XBMC Plugin

[ulysse]

This is a XBMC plugin for displaying current playing.

It's my first module and was written in less than 30 minutes whitout hardware test so if someone test let me know ...
You must enable your XBMC webserveur.

$dll(xbmc.dll,1,keyword for music file,keyword for video file)

Exemple :

$dll(xbmc.dll,1,artist,director) ($dll(xbmc.dll,1,year,year))
$dll(xbmc.dll,1,title,title)
$dll(xbmc.dll,1,time,time) / $dll(xbmc.dll,1,duration,duration)
$Bar($dll(xbmc.dll,1,percentage,percentage),100,20)


Also :
$dll(xbmc.dll,2,,)
Return "1" if xbmx is launched and playing and "0" if not. If you want activate screen dynamically.
$dll(xbmc.dll,2,onlyrunning,)
Return "1" if xbmx is launched and "0" if not. If you want activate screen dynamically.

Current keywords are :

For music :

# PlayStatus
# SongNo
# Type
# Title
# Track
# Artist
# Album
# Genre
# URL
# Lyrics
# Bitrate
# Samplerate
# Time
# Duration
# Percentage
# File size

For videos :

# Filename
# PlayStatus
# VideoNo
# Type
# Title
# Genre
# Studio
# Director
# Writer
# Tagline
# Plotoutline
# Plot
# Original Title
# Year
# Thumb
# Time
# Duration
# Percentage
# File size

have Fun !

[PhilYHC]

amazing! i cant thank you enough!

it seems to be working fine so far!

if you could kindly explain how to implement the following:

"Also :
$dll(xbmc.dll,2,,)
Return "1" if xbmx is launched and playing and "0" if not. If you want activate screen dynamically.

Current options are :

For music :

# PlayStatus
# SongNo
# Type
# Title
# Track
# Artist
# Album
# Genre
# URL
# Lyrics
# Bitrate
# Samplerate
# Time
# Duration
# Percentage
# File size

For videos :

# Filename
# PlayStatus
# VideoNo
# Type
# Title
# Genre
# Studio
# Director
# Writer
# Tagline
# Plotoutline
# Plot
# Original Title
# Year
# Thumb
# Time
# Duration
# Percentage
# File size"

than i would be a very happy bunny!

[ulysse]

$dll(xbmc.dll,1,keyword,)

The keyword can be on off the list above.
( Some keyword existe only whene playing music, other only when playing videos )



And for the second fonction :
$dll(xbmc.dll,2,,)
See this screenshot, it hide the screen 1 when xbmc isn't running or playing something and enable it when something is playing

[PhilYHC]

sweet, this plugin is unreal! got it all sorted now.

there are a couple of things though:

1 - if you have a screen set to switch when xbmc loads, it doesnt start straight away, it starts when you play a video/mp3, but i combined it with the AppState plugin, and it works a treat.
2 - i have the following screen setup:

--XBMC NOW PLAYING--
$dll(xbmc.dll,1,artist,)
$dll(xbmc.dll,1,title,)
-$dll(xbmc.dll,1,time,)==$dll(xbmc.dll,1,duration,)-

which looks cool as hell playing music, but when i play a film the artist parameter returns director info or something along those lines...its a small niggle but no biggie.

other than that, THIS PLUGIN IS AMAZING!

thank you again!

[ulysse]

1 - if you have a screen set to switch when xbmc loads, it doesnt start straight away, it starts when you play a video/mp3, but i combined it with the AppState plugin, and it works a treat.

I had a parameter, onlyrunning ( see first post ) to only test if xbmc is loaded.
At home I prefere hide the screen if xbmc only loaded because he always be.
But if you prefere only running now it's possible.

which looks cool as hell playing music, but when i play a film the artist parameter returns director info or something along those lines...its a small niggle but no biggie.

yes that was a test :$ now you can specify 2 arguments, at first the information for music file, second the information for video file. See exemple.

other than that, THIS PLUGIN IS AMAZING!
thank you again!

Thank you. I hope somme people will use it, xbmc is amazing and even better now !

PS : i will add some new keywords for displaying numbers of songs or movies in the library ...

[andye26]

Ok first thing first ...Thanks a lot ulysse works great!!

Couple of minor niggles
1- If the title is longer than the display it scrolls round which is ok but it has no gap at the end of title and start when it loops.
2- If nothing is playing an option to display something in the display when xbmc is active ie if I am in the menu it would be nice for the display to say XBMC Home Theater for example.

Thanks again

Andy

[styx06]

This sounds great. Have been waiting for a plugin like this.
Unfortunately though when I add your plugin, I get the following error message displaying on my VFD:

Exception: exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation.: Object reference not set to an instance

I installed all .NET framework versions and updates. Am running Windows XP SP3 with all updates included on a Samsung VFd (Ahanix MCE303 case) using IRTrans...

could you please help me out? tnx!

