iMONDisplayPlugin Release

[ryanmc]

& ryanmc,
Could you give me the format of the textfile that you require?

grtz,
Nick

Thanks nick I think the request pbs made for the registry would be good for me too.


@pbs the info put into registry will just be read out with smartie? instead of the text file? I kinda remember something about it but just to be sure.

[kindt nick]

For the moment i just see "one" bug:
Playing play a music file, then the VFD displays the data. If i browse directly to any videofile and start it up, the VFD won't display the filename of the video. If i stop and restart the video, then the vfd will display the name.
This problem does NOT occur, if i switch between different videofiles. Just changing from one playing mp3 to video.

True, appaerently there's a small bug in nPVR, it does nog create an notification when doing this.
If we get to a final release, I'll report it to Sub...
Question, how to you switch from one mp3 to another without stopping?
I can't do this with the current release of nPVR. Which kinda annoys me.

What about progress of the current file? Is there enough space on the upper right corner?
I could add it as an option...

Also, the "Channel.Channel" problem, is it displayed when you start a channel? Or is it displayed earlier?

Grtz,
Nick

[pBS]

yea Ryanmc, there's a plugin for smartie that can read registry entries...

Nick, did you update the update? i'm still not getting anything on my old imon vfd..doesn't clear screen when entering npvr..

[kindt nick]

Owkay,

v0.4 uploaded.
This one should resolve the issues with the Channelname on iMON VFD displays.
Display, in upper right corner, of time progress when playing is added for iMON VFD. (Tryout)

It also supports LCDSmartie with communication via Registry. The keys can be changes via the xml file.
There are 2 types of info for LCDsmartie. RAW Data & Processed data. If all goes well, Processed data can be extended in the future.
i.e. Volumechangedetection, speakerconfiguration, timeprogress of a file when playing

For older iMON VFD! Displays who do not fully function with the iMON API, there a setting added, called "IgnoreiMONAPIFaults".
This feature should be tested.

Allright guys, give me some feedback.

grtz,
Nick

[pBS]

hmmm,can't seem to get anything out of it...not registry option, not imonvfd...
it doesn't create reg key...still getting same messages in logs..'no valid DisplayType detected' after a successful api init...
tried with forcetype as VFD or Registry...also tried creating reg key manually but it never filled it..
tried IgnoreiMONAPIFaults true still same..nothing on vfd and same messages in logs..
let me know if anything i can do to help..

btw, what is 'forcetotype' for?

ah, finally got some movement...by setting forcetotype true...
but reg keys are getting created in hklm\software, not the npvrlcd subkey..
aha, fixed by puttin \\ in front of raw,etc..like value="\\RAW"
now that part is working.. they end up as subkeys of parent like 'software\npvrlcd\raw'

but still nothing on old imonvfd screen... [tho it does work with smartie and reg option ]
btw thanx for the processed/not processed stuff...helps with layout for diff sized screens...

[pBS]

whew...at first couldn't get smartie reg reader to work in win7...it needed old msvcp60.dll runtime...was gettin worried..
but now all working with smartie option...
i'll have to play with it a while but i see several things that could be done..

[btw Nick, have you seen old imon plugin? had loads of functionality..some code might be of use? i have c# source code for it]
actually i have several lcd plugin sources from way back even..but devs didn't stick around to update...so i had to roll my own..
but i'm no programmer, i used autoit3 as a go-between reg and smartie so i cold tweak data easily before display...
smartie doesn't have any logic abilities really, so cleanup of data has to be done beforehand..

with my 2 lines, i had current activity on top line,
[like 'current plugin', only smart..choices: idle msg, playing video, playing music, livetv w/ch# don't really need to know plugin name, it's just used to know where to look for file's info]
second line is the show title/mp3 name of current file..looked up in db from filename or mp3 id tag..[only raw name if can't find in db, for stuff without info,even then,strip path/ext]
when idle, i show idle msg at top, and next scheduled recording at bottom..[name only + time due]
in all modes it will append currently recording shows to bottom line..[smartie autoscrolls if needed] so i always know when and what it's recording..

at first glance, i'd say needed reg keys would be: [all formatted to minimize length, from db info] next recording+time, current playing title/mp3tag, and currently recording title..
and maybe play pos. and playtime remaining...or whatever you can come up with.. oh and clear the current/last file when no play flags are true..
oh yea, and since smartie runs when npvr is closed, an exit msg...[i use next recording+time]

i'll play with it more and see if i can't decide on what reg entries would be useful, let me know if you wanna see that code..
thanx

p.s. i found out the vfd is type 4 if that helps...these plugins init it by forcing type 4 in init call.. iMONVFD_Init(4, 0)

[pBS]

For SmartieLCD use, download registryreader plugin from smartie site, if you get errors saying it can't run place msvcp60.dll in smartie dir..
sample line to use registry reader plugin:

Code:

