Plugin: InfoPopup / CallerID for SageTV 7.0

[shadeblue.com]

Originally Posted by jbrandon

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Vista-Caller-ID will work on its own but of course not in Sage, YAC will not work on its own.

I would be nice to use Vista-Caller-ID. It is an interesting program but it has no client software (currently). I also wonder why the plug in cannot use TAPI on its own without the need for YAC - please remember I do not write code of any sort but I was under the impression that was what things like TAPI was for.

Jim

I will be working with the maker of Vista-Caller-ID to try to get this plugin working with with that software as an alternative to YAC. The problems on your system are not typical and most people are able to get it working with just YAC, but some modems and modem drivers don't play well with others ...

As for getting native caller ID / TAPI directly supported in the plugin, this is a much larger effort. I took on this plugin when the HD Extenders came out to build on top of the work that Nielm had already done to get the caller ID messages to show up on the extenders. Nielm has already chosen YAC presumably because it was an existing free software that provided a decent means of obtaining the caller ID info in Sage without re-inventing the wheel.

For the images, the folder sharing method with the UNC path is the best method, else the image folder and files will need to be the same on each client instance.

[appelm]

Is this plugin compatible with SageMC under V7? I haven't made the switch to the default STV yet but I am using V7. Would we need a stvi version of this for it to work under SageMC. I know there was one in the past. Thanks..

[jbrandon]

I know it is only my system causing the problems with YAC but I did find a work around thanks to your input. I did find some soft modem drivers from LSI (the same chip set maker) dated 8/09 and is what I am using to even get it to work with my current configuration. I guess I’ll keep looking…

And I can sure live with the folder sharing…

Jim

Originally Posted by shadeblue.com

I will be working with the maker of Vista-Caller-ID to try to get this plugin working with with that software as an alternative to YAC. The problems on your system are not typical and most people are able to get it working with just YAC, but some modems and modem drivers don't play well with others ...

As for getting native caller ID / TAPI directly supported in the plugin, this is a much larger effort. I took on this plugin when the HD Extenders came out to build on top of the work that Nielm had already done to get the caller ID messages to show up on the extenders. Nielm has already chosen YAC presumably because it was an existing free software that provided a decent means of obtaining the caller ID info in Sage without re-inventing the wheel.

For the images, the folder sharing method with the UNC path is the best method, else the image folder and files will need to be the same on each client instance.

[RandyJohnson]

Out of curiosity will this software be able to work with network based modems like the Whozz calling boxes at CallerID.com?

Thanks in advance...

Randy

[shadeblue.com]

Originally Posted by jbrandon

I know it is only my system causing the problems with YAC but I did find a work around thanks to your input. I did find some soft modem drivers from LSI (the same chip set maker) dated 8/09 and is what I am using to even get it to work with my current configuration. I guess I’ll keep looking…

And I can sure live with the folder sharing…

Jim

I'm not saying that you may be the only one with this problem, I'm sure there are others :-) That's why I am interested in getting this plugin working with at least a second caller id program like VCID. As for the images, VCID can lookup images from your Outlook contacts, so we may be adding some additional image lookup capability moving forward.

[shadeblue.com]

Originally Posted by RandyJohnson

Out of curiosity will this software be able to work with network based modems like the Whozz calling boxes at CallerID.com?

Thanks in advance...

Randy

I don't think so. Those devices look like they support custom APIs for obtaining the caller ID data. I do not believe that those devices will show up as modems on the computer, thus the YAC software will never recognize them. I'm sure they could be made to work with a custom program reading the caller id data from them (serial or ethernet) and then sending a YAC formatted message to this plugin. Would probably be pretty simple, but would require some custom programming.

[OneThomas]

Originally Posted by shadeblue.com

I cleaned up a few things trying to adress the startup errors and posted an update (7.0.1) to try out. This update does not fix the SageTVClient issue or any caller ID image related issues. If you system is working fine, then there is no need to update to this version.

For those of you getting startup errors, first, uninstall the following plugins:

• InfoPopup plugin (General)
• InfoPopup STVi (UI Mods)
• Simple Logging Facade for Java API (Library)
• Simple Logging Facade Log4J Implementation (Library)
• Apache Mina Core (Library)

Next, shutdown SageTV.
Open the JARs folder for SageTV, delete any jar files related to "mina", "infopopup", and "slf4j".
If you were running V6 of this plugin, make sure to remove the load at startup reference to infopopup from the sage.properties file.