[styx06]

never mind...works like a charm. Couple of reboots helped...

One thing tho: I don't seem to get the dynamic enablement of screens to work. I have these lines in place currenty:

If $dll(xbmc.dll,2,,) = 1 Then EnableScreen(1)
If $dll(xbmc.dll,2,,) = 1 Then DisableScreen(2)
If $dll(xbmc.dll,2,,) = 0 Then EnableScreen(2)
If $dll(xbmc.dll,2,,) = 0 Then DisableScreen(1)

Where screen 1 = XBMC dll and screen 2 = other dll (BIGNUM in my case).
However, the screens just seem to be rotating.

Any suggestions?

ps: great work!!

[Latvian3Dman]

Ulysse, this plugin is exactly what i searched for! Especially since on my HTPC i already use LCD via LCDsmartie (one of self made USB solutions, FTDI chip), showing clock, CPU work, temperatures and fans speed (via SpeedFan). Unfortunately i can not get it working with XBMC yet. I use one of this years Win32 OpenGL builds (XBMC PRE-10.5 r28183), in Settings - Network it has enabled "Allow control of XBMC via HTTP", port 80, username xbmc, no password. I have LCD 2x16 symbols. If XBMC is started, it starts to show:
[Exception: Exception ....
or,
[Bar: '[Exception: Exception ....
If XBMC is not started, screen shows just empty progress bar line. Restarting PC, XBMC, LCDsmartie in any order not changes anything. PC is not connected to Internet (maybe it has to be? to have some IP address?).
Could anyone maybe give some advice, some ideas in wich direction i should try something? I would much appreciate it!
Thanks a lot in advance !!

Juris.

[ulysse]

I will post a new version of this plugin soon ...
And i will add some debug information by the way ...
Be patient

[Latvian3Dman]

Thats awesome, Ulysse! About new version coming.
Update from me: yes, in my situation problem is lack of internet connection (i guess problem is that XBMC dont have any IP address at all). With Internet present, this plugin works as it should, and i am very excited about it. Thank You!
There is (and will always be) some wishes what could be improved, and here is mine - i am that kind of HTPC user that don't like "libraries", i like to simply browse folders and launch files. So, if possible, i would wish that parameter "filename" would show just filename, not the whole path to that file, as it does now. If thats possible - thanks in advance!

[ulysse]

Thats awesome, Ulysse! About new version coming.
Update from me: yes, in my situation problem is lack of internet connection (i guess problem is that XBMC dont have any IP address at all). With Internet present, this plugin works as it should, and i am very excited about it. Thank You!

?! It's strange ... I will try without internet connection but I'm surprised ...

There is (and will always be) some wishes what could be improved, and here is mine - i am that kind of HTPC user that don't like "libraries", i like to simply browse folders and launch files. So, if possible, i would wish that parameter "filename" would show just filename, not the whole path to that file, as it does now. If thats possible - thanks in advance!

I'll add this tag in the next version ...
I'll also change activation mode by returning xbmc state like 'playing music' 'playing video' 'launched' 'not running' 'paused'
If someone has another idee it's time !

[Latvian3Dman]

Ok, then i give one more idea If I use my HTPC with internet connected, i often listen music that is actually online Shoutcast radio stations. Seems that this plugin "don't know" about their existence and shows nothing. I don't know is it real to extract info from there to show on LCD panel, but that would be awesome
UPDATE: wait, i am wrong! It shows stations info. Hmm, I think it didn't first time... This plugin kinda grows smarter when you use it more and more... hehe

[captwo]

Hello ulysee

Can i have the source code please?

Greetz

[ulysse]

I also think about a fonction who is called every time xbmc change status in order to display xbmc screen every time song change for exemple ...

Ok, then i give one more idea If I use my HTPC with internet connected, i often listen music that is actually online Shoutcast radio stations. Seems that this plugin "don't know" about their existence and shows nothing. I don't know is it real to extract info from there to show on LCD panel, but that would be awesome
UPDATE: wait, i am wrong! It shows stations info. Hmm, I think it didn't first time... This plugin kinda grows smarter when you use it more and more... hehe

Excellent news so

Hello ulysee
Can i have the source code please?
Greetz

Yes why not, but can you give us a reason ?
It's written in C# .net

[Latvian3Dman]

Ulysse, thats great idea, about sensing XBMC status change!
Is new version of this plugin anywhere near yet?

[ulysse]

Yep, I just compiled it ... ( i'll test tonight ... )
Change log :
- added status in order to activate specified screen. Exemple, diferent screen for audio or video, if playing or if paused ...
- added fonction who return "1" every time status or song change so you can activate right screen if you cycle between different informations ...
- added path and filename support, path return full path and filename juste the name whithout extension.



