Web Cams 2 - Support Thread

[Ted the Penguin]

just a question, what is the point of having the WebCamsListImage and ButtonListBoxImage CompositeImages? they just seem to be required, and dont scale or constrain anything?

also, the skinning doesnt seem to comply with the GB-PVR default plugins, such as button spacing etc

[Fatman_do]

The ButtonListBoxImage allows you to define the size of the "zone" that the buttons fits in. Say you had a plugin that had 10 buttons on the left side of the screen, you adjust this composite image to show like 5 or 6 at a time due to space restrictions.

The same concept holds true for the WebCamsListImage.

[McBainUK]

My guess is that the parser is having trouble with the dashes "-" in the image name since they are the only cams I can't see with your version. It's either black or it hangs up GBPVR completely. BTW, thanks again for adding US to your cinema plugin!!

Your guess is spot on. Think I may have to re-consider how I name these images. In the meantime if you want them to work you could give them names that are valid file names. \,/,:,;,*,?,",<,>,|,+,= are not allowed.

edit: v2.3 is on the wiki which fixes this issue (does the re-naming itself).

[McBainUK]

also, the skinning doesnt seem to comply with the GB-PVR default plugins, such as button spacing etc

Comply is not the word, as there is no public GBPVR API for generating buttons all the plugin authors have gone their own way.

You should find that all my plugins (and the few others that use the UI elements libary) have the same ways of skinning - might make it abit easier.

[kaizen]

Your guess is spot on. Think I may have to re-consider how I name these images. In the meantime if you want them to work you could give them names that are valid file names. \,/,:,;,*,?,",<,>,|,+,= are not allowed.

edit: v2.3 is on the wiki which fixes this issue (does the re-naming itself).

Good deal, because these are Pennsylvania Dept of Transportation Traffic cams, and I don't know how I would have renamed the images. I'm glad I waited before installing the new version Very impressive, McBain; every time I think I can come up with a new feature I look in the forums and you've already added it!

Thanks so much!

[Ted the Penguin]

Comply is not the word, as there is no public GBPVR API for generating buttons all the plugin authors have gone their own way.

You should find that all my plugins (and the few others that use the UI elements libary) have the same ways of skinning - might make it abit easier.

yeah, I was just noticing the differences, I had been having some trouble with the default skins, so I got pretty familiar with how their skins are done.

I do appreciate that all your plugins are consistent.

[capone]

Will see what I can do.

If it happens again could you post a the gbpvr.exe.log? Would be much appreciated.

It got hung up last night again, eventually let go after 10sec or so.
2007-03-07 09:30:02.217 ERROR [1] WebCams2 Plugin: Could not download WebCam image
2007-03-07 09:30:02.217 ERROR [1] WebCams2 Plugin: The remote server returned an error: (404) Not Found.
2007-03-07 09:31:13.076 ERROR [1] WebCams2 Plugin: Could not download WebCam image
2007-03-07 09:31:13.076 ERROR [1] WebCams2 Plugin: Unable to connect to the remote server

My guess that is the end of the attempt. It only happens when I am flipping through the images (not when updating in background).

It looks like it only needs logic to skip those that are trying to connect, or show last image instead until it is done (making it work like passive ftp if possible).

[McBainUK]

I think a change of logic might be in order, at the moment it works like this:

- The current WebCam is polled every second if it needs refreshing, if so then it downloads the updated image and re-draws the plugin.
- If the current WebCam is changed (eg by flipping through) the WebCam shows the cached image.
- But if the WebCam being switched to is due a refresh then it dowloads the updated image and then displays it.

------------------------------------------------------------------

I think the due-refresh download is where the problem is. Thinking of changing it so the WebCams are refreshing in the background so when flicking / changing WebCams you don't have to wait for the image to download - this is probably what is causing the delays / lockups.

The downside of this is while the plugin is active it will generate more net traffic as it will be downloading images it might not even get to show.

Hmm...

[capone]

I guess this may be different than my use, or than I how I expected it to behave.

My thought was it was doing the following:
- On starting GB, get new images in background (like weather does, regardless of if you use the plugin yet)
- Show those images
- At the get new image interval, get the new image (as temp1.jpg, temp2.jpg)
- Once sucessfully d/l'ed, replace existing image (so there is still an image if fials).

What I meant about "my use" vs what you describe is that I only use the plugin when we pause while watching something (eg, my wife goes to the bathroom), so my interval is set to 10min (refresh="600"). I don't have any intervals that are real-time or on-demand.

So I'm confused, because now that I read your description, it seems like it is getting a new image way more frequently than what I have it set to...meaning, it seems like it is getting new images every time I use it, but it would seem unlikely that I'm always checking it just at that 10min interval.

Is it possible it's not honoring that interval, or is the bahavior you're describing override the interval when you view/flip?

[McBainUK]

Can you post your \gbpvr\Plugins\WebCams2.xml file so I can run tests with the same setup? What internet connection type/speed have you got?

Is it possible it's not honoring that interval, or is the bahavior you're describing override the interval when you view/flip?

The only way to check is to run tests and add some extra logging.