Netflix Search and Viewer

[Snooze]

I don't know enough to monitor when a show has been watched to completion, so I don't want to autodelete a show that you haven't finished. But I could add a dialogue asking if you want to delete the show when you exit the movie watcher. Thoughts?

That would be great too!

[mikeh49]

Tried it out yesterday, and, for the most part, it works great. I'm still learning the keys to back out of the various screens and to get the Hauppauge remote fully working.

I tried alt-F4 from the search results screen and killed the app completely. It would be nice if it were consistent to back out of the search results and the search pop-up (accessed by ctrl-s). Maybe it is consistent and I just haven't figured it out yet.

I'm not sure the new color choice feature is such a good idea. The search and options pop-ups look kind of strange with a black background. I'm assuming the background and foreground color choices apply to the these pop-ups as well as the main screen. My choice would be to have the pop-ups as the previous version.

The biggest problem is getting out of full-screen with the remote. It appears that in full-screen, the player doesn't listen to the remote. The keyboard works, of course, and once out of full-screen, the remote works fine. But, I normally run the HTPC with no mouse or keyboard. So, need some more work here. Perhaps the Hauppauge findwnd command?

Just my opinion, but I think it works better to build the queue from a regular browser through Netflix, and then just access the queue from this app, especially if you normally have a keyboard and mouse connected. Building a full-featured search that can be controlled with a remote seems like a lot of work.

All in all, a great app, and I plan to continue using it as a custom task from GBPVR. That part works fine.

Thanks.

Mike

[Snooze]

I tried alt-F4 from the search results screen and killed the app completely. It would be nice if it were consistent to back out of the search results and the search pop-up (accessed by ctrl-s). Maybe it is consistent and I just haven't figured it out yet.

Try using the new {Ctrl}N, I mapped mine to the menu button.

I'm not sure the new color choice feature is such a good idea. The search and options pop-ups look kind of strange with a black background. I'm assuming the background and foreground color choices apply to the these pop-ups as well as the main screen. My choice would be to have the pop-ups as the previous version.

I hate to admit it since it was my suggestion, but I agree. I do like being able to increase the font size though. I can now read everything, and it scrolls too!

Also, is selecting Genre working for you anymore?

The biggest problem is getting out of full-screen with the remote. It appears that in full-screen, the player doesn't listen to the remote. The keyboard works, of course, and once out of full-screen, the remote works fine. But, I normally run the HTPC with no mouse or keyboard. So, need some more work here. Perhaps the Hauppauge findwnd command?

You need to exit full screen ({alt}{f4} mapped on your remote) for anything but play and pause It is not something that can be worked on since it part of the netflix player. It is because the buttons aren't on the screen I am pretty sure.

[dhgb256]

I cannot get it to make the colors change using ctrl-O. I only copied in the two exe's and the ini file. Did I need to copy anything else in? EDIT: It works now. Dont know why it didn't before. EDIT: Now I know, it will make a color change only if you make a font size change, the apply button stays "Greyed out" until I fiddle with the font too.

Thank you for pointing this out, for some reason I must have accidentally deleted the code that lets the app know you changed some options. I'll fix this in the next release. You can also manually change the colors in the .ini file in the mean time.

Can you take fast forward and rewind off your todo list now that we both know ctrl or shift -and- left or right arrow key does this?

Done. I added the keyboard commands to the list also. Now I just need to find time to get the episode switch to work.

[dhgb256]

Tried it out yesterday, and, for the most part, it works great. I'm still learning the keys to back out of the various screens and to get the Hauppauge remote fully working.

I tried alt-F4 from the search results screen and killed the app completely. It would be nice if it were consistent to back out of the search results and the search pop-up (accessed by ctrl-s). Maybe it is consistent and I just haven't figured it out yet.

You should be able to use alt-F4 to close any of the screens, with one lone exception. If you perform a search it populates the main screen with the results, so alt-F4 on that screen will close the app. Ctrl-n will take you back to the main menu on that screen. I could add a "Are you sure?" message when you hit alt-F4 on the main screen. Thoughts?

I'm not sure the new color choice feature is such a good idea. The search and options pop-ups look kind of strange with a black background. I'm assuming the background and foreground color choices apply to the these pop-ups as well as the main screen. My choice would be to have the pop-ups as the previous version.

