Thanks manchild for the great feedback!  It's this kind of response that makes it all worth while.  And finally someone who noticed\appreciates the VK_ change...lol

I've asked to add X10Commander to the downloads, but so far nothing.  Guess I'll ask again.  Anyone know what the deal is with adding attachments?  Are they going to enable that again?

Thanks,
OCP

Hi,

first of all, thanks for the application. Looks I'm close to dumping the mouse software that came with my remote, a Marmitek PC Control (X10 part number is UR86E).

Still got a few issues though:

• Double-clicks are not handled. They are reported as LButtonDoubleClick, which is not in the global key file. No idea if adding it as a default will interfere with other remotes but at least that might be FAQ-worthy.
• While at it: Shouldn't the volume keys go into global.xml, too?
  
• Adding/removing applications and keys:
  To add a new key, I start with clicking in the Enabled column of the line marked with an asterisk. That results in a new empty line being added above the line. IMHO a bit unpleasant, the user has already marked Enabled, now he has to mark it again (if he notices it -  I wondered two or three times why my new keys were always disabled when I checked again).
  After adding a PowerDVD.xml file the same way (i.e. with the asterik line), the application list suddenly showed an extra entry named newfile.xml (in addition to my PowerDVD.xml). No idea how that one got there, I can't reproduce it, but I guess the reason is somehow the same weird functionality as with the keys list.
  Second, there's no obvious way to delete a key or an application.
  Would be nice if you'd add Add a key and Delete selected key buttons (or a context menu) to both the application and the keys list. After all, that's the standard way lists are handled.
• I don't get the point with macros, submacros and keys. Where's the difference? Why do I need to separate submacros by a semicolon, keys by a comma? The example in the readme, "key1,key2;key3,key4", doesn't help much - you only list dummy keys, not real names, and separate them by both commas and semicolons.
• To turn subtitles on or off in PowerDVD, I have to (don't laugh :) click the right mouse button (open context menu), press up about a dozen times (move through menu), then right (open subtitles menu) and finaly press enter. It's great to be able to enter sequences in x10commander, but PowerDVD always just opened the context menu.Took me some time to figure out that I need to use MOUSERIGHTCLICK;UP;UP etc. instead of MOUSERIGHTCLICK,UP,UP (why are the mouse button and the cursor up key macros? - macros are tiny programs, not single commands).
  Anyway, somewhere in between I thought it might be useful to have some kind of delay command, like MOUSERIGHTCLICK,WAIT10,UP, with WAITnn producing nn tens of a second delay. Of course, my fault was using commas instead of semicolons, nevertheless there might be applications out there that are a bit slow in some actions.
• Would be nice if the applications window could remember its size. Right now, it always opens so small that only half of the lists' width are visible and the especially the vertical scroller knob of the key list is just a tiny little thing.
  

That's it for now. If you're interested I'll post my PowerDVD.xml for distribution with x10commander. Oh, and you should reveal some email address. At least I would have answered your requests for comments months earlier without this annoying board registration requirement.

Keep up the good work! :)

Well I know this is a MCE site but I just thought you should know that I am using this with my SageTV program [with the remote wonder plus].  I prefer Sage over MCE.   And so far it is working great.  My only issue so far is that I can't get SageTV to launch(without creating a long macro to go through the start menu).  It would be nice to have a single remote button force a program to launch.  An example would be to list the target of the application in the 'macro' column within the global .xml file, assigned to a particular remote button.  

I read in your notes that if I use 'startup' instead of 'global' or 'normal' the app would launch but I just couldnt get that to happen, even if none of the other apps listed the particular button I was trying to use.  Let me know if I overlooked something.

AND THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR WORK HERE, THIS PROGRAM IS GREAT!

---

Pagelm

I added a keyboard shortcut combination to the windows shortcut.  Then added that keyboard shortcut to a button in the global xml, and so far it works for me.

Hiya registrations_suck,

Thanks for the great feedback, and for taking the time to put it all together.  Nice to see another X10 device being used.  Please see my responses below.

• Double-clicks are not handled. They are reported as LButtonDoubleClick, which is not in the global key file. No idea if adding it as a default will interfere with other remotes but at least that might be FAQ-worthy.

My remote doesn't send the LButtonDoubleClick or RButtonDoubleClick.  But, you could map those keywords to a "MOUSELEFTCLICK;MOUSELEFTCLICK" in your Global.xml or MCE05.xml, etc to test it.  What button on your remote sends that keyword?

• While at it: Shouldn't the volume keys go into global.xml, too?

