V5 menuitems

[artmetz]

Working on migrating to V5.

None of my external menu items are working under windows 7. I setup Notepad as a simple test.
    <MenuItem enabled="true" exe="C:\Windows\System32\notepad.exe" args="">Notepad</MenuItem>

Not much in the log (I selected the Notepad menu item right after startup):

[...startup]
2020-12-09 09:39:58.339 [DEBUG][1] Rendering for screen size: 1920x1080
2020-12-09 09:39:58.409 [INFO][1] Using remote RecordingService
2020-12-09 09:39:58.409 [DEBUG][1] background filename: C:\Program Files\NextPVR\data\skin\Metz\background.jpg
2020-12-09 09:39:58.450 [DEBUG][1] skin file? C:\Program Files\NextPVR\data\skin\Metz\Menu\SlideOut.xml
2020-12-09 09:39:58.450 [DEBUG][1] adding font: C:\Program Files\NextPVR\data\skin\Metz\DroidSans-Bold.ttf(2)
2020-12-09 09:39:58.451 [DEBUG][1] adding font: C:\Program Files\NextPVR\data\skin\Metz\DroidSans.ttf(3)
2020-12-09 09:39:58.452 [DEBUG][1] skin file? C:\Program Files\NextPVR\data\skin\Metz\Global.xml
2020-12-09 09:39:58.456 [DEBUG][1] Database: C:\Users\Public\NPVR-data\npvr.db3
2020-12-09 09:39:58.543 [DEBUG][1] Loaded menu item: TV Guide
2020-12-09 09:39:58.570 [DEBUG][1] Loaded menu item: Recordings
2020-12-09 09:39:58.572 [DEBUG][1] Loaded menu item: Live TV
2020-12-09 09:39:58.574 [DEBUG][1] Loaded menu item: Search
2020-12-09 09:39:58.577 [DEBUG][1] Loaded menu item: Music
2020-12-09 09:39:58.580 [DEBUG][1] Loaded menu item: Videos
2020-12-09 09:39:58.581 [DEBUG][1] Loaded menu item: Pictures
2020-12-09 09:39:58.584 [DEBUG][1] Loaded menu item: Notepad
2020-12-09 09:39:58.585 [DEBUG][1] Loaded menu item: Weather
2020-12-09 09:39:58.588 [DEBUG][1] Loaded menu item: Bloomberg
2020-12-09 09:39:58.590 [DEBUG][1] Loaded menu item: Exit
2020-12-09 09:39:58.603 [DEBUG][1] skin file? C:\Program Files\NextPVR\data\skin\Metz\Global.xml
2020-12-09 09:39:58.606 [DEBUG][1] Unexpected error loading custom font file: Font 'Droid Sans' does not support style 'Regular'.
2020-12-09 09:39:58.640 [DEBUG][1] Unexpected error loading custom font file: Font 'Droid Sans' does not support style 'Regular'.
2020-12-09 09:40:24.027 [INFO][1] Exiting...
2020-12-09 09:40:24.027 [INFO][1] Done.
2020-12-09 09:40:24.027 [INFO][1] Flushing logs

[sub]

At this stage, NextPVR v5 doesn't support these types of external executables. It'd probably not a big job for me to enable them, but you're the first person to ask about them so it hasn't been something I've looked at yet.

[artmetz]

Would it be easy to enable the menu items internally with no UI for now? I'm ok with editing the config file manually. NPVR is my main UI, so using it as a central application launch point would be more convenient than constantly switching out to some other application to then launch something else.
I realize this isn't the main purpose of NPVR...

[mvallevand]

What kind of apps are you launching? In the 2020's a TV friendly UI with launcher from Android, Amazon, Apple or Roku seems to be the way to go for media apps plus you still need to navigate back.

Martin

[artmetz]

Mainly things on my PC that aren't available otherwise.
For example:
MusicBee for my mp3 player
firefox with a shortcut to the local weather
I'll probably add JellyFin for external recordings (was using Emby Theater, but ran into too many issues)
My remote makes it easy and quick to close these apps and switch back to NPVR

With Roku or a smart TV (which I have both), it's a more steps to get to something that I want to use quickly and is available (sometimes only) on the PC.
I'd create an app, but with NPVR being the central app on this system, I'd rather keep it the focal point.