STV Import: Touchscreen Controls for SageMC

[MeInMaui]

Hi Everyone,

The touchscreen controls import is now available in the downloads section here.

This import adds a control bar to SageMC intended to provide touchscreen users with access to some necessary controls.

Minimum Requirements

Java v1.6 or higher
SageTV v6.3.5 or higher
SageMC v6.3.7 or higher

Features

The control bar contains the following buttons: Back, Home, Stop Play/Pause, Skip back/fwd, Skip back2/fwd2, Record, Sleep, and Fullscreen. In the Video OSD, the play/pause button is removed and replaced with Left and Right Buttons. (The Play/Pause functionality is already built in to the time bar)

Installation

• Download and extract the zip file to your SageTV folder.
• Start SageTV and go to Settings >> Import STVi from within the SageMC UI.
• Locate and import touchscreen_control_import.xml in ...\SageTV\STVs\SageTV3

Usage

In any menu, click on an unused area or within the title area at the top of the screen to activate the control bar. To deactivate, click anywhere outside the control bar or just let it time out (~5sec).

In the Video OSD, the control bar is attached across the top of the time bar. It will appear whenever the time bar is activated.

Version History

v1.0 (2/25/08)
Initial Release

v1.1 (3/3/08)
Rewrote control bar so that menu retains focus and navigation when control panel is active
Added volume and mute controls
Added four-way direction controls. (Act as Page Up/Dn/Left/Right in guide)
Added 'Opt' (Options) button to activate options menus in context
Added jump to 'Browse by Channel' menu by clicking on channel in the guide


Control bar in menus


Control bar in Video OSD

Hope you like it!

Aloha,
Mike

[Brent]

Very cool Mike. Just curious, do you have a touchscreen your using this with?

[MeInMaui]

Originally Posted by Brent

Very cool Mike. Just curious, do you have a touchscreen your using this with?

Hi Brent,

Thanks. No I don't have a touchscreen. There are a few touchscreen users who needed the functionality and it seemed like fun.

Aloha,
Mike

[Brent]

Originally Posted by MeInMaui

No I don't have a touchscreen. There are a few touchscreen users who needed the functionality and it seemed like fun.
Aloha,
Mike

Once again, above and beyond the call of duty. Must be the nice Hawaii weather that gets into you

Now if only I had a touchscreen to play with. I guess I'll have to wait for the ebay "strike" to be over. I remember in my Meedio days there were several who used touchscreens, but I think they used a touchscreen interface as more of a remote control-type device in addition to the main screen in a theater.

[MeInMaui]

Originally Posted by Brent

Once again, above and beyond the call of duty. Must be the nice Hawaii weather that gets into you

Could be.

Now if only I had a touchscreen to play with. I guess I'll have to wait for the ebay "strike" to be over. I remember in my Meedio days there were several who used touchscreens, but I think they used a touchscreen interface as more of a remote control-type device in addition to the main screen in a theater.

Hmmm....How about placeshifter on a tablet pc? That could be interesting.

Aloha,
Mike

[samgreco]

Now that I've had a chance to play with it, I have just one request...

Volume controls, please

Otherwise, perfect.

[MeInMaui]

It is taking me a bit longer to come out with the next update than I anticipated. The control issues in the EPG screen opened a can of worms and it took a while to come up with a good way to handle it. Unfortunately it required essentially a complete rewrite of the plugin. I should be able to wrap it up either tonight or tomorrow night and get a release out for you guys.

Oh, and the volume controls will be included as well.

Aloha,
Mike

[nebulink]

This may have been asked, but what do you do to make money?

You are absolutely great! You definetly put a 110% into your Sage Add-Ons and we all really appreciate it.

I have an ASUS Ultra Mobile R2H that I am going to install this on. It will be great for arround the house with this nice touch screen addition.

[jmv]

Mike,

Runs well and I can get it to pop up on all the screens I've tested. EDIT...comments are for 1.1 commented on below...

thanks again,

jmv

[MeInMaui]

The Touchscreen Control Import has been updated to version 1.1.

