Remote Wonder - Xlobby plugin Beta testers needed

[wmandra]

Hey everyone, I just finished the first beta release of my ATI Remote Wonder - Xlobby plugin. Some of the features include:
Ability to map almost all RW keys to individual events

Multiple states, so the same button on the remote can perform a different function depending on which Xlobby screen is active

Keys can be targeted at a specific application even if it does not currently have the focus

Each key can be assigned one of four different events: SendKey, Trigger Button(not currently working), SendMessage, Toggle(alows number keys to act like buttons on a phone - still needs work)

Unassigned key passthrough, so it is not always necessary to map keys like volume and cursor

Easy to use configuration screen

If you are interested in Beta testing please send an email to:
mailto:mandraw@earthlink.net
Subject: atixlobby beta
Include your email in the message (where you would like the .zip sent)

All I ask in return is that you either send bug reports to my email or post them in this thread. I will send out updates as they become available.

Bill

[jowaldo]

just sent ya an email.... this EXACTLY what I've been hopin for!!!!!!!!!!!!

[jowaldo]

Got the plugin installed... Messed around with it a bit, but I'm kinda confused. I'm not too familiar with wParam's, lParam's, Window names, and classes. I'm assuming these commands work with virtually any program, but my question is, how do you find this info out about a given program?

I also don't quite understand how to get xlobby commands working, is there any way you make a short tutorial with screenshots?



P.S. in some of the other posts you made, you mentioned other plugins you have made, like one for watching tv through the ati player. Have you posted these plugins before, or are they still in progress?

[wmandra]

jowaldo,
I emailed you an update to the atixlobby.exe file last night with some minor fixes and oe major fix. Use the new .exe and program the buttons in event mode to control Xlobby. Here is a quick tutorial on the plugin.

Each button on the Remote Wonder can be mapped by this plugin into one of four different modes. Event mode is used to trigger Xlobby buttons, Toggle mode allows the number buttons to send characters (not currently working, but this should be fixed today), Character mode which assigns a keyboad key, keys, or string to a particular button, and Message mode which maps the button press to a sendmessage used for controlling other applications.

To control Xlobby you will want to use Event Mode. There are two different ways you can do this. The first way is to use the Xlobby skin editor and assign a unique numeric number to each button in Xlobby that you want to be able to trigger with the Remote Wonder. The second method, which is the one I would use, is to create a new Xlobby screen which conatains a button for each Remote Wonder button that you want to map, remember each button on the Remote Wonder can be mapped to multiple Xlobby buttons by using multiple States in the plugin.

To set up all your buttons on one Xlobby screen you will first want to use the skin editor and go through all the screens and write down the ID of each button that has one. Next you need to decide how many States you want the Remote plugin to map and which functions you want in each state. Here is an example:
State 0 : Normal
Button_A - Main Menu
Button_B - Television Menu
Button_C - Movies Menu
Button_D - Music Menu
Button_E - Pictures
Button_F - Weather
State 1 : Television
Chan_Up -
Chan_Down -
State 2 : Movies
Play - Play
Pause - Pause

etc....etc....

Next create a new Xlobby screen using the Skin Editor. You can name this screen whatever you want, also do not worry about what this screen looks like since it will never actually be visible. Now create a button on this screen for every event that you listed, again it doesn't matter what you label the button as or what image you use. The only thing that matters is that you assign each one a UNIQUE numerical ID and that you enter the correct Xlobby commands, so for your Main Menu button assign it an ID of 100 and put 'menu' under Xlobby Commands. Write the ID of each button you create next to the event in your list. So now your list should look like this:
State 0 : Normal
Button_A - Main Menu 100
Button_B - Television Menu 101
Button_C - Movies Menu 102
Button_D - Music Menu 103
Button_E - Pictures 104
Button_F - Weather 105
State 1 : Television
Chan_Up - 200
Chan_Down - 201
State 2 : Movies
Play - Play 300
Pause - Pause 301

etc....etc....