Well you know, that's a good question.  Originally I based the volume on the keyboard shortcuts for each app (e.g. MCE uses F9/F10, WinDVD uses SHIFT/UP/DOWN, etc).  But there is a "VOLUME_UP" and "VOLUME_DOWN" media key....and that works!  So I've updated the global.xml, and disabled the volumes commands from the other apps.  Good catch!

• Adding/removing applications and keys:
  To add a new key, I start with clicking in the Enabled column of the line marked with an asterisk. That results in a new empty line being added above the line. IMHO a bit unpleasant, the user has already marked Enabled, now he has to mark it again (if he notices it -  I wondered two or three times why my new keys were always disabled when I checked again).

I always click in Name column first which doesn't unclick the Enabled checkbox.  I'll try to make the adding\removing of a line more intuitive\explicit.

• After adding a PowerDVD.xml file the same way (i.e. with the asterik line), the application list suddenly showed an extra entry named newfile.xml (in addition to my PowerDVD.xml). No idea how that one got there, I can't reproduce it, but I guess the reason is somehow the same weird functionality as with the keys list.

If you don't provide a filename before clicking Ok or Apply, it will save it as "newfile.xml" (or newfile2.xml, etc)

• Second, there's no obvious way to delete a key or an application.
  Would be nice if you'd add Add a key and Delete selected key buttons (or a context menu) to both the application and the keys list. After all, that's the standard way lists are handled.

I'll try to make the adding\removing of a line more intuitive\explicit.

• I don't get the point with macros, submacros and keys. Where's the difference? Why do I need to separate submacros by a semicolon, keys by a comma? The example in the readme, "key1,key2;key3,key4", doesn't help much - you only list dummy keys, not real names, and separate them by both commas and semicolons.

I'll clarify this in the ReadMe.htm.  But essentially the keys separated by a comma (,) are a logical "submacro" and are processed as if the user was pressing all those keys at the same time.  e.g. CTRL-A.  The the submacros separated by a semi-colon (;) are a logical "macro" and are processed in sequence so it's like the user was pressing a group of keys, releasing, then pressing another gourp of keys, etc.  E.g. CTRL-A, then UP arrow, then RIGHT arrow, etc.

• To turn subtitles on or off in PowerDVD, I have to (don't laugh :) click the right mouse button (open context menu), press up about a dozen times (move through menu), then right (open subtitles menu) and finaly press enter. It's great to be able to enter sequences in x10commander, but PowerDVD always just opened the context menu.Took me some time to figure out that I need to use MOUSERIGHTCLICK;UP;UP etc. instead of MOUSERIGHTCLICK,UP,UP (why are the mouse button and the cursor up key macros? - macros are tiny programs, not single commands).
• Wow, that's some maco!  Glad you figured it out, and yes, the ; is used to separate sequences of keys as described above.  Macros in my experience are short scripts that mimic a set of events a user would have to do manually otherwise. 
  Anyway, somewhere in between I thought it might be useful to have some kind of delay command, like MOUSERIGHTCLICK,WAIT10,UP, with WAITnn producing nn tens of a second delay. Of course, my fault was using commas instead of semicolons, nevertheless there might be applications out there that are a bit slow in some actions.
• There is a "WAIT" macro, I just totally forgot to document it in the ReadMe!  In one of the earlier posts there's a discussion on this.  Anyhow, look at the Info button for the MCE app, and you;ll see an example of it.  If you need to pause longer than 1/4 second, just string more WAITs together. 
  
• Would be nice if the applications window could remember its size. Right now, it always opens so small that only half of the lists' width are visible and the especially the vertical scroller knob of the key list is just a tiny little thing.
• Ahh, good idea, I'll include this in the next version.
  

That's it for now. If you're interested I'll post my PowerDVD.xml for distribution with x10commander.
Sure, post away and I'll package it with the next release. Thanks!!

Oh, and you should reveal some email address. At least I would have answered your requests for comments months earlier without this annoying board registration requirement.
Direct email is ocpsupport@gmail.com.  I'll update the ReadMe, etc. with this.

Keep up the good work! :)
Thanks!!

Hiya pagelm!  Cool that you can apply this to SageTV as well. 

You can assign a macro to an application by setting up the command in that application's XML.  That seems to me to be equivalent to targeting the macro to an application in the global.xml.  I suppose your way you could have one big Global.xml file with the applications assigned at the command-level. 
Anyhow, X10Commander will go through each application in Tools>Applications (in name order) until it finds an application to process the incoming command (e.g. the Power button).  And a "Startup" command is really just a command where the target application IS NOT already running.  (this way the Power button can both start and stop and application for example). 