$dll(xbmc.dll,1,keyword,)

Will return current specified value ( options are belove ).

Exemple :
---------
$dll(xbmc.dll,1,artist,) ($dll(xbmc.dll,1,year,))
$dll(xbmc.dll,1,title,)
$dll(xbmc.dll,1,time,) / $dll(xbmc.dll,1,duration,)
$Bar($dll(xbmc.dll,1,percentage,),100,20)


Also : (If you want activate screen dynamically.)
$dll(xbmc.dll,2,,)
Return :
"off" if xbmc isn't launched.
"on" if xbmx running
"playing audio"
"playing video"
"paused audio"
"paused video"
So you can activate different screen depending of xbmc status.

$dll(xbmc.dll,3,,)
Will return "1" every time status or song/movie change ... so every time this append you can activate a screen ...


Current options are :
---------------------

For music :

# PlayStatus
# SongNo
# Type
# Title
# Track
# Artist
# Album
# Genre
# URL
# Lyrics
# Bitrate
# Samplerate
# Time
# Duration
# Percentage
# File size

For videos :

# Filename
# Path
# PlayStatus
# VideoNo
# Type
# Title
# Genre
# Studio
# Director
# Writer
# Tagline
# Plotoutline
# Plot
# Original Title
# Year
# Thumb
# Time
# Duration
# Percentage
# File size

have Fun !

[Latvian3Dman]

Thank You for new version! I will test it later tonight or tomorrow.
I also think this plugin needs more publicity around XBMC users, I think a lot of people would be interested in this LCD plugin, but they just don't know yet about its existence.

[Latvian3Dman]

I am testing and experimenting with this new plugin version right now, i have mixed success
For a start - i am new in those LCDsmartie commands usage, so please feel free to teach me simple things about that
It is no problem to disable all xbmc-related screens when xbmc is nor launched. Also i manage to turn on/off appropriate screens when, say, music is playing or paused (i have screens that still shows song info and text "Music PAUSED"). But how can I turn off all video/audio related screens when xbmc is launched, but it is not playing/showing anything, nor has something paused?
I mean, how to disable some screens, when xbmc is present, but is "stopped" ?
Many Thanks in advance for any help....

[ulysse]

I am testing and experimenting with this new plugin version right now, i have mixed success
For a start - i am new in those LCDsmartie commands usage, so please feel free to teach me simple things about that
It is no problem to disable all xbmc-related screens when xbmc is nor launched. Also i manage to turn on/off appropriate screens when, say, music is playing or paused (i have screens that still shows song info and text "Music PAUSED"). But how can I turn off all video/audio related screens when xbmc is launched, but it is not playing/showing anything, nor has something paused?
I mean, how to disable some screens, when xbmc is present, but is "stopped" ?
Many Thanks in advance for any help....

I have the same problem during my test this night ...
I have do a new version which can return full status, or only :
- on-off
- playing-off

I'll post it tomorrow ...

[ulysse]

$dll(xbmc.dll,2,,) full status
$dll(xbmc.dll,2,state,) playing / paused / 'nothing'
$dll(xbmc.dll,2,type,) audio / video
$dll(xbmc.dll,2,activity,) 1 if playing ou paused, 0 if not

In any case if xbmc isn't launch it will return off

I'll test later but already post the dll ...

[Latvian3Dman]

Oh, interesting! I am taking this new file to play with it
Thank You again!!
I will post how it goes...

btw, with previous version - i had some different results when choosing different screen properties "skip this screen if... (winamp active/inactive, don't skip)". I am not sure wich should be like "default" - don't skip?

UPDATE: actually, with this latest plugin version (is it 3-rd?) i managed to get all working as i wanted.
I have 3 "themes" in LCDsmartie: 1-system info (when xbmc not running or running but not playing), 2-music screens, 3-video screens.
I goto themes with plugin command:
$dll(xbmc.dll,2,type,) - audio or video.
In those themes i have all corresponding screens "enabled" and "don't skip". I disable some screens with plugin command:
$dll(xbmc.dll,2,state,) - paused or playing.
i try to post screenshot here.
Then if xbmc does nothing, LCDsmartie returnd to theme1.
THANK YOU for work on this plugin!!
P.S.: screens 2,4,5,7 - Theme2 ; screens 6,11,12 - Theme3.
P.P.S.: i don't know, maybe it is known bug, but for me LCDsmartie not always saves changes in actions even after both "Apply" and "OK"! Just a warning...

[captwo]

Because i`am write a plugin for LCD Studio. It is finish but i will compare the source code to improve it.

[ahmedhussien32]

cool man

[yd290276]

Hi,
i'll test this wonderfull plugin this week end ! Thanks a lot, i was looking for such a plugin for XBMC to run my lcd so far... By the way, can you provide the source code of this plugin ?

Great job, and sorry for my english it's not my mother speaking language !

thanks !