UbuStream Dynamic Source "mini-plugin" architecture for on-demand streams

[ubu]

Edit: I'm pretty sure that this should work now.

When I run this version I get the following:

Code:

C:\temp>"C:\Program Files\devnz\gbpvr\Plugins\UbuStream\DynSource\CNNDynSource.exe" -sections
.plx files will be dumped into current directory

The directory is: C:\temp\

=============================
-sections detected.
Creating sectionlist file...
Done.

C:\temp>

And, sure enough, the output file is still being placed in the current directory. I was expecting the file to be created in C:\Program Files\devnz\gbpvr\Plugins\UbuStream\DynSource (which is where the app is).

Maybe try a different tack. This is the code I'm currently using to set the output file path:

Code:

protected String Get_Gbpvr_DynSource_Folder_Name()
        {
            // Get the GBPVR install dir from registry
            String gbpvrFolder;
            try
            {
                RegistryKey rk = Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey("Software\\devnz");
                gbpvrFolder = (String)rk.GetValue("GBPVR InstallDir");
            }
            catch { gbpvrFolder = "..\\"; }  
            gbpvrFolder += "Plugins\\UbuStream\\DynSource\\";
            return gbpvrFolder;
        }

and then you can just do something like String plxFile = Get_Gbpvr_DynSource_Folder_Name() + "CNNPlaylist.plx"; to set the filename. That pretty much guarantees the filenames get set correctly and the files wind up in the right place. It should work even for a non-standard GB-PVR installation (E:\My Cool PVR\devnz\gbpvr or something).

EDIT: You'll need to add using Microsoft.Win32; for the Registry code to work.

[Remco]

That would be great. HTPCGB has one working for CNN, I've got 3 going (BBC, Mosaic and DemocracyNow) so, if you add one for Uitzendinggemist, maybe it's time for me to start thinking about a wiki sub-page for Dynamic Source mini-plugins.

I thought about using classes instead of files for the data interchange but:
...
Is there some way we could integrate your existing work into this architecture? A wrapper that would dump your dll data into a file, perhaps?

Ok. That makes sense. I'll rewrite some code to make it an .exe and generate .pls/.plx.

How can i test it? The plugin that i can download right now from the wiki isn't the right one, right?

[ubu]

Ok. That makes sense. I'll rewrite some code to make it an .exe and generate .pls/.plx.

How can i test it? The plugin that i can download right now from the wiki isn't the right one, right?

Right. I'll be publishing a "beta" version of UbuStream v2.0 soon - hopefully in the next few days. Watch this sub-forum.

Basically, if you conform to the naming standards and the file formats described in my first post in this thread, it should work "out of the box" when you get to test it with the beta. (And, if it doesn't work, that'll probably be my problem and you'll be helping me get the bugs out of my code. )

[Remco]

How about this file?
[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]

[HTPCGB]

I'm now getting the directory from the registry so there shouldn't be any more problems.

Regards,
HTPCGB

[ubu]

How about this file?
[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]

Looks good. I can't fully test it without having the .exe file for UbuStream to execute but, if you get to where you have a working prototype before I've made the beta available, I'd be glad to test it.

One minor thing. I think you are terminating the lines with line feeds (Unix-style - \n). This works fine for our purposes but, if someone wants to view it using Notepad, carriage return/line feed terminators (Windows-style - \r\n) are required. (C#'s WriteLine does this, for instance.) Wordpad works with either but Notepad seems to be the default viewer in Windows. Not a big deal though.

[ubu]

I'm now getting the directory from the registry so there shouldn't be any more problems.

Regards,
HTPCGB

We have lift off!

I think I'll watch CNN clips for the rest of the evening.......

[Remco]

Looks good. I can't fully test it without having the .exe file for UbuStream to execute but, if you get to where you have a working prototype before I've made the beta available, I'd be glad to test it.

One minor thing. I think you are terminating the lines with line feeds (Unix-style - \n). This works fine for our purposes but, if someone wants to view it using Notepad, carriage return/line feed terminators (Windows-style - \r\n) are required. (C#'s WriteLine does this, for instance.) Wordpad works with either but Notepad seems to be the default viewer in Windows. Not a big deal though.

Attached is a a beta .exe. You right i was using "\n", i changed it to "\r\n".

[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]

Please let me know if it works.

[ubu]

Attached is a a beta .exe. You right i was using "\n", i changed it to "\r\n".

[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]

Please let me know if it works.

It works fine and the format of the plx file looks good, but:

1) Executing it with the "-sections" argument does not produce a [sections] file. It just produces a [playlist] file as if no argument had been passed.

2) The program prompts for input before exiting. It needs to just exit without prompting. When UbuStream invokes it behind the scenes, it would never exit because the console won't be visible. And we don't want to leave a bunch of running processes and minimized windows behind.

3) Neither the app nor the output file conform to the naming standards (see the first post in this stream) so UbuStream can't find the app to register it and, even if it could, wouldn't be able to find the output file(s).

Looks like you are very close now, though.

Personally, I'm in "special character" hell. Turns out that a lot of the station names (Title) that are being returned from the DynSource apps (yours included) contain commas, parens, brackets, etc. which are fine for things like basic string comparisons but totally confuse string matching methods like Find, Select, etc. Sadly, I've been coding things like checkedListBox1.FindStringExact and xmlSchema11.Channels.Select all over the place. So now I've got to retrofit workarounds.

[Remco]

It works fine and the format of the plx file looks good, but:

1) Executing it with the "-sections" argument does not produce a [sections] file. It just produces a [playlist] file as if no argument had been passed.

2) The program prompts for input before exiting. It needs to just exit without prompting. When UbuStream invokes it behind the scenes, it would never exit because the console won't be visible. And we don't want to leave a bunch of running processes and minimized windows behind.

3) Neither the app nor the output file conform to the naming standards (see the first post in this stream) so UbuStream can't find the app to register it and, even if it could, wouldn't be able to find the output file(s).

Looks like you are very close now, though.

Personally, I'm in "special character" hell. Turns out that a lot of the station names (Title) that are being returned from the DynSource apps (yours included) contain commas, parens, brackets, etc. which are fine for things like basic string comparisons but totally confuse string matching methods like Find, Select, etc. Sadly, I've been coding things like checkedListBox1.FindStringExact and xmlSchema11.Channels.Select all over the place. So now I've got to retrofit workarounds.

Thanks for the feedback. To be honest, i didn't read your first post, but just took the CNN.pls as an example
New try: [ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]