Here is the list of changes:

v1.1 (3/3/08)

• Rewrote control bar so that menu retains focus and navigation when control panel is active
• Added volume and mute controls
• Added four-way direction controls. (Act as Page Up/Dn/Left/Right in guide)
• Added 'Opt' (Options) button to activate options menus in context
• Added jump to 'Browse by Channel' menu by clicking on channel in the guide

Please let me know if there are any problems or if there is anything I missed. Thanks for all the feedback.

Aloha,
Mike

[MeInMaui]

Originally Posted by nebulink

This may have been asked, but what do you do to make money?

Well, that depends. What is your clearance?

Thanks for the kind words. That Asus Ultra Mobile R2H sounds like fun.

Aloha,
Mike

[jmv]

Quote:
Originally Posted by nebulink
This may have been asked, but what do you do to make money?

Well, that depends. What is your clearance?

Dude, the guy is a child prodigy programmer...can't you see from his picture that he has a nother 17 years before he is even out of the house and having to fend for himself. The bigger question, is how does he keep the spit up and other baby nasties away from the keyboard when he is coding!

[Opus4]

I tried not to go off topic here yesterday about clearances, but... I find it funny how people always seem to think that's a baby picture. In Mike's previous black & white photo of his younger self, he had hair, but I guess he lost it all since then and recently updated the photo. His face does look a little more rounded now, though. He looked too thin before.

(Sorry Mike, but 3 out of 4 people in my house are sick, so I just had to go off the wall while waiting for my turn...)

- Andy

[samgreco]

Well, my real concern here with clearances and all is what else is hidden in this code.

Did you leave a back door for Big Brother to get in and see what I'm watching? Or take control of my house? Just to drive me completely whacko?

It's been a long winter. I think I'm starting to get cabin fever....

Seriously though... Mike, I think this is absolutely perfect. The toolbar is EXACTLY what I needed. THANK YOU!!

[Brent]

You guys are too funny.


By the way, could anyone who uses this plugin with a touchscreen tell me how they are using it? Is it on a tablet PC or just a touchscreen monitor? Is it being used as a second monitor in a room for input purposes vs. viewing or is it the main TV/Monitor?

I can see it being useful as a kitchen PC.

[samgreco]

Mine is a touch screen as a second monitor off of my server. It is mounted in the wall in my kitchen. It is used for automation and whole house audio with SageTV as the "bonus" app.

It really is killer though. I've already used it a few times to watch a Good Eats episode while trying out the recipe. The wife LOVES it.

Now if Sage only did multizone audio with RS-232 control....

[jmv]

Mine is also the touchscreen monitor in my kitchen. It is the "head" of the server that runs in the basement. It is a SageTV server, an Xlobby front end for whole house audio, and now I can watch TV using SageMC with Touchscreen control. Now all my HTPC's use SageMC...I'm sooo glad to be off of the standard STV GUI.

mv

[MeInMaui]

Make it stop! Please......[Gasp]

Well, in case anyone is still curious, I'm a condensed matter physicist working on development of some pretty cool technology under government contract (but none of it is classified).

My only formal programming training was a couple of semesters of Ada back as an undergrad. Everything else is self-taught, so I'm just winging it the best I can.

I'm glad to hear this plugin seems to be meeting the need. It's been a fun project. Thanks guys!

Aloha,
Mike

P.S. Sounds like it's about time to change my avatar again. I'll have to see if I can squeeze both of the twins in this time.

[jmv]

P.S. Sounds like it's about time to change my avatar again. I'll have to see if I can squeeze both of the twins in this time.

Ah! please don't use your compressed (oops...Opus corrected me...condensed but not sure which is worse since you would have to liquify, vaporize - or just sublime your solid sources...prior to condensing...) matter physics technology to squeeze them both in...

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by jmv

Ah! please don't use your compressed matter physics technology to squeeze them both in...

That was condensed, as in Campbell's Soup or Readers Digest books. Or, maybe robotic miniaturization. (You just had to give me an excuse for that one...)

Anyway... to get back to reality: why not use both of their images in an animated gif? I might be able to help with that, if needed.

- Andy