Topic: MC EventGhost Plugin (Read 38402 times)

gvanbrunt · « **on:** October 05, 2014, 12:23:57 pm »

Hi All,

Have you ever wanted your lights to dim when you pressed play in MC? Or wanted something to happen when a particular song played? I’ve written a plugin for EventGhost that polls MC’s Rest API for Track Changes and Play\Stop\Pause events. I could add more features if needed so it depends on people’s interest. If you have a scenario you would like to support, let me know and I’ll see what I can do.
To show how to use the plug in I thought I’d give a real world example: how I use it to make the lights dim when a movie is played. To start, locate your EvenGhost directory. It’s usually under C:\Program files (x86)\EventGhost. In the plug in’s directory create a new folder called MCEvent. Copy the attached __init__.py file there.

Open EventGhost and select Configuration->Add Plugin. Add the JRiver Media Center Event Plugin under the Other folder:

You will need to have Network Access setup and working. Information on doing that can be found here:
http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Network_Access
Enter I the information required to access MC that you have setup previously:

I would recommend the longest polling interval necessary to achieve your desired scenario to avoid unnecessarily asking it for information.
Once that is configured and working you need to fire some events from MC to make them appear in EventGhost:

You can then use these events to trigger Macro’s in EventGhost. You will notice that when one of these events is triggered there is a bunch of data (payload) right after the event. You can access this information inside of EventGhost via a Python Script etc. While this may sound daunting, I’ll walk you through a simple example that I use myself to dim the lights only if a Video is playing etc.

I’ve setup 2 macros. The first is one called “Light Scene: Dim”. If this macro is fired it sends a command to my ISY-994i controller that does my home automation. You can use whatever home automation controller you want provided EventGhost supports it. It supports quite a few.
The second Macro is triggered by the MCEvent.Play event we captured earlier. I created a Macro called “Track Playing” and dragged the event there. I then added a Python Script and Jump action. The Jump action will trigger the” Light Scene: Dim” macro if the script returns successful. The key to this working is the Script:

gvanbrunt · « **Reply #1 on:** October 05, 2014, 12:24:49 pm »

In the python script we import the eg module which gives us access to EventGhost. The script checks the event payload to get information about the playing track. In this case it is checking if the Media Type is Video. If it is, it returns True causing the Jump action to fire and the lights to dim. If not nothing will happen.
I also created some other macros. I created one for pause which brings the lights up a bit if someone needs to go get popcorn or use the restroom. I also created one for stop that brings the lights back up again.
Troubleshooting

If you run into issues with the plug in not firing events etc you can enable troubleshooting which will cause some information to be dumped to the EventGhost log panel. You can enable it by editing the plugin __init__.py file:

Change the line DEBUG = False to DEBUG = True. After restarting EvengGhost you should see a bunch of Blue informational events that show what is going on inside the plugin. You may be able to figure out what the issue is yourself, or you can contact me with a screenshot if not.
This is version 0.0.1 so there is bound to be some bugs etc. Let me know of any issues you have. If there is enough interest I will add to the plugin over time to add features to it. There are a few known limitations:
-   It only works for the active zone. I’m not sure how to handle other zones as I don’t use them myself in my setup. If you have a particular need I’ll see what I can do.
-   It only works on the WAN. I'm going to fix this in the near future. USE AUTHENTICATION to make sure someone doesn't mess with your library.
-   It only supports track change, play, stop, and pause events. I can probably add more if you need them
-   It doesn't have any actions to control MC. I use the Start Application action and fire MCC core commands to control MC. It is possible to add actions that do these things, but I haven’t bothered at this point.
Have Fun!

WinoOutWest · « **Reply #2 on:** October 05, 2014, 12:50:39 pm »

AWESOME!

I'm a huge Eventghost fan and longtime MC user. Years ago I used to have this functionality using Zoomplayer, Girder and Netremote. I've been waiting/hoping for some additional hooks into MC with Eventghost so this is great news.

Thank you for sharing!

