[NEWS] SlingFront 1.45

[Tom Speirs]

SlingFront 1.45 released.

• Fixes XBMC add on.
• Fixes performance issues with alpha blending.
• Fixes double clicking hiding video.

View the full article

[oviano]

Thanks for the update.

I downloaded the source and had a crack at adding the missing keyboard shortcuts that I require for play, pause (separately), rewind, fast forward and stop.

It works fine - so is there a preferred procedure for submitting changes like this? I commented the changes with an identical comment (there were only a small number) so I could send the files and you could add them to your main branch manually or should it be done through sourceforge (never used it, but prepared to learn)?

This is assuming you want the changes of course!

Oliver

[Tom Speirs]

Hi Oviano,

Ill be happy to take a look. I am not sure about the best procedure moving forward but for now we can do it manually. If you cant get the files to me easily you can use my service here: http://upload.spesoft.com

Thanks a lot.

Tom.

[Tom Speirs]

Also folks just wanted to let you know, I only checked in the latest source this morning and that the installer now contains optional OpenCandy like my other freeware. eg free toolbar install etc.

[oviano]

Hi Oviano,

Ill be happy to take a look. I am not sure about the best procedure moving forward but for now we can do it manually. If you cant get the files to me easily you can use my service here: http://upload.spesoft.com

Thanks a lot.

Tom.

Ok Tom, I have uploaded the file "SlingFront additional keyboard mappings.zip".

It contains just the two files I modified; search for the text "Added by Oliver Collyer" to find my changes.

Many thanks.

[itjg247]

Thanks for the update! This a lot better than the web player! I have a couple questions on the update. Is there anyway to get it full screen without the task bar like version 1.41? Maybe an option to have it always full screen? The fix that got rid of the double commands works but now the old commands that I had my remote setup to do in the web player do not work like they did before. Most of them I do not care about. The two key maps that I use the most are "v" for favorites and page up and page down inside the guide to go up or down a page. Also, is there anyway to setup keyboard mappings for "my dvr" or "swap"? Or maybe just have an option to disable the slingfront key mappings so it just uses the default mappings? Thanks so much! I appreciate the work you put in to help me with my entertainment experience (this is how I watch TV at my house).

Edit: I tried to download the source code from sourceforge.net and it sends me to the download page.

[oviano]

Thanks for the update! This a lot better than the web player! I have a couple questions on the update. Is there anyway to get it full screen without the task bar like version 1.41? Maybe an option to have it always full screen? The fix that got rid of the double commands works but now the old commands that I had my remote setup to do in the web player do not work like they did before. Most of them I do not care about. The two key maps that I use the most are "v" for favorites and page up and page down inside the guide to go up or down a page. Also, is there anyway to setup keyboard mappings for "my dvr" or "swap"? Or maybe just have an option to disable the slingfront key mappings so it just uses the default mappings? Thanks so much! I appreciate the work you put in to help me with my entertainment experience (this is how I watch TV at my house).

Edit: I tried to download the source code from sourceforge.net and it sends me to the download page.

You didn't try hard enough

Go here : http://sourceforge.net/p/slingfront/code/HEAD/tree/

Then click on "Download Snapshot" in the dark grey header bar, and you'll get a .tar file containing a snapshot of the last code.

I don't get the full screen/taskbar issue you mention, it works fine for me. I've tried it on several different PCs.

Regarding your remote - you'll need to map your Harmony to use SlingFront's key mappings if they are different from the regular web player's. I have a Harmony too and I basically set it up as an "MCE Keyboard" device and just mapped everything exactly how I wanted.

But as far as the missing key mappings are concerned (page up/down, favourites, myDVR and swap) - do you know what codes these are using? You can find this out by enabling console output on your browser; in Mac Safari you use the "Develop" menu and choose "Show Error Console". Then, navigate to the regular web player @ newwatch, connect to your stream and then click on the buttons on your remote.

You should see things like this in the console:

10:43:18 777 : APP FSM >>> Action : OnRemoteControlKeyPress: {keycmd: id.remote.boxoffice.sky, keycode: 62}

10:43:58 522 : SLINGPLAYER-APP FSM >>> Action : OnRemoteControlKeyPress: {keycmd: id.remote.back, keycode: 36}

10:44:38 457 : SLINGPLAYER-APP FSM >>> Action : OnRemoteControlKeyPress: {keycmd: id.remote.red, keycode: 74}

Hopefully whatever browser you are using has a similar option to view the log information.