Start SageTV 7, install the InfoPopup plugin under the "General" category

Re-start SageTV. (This may not be 100% necessary, but lets ensure the system comes up clean.)

Please post any positive or negative results here.

Thanks, SB

Just FYI - following these instructions worked like a Charm, and the InfoPopup is back in business on my setup (v7.11)...

THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS!!!!!!!!!

[nick_l]

Originally Posted by nick_l

I'm running the latest version of the sage beta and the infopop plugin. I now have my image files in a folder off the root of the drive (ie. C:\infopop images). I have this folder shared and I use the share name (ie. \\server_name\infopop images) as the path on both the server installed plugin and a client plugin on another machine. It has been working successfully so far (since the upgrade).

Should work for you.
Nick

Just to keep this updated: I had one of Sage's mysterious episodes where the service just randomly quits. After that, messages were delayed 45-90 seconds from when they were sent. Additionally, the plugin wouldn't show the images anymore (custom or default). This happened on both my HD100 and a computer client. Restarts and reboots did not fix the issue. I had to uninstall and reinstall the server plugin to get performance back to normal.

Ill let everyone know if it happens again.
Nick

[jbrandon]

I had a pleasant surprise this evening… I am out of town and was watching some shows on Sage Placeshifter and up pops an incoming call to my home phone!!

Wasn’t anyone I wanted to talk with but none the less it even works “long distance”!

Jim

[shadeblue.com]

Originally Posted by jbrandon

I had a pleasant surprise this evening… I am out of town and was watching some shows on Sage Placeshifter and up pops an incoming call to my home phone!!

Wasn’t anyone I wanted to talk with but none the less it even works “long distance”!

Jim

Thats cool, I never even thought of how it may or may not work on the placeshifter client. Did you have to do anything to install the infopopup STVi on the placeshifter client, or did it pick it up automatically from the SageTV server?

[spacecadet]

Originally Posted by OneThomas

Just FYI - following these instructions worked like a Charm, and the InfoPopup is back in business on my setup (v7.11)...

THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS!!!!!!!!!

Ditto here. Your upgrade instructions worked like a charm (v7.0.11). Now I am no longer running the hybrid v6 engine/v7 UI solution.

[jbrandon]

I use PlaceShifter installed on my laptop as an extender connecting locally via my wireless at home when I want to watch something on the deck or bedroom (no TV there) and I had installed the plug in but never thought it would work remotely.

How is your conversation with the Vista Caller ID going?

Jim

Originally Posted by shadeblue.com

Thats cool, I never even thought of how it may or may not work on the placeshifter client. Did you have to do anything to install the infopopup STVi on the placeshifter client, or did it pick it up automatically from the SageTV server?

[chrishallowell]

I have YAC installed on my server(XP) and SageTV 7.0.11(New install) is installed on the same server and runs as a service. I have an HD200 and it doesn't show the popup on that. When I make a phone call home, YAC displays the info, by the HD200 doesn't display it.

I have everything(ports, IPs, etc) set to defaults and I don't have a listener setup in YAC, nor do I have the listener running. All of my plugins are installed successfully. I restarted SageTV and the HD200 and still no go. I enabled SageTV debugging and there wasn't any failed messages in the sagetv_0.txt file.

Any ideas on what to check for next?

[shadeblue.com]

Originally Posted by chrishallowell

I have YAC installed on my server(XP) and SageTV 7.0.11(New install) is installed on the same server and runs as a service. I have an HD200 and it doesn't show the popup on that. When I make a phone call home, YAC displays the info, by the HD200 doesn't display it.

I have everything(ports, IPs, etc) set to defaults and I don't have a listener setup in YAC, nor do I have the listener running. All of my plugins are installed successfully. I restarted SageTV and the HD200 and still no go. I enabled SageTV debugging and there wasn't any failed messages in the sagetv_0.txt file.

Any ideas on what to check for next?