Castius · « **Reply #3 on:** October 06, 2014, 09:53:19 am »

I think i'm in love.

I can't wait to try this out.

d_pert · « **Reply #4 on:** November 08, 2014, 05:58:33 pm »

AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME !!!

For starters, in the bedroom, I will be making this turn on my Bose Wave Radio II and set it to the AUX input, every time MC goes PLAY!

Fantasic work and thanks for the thorough introduction!

gvanbrunt · « **Reply #5 on:** November 08, 2014, 07:34:33 pm »

I'm glad people are finding it useful. I wasn't even sure it would be and almost didn't.

If you find any functionality etc missing or some ways it can be improved, let me know.

astromo · « **Reply #6 on:** November 09, 2014, 01:40:53 pm »

I did a cross post to this thread over at the EG forum:
http://www.eventghost.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1600&p=32946&hilit=jriver#p32946
Thought it might help anyone travelling over that way first.

Nice work.

gvanbrunt · « **Reply #7 on:** November 09, 2014, 04:41:37 pm »

Thanks appreciate it. I was going to post over there, but didn't find a good place for it to "fit".

beginner44 · « **Reply #8 on:** November 12, 2014, 04:11:18 pm »

What can I say : a dream has come true; This is AWESOME.

Thank you so much SIR

!!!

WinoOutWest · « **Reply #9 on:** November 13, 2014, 12:20:52 pm »

Quote

- It only works for the active zone. I’m not sure how to handle other zones as I don’t use them myself in my setup. If you have a particular need I’ll see what I can do.

Is there any way to get zones support? In my setup I have 2 zones on the htpc: "Music" and "Video".
The music zones feeds the whole house (about 8 sets of independent speaker sets) with music. The Music zones runs continuously throughout the day and may. The video zone is only for the living room and plays any of the video content.
Things like triggering the lights or the projector screen only apply to the video zone which may or may not be the active zone.

gvanbrunt · « **Reply #10 on:** November 13, 2014, 01:15:32 pm »

I'm not even sure how this works in relations to zones. So are you saying that sometimes it is getting triggered from the "non video" zone?

gvanbrunt · « **Reply #11 on:** November 13, 2014, 08:25:21 pm »

Since I haven't heard back yet I'll take a crack at what I think you're asking. I'm guessing you want to only dim the lights (or whatever) when the event happens in a particular zone. Every zone except the default zone has a name. You can do something like this in the script:

if eg.event.payload['Media Type'] == 'Video' and eg.event.payload['ZoneName'] == 'Video Zone':
eg.result = True
else:
eg.result = False

You can test for any one of the values returned in the payload. If you want to see them all right click on an event and select copy. You can then paste to notepad and look at all the available values for an event.

WinoOutWest · « **Reply #12 on:** March 17, 2015, 10:40:31 pm »

Hi Despite my initial excitement I am just getting around to installing this now.

It is not logging any MC event at all. I turned logging on and I get the error:

MCEventPlugin Exception in PollingLoop: <urlopen error [Errno 10060] A connection attempt failed because the connected party did not properly respond after a period of time, or established connection failed because connected host has failed to respond>

I've doublechecked my key and tried this with and without log in credentials.

Any idea what else I can try?
Thanks.
Darren

gvanbrunt · « **Reply #13 on:** March 18, 2015, 09:41:00 am »

It means it can't reach the web service in MC for some reason. On the computer running EventGhost you can check if can reach the service.

For starters see if you can reach it via localhost if MC is on the same computer:

http://localhost:52199/MCWS/v1/doc

If not replace localhost with the IP Address of your MC server and try. It should return some documentation.

WinoOutWest · « **Reply #14 on:** March 18, 2015, 09:51:56 am »

yes it can reach it fine - I am successfully using the MC webservice already within EG for some controls.

EG and MC are on the same box. No firewall is active on that box.

