render only called for mouse and keyboard event

[rshaw]

I am creating a plugin and need to update on screen the current track position so I implmented needsRendering as so:

bool IMenuTask.needsRendering()
{
return true;
}

yet render is only called when a keyboard event occurs. I thought since I am returning true render would be called about once a second.

[sub]

That should be enough. Maybe try logging a message to make sure your needsRendering() method is being called.

[rshaw]

I added

Logger.Verbose("needsRendering called");

inside of needsRendering and here is the relevant part of the log file. It seems that while music is being played back needsRendering isn't being called.


6/22/2006 4:17:53 PM.234 VERBOSE [1] Activate called
6/22/2006 4:17:54 PM.171 VERBOSE [1] needsRendering called
6/22/2006 4:17:55 PM.171 VERBOSE [1] needsRendering called
6/22/2006 4:17:56 PM.171 VERBOSE [1] needsRendering called
6/22/2006 4:17:57 PM.171 VERBOSE [1] needsRendering called
6/22/2006 4:17:58 PM.171 VERBOSE [1] needsRendering called
6/22/2006 4:17:59 PM.171 VERBOSE [1] needsRendering called
6/22/2006 4:17:59 PM.453 VERBOSE [1] About to start playback of F:\test\J 01-Bad Day.mp3
6/22/2006 4:18:02 PM.171 VERBOSE [1] HideMouse ref=-1
6/22/2006 4:18:29 PM.828 VERBOSE [1] MusicPlaybackManager.stop()
6/22/2006 4:18:29 PM.828 VERBOSE [1] ...about to stop music
6/22/2006 4:18:30 PM.171 VERBOSE [1] needsRendering called
6/22/2006 4:18:31 PM.171 VERBOSE [1] needsRendering called
6/22/2006 4:18:32 PM.171 VERBOSE [1] needsRendering called
6/22/2006 4:18:33 PM.171 VERBOSE [1] needsRendering called
6/22/2006 4:18:34 PM.171 VERBOSE [1] needsRendering called
6/22/2006 4:18:34 PM.593 VERBOSE [1] Deactivate called
6/22/2006 4:18:36 PM.421 VERBOSE [1] getValue() loading new key/value into cache: /settings/NetRadioBufferSize
6/22/2006 4:18:36 PM.421 VERBOSE [1] getValue: /settings/NetRadioBufferSize : 96000
6/22/2006 4:18:36 PM.421 INFO [1] NetRadio buffer size is: 96000

[sub]

Out of curiosity, what skin are you using?

[rshaw]

Maybe this is where I am going wrong.

I am only attempting to get the funcationallity right and planned to work on skins later.

For the time being I had created a folder called gbpvr\skin\blue\MediaPlayer and copied all of the files from gbpvr\skin\blue\musicalbums to my new folder. I also added the following method:

public string getSkinSubdirectory()
{
return "MediaPlayer";
}

As far as skin data I am only using the following

skinHelper = new SkinHelper(document, SkinUtilities.FullActiveSkinPath + getSkinSubdirectory());

Font font = skinHelper.getNamedFont("GeneralText");
Brush brush = skinHelper.getNamedFontBrush("GeneralText");

which seems to work ok.

I must be doing something else wrong. I might start a new plugin from scratch and make sure that needsRendering works ok when PlayAudioFile is called. Then slowly add code until it stops working.

Thanks.

[sub]

The reason I ask, is because I wanted to know if you were using a skin with the horizontal menu. The menu class is responsible for calling the needsRendering() method on the active plugin. I only really use the vertical menu, so was curious if something was going wrong in the horizontal menu.

[rshaw]

I wrote a minimal test plugin to check if needsRendering gets called while music is playing. Pressing any key will play the song fn. Be sure to change fn to a valid song on your system. When I check the log file on my system it appears that needsRendering doesn't get called while the song is playing.

Here is the code:

using System;
using System.Drawing;
using GBPVR.Public;
using CommonGBPVRUtilities;

namespace MediaPlayer
{
public class MediaPlayerTask : IMenuTask
{
private Image canvas;
private bool once=false;
private string fn="f:\\test\\J 01-Bad Day.mp3";

string IMenuTask.getName()
{
return "Media Player";
}

string IMenuTask.getDescription()
{
return "Music and video Player";
}

public string getSkinSubdirectory()
{
return "MediaPlayer";
}

public System.Drawing.Image getTaskImage()
{
return null;
}

System.Windows.Forms.Form IMenuTask.GetConfigFormInstance(System.Xml.XmlDocument document)
{
return null;
}

void IMenuTask.Activate()
{
Logger.Verbose("Activate called");

if (!once)
{
once=true;

canvas = new Bitmap(720, 480);
}
}

void IMenuTask.Deactivate()
{
Logger.Verbose("Deactivate called");
}

bool IMenuTask.needsRendering()
{
Logger.Verbose("needsRendering called");

return true;
}

System.Drawing.Image IMenuTask.render(out bool requiresMoreRendering)
{
requiresMoreRendering = false;

Logger.Verbose("render called");

return canvas;
}

void IMenuTask.OnClick(System.Drawing.Point location)
{
}

void IMenuTask.OnDoubleClick(System.Drawing.Point location)
{
}

void IMenuTask.OnMouseWheel(System.Windows.Forms.MouseEventArgs e)
{
}

bool IMenuTask.OnKeyDown(System.Windows.Forms.KeyEventArgs e)
{
PluginHelperFactory.getPluginHelper().AddAudioFileToQueue(fn);

return false;
}
}
}

[sub]

Sorry, I dont really know. I'm using the same approach from my Net Radio and it seems to successfully manage to return true from needsRendering() when the song name changes.

[rshaw]

I was expecting needsRendering to continue being called every 1 second while a song is playing.

[sub]

Yes me too. I did check with my net radio plugin, and continues to call needsRendering() for me - even while a song is playing. I cant think of any difference it would behave differently in your case.