If the YAC software and modem is installed on you SageTV v7 server, then you will need to add a single listener address of 127.0.0.1 in the YAC listener configuration. This will allow YAC to send the message to the InfoPopup plugin running in SageTV 7 sever.


If YAC is installed on another computer and not the SageTV server, then the listener address will need to be that of the IP address of the SageTV server and the InfoPopup plugin must be configured with the same listener BIND address or address "0.0.0.0" in the plugin configuration.

[shadeblue.com]

Originally Posted by jbrandon

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How is your conversation with the Vista Caller ID going?
Jim

The author does want to pursue this endeavor, so that it good. We have not yet started the project as both parties had other issues to address before starting the new project. I hope to begin this project soon.

[chrishallowell]

Originally Posted by shadeblue.com

If the YAC software and modem is installed on you SageTV v7 server, then you will need to add a single listener address of 127.0.0.1 in the YAC listener configuration. This will allow YAC to send the message to the InfoPopup plugin running in SageTV 7 sever.

That worked like a charm!
Thanks for this plugin! My wife and I are going to love this.

[jbrandon]

Earlier this week I spent “a whole day” fooling with modems and caller id programs trying to get something to work reliability with my hardware, software configuration, YAC and Sage.

First thing I did was do a fresh install of Windows 7. I did this to eliminate any problems with the current Windows 7 install on my Sage server. YAC did not produce a pop up with any modem installed. I had five modems on hand, all were caller id enabled – at least by the documentation that came with them. Two of them were actually the same modem just different branding, both using the Lucent chip set. (Zoom, Agere). The most current drivers were downloaded and installed (2.2.98.0 dated 8/13/2009). I purchased a USR internal modem, borrowed an external serial interface USR and my old Courier also serial interface. I did not try any USB modems because all I could find locally were over $50, I do have one on order.

Next I installed Vista-Caller-ID, it produced a popup for every modem. I found if I loaded VCID and YAC then YAC would produce a popup on the server, client machines and in Sage… However after a very short time or a few calls YAC would stop responding however VCID still worked correctly.

I spent some time downloading many caller id programs and let me tell you there are a lot of them, some very good, some very bad. One in particular I tried was Phone Tray Free. Key point here is FREE! Very nice program but does not have a client.

After this bit of testing I restored the drive back to the current Sage configuration and completed the test again with the same results as the fresh install, YAC by its self would not respond with caller id information with any of the modems installed.

I am now convinced it is a YAC problem, not hardware, not Window 7 or InfoPopup. Let’s face it, YAC has not been updated since 2002 (32 bit) and 2005 for the 64 bit, I did not test the 64 bit.

Because InfoPopup requires YAC to get the caller information I now run YAC and Phone Tray Free at the same time, I just configure YAC to share the modem with other programs, not sure that is needed but have the option. It has been working for 48 hours without missing any calls and not having to be reloaded… While this goes against all that I know about two programs accessing the same hardware it does work for me.

Jim

[jptheripper]

I know this is a longshot, but:

Since YAC works, even temporarily, it sounds like it is either crashing or losings it control/listener to the hardware. My guess is the latter, as it sounds like the phonetray is keeping it active.

Can you make sure, in the hardware device manager, that windows is not "turning off device to save power"? It is was, it would explain while it works for a short while and then disables the modem, and it is not waking up as it should (or at least as YAC expects).

[phantomii]

I experienced the same issue as jbrandon where YAC would work for a while but would eventually just stop working. I am running this on a Windows 7 64 Bit machine. My Modem is a HIRO USB which I can confirm is not configured to shut down or go to sleep. Maybe it is doing so, but I do not actually know how to confirm this other than to look at device manager.

Testing has though shown that restarting YAC (and/or possibly SageTV) will usually restore the popup functionality. Consitently it will though stop working after some period of time. I will try jbrandon's work around with Phone Tray Free and see if I get the same results. I will provide an update here in a few days (unless it fails earlier).

John

[jptheripper]

any excellent article on windows 7 power management (vista is very similiar). Note most power savings are ON by default, which is why i suspect them as the problem.

http://blog.enterpriseitplanet.com/g...-settings.html

Check you power profile and drill all the way down to the USB/pci modem, and turn off anything that even remote looks like "let windows " do anythinginvolving power/sleep/turn off.