$dll(RegistryReader.dll,1,HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\npvrlcd\ProcessedData,CurrentPlugin)
$dll(RegistryReader.dll,1,HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\npvrlcd\ProcessedData,CurrentOrLastFile)
or for raw:
$dll(RegistryReader.dll,1,HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\npvrlcd\RAW,EventText)
$dll(RegistryReader.dll,1,HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\npvrlcd\RAW,EventType)

edit iMonDisplayPluginSettings.xml

Code:

<Setting name="ForceToType" type="bool" value="true" />
  <Setting name="ForceType" type="string" value="Registry" />
  <!-- RegistryMode Settings -->
  <Setting name="ParentKey" type="string" value="SOFTWARE\\npvrlcd" />
  <Setting name="RAWParentKey" type="string" value="\\RAW" />
  <Setting name="ProcessedDataKey" type="string" value="\\ProcessedData" />

[kindt nick]

Extra keys were added, I guess you will be using the "CurrentActivityKey" for Line 1 and "CurrentFileOrNextRecInfoKey" for line 2.
Still, nothing concerning the scheduled recording is added.
Since I'm located in Belgium and all digital TV is secured, we cannot use a digital tuners over here.
So, I'll have to ask sub in what format the schedulefunctions return data.

grtz,
Nick

[pBS]

registry option working well...but still nothing on imon vfd...not sure why..works great with older api..
from old plugin source:
bool initVFD=iMONVFD_Init(4, 0);
[DllImport("SG_VFD.dll")]
public static extern bool iMONVFD_Init(int vfdType, int resevered);
so it looks like it uses sg_vfd.dll directly...any possibility of working that in there?
there are a lot of these vfd's out there...one of the more popular ones..[came in certain cases]

anyways, here's a regexp to chop off dates from title: [using regexp.dll smartie plugin]

Code:

$dll(regexp.dll,1,.*?(?=_), $dll(RegistryReader.dll,1,HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\npvrlcd\ProcessedData,CurrentFile))"

it strips everything from _ on, leaving just title..

from what i've seen,lots of formatting needed...let me know if you need any help with sqlite queries for the info..
i'll see how hard rewriting my helper app would be, cuz it's mostly finished 'cept for mods needed for npvr db changes..
it can use the raw entries for everything it needs..[does all lookups, formatting and writes to another reg key for smartie to display]
i just wanted to try and keep it all in the plugin if possible..1 less program running...

[kindt nick]

registry option working well...but still nothing on imon vfd...not sure why..works great with older api..
from old plugin source:
bool initVFD=iMONVFD_Init(4, 0);
[DllImport("SG_VFD.dll")]
public static extern bool iMONVFD_Init(int vfdType, int resevered);
so it looks like it uses sg_vfd.dll directly...any possibility of working that in there?
there are a lot of these vfd's out there...one of the more popular ones..[came in certain cases]

I know, problem is that older plugins didn't actually work with an API but rather with a "hack" into the actual SG_VFD.dll.
It provides more functionality then the official API but I have to write every from scratch. Meaning, for me, it would take weeks to accomplish that.
If you would like that, then we would have to encourage Ralphy to port the Externaldisplay code to nPVR.
Problem was, although, for me, I couldn't adjust certain thing to my needs cause I didn't had any sources. I've look at the Mediaportal sources way back before I started this project, but I'm not ready to port it on my own.
So I guess the old VFD won't be supported natively, at least not with my code.

anyways, here's a regexp to chop off dates from title: [using regexp.dll smartie plugin]

Code:

$dll(regexp.dll,1,.*?(?=_), $dll(RegistryReader.dll,1,HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\npvrlcd\ProcessedData,CurrentFile))"

it strips everything from _ on, leaving just title..

from what i've seen,lots of formatting needed...let me know if you need any help with sqlite queries for the info..
i'll see how hard rewriting my helper app would be, cuz it's mostly finished 'cept for mods needed for npvr db changes..
it can use the raw entries for everything it needs..[does all lookups, formatting and writes to another reg key for smartie to display]
i just wanted to try and keep it all in the plugin if possible..1 less program running...

Your helper app, what does it exactly do? Just reformatting information? Or does it actually another plugin for GBPVR?

I'll try 'n provide ass much as data as possible and export it to the registry.
But I think everybody has a different setup and would like to have different data on the display.
I suggest that I make a couple of string configurations and export as much as (stable) data to the registry.

This way, people who have a simple setup can just choose from one of the string configuration t display and people like you who want to process extra data can do it as well.

If it's possible, it would be nice if we could create a wiki page where we can explain on how to process the extra data and work with LCDsmartie.

Things I will add today are:
- current track/video progress in MMs format
- total track/video duration in MMs format
- If I figure it out today, I'll export;
- - the next scheduled recording
- - recording status
- - the whole recording schedule

This leads to my next question:
Is there any other data that maybe required?

Grtz,
Nick