xPerT -- PervTalk plugin for Xlobby

by **P3rv3rt B3ar** on Sun Jul 23, 2006 1:27 am

Ok good thing its clear now... Ill allow to use other fields as keys in next release... and also try to make it faster... cause i really doubt it can handle 18 covers with current code... but it will take atleast few weeks to get next one out...

by **bfauska** on Sun Jul 23, 2006 4:14 pm

I tried to do the same thing I described for movies on a music page because all of my music is online and therefore has a different parameter, but it didnt' work at all. I think it may be because all of my coverart on music is imbeded into my .mp3 files. I don't know if you could have it work with that or not, but that would be nice.

Thanks.
Brian

by **P3rv3rt B3ar** on Sun Jul 23, 2006 4:26 pm

Yes, loadpic only works with most common graphics fileformats. Im personally not even familiar with embedding album art inside mp3 files, if thats what u meant. So it is extremely unlikely that xPerT will support this feature (not that i would be too lazy to research, but its just so far from xPerT's core functionality).

EDIT: how does XLobby itself shows your album art?

I suppose that other (textual) fields u referenced worked ok? like name of song, etc?

by **bfauska** on Sun Jul 23, 2006 10:40 pm

Xlobby has the ability to use imbeded art, I don't know how it works. I didn't try the other fields, I am really only interested in having the artwork scroll in that specific way. I could try out the other fields though to give you some more feedback. I'll have to get back to you.

Later,
Brian

by **P3rv3rt B3ar** on Wed Jul 26, 2006 6:06 pm

Got the new machine finally ordered today... so things are moving forward... sooner or later ill have dev environment ready for 30 days and change to make a new version.

In meanwhile ive been working on kXd (kX driver control device) and if it turns out that xPert jamming problem only happens with features ZPd is using, i might be able to release kXd and PervHub soon.

Since kXd uses kX projects sourcecode in form of kX libraries, ill think i will be releasing kXd as source code only, to avoid stepping on anybodys toes or possibly breaking any license agreements. I hope this is not going to be any major inconviniency to any potential user, if that is going to be case ill be including compile instructions anyway. This will also serve perfect introduction example for programming PervTalk device, if any other dev here is interested into engaging such a task in future.

by **P3rv3rt B3ar** on Mon Jul 31, 2006 12:35 am

Good news:

XPerts bug doesnt seem to hinder use of kXd. Also i was asking around kX drivers support forum, and there seems not to be resistance if i release both source and binary version, so u dont necessarely have to compile it your self.

Here is little teaser what to expect:

In the example skin (on "Raped Dragon") kX is used as 6ch mixer but as those of you who have played with kX drivers DSP know that only limitation is your imagination. Same rules apply to kXd its purpose is to be general, it allows setting the value of any register inside your kX DSP, so using right kX plugins u can accomplish lot of things. Also kXd allows u to launch prescripted fades to groups of registers. Most common use for kXd will probably be controlling volumes of different zones.

by **P3rv3rt B3ar** on Mon Jul 31, 2006 2:34 pm

Bad news, other bug in xPerT, which i have been aware long time, but not able to hunt down before, called "recv lag" is really foiling attempts to test kXd. So ill have to keep a pause from developing until i have new environment running. I was hoping new computer to arrive today, but it didnt, i still keep hopes up about receiving it on this week though.

Good news are that i already managed to huntdown this "recv lag" bug... so fixing it is really fast as soon as i have dev env running.

by **P3rv3rt B3ar** on Fri Aug 04, 2006 4:45 am

Note: PervHub is made available for users of Zoneskin3, and is included on download package of that skin.

PervTalk is intersoftware communication interface which is composed from central application called P3rvHub and set of devices which connects PervTalk to other applications. xPerT is one of these devices. xPerT is capable of launching PervHub and connecting to it, if PervHub is installed correctly on system. U have two options where to place PervHub.exe for correct installation, depending whether you rather consider PervTalk as a part of Xlobby or separate application, if first location is not working just try another one:

<your program files folder>\pervtalk\pervhub.exe

or

<your xlobby folder>\applications\pervtalk\pervhub.exe

If pervhub is not auto launched from either of these locations, u can always manually execute it.

U r also supposed to create "PervWare" folder in your pervtalk directory. In this directory u will place most of your devices (one particular exception is xPerT, which goes to xlobby plugins folder).

