Auto-starting Live TV

[Ryand833]

I'm trying to write a small modification to automatically go into live tv mode the first time the main menu loads. I'm a newbie at studio, I should add.

Is there something I can check to see if the main menu has been loaded previously in the current session? (I.E. so it doesn't go into live TV automatically every time I go back to the main menu.)

[Opus4]

The default STV has examples in the BeforeMenuLoad hook for using AddGlobalContext() calls to add/set global variables to note whether something has already been done. If the global value isn't set already, you could set it & perform the one-time action you want it to do.

- Andy

[Ryand833]

Ok, that works, but I had to do it in the AfterMenuLoad -- it wouldn't work in the BeforeMenuLoad. Is that to be expected?

[GKusnick]

Setting and testing variables should work anywhere. Or are you saying that SageCommand() doesn't work in BeforeMenuLoad? If so, that may be because the listener for that command hasn't been set up yet.

[Ryand833]

Yeah, the SageCommand didn't work in the BeforeMenuLoad, but I got it to work in AfterMenuLoad.

All is well now, and I thank you both for your help.

[Opus4]

What command are you trying to use? You can jump to other menus or reference other code, so maybe that would work better.

... on the other hand, the Main Menu's BeforeMenuLoad hook does a whole bunch of checking various things, so maybe the AfterMenuLoad hook is good anyway, just to prevent any conflicting actions before the menu loads.

- Andy

[GKusnick]

Originally Posted by Opus4

What command are you trying to use?

He's using the "Live TV" command, per my suggestion here. But I suppose that in the special case of invoking live TV on startup, when you can be sure that nothing else is playing already, jumping directly to the OSD screen would work as well.

[Opus4]

OK -- another way to do it would be to link to the code below the Live TV listener in the Main Menu Theme.

- Andy

[lambda379]

OK, I got the AfterMenuLoad hook to work for both "LiveTV" and go directly to "Archived Videos". But I am still trying to make LiveTV work with the "OK -- another way to do it would be to link to the code below the Live TV listener in the Main Menu Theme." method work. Where/what is the code I should link too? Every thing I try makes SageTV freeze. Maybe I don't understand how listeners work. Thanks

[Opus4]

Below the MainMenuTheme is a Live TV listener. If you don't want to use SageCommand() to send the Live TV command, then you could link to the first widget below the Live TV listener -- you wouldn't actually be using the listener at all; you would just be referencing the code under it to perform the same thing: jump to live TV playback.

- Andy