Once you have created all of these buttons exit Xlobby and open up the plugin configuration screen. Use the instructions that came with the plugin to create all of your states and button mappins. Simply put each button in Event mode and put the ID for the button in the Button text box.

To use multiple states add the following to the Xlobby Commands when you want the state to change.
sendmessage:ThunderRT6FormDC:ATIxlobby:1024:1:<state>
Replace state with the state number assigned by the plugin. So, if you want the "Music" button in Xlobby to enter state 2 enter the following under Xlobby command for the "Music" button:
sendmessage:ThunderRT6FormDC:ATIxlobby:1024:1:2
To be sure that you go back to the Normal state when leaving the Music screen, enter the following in the commands for the screens "Back" button:
sendmessage:ThunderRT6FormDC:ATIxlobby:1024:1:0

As soon as I get mine completely finished I will post a link to download my buttons screen that you can use as an example. I am also planning on releasing my entire skin once I have everything working.

As far as the other plugins, there are two others. The first is a Windows Media Player 9 plugin that allows playback of AVI/MPEG files from within Xlobby, I am currently modifying this plugin to also handle online and offline DVDs. The second plugin integrates GotTV into Xlobby. I have paused development of this plugin right now until the EPG in Xlobby gets finished. Once all of the plugins are finished and I have them set up with my skin I will probably release them all as one big skin for Xlobby with it's own installer. This way it will install the skin and all the plugins for you, all you will have to do is some minor tweaking for your setup.

Hope this helped,
Bill

[wmandra]

UPDATE NOTE -
Right now I think the plugin will only work with A39. I haven't tried it with A40 yet, but Steven said he still has to finish up getting events in A40 to respond to messages from external programs. Once A40 is no longer an experimental version I will test it here with the Remote Wonder plugin and make any changes as necessary. For now, you can try it with A40, but I can only garantee it to work with A39.

Hope this helps,
Bill

[jowaldo]

ahh thats where my problem was... I'll have to try that

[noviceboy]

Bill,

I have sent you 2 emails. I would love to try out this plugin. Any chance?

email mailto:jonw@arcor.de

[wmandra]

noviceboy,
Sorry I havn't had a chance to email you the beta yet. I have been working on setting up and configuring my media server and XP and I are not getting along right now. I am also trying to get the toggle key mode debuged. I will email you a copy by the end of the week.

Bill

[wmandra]

Okay, the plugin is just about finished. The only thing I still have to get working is the toggle buttons mode and some other misc features that I thought of. One other thing I noticed is that I noticed is that when you assign a Remote Wonder button to Event mode it triggers the Xlobby Event Code for that button, not the Button ID. Sorry for the mistake. I just finished setting mine all up and it works great, just start your event codes above 1000 to avoid conflicts with any built in Xlobby events.

Also, if anyone who has been using the beta has any comments or suggestions please get them to me as soon as possile. I am going to start finalizing the code and the instructions so that a public release can be available by next Monday.

Bill

[wmandra]

Ok, the Beta 3 version is now ready for release for those interested. All of the features are now working correctly with Xlobby A39. The public release should be ready to go on Monday.

Bill

[noviceboy]

Bill,

I just can't get your plugin to change states/key layouts with a sendmessage. I have tried it with girder, but still no luck. I have girder sending the right parameters via standard girder command and via a girder sendmessage plugin. I know these work on my other programmes okay. I can manually changes states as per Beta 3 update.

There is NO message number required?

Also should your plugin be in an open state(settings windows visible) or sitting in the Sys tray or should It be exited from the systray?

[wmandra]

The message number is 1024
wParam is 1
lParam is the Key Layout number


Bill

[noviceboy]

The message number is 1024

That would imply that xlobby' sendmessage specifies message no. 1024?

[wmandra]

Thats it!

So in Xlobby A39 it would look like this:
sendmessage:ThumderRT6FormDC:ATIxlobby:1024:1:<state>


Bill

[noviceboy]

I said your doc was wrong