I can also hit MC from outside my network as well.

gvanbrunt · « **Reply #15 on:** March 18, 2015, 11:50:22 am »

I'm trying to figure out what is failing exactly, so please make sure you actually tried what I said, not assumed it is reachable because other plug in etc are working.

What we need to test are:

localhost:
http://localhost:52199/MCWS/v1/doc

localIP:
http://<InsertLocalIPAddressHere>:52199/MCWS/v1/doc

PublicIP:
http://<InsertPublicIPAddressHere>:52199/MCWS/v1/doc

Let me know your results.

WinoOutWest · « **Reply #16 on:** March 18, 2015, 11:59:36 am »

Yes I definitely tried that and it definitely works.
I have been using the MCWS commands to control MC from iRule.

At any rate... The url gives me the MCWS command list back in both cases.

gvanbrunt · « **Reply #17 on:** March 18, 2015, 12:13:39 pm »

Hmm,

Checked my code and I guess it only uses the public IP to connect. So if that one is working via web browser then we might have to do some network tracing.

WinoOutWest · « **Reply #18 on:** March 18, 2015, 06:29:30 pm »

not that it particularly matters but I used both the external IP as well as my dyndns external address and both hit the MC server just fine.

Anything else I can do/check on my end?

gvanbrunt · « **Reply #19 on:** March 18, 2015, 08:07:23 pm »

Nothing off the top of my head. But what we can do is use Fiddler to see the calls being made and find out what is going on. You can get it here:

http://www.telerik.com/fiddler

what you need to do is shut everything down in the system tray etc or there will be lots of junk in the trace. The open Media Center then open Fiddler so it starts tracing. Then start EventGhost. Give it a min or two and save the trace. I'll PM my email address and you can send it there.

gvanbrunt · « **Reply #20 on:** March 19, 2015, 09:38:26 am »

I got your log and it clearly shows the call to the public IP of your server failing. Like a firewall is blocking it. However, I try from my computer and it works.

Are you positive that you can browse in a web browser to the pubic IP? It the one that begins with 70.78.x.x.

http://<InsertPublicIPAddressHere>:52199/MCWS/v1/doc

Also are you running any kind of security software? Virus, Malware, etc. It may be blocking the calls.

WinoOutWest · « **Reply #21 on:** March 19, 2015, 10:00:39 am »

Yup,
tested it again this am and I can still hit the MCWS from outside.

No firewalls on, port is open. I run some scanners to doublecheck for virus/malware.

raider · « **Reply #22 on:** March 24, 2015, 08:54:06 am »

Hi, with this Eventghost plugin, is it possible for me to do this:

1. Eventghost to detect if JRiver is playing say a 2 channel music and if so, send an IR pulse to switch the integrated amplifier to Aux 1
2. If a 6 channel movie is played, send an IR pulse to switch the integrated amplifier to Aux 2.

It looks like this is possible but would like to know if this is indeed doable? Thanks

gvanbrunt · « **Reply #23 on:** March 24, 2015, 11:46:50 am »

Yes I believe Channels is in the payload so you could check for them in the script and trigger whatever event you want that would generate the IR. As for what plugin to use for the IR, you would have to check if your IR Blaster is supported.

raider · « **Reply #24 on:** March 24, 2015, 11:31:31 pm »

Thanks for that. Will try!

raider · « **Reply #25 on:** March 25, 2015, 05:30:54 pm »

I installed this as per instructions yesterday but eventghost does not seem to be able to monitor the actions happening in jriver. Say I play a song and change a zone, eventghost does nor show these actions happening.

I don't think I use the wrong access password because I can control jriver using gizmo on my tablet and it is using the same access password.

I have also installed the normal MC plug in and I can execute an action to trigger jriver but I just can't get jriver to monitor what jriver is actually playing.

Any ideas?

gvanbrunt · « **Reply #26 on:** March 25, 2015, 08:39:26 pm »

Yes, Do you have it setup for access from the internet? As mentioned in the notes, only WAN (internet) access works at the moment. If you know your local IP address you can temporarily hack the plug in to accept a static IP address. Open the __init__.py file and make the following change:

This is likely your issue.