The thing I'm not sure about though is how universal these codes are going to be?

Keycode 62 above appears when I click on the "Sky" button on my Sky+ HD remote. I happen to know (from loading the Sky bin file into RemoteMaster) that this is mapped to the button "Custom14" in the master list of 81 buttons.

Does this mean that keycode 62 is always going to equate to "Custom14" or can't we make that assumption? I don't know.

If we could make that assumption then it would be useful to work out a list of keycodes for all 81 of the buttons and make these all mappable inside SlingFront.

EDIT : just had a glance at the code and I can see that there are already definitions for the Page Up/Down and Favourites keycodes, so it just needs a few more lines adding to map these to keys in SlingFront.

[oviano]

Ok, I did a bit more digging and found a list of the 81 standard Slingbox preset buttons and their corresponding codes:

Power = 1

Power_On = 2

Power_Off = 3

Ch+ = 4

Ch- = 5

Vol+ = 6

Vol- = 7

Mute = 8

Num_1 = 9

Num_2 = 10

Num_3 = 11

Num_4 = 12

Num_5 = 13

Num_6 = 14

Num_7 = 15

Num_8 = 16

Num_9 = 17

Num_0 = 18

Enter = 19

100 = 20

Last_Ch = 21

TV/VCR = 22

External = 23

Play = 24

Stop = 25

Pause = 26

Rewind = 27

FFwd = 28

Record = 29

Skip+ = 30

Skip- = 31

Live = 32

Menu = 33

Setup = 34

Guide = 35

Cancel = 36

Exit = 37

Up_Arrow = 38

Down_Arrow = 39

Left_Arrow = 40

Right_Arrow = 41

Select = 42

Page+ = 43

Page- = 44

Fav = 45

Info = 46

Format = 47

SAP/Subtitle = 48

Surround = 49

Slow = 50

Eject = 51

Random = 52

PIP = 53

PIP_Format = 54

PIP_Freeze = 55

PIP_Swap = 56

PIP_Move = 57

PIP_Source = 58

PIP_Ch+ = 59

PIP_Ch- = 60

PIP_Multi = 61

Custom10 = 62

Custom11 = 63

Custom12 = 64

Custom13 = 65

Custom14 = 66

Custom15 = 67

Custom16 = 68

Custom17 = 69

Custom18 = 70

Custom19 = 71

Custom20 = 72

Custom21 = 73

Red = 74

Green = 75

Yellow = 76

Blue = 77

White = 78

Custom27 = 79

Custom28 = 80

Custom29 = 81

Most of these are defined in SlingFront (the exceptions are the PIP ones and the Custom ones), although not all have a key mapped to them so don't get used.

[Tom Speirs]

Thanks for the update! This a lot better than the web player! I have a couple questions on the update. Is there anyway to get it full screen without the task bar like version 1.41? Maybe an option to have it always full screen? The fix that got rid of the double commands works but now the old commands that I had my remote setup to do in the web player do not work like they did before. Most of them I do not care about. The two key maps that I use the most are "v" for favorites and page up and page down inside the guide to go up or down a page. Also, is there anyway to setup keyboard mappings for "my dvr" or "swap"? Or maybe just have an option to disable the slingfront key mappings so it just uses the default mappings? Thanks so much! I appreciate the work you put in to help me with my entertainment experience (this is how I watch TV at my house).

Edit: I tried to download the source code from sourceforge.net and it sends me to the download page.

Hi, could you give more info on the full screen issue? It always runs full screen as far as I am aware?

[itjg247]

Thanks for the quick reply. I will try to put the page up, page down, and favorites in the code you provided me. On version 1.41 i would double click the stream when it came up it would go into full screen without the task bar at the bottom. I will try it again on the updated version. I am using windows 8 if that makes any difference? I have my harmony setup for mce keyboard on one output and slingbox on another, so that should be no problem. Thanks for the help. I will try to see what comes up in my browser when I click mydvr. So it is possible to make a key mapping for it? I just need to figure out the code when I press it and then move it over? Thanks again for all the help, it would really help me out to get this going smoothly.

[Tom Speirs]

I disabled double click on the player in the last version as it gave a black screen on a lot of systems, still SlingFront should always run full screen even on windows 8. Are you talking about the normal windows taskbar? it should display over the top of that. Do you have it launching on startup? Something must be interfering.