How have you defined the SageTV application?  What are the WindowName\ClassName or ProcessName settings for SageTV?  Is it possible SageTV is already running?  What is the keyboard command to start SageTV?  Otherwise the shortcut approach that manchild describes should work as well.

Thanks,
OCP

SageTV has a seperate program called sagetvservice.exe that can run in background just to record scheduled shows without sagetv having to be turned on. I have that program set to turn on when windows starts and run all the time. The remote is not used for that.  So, the answer to one question is that SageTV (ie:sagetv.exe) is not already on. 

As far as I know, there was no keyboard shortcut to turn it on until I followed what manchild said and set it it to turn on with CRTL-ALT-S.  As much as I thought I knew about computers, yet I didn't think about that  LOL  So anyway, now that works great.

Now that I have it working I want to explain what I experienced.  Maybe you can tell me if I did something wrong or if there is something I can tweak for future applications that I add.  I primarily use JRiver Media Center for my music library on that same HTPC but I have not setup an XML file for it yet.

I created a sagetv.xml file at first. The SageTV manual has several pages in their manual dedicated to listing many keyboard shortcuts(great news!).  I used that to set up my sagetv.xml file.  There is one particular shortcut that allows the user to go back to the main menu, regardless of where you are in the program.  I set that as my 'startup' , assuming that if sagetv were running, it would simply just take me back to the main menu and if it weren't running, it would start sagetv.exe.   Well Sagetv would not start when I pressed that key, but it did take me to the main menu when sage was already started.  So I dont know what the problem was.  The sagetv manual also had the windowName/ClassName listed before the keyboard shortcuts (a pretty informative manual).  I tried windowName/ClassName at first then tried removing those and listing just the processName (SageTV.exe). Neither ways would ever start the program.  So I gave up on that.  I also found that while using Normal instead of Global for my sagetv.xml, for many of the buttons, it would force my sagetv to not be the 'active' window (or program) anymore.  I don't know what was causing this so I adjusted the shortcuts to all be Global. I also removed all the othe xml files from the app folder.  Now I just have Global, SageTV and the media player xml files (backed up the others and put em in another folder).  Anyway, I just left the shortcuts that were common to windows and sage all in the global, then still left all the sagetv specific macros/shortcuts in the sagetv.xml file in hopes that one day I could get this working as you intended. 

I think there is a huge 'user error' here LOL and normally I can figure these things out without a problem.  Instead I had to kind of 'rig it' to get it to work for me but it is working fine now.  We will have to see what happens when I decide to add more programs to it.

BTW I just use the power button as a ALT-F4 ("MENU,F4") for everything.  Just the shut down open windows, or if all are closed it will bring up the standby/shutdown/restart buttons for me.

Thanks for this program and for taking the time to do this for us!

 

---

Pagelm

I am having quite a bit of trouble with this latest release with the remote sending more than just the keypress, or some alternate keypress.  For example if I press the down key twice it exits MCE.  If I press the volume up key it does that plus something else. 

I only have one additional macro mapped from the default install and it's totally separate from MCE (a display flipping macro for multiple displays). 

Any thoughts on how to troubleshoot this or possibly is it a known issue? 

It's a remote wonder plus (the type that comes with the HDTV wonder).  Using version 1.3 of the x10 commander.

hiya Pagelm,

Glad the shortcut works to launch.  X10Commander doesn't actually run the program when a "startup" button is pressed.  It expects that the program has a startup key sequence built in (e.g. MCE has win-alt-enter).  So SageTV would have to have a keyboard command already available .  Having said that, I think it'd be simple enough for X10Commander to launch the program if it wasn't running.  I'll add this to the next release.  Until then the shortcut will be the best solution.

With a Normal command, X10c will bring the window to the foreground if it's not already.  A global command is sent regardless of the foreground window.  Is it possible you have the wrong WindowName\ClassName?  If so, X10C would be trying to bring another window to the foreground for a Normal command (and hence why it's making the SageTV window inactive).  I suggest trying SPY++ to determine the WindowName\ClassName (download it here http://www.box.net/public/chrrudzml8)

No worries on "user error", these are great questions and feedback.

Thanks!
OCP

Hi bluegreenturtle,

That's pretty strange behavior.  Usually this kind of thing occurs because something else is also running that is processing the remote commands.  Is it possible that the ATIRW.exe program is also running?    If you uninstall the ATI software, you'll need to install the X10 service (see the system requirements at http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/1/47675/ShowThread.aspx for more info).

Thanks,
OCP

EDIT: 

Actually I just fixed this example.  I took the "wait; wait; return;" out of the macro for "info".  Why was that in there?


Hey OCP thanks for responding. 