WinoOutWest · « **Reply #27 on:** March 25, 2015, 11:32:25 pm »

^^^ I can vouch for this - this will get it working.
(thanks again gvanbrunt!)

raider · « **Reply #28 on:** March 26, 2015, 08:00:54 am »

I added the new line

ipAddress = 192.168.1.90 into the __init__py file and now when I start eventghost, it is throwing up a bunch of errors on the log screen.

I tried ipAddress = <192.168.1.90> and it is also throwing the same error.

I double checked and ensure that the characters have the correct case and spelling. Not sure why it is failing...any ideas?

I enclosed the .py file here.

Thanks

WinoOutWest · « **Reply #29 on:** March 26, 2015, 09:26:24 am »

try quotes. This is my modded line that does work:

ipAddress = "192.168.2.225"

gvanbrunt · « **Reply #30 on:** March 26, 2015, 09:40:26 am »

Thanks Wino, you are absolutely correct, you need the quotes.

Sorry for the confusion. I guess this also means I should get off my butt and get this fixed...

WinoOutWest · « **Reply #31 on:** March 26, 2015, 09:50:23 am »

I use iRule for my whole house control including audio.
I found a tutorial that shows me how to read eventghost variables into iRule so I can display them on my panels.
I can see that MCEvents seems to capture everything I could possibly want to display.
Not being much of a programmer I was wondering if you could give me an example of how to take the the info from MCEvents and save them into a variable?
For starters I would like to get the song, artist and album into 3 variables so I can pass these to iRule.

gvanbrunt · « **Reply #32 on:** March 26, 2015, 01:25:37 pm »

Don't use iRule myself so I don't know how it gets variables from Eventghost, but you could set variables in the script:

something like this:

myVariable == eg.event.payload['<name of field>']

you would later be able to access them under eg.globals such as eg.globals.myVariable. You can find all the fields available by right clicking on one in Eventghost as the appear and copy and paste to Notepad.

If you get this working I would love see some examples of it working in iRule etc.

WinoOutWest · « **Reply #33 on:** March 26, 2015, 04:51:13 pm »

Okay - baby steps for me...

here is my script that fires when the track is changed:
CurrentTrack == eg.event.payload['Name']

when it runs in EG I get the error:
Traceback (most recent call last):
Python script "15", line 1, in <module>
CurrentTrack == eg.event.payload['Name']
NameError: name 'CurrentTrack' is not defined

raider · « **Reply #34 on:** March 26, 2015, 06:13:05 pm »

Many thanks for the help guys. That syntax change works perfectly.

But I am now getting these errors...maybe unrelated to MCEvent but any ideas?

Traceback (most recent call last) (1700):
File "C:\Program Files (x86)\EventGhost\eg\Classes\MainFrame\__init__.py", line 345, in FuncWrapper
func()
File "C:\Program Files (x86)\EventGhost\eg\Classes\MainFrame\__init__.py", line 832, in OnCmdSave
self.document.Save()
File "C:\Program Files (x86)\EventGhost\eg\Classes\Document.py", line 360, in Save
self.WriteFile(self.filePath)
File "C:\Program Files (x86)\EventGhost\eg\Classes\Document.py", line 178, in WriteFile
tmpFile, tmpPath = mkstemp(".xml", "$", os.path.dirname(filePath))
File "tempfile.pyc", line 293, in mkstemp
File "tempfile.pyc", line 228, in _mkstemp_inner
OSError: [Errno 13] Permission denied

Also....as MCEvent is located in the c:\program files directory and it will require Admin access to modify and save the file everything it is required to be changed....is this the intended thing?