[itjg247]

This is the code for mydvr:

APP FSM >>> Action : OnRemoteControlKeyPress: {keycmd: id.remote.pvr.dvr, keycode: 23}

SLINGPLAYER-APP FSM >>> Action : OnRemoteControlKeyPress: {keycmd: id.remote.pvr.dvr, keycode: 23}

and Swap:

APP FSM >>> Action : OnRemoteControlKeyPress: {keycmd: id.remote.pip.swap, keycode: 56}

SLINGPLAYER-APP FSM >>> Action : OnRemoteControlKeyPress: {keycmd: id.remote.pip.swap, keycode: 56}

So what can I do to make these key mappings? I greatly appreciate the help

Edit: It is in full screen during startup but when the stream starts it cause the taskbar to go over top of the full screen like it becomes inactive. Ill mess with it a little bit and see what I need to do. Thanks again!

[oviano]

I get the task bar appearing on one machine too - it appears when the stream starts, and remains until you stop the stream, at which point it disappears.

Once it appears it seems impossible to get rid of it while the stream plays, I.e. clicking on the SlingFront icon in the task bar or on the stream doesn't help.

The most obvious difference is this machine is running Windows 7 Enterprise, the others I've tried where the task bar doesn't appear are Windows 7 Home Premium.

I've only seen it happen on this one machine.

[itjg247]

The only way I could get rid of it was to use version 1.41 and double click on the stream. In version 1.45 I cannot get rid of the task bar. I am using Windows 8 Pro whenever I use Sling front. Also, If I'm messing with this in visual basic what files do I need to edit to put a key mapping in for Favorites? Thanks

[oviano]

Search for an existing supported key mapping in the code and basically do the same for the one you are adding.

[Tom Speirs]

I think what I will do for the next release is add some custom keyboard commands that can send any IR command. That should resolve the issue, agreed? How many do we need?

[oviano]

I think what I will do for the next release is add some custom keyboard commands that can send any IR command. That should resolve the issue, agreed? How many do we need?

To be honest I'd be inclined just to add the remaining commands to the existing list of key mappings, otherwise won't there be two levels of mapping, one for choosing which keys control these custom commands, and another for what these custom commands do (ie from the list of 81 functions)? Seems maybe a bit overcomplicated. Apologies if I've misunderstood.

[Tom Speirs]

OK. Guys please add here what commands should be added and I will get it done.

[oviano]

The ones I have added to my custom build are:

Play - B

Stop - C

Pause - D

Rewind - H

FastForward - J

Record - K

PageUp - L

PageDown - O

But IMO you may as well just provide the means to map all 81 in the list I posted, even if you only actually provide a default mapping for a subset of them, though the UI needs some work as the menu containing the functions that can be mapped doesn't scroll.

[itjg247]

Cool. I would like favorite, page up, and page down the most (key code 43, 44, 45). And then if possible mydvr and swap (key code 23 and 56). Thanks!

[Jethros]

Hi Tom, great application!! Using it for our Arizona vacation property TV right now : ) Looking forward to the next release. Hoping you'll have the means to map the additional IR codes. Like Oviano, I would like to be able to add the 'PVR' IR commands (ie: play, pause, rewind, etc).

Am trying to download the source code from SourceForge to see if I can tinker with a custom build myself. Can't seem to get it though ... not sure if I'm doing something wrong?? I'm clicking the 'download snapshot' link, but all it seems to give me is an empty zip file. Apologize in advance if it's something obvious I'm missing, but I've tried searching all the SourceForge documentation to determine if there's a trick to downloading the source. Nothing jumping out at me. Do I need anything special to download the source??

[oviano]

Downloading the snapshot worked for me when I tried a few weeks ago (when Tom released 1.45).

The zip contained everything needed to build using Visual Studio.

I'll try again tomorrow and let you know.

[Jethros]

Thanks Oviano, much appreciated !!

[oviano]

Ok, I just checked and you are right - it downloads an empty zip file now.

Not sure if that is a sourceforge issue, or Tom hasn't uploaded it or something...

[Jethros]

Thanks for confirming Oviano ... feel better that it's not something I was doing wrong : )

Any chance you might be able to forward me the copy of the code you pulled down from SourceForge earlier?? Looks like you might be able to actually attach files to posts in this form (or alternatively I could give you my email address if that's easier).