The ATIRW software is not installed.  It's almost like it's sending a double of the command though, although scrolling through titles works well enough, and many things work. 

One thing I notice, though if you use the "info" button (i) it immediately goes into the first selection from the "i" drop down (you know, the one that gives you info, zoom, settings, etc). 

Here is an example of my logging, is this normal?  This is me hitting the info button, it going to far, me trying again a few times, backing out of my tv, stopping tv, then shutting off media center.  I don't think this is going to format correctly.

'954','Yes','6/12/2006 7:07:24 PM','2 Windows Media Center 2005','Info','MTTV','CONTROL,D;WAIT;WAIT;RETURN;','0','1966400','p2'
'955','Yes','6/12/2006 7:07:25 PM','2 Windows Media Center 2005','Info','MTTV','CONTROL,D;WAIT;WAIT;RETURN;','-1','1966400','p2'
'956','Yes','6/12/2006 7:07:27 PM','2 Windows Media Center 2005','Backspace','C','BACK','0','1966400','p2'
'957','Yes','6/12/2006 7:07:27 PM','2 Windows Media Center 2005','Backspace','C','BACK','-1','1966400','p2'
'958','Yes','6/12/2006 7:07:28 PM','2 Windows Media Center 2005','Info','MTTV','CONTROL,D;WAIT;WAIT;RETURN;','0','1966400','p2'
'959','Yes','6/12/2006 7:07:28 PM','2 Windows Media Center 2005','Info','MTTV','CONTROL,D;WAIT;WAIT;RETURN;','-1','1966400','p2'
'960','Yes','6/12/2006 7:07:29 PM','2 Windows Media Center 2005','Backspace','C','BACK','0','1966400','p2'
'961','Yes','6/12/2006 7:07:30 PM','2 Windows Media Center 2005','Backspace','C','BACK','-1','1966400','p2'
'962','Yes','6/12/2006 7:07:30 PM','2 Windows Media Center 2005','Info','MTTV','CONTROL,D;WAIT;WAIT;RETURN;','0','1966400','p2'
'963','Yes','6/12/2006 7:07:31 PM','2 Windows Media Center 2005','Info','MTTV','CONTROL,D;WAIT;WAIT;RETURN;','-1','1966400','p2'
'964','Yes','6/12/2006 7:07:32 PM','2 Windows Media Center 2005','Backspace','C','BACK','0','1966400','p2'
'965','Yes','6/12/2006 7:07:33 PM','2 Windows Media Center 2005','Backspace','C','BACK','-1','1966400','p2'
'966','Yes','6/12/2006 7:07:34 PM','2 Windows Media Center 2005','Stop','Stop','CONTROL,SHIFT,S','0','1966400','p2'
'967','Yes','6/12/2006 7:07:34 PM','2 Windows Media Center 2005','Stop','Stop','CONTROL,SHIFT,S','-1','1966400','p2'
'968','Yes','6/12/2006 7:07:35 PM','2 Windows Media Center 2005','Backspace','C','BACK','0','1966400','p2'
'969','Yes','6/12/2006 7:07:35 PM','2 Windows Media Center 2005','Backspace','C','BACK','-1','1966400','p2'
'970','Yes','6/12/2006 7:07:36 PM','2 Windows Media Center 2005','Backspace','C','BACK','0','1966400','p2'
'971','Yes','6/12/2006 7:07:36 PM','2 Windows Media Center 2005','Backspace','C','BACK','-1','1966400','p2'
'972','Yes','6/12/2006 7:07:37 PM','2 Windows Media Center 2005','Shutdown','Power','MENU,F4','0','1966400','p2'
'973','Yes','6/12/2006 7:07:37 PM','2 Windows Media Center 2005','Shutdown','Power','MENU,F4','-1','1966400','p2'

Those commands look good.  You see them listed twice, because it shows the keydown (0) then the keyup (-1) events are processed.

The wait; wait; return is in the Info macro specifically to pause while the first window pops up, then to select the details of whatever you're watching.  In other words, that was how the macro was intended.  But if you like it better without, have at it.  The beauty of customization!!

So, back to your original problem with it misbehaving (processing it twice).  Can you log a time when it does that and post the results?  If the log doesn't show anything unusual then something else is still getting in the way.

Thanks,
OCP

I LOVE this! thanks

I can't seem to get the number keypad to enter letters (for example, search)... is this possible?

Using Remote Wonder Plus

Hiya Kaitlyn2004,

Welcome aboard!  The next version will include the text-mode entry (i.e. cellphone style). 

Thanks,
OCP

Thanks for the welcoming!

Umm, any idea when the next version will be out?