plugin to show tuner status?

[Wakalaka]

I have v1.5.2599.6174 and it's a great app, thanks for the hard work! I was thinking it would be nice to have the tuner status as a plugin, that way I can see what is recording on each tuner from within GB-PVR without having to use my PC to click on the system tray icon.

If you don't have the time, can I have the source that gets tuner status so I can write the plugin? You get credit, of course

[Mister Slimm]

I was thinking it would be nice to have the tuner status as a plugin, that way I can see what is recording on each tuner from within GB-PVR without having to use my PC to click on the system tray icon.

If you don't have the time, can I have the source that gets tuner status so I can write the plugin? You get credit, of course

The Slimm.GBPVR.dll file (it's installed in the gbpvr directory) contains all the GB-PVR related code for this utility. You should be able to add this as a reference to your plugin project.

Note: a lot of the functions are duplicates written for my tray utility that do not require GB-PVR to be running in order to work. Because you are writing a plugin, you can get most of this information directly from inside GB-PVR.

The documentation for the dll is installed into your GBPVR/Documentation start menu under Slimm GBPVR Technical. The function you want is Applications.RecordingService.TunerStatus. It returns an array of strings, one for each tuner in the format "Tuner:Status". The documentation isn't 100% complete but is largely up-to-date. Any questions, just ask.

Here is the source code for that function in C#:

Code:

/// <summary>
      /// Gets the status of the tuners attached to the recording service.
      /// </summary>
      /// <returns>A string array with each element containing the status of a single tuner.</returns>
      public static string[] TunerStatus
      {
        get
        {
          try
          {

            if (ChannelServices.GetChannel("tcpSlimmGBPVR") == null)
            {
              ChannelServices.RegisterChannel(new TcpClientChannel("tcpSlimmGBPVR", null), false);
            }
            IRecordingService recordingService = (IRecordingService)Activator.GetObject(typeof(IRecordingService),
                                                                                        Applications.Config.GetValue("/settings/RecordingServiceLocation"));


            // check status
            return recordingService.getTunerStatus();
          }
          catch (Exception ex)
          {
            return new string[2] { string.Empty, ex.ToString() };
          }
        }
      }

Note: You should use a different TCP channel name to "tcpSlimmGBPVR" and not "tcp". I found I kept getting difficult to reproduce exceptions if I used the channel name "tcp".

Enjoy!

[Wakalaka]

I was browsing through your documentation and added your dll as a reference to a new C# project. Then I realized that if I write a plugin that requires your dll as a reference, then the plugin will be dependent on your app being installed. I thought some people might not like this, or more likely it creates a scenario that increases the chances of someone screwing up the plugin.

Is the source above code that uses the GBPVR interfaces? Excuse the ignorant questions, I'm just starting to get familiar with GBPVR and writing plugins. Give it a month and I'll be zooming along, I'm a good SW engineer

[Mister Slimm]

The source code is for the TunerStatus function in my library. You should be able to cut and paste it into your own project.

You will not require a reference to my library to use it if you adjust the following line:

Code:

IRecordingService recordingService = (IRecordingService)Activator.GetObject(typeof(IRecordingService),
          Applications.Config.GetValue("/settings/RecordingServiceLocation"));

The Applications.Config.GetValue() function is getting a value from the GB-PVR config file. GB-PVR provides a way of doing this for plugins.

[Wakalaka]

Have I told you how much I like your tool? One addition would be to not allow the normal tray app to start when you make changes via the config tool or run the normal tray app EXE. This would require a background process to capture apps being launched, and not allow GBPVRTray.exe to run.

Now that I thiunk about it, it might not be a bad idea to base my plugin on your dll. You have a lot of functionality in your dll that I could use, and it can be expanded upon. Instead of telling people "to use my plugin, it requires SlimmGBPVR, so download that and install it first", why don't I just package my plugin with your app? We collaborate, I send you updates, you make the releases as you see fit.

[Mister Slimm]

Have I told you how much I like your tool? One addition would be to not allow the normal tray app to start when you make changes via the config tool or run the normal tray app EXE. This would require a background process to capture apps being launched, and not allow GBPVRTray.exe to run.

While I don't provide this functionality, you can manually rename SlimmGBPVR.exe to GBPVRTray.exe replacing it completely. Then the config app will run SlimmGBPVR.exe instead of GBPVRTray.exe. Make a backup of GBPVRTray.exe first, of course.

Now that I thiunk about it, it might not be a bad idea to base my plugin on your dll. You have a lot of functionality in your dll that I could use, and it can be expanded upon. Instead of telling people "to use my plugin, it requires SlimmGBPVR, so download that and install it first", why don't I just package my plugin with your app? We collaborate, I send you updates, you make the releases as you see fit.

All you need is the dll. If you wrote a proper installer for your plugin, you could simply include the dll with your package and install it if a high enough version of Slimm.GBPVR.dll wasn't already installed. You are welcome to do this as long as you keep me informed of which functions you use (so that I don't needlessly break them in future revisions).

As I mentioned before, a lot of the functionality of my dll replicates items already available to plugins but not available to external utilities, especially when GBPVR is not running. Some of the functionality replicates items found in CommonGBPVRUtilities.dll which is now installed alongside GBPVR but assumes that GBPVR is running.

At this time, I recommend giving your plugin (what will it do by the way?) a separate installer. As I said before, you are welcome to include Slimm.GBPVR.dll as long as the installer doesn't overwrite an installed higher version dll.

[FirstTeamOPS]

I was thinking it would be nice to have the tuner status as a plugin, that way I can see what is recording on each tuner from within GB-PVR without having to use my PC to click on the system tray icon.

Please keep us (or at least me ) updated when this plugin is complete. I think it would be a nice addon.

[Mister Slimm]

I was thinking it would be nice to have the tuner status as a plugin, that way I can see what is recording on each tuner from within GB-PVR without having to use my PC to click on the system tray icon.

It always used to be "think first, speak later". I guess I should update that to "think first, type later".

[Wakalaka]

It always used to be "think first, speak later". I guess I should update that to "think first, type later".

Yeah, I sometimes get ahead of myself. Overwhelmed with data at work and with GBPVR.

[Wakalaka]

I'm finally working on this, and hopefully will have something to release very soon with a nice installer.