You have to ALT-TAB to MC in order to change tracks and so on. I think it deserves native global hotkeys.

At the moment, I have devised two ways of adding global hotkeys to MC by means of external programs

Girder http://www.promixis.com/ is a program to give commands to the PC from a remote control. The current version of Girder (4) is commercial. The older version 3.2 is freeware, if you can still find it. With suitable plug-ins, the PC keyboard can be used as a remote control for the PC. You can find further information  in this forum, by means of a search.

True Launch Bar http://www.truelaunchbar.com/ is a powerful replacement for Windows' quick launch, that includes a plug-in to control many players, including MC. It can control the main functions of MC via hotkeys, and it can also display the title of the current track in the Windows taskbar. Only a few functions are supported, however. For example, FF and REW are not supported. I could not have True Launch Bar working with MC11, although it should support MC10 as well as MC11.

I think that MC should natively support global hotkeys, at least for its basic functions, in order to be more enjoyable to less technical-oriented people.

[jgreen]

Congratulations on reinventing the wheel.  For $19 I bought a Microsoft Media Keyboard and I have global control of major MC functions wherever I am in windows and irrespective of what I'm currently working on.  I have full control of fwd, back, next, volume, and if I gave it some thought I could probably assign hot keys to rate songs.

I appreciate all the work you did, but Bill Gates already did it better and easier and cheaper.  And thanks to that keyboard I've never considered MC "just another Windows application".   

Logitech also has some really cool looking keyboards that you might take a look at.  FWIW, truelaunchbar, if not exactly spyware, is still listed as conflicting with MC.

[edbro]

Using MC's command line parameters you can also use Powerpro (freeware) for global control. I use Powerpro for hotkeys and to build a toolbar that includes MC controls.



P.S. That cursor is the A-10 "Warthog". Best dang attack aircraft ever!!

[RhinoBanga]

Windows has in-built support for global hotkeys.   Just create a shortcut on your desktop and you will see you can assign a hotkey.   From that you can create shortcuts to control MC via it's command line which will work with any keyboard.

[negopus]

Congratulations on reinventing the wheel.

MC is not clearly documented, so every time is like reinventing the wheel. This is a really lively forum, but the only way to find information is to perform a free-text search. Not so structured.

I appreciate all the work you did, but Bill Gates already did it better and easier and cheaper.

Using Girder 3.2 the work is completely free. I admit it is not easy, so one might prefer to spend some money on a new keyboard rather than tweaking with Girder.

Logitech also has some really cool looking keyboards that you might take a look at.

I have tried a Logitech keyboard in a shop some time ago and I didn’t like it. I am more concerned with usability and ergonomics rather that with cool looks.

[negopus]

Using MC's command line parameters you can also use Powerpro (freeware) for global control.

Using mjextman is not a very efficient solution. Every time you press an hotkey, the operating system has to load an executable (mjextman.exe) and run it. Not so efficient, even if you have a disk cache. Using Girder you have the choice of using either mjextman commands or operating system-level messages (WMessage). The difference in responsiveness is dramatic. Using WMessage you achieve an almost real-time response. That’s what you need for media playback.

[negopus]

Just in case anybody wants to experiment with Girder and hotkeys, this is my configuration:
- Girder 3.2.6 (free)
- Keyboard plug-in for Girder (keyboardex.dll - Keyboard driver, written by Mario Ivankovits)
- Girder configuration file (GML) already in MC, in subdirectory Data\Extras\Girder under the MC installation directory

The keyboardex.dll plug-in should hide key presses from the operating system, but I couldn’t get it to filter them. So I assigned the Win+Space key combination to Play/Pause. But when I press the Win key and then the Space key for the first time, the currently active application behaves as if Space was pressed. If I hold down the Win key and press Space again, the application receives no key presses this time.

[LonWar]

Using MC's command line parameters you can also use Powerpro (freeware) for global control. I use Powerpro for hotkeys and to build a toolbar that includes MC controls.



P.S. That cursor is the A-10 "Warthog". Best dang attack aircraft ever!!

That's cool.... Can you also add the Song and Album info? 

[negopus]

Windows has in-built support for global hotkeys.   Just create a shortcut on your desktop and you will see you can assign a hotkey.   From that you can create shortcuts to control MC via it's command line which will work with any keyboard.

I know, but this method is good only to add an hotkey to start an application. As I said before, mjextman.exe is not a very efficient way of sending commands to MC. Also, the Win key is not supported. I find it extremely useful to define MC hotkeys using the Win key plus another key.

[glynor]

You could just use the SendMessage.exe application (included with the Girder download, but not really "part of Girder") to send the windows messages and bypass the need to use MC's command line functionality.

Personally, I'm glad MC doesn't have Global Hotkeys.  They often interfere with my other applications' hotkeys, and that annoys me.  Keep in mind that some apps (Photoshop, Avid, etc) assign functions to just about every conceivable keypress there is!

[edbro]

That's cool.... Can you also add the Song and Album info? 

Yes, I have it set to show the song info in the tooltips for the main controls. I'm at work so I can't post a screenshot. Also, I have a hotkey that pops up the song playing in an OnScreen display. This info is read from a txt file written with the WritePlaying plugin.