Changing channel from a plugin

[Snarky]

Is there some way in the API to change the channel programmatically, so that I can do it in a plugin?

The relevant method appears to be IChannelChanger.setChannel(int channel), but I don't know how to get hold of an IChannelChanger instance.

The best thing I can think of is IScheduleHelper.ScheduleRecording() with start time and end time set to right now (or a second into the future), but it seems a bit ugly.

Any help would be appreciated!

[sub]

You could try the IPluginHelper.StartLiveTV(Channel channel); API, but it wasnt really intended for this purpose, so I'm not sure it'll work or not. I think maybe yes.

[Snarky]

Ha! That works. Most excellent...

Thanks!

[23skidoo]

How about just getting a list of available channels? Still searching. Some sort of high-level object model doc might be nice.... Did I just say that out loud? lol

[23skidoo]

Of course, there may be something like that floating around on the wiki. But the wiki is down.... :-(

[sub]

There isnt really any functionality provided for plugins to get a list of channels. Stuff like channels and recordings etc are pretty much internal things to GB-PVR, so not really exposed to plugins. That said, there is some stuff I made accessible so the web admin was possible...

The closest you can get is call for getting the listings for a time period. If you add a reference to GBPVRBackendCommon.dll, then you'll be able to call ScheduleHelper.getInstance() to get an object that implements IScheduleHelper. Calling IScheduleHelper.GetListingsForTimePeriod() will return you a list of Channel objects, and each of those channels will have a list of zero or more Programme objects.

If you need to see this in use, the source code for the web admin uses it.

[23skidoo]

There isnt really any functionality provided for plugins to get a list of channels. Stuff like channels and recordings etc are pretty much internal things to GB-PVR, so not really exposed to plugins. That said, there is some stuff I made accessible so the web admin was possible...

The closest you can get is call for getting the listings for a time period. If you add a reference to GBPVRBackendCommon.dll, then you'll be able to call ScheduleHelper.getInstance() to get an object that implements IScheduleHelper. Calling IScheduleHelper.GetListingsForTimePeriod() will return you a list of Channel objects, and each of those channels will have a list of zero or more Programme objects.

If you need to see this in use, the source code for the web admin uses it.

That might be exactly what I was looking for. I'll give it a shot. Thanks.

[23skidoo]

Alright. Check this out. Works perfect.

Code:

private string SetNextShow()
{
    try
    {
        ArrayList ChannelListings = (ArrayList) ScheduleHelper.getInstance().GetListingsForTimePeriod(DateTime.Now, DateTime.Now.AddMinutes(1));
        
        m_SelectedChannel = (Channel)ChannelListings[m_ChannelIndex.Next(ChannelListings.Count - 1)];
    }
    catch
    {
        MessageBox.Show("Hmm...");
    }
}

Now, how do I shut down live TV? :-)

Seriously, I've been digging and digging.

[sub]

Again, this isnt really stuff I'd intended to be done from a plugin, so I'm not sure if it will work, but you can try IPluginHelper.GetActiveVideoPlayer().stop();

[Snarky]

What I do is to just send an ESC keypress programmatically to the application. (System.Windows.Forms.SendKeys.Send()). The plugin needs to be deactivated first, of course.