Thanks again

gvanbrunt · « **Reply #35 on:** March 26, 2015, 07:18:56 pm »

Those errors are not from the plug in. Eventghost itself can't write to it's own directory and create I temp file from what I see. This isn't really the forum for fixing eventghost issues though so I would suggest following that part up on their forum. If I knew the answer I would tell you but I don't offhand.

gvanbrunt · « **Reply #36 on:** March 26, 2015, 07:23:05 pm »

Quote from: WinoOutWest on March 26, 2015, 04:51:13 pm

here is my script that fires when the track is changed:
CurrentTrack == eg.event.payload['Name']

Ug, I lead you astray again. That should have been a single equals sign. One equals sign assigns something to a variable. Two of them COMPARES the two sides. So of course since we've never assigned anything to CurrentTrack at this point it tells us so...

Hope that makes sense

raider · « **Reply #37 on:** March 26, 2015, 07:36:45 pm »

Thanks gvanbrunt. I restarted eventghost and this time run it with admin rights and the errors went away.....so seems okay for now.

WinoOutWest · « **Reply #38 on:** March 26, 2015, 07:43:49 pm »

I am making progress as well. No errors now - trying to get the info over to iRule now.
Thanks for the quick response!

raider · « **Reply #39 on:** March 27, 2015, 05:44:47 am »

Hi, I followed the instruction and created a new python script:

import eg

if eg.event.payload['ZoneName'] == 'Maverick Audio D1 + Rotel RA-06SE':
eg.result = True
else:
eg.result = False

But I am getting this error...

Python Script
Traceback (most recent call last):
Python script "5", line 3, in <module>
if eg.event.payload['ZoneName'] == 'Maverick Audio D1 + Rotel RA-06SE':
TypeError: 'NoneType' object is unsubscriptable

some help please? thanks

gvanbrunt · « **Reply #40 on:** March 27, 2015, 10:03:42 am »

Where are you seeing this error? Some screenshots would help.

raider · « **Reply #41 on:** March 27, 2015, 07:48:44 pm »

Sorry I must have messed up the earlier script. Here is my screenshot.

I have already defined the IR command to be sent to the amplifier to switch it to Aux 1 and Aux 2 and it is working. I just dont know how to get this working such that MCEvent detect the current zone it is in and tell eventghost what to do.

gvanbrunt · « **Reply #42 on:** March 28, 2015, 12:29:15 am »

Are you saying the script is not throwing errors now? If so you just need to define the jump after the script as shown in my screenshots in the original post.

And you also need to drag an MC play event etc over to the macro. It must be there before the script.

raider · « **Reply #43 on:** March 28, 2015, 03:09:42 am »

Thanks gvanbrunt. That does it. I added the MCEventPlugin.Play action to the macro and it now works perfectly! U are the man!

soundstorm · « **Reply #44 on:** April 02, 2015, 03:42:16 pm »

hello gvanbrunt,

Thanks for the nice work

. This Plugin works fine in one direction but it would be very nice to controll JRiver with EG too

it would be very usefull to send Mute, Play/Pause, Last Track, Next Track, Rewind and Forward to MC

what do you think?

gvanbrunt · « **Reply #45 on:** April 02, 2015, 07:59:10 pm »

You can already do this with EventGhost. That is what I do with it. You need to send commands to MC using MCC Commands:

http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Media_Center_Core_Commands

That is how I and others automate MC from EventGhost.

soundstorm · « **Reply #46 on:** April 03, 2015, 03:38:36 am »

thanks, i will try

gvanbrunt · « **Reply #47 on:** April 03, 2015, 10:18:16 am »

It's pretty easy but I can provide some specific examples if you need the help. Didn't have access to my HTPC yest when I wrote back.

soundstorm · « **Reply #48 on:** April 03, 2015, 12:51:14 pm »

that would be very kind if you could give me an example

WinoOutWest · « **Reply #49 on:** April 03, 2015, 12:56:01 pm »

There is a "J River Media Center" Plugin in here somewhere that seems to work for me. I don't think it has seen much love in a while at some point I think I had to mode the config file to point it to the newer version - but for the most part the commands still work. And it comes if most of the required commands.

INTERACT FORUM

Author Topic: MC EventGhost Plugin (Read 38402 times)