If u wanna automaticly launch your devices when PervHub is executed ull need to create "autorun.ini" file in your pervtalk directory.

Format of autorun.ini file is following:

device1 parameters1
device2 parameters2
.
.
.
devicen parametersn

where devicex is name of particular pervDevice without .exe extension.
and parametersx is commandline parameters sent to device at startup separated by spaces.

(it is prefarable to make this file, otherwise ull have to manually start devices when ull starting xlobby.)

IMPORTANT: PervHub opens and listens TCP port # 6565. PervHub doesnt authenticate incoming packets, but is meant to be run on _trusted_ environment. Since PervHub can launch any application existing on your machine, running PervHub on public network is huge security threat and consider ill-adviced. You are responsible of securing PervHub, this can be complished for example network level firewall, blocking incoming packets targeted to that particular port outside from your domain. Also if you are behind NAT, which is commonly (but not always) case for xDSL based connections, meaning your machine is not addressable outside your domain, PervHub is safe from outside threat. If you dont fully understand this paragraph, DO NOT install PervHub.

by **dalanik** on Fri Aug 04, 2006 8:40 am

Reading your posts on xPerT and related stuff, you make it sound so complicated.... :-)

What do you i.e. mean by "devices" that connect to P3rvHub ? What exactly is a device?

What is the practical use of this?

Don't mean to sound rude, I'm just confused...

:-)

D.

P.S. Ah... in PLAIN english, please :-)

by **dgemily** on Fri Aug 04, 2006 8:52 am

dalanik wrote:P.S. Ah... in PLAIN english, please

+1

by **P3rv3rt B3ar** on Fri Aug 04, 2006 1:32 pm

dalanik wrote:What do you i.e. mean by "devices" that connect to P3rvHub ? What exactly is a device?

Device is P3rvTalk plugin... i chose to call them like that... calling them plugins would be even more complicated cause theire plugins for other software on their own right.

by **P3rv3rt B3ar** on Fri Aug 04, 2006 1:33 pm

dgemily wrote:
dalanik wrote:P.S. Ah... in PLAIN english, please

+1

I dont wanna be rudei either... but french team could take that advice too :roll:

by **P3rv3rt B3ar** on Fri Aug 04, 2006 1:48 pm

dalanik wrote:What is the practical use of this?

So far not much... Only quite a pile of conviniency features included in xPerT (u can take a look of pic inside link of first post, to see these in work).

However situation is going to change when i release ZPd (device for Zoom Player)... it is something ZP&XLobby users dont wanna be without...

PervTalk infrastructure was conceived out of necessity, cause doing XLobby plugin required MSVC#. However it has a whole bunch of advantages, and i wont do any direct Xlobby plugin expect xPerT, even if i had more access to MSVC#. If u find some of my plugins useful, your only choige to use it in your XLobby is install xPerT and PervHub.

So like i said in first post xPert is mainly PervTalk plugin, but it conviniency features are more than enough to make it useful plugin in its own right.

by **dgemily** on Fri Aug 04, 2006 1:58 pm

P3rv3rt B3ar wrote:
dgemily wrote:
dalanik wrote:P.S. Ah... in PLAIN english, please

+1

I dont wanna be rudei either... but french team could take that advice too

Guys, the french team are trying to post french applications in english on this forum. It’s not easy for us,. we got it in French and it’s enough for me, we are only doing it for you, ….
I doing what I can do…. ( the maximum….) and my english is not good…
We also translate and report information from this forum to the French one but nobody is doing the opposite… only french guys doing both ways…. I don’t reproach that to you guys, but just clarifying the thing….
And I bumped dalanik post, because for us ( French guys) is difficult to understand English post. And is more difficult when guys are not posting in PLAIN English , that why I didn’t post your plugin on the French forum…I can ‘t explain it because I don’t understand your post….
Can you understand why I bumped the post ? it’s not to criticize you, it’s just to show you that some people can’t use your plugin because they don’t understand it......

by **P3rv3rt B3ar** on Fri Aug 04, 2006 2:15 pm

Oh sorry, misunderstanded u... i thought u were giving critic on my english skills... which i considered rather low cause english is not my first (or even second) language either.

I approciate very highly the translation work you particularly have done to bridge the gap between french and english speaking community.

But i dont know really what more i can do... I really like to code but this documention part i hate from bottom of my hearth...