Plug-in architecture features

[gpupurs]

First, gotta say, this is really cool that there's a .NET PVR project that has the ability to have user-written plug-ins. I've got a ReplayTV, and I'm always thinking, "gee, it'd be really cool if it could do xy and z" or "gosh, why didn't they design the menu like this". But I'm a .Net/Windows programmer, so contributing to the MythTV and other linux projects where C and Perl are used isn't likely for me.

I'm excited to see I might be able to help out here. Some of the things I'd like the plugin framework to be able to handle:

- Custom scheduling behaviours (to replace any default record setup screens)
- Custom playback (eg, developing commercial skip)
- Preferred/Weighted recording decisions (prioritizing)
- Access to current recording schedule
- Custom EPG search (eg, restrict a search to timeslots where "Priority 1 or 2" shows are not already scheduled)
- Automated backup (offload MPGs to another machine)

Will the plugin framework be able to handle these requests? If so, cool, I'll start making a list of what I dislike about my Replay (though I still love it)!

[sub]

To be able to achieve all of the above, I would need an (almost) infinitely flexible framework. I'm the first to admit that, developing as much as I have in the last three months has meant developing to meet specific goals. To have developed the type of framework you describe, I would have been at it all year.

These are all great suggestions, but to be quite honest the goals of the initial plugins framework will be much more modest. I hope to initially enable developers to:

- Write their own channel changers
- Write their own recording source for supporting new hardware
- Write their own menu tasks, which allow them to do any thing they wish. I would pass them keystrokes while the task is active, they can return me screens to show the user. This could be used to develop weather modules, home automation, internet browser, mpeg editing task, you name it really - but it would be upto the developer to implement the guts of it.

I do think its probably a good idea to make programme information available to plugins, but I've not really thought much about how to implement this. That said, all of the data is stored in a very simple .mdb file so that shouldn't pose much of a problem to developers.