I don't feel strongly either way. I can remove the color code from the popup screens. Then you could change the colors for the main app and the info screen only. Would that work?

The biggest problem is getting out of full-screen with the remote. It appears that in full-screen, the player doesn't listen to the remote. The keyboard works, of course, and once out of full-screen, the remote works fine. But, I normally run the HTPC with no mouse or keyboard. So, need some more work here. Perhaps the Hauppauge findwnd command?

I haven't full tested my theory on this, but I am 99.9% sure that you need to map close (alt-F4) and play/pause (space bar) for internet explorer, if you want the keys to work while in full screen. Let me know if this fixes your issue.

My reasoning: The movie is played through an IE plugin for VB. When you click full screen, I think the IE plugin takes over the computer, so all of your mapped keys are lost for my app. I can check my theory when I get home.

Just my opinion, but I think it works better to build the queue from a regular browser through Netflix, and then just access the queue from this app, especially if you normally have a keyboard and mouse connected. Building a full-featured search that can be controlled with a remote seems like a lot of work.

You can do it either way. I usually build my queue 90% from the website, but when I come across a movie that looks interesting in the app, I add it using the green button.

Yes, defintely a lot of work Being a fairly novice programmer, i think I went about building this app the wrong way, since I didn't know about the netflix API, but I think it work nicely for my needs.

All in all, a great app, and I plan to continue using it as a custom task from GBPVR. That part works fine.

I am absolutely thrilled that there are people besides myself who find this app useful. If you think of any features you'd like let me know.

[dhgb256]

:mad:

Crap, apparently I lost most of my options menu code in this latest release. Not sure how that happened. So a lot of the functionality is missing. I'll fix it tonight.

[mikeh49]

Thanks for the response(s).

Colors: I'd allow changing the background and foreground colors of the main screen and leave the pop-ups at some default, such as the users default windows color scheme. Or just leave it as you had it originally.

Alt-f4 confirmation: I'd recommend against. Good documentation and proper set-up of the remote will take care of this. Realizing that the search results screen is really the main screen is the key.

Remote in full screen: I was going to try the IE fix, I was just hoping that someone had figured it out already. (I'm not sure who that would be since you seem to have only two users ) Your theory about the IE VB plug-in sounds right. I'll try it.

Again, thanks.

[Snooze]

I don't feel strongly either way. I can remove the color code from the popup screens. Then you could change the colors for the main app and the info screen only. Would that work?

Works for me.

:mad:
Crap, apparently I lost most of my options menu code in this latest release. Not sure how that happened. So a lot of the functionality is missing. I'll fix it tonight.

Oh no!!!

[Snooze]

I haven't full tested my theory on this, but I am 99.9% sure that you need to map close (alt-F4) and play/pause (space bar) for internet explorer, if you want the keys to work while in full screen. Let me know if this fixes your issue.

I dont have a IE section in my irremote.ini file. You need to map it to Movie Viewer which is controlling Netflix, at least for the Hauppauge remote. Hip or eventghost is probably different.

Thanks for the response(s). Remote in full screen: I was going to try the IE fix, I was just hoping that someone had figured it out already.

Did you look at post #30 of this thread?

Only EXIT and STOP (which exits full screen) and PLAY and PAUSE work in full screen. When you exit full screen a lot more works (at least for me).

The other parts run the main interface and the popups (it should be obvious what does what). They need a little more work now. In post #30, for example I didn't add ctrl-N to the main interface since it wasn't available at that time of posting. And I think I had some unnecessary things in there too that really serve no purpose other than add confusion on what does what. :o Ctrl-N is to exit search results without exiting the application like you mentioned. You can put it where ever you like (such as the MENU button), as well as edit any of commands any way you want. I just wanted to show it could be done. I was just waiting to edit that post since dhgb256 has been working on it.

[dhgb256]

OK, new version posted (1.0.3572.36775). This one gets rid of the colors for the pop-up screens. I also added font resizing to the info screen and the serarch screen. And of course I fixed the options menu.

The only screen that doesn't resize for font is the installation bar screen at the very beginning, I didn't see much need for it.

Again, please keep any suggestions coming.