Some questions from a new developer

clockworx · 2006-06-29, 19:41

Hello all,

First of all, MediaPortal is great software. I'm receiving a Via EPIA setup today that I will be putting it on, and also will hopefully be working on some plugins. From my first few days of compiling the code and working on the plugin, I had a few questions/suggestions. Please take these as constructive criticism from the viewpoint of someone new to plugin development, and not as a rant :evil: about issues in MediaPortal.

1) My initial checkout via SVN was broken and would not compile. I got the complete source, but had to back up a few revisions to get something that compiled. Is there any way to check out a recent "milestone" that is guaranteed to compile, or is there anywhere that lists the last compileable revision?

2) I am developing using Visual C# express, and noticed that on a fresh install of XP, the project cannot reference Microsoft.mshtml. Visual C# express installs the 2.0 runtime by default, so that is installed, and from googling it appears that the mshtml object either comes from a full visual studio install, the SDK (which microsoft warns developers should not depend on end-users having installed), or an add-on pack from people who have office installed. Is anyone else aware of this issue, and is there a fix, or something additional I need to install (or is this item being removed in the future)?

3) The Plugin HOWTO documentation is a good start, but for anything but the most basic button-only interface I had to go looking into the source code for other plugins that do similar features to what I'm trying to do. I've done some documentation work, and am hoping that as I learn more about plugin coding I might be able to contribute to this myself.

4) While looking through the code for other plugins, I noticed that there is a Utils class containing some common functionality, but that most plugins implement the code for some of the functions in Utils themselves (such as fetching a web document). Has there been any discussion into a common API/documentation for helper functions such as this that are used very commonly in plugins?

5) Similar to (4), I noticed many plugins use a similar GUI style, and was wondering if there might be some benefit to implementing a universal list-style GUI. This is probably partially due to laziness since what I have in mind would also be a list-style GUI

, but so many plugins seem to use the list/drill-down list style, and also a screen to show item/more info/thumbnail. This might speed along plugin development if most of the common GUI functionality is implemented, and can just be extended in the new plugin class.

6) Slightly off-topic, but I attempted to play a WMV9 file in my My Videos, and only got a blank screen. Is this video format supported, or would I have to convert to another format to have it be playable? (I receive the files as WMV9 from source)

Thanks for any help, and hopefully you'll be seeing some contributions from me in the future.

hoppy · 2006-07-07, 14:25

I've got the same problem, a missing reference to microsoft.mshtml with C# express. Does anyone know where this can be found?

I've found an update pack on the MS site, but this requires office 2003 to already be installed.

I also found an update for xp for the Primary Interop Assemblies but this didn't include mshtml.

Basically we need the files located in the Microsoft.net/Primary Interop Assemblies/ directory.

patrick · 2006-07-07, 14:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by clockworx

the project cannot reference Microsoft.mshtml.

Not sure if this helps but I had a copy that was installed with sharp develop.
Search your HDD for the file it may already be there.

HTH,
patrick

hoppy · 2006-07-07, 15:09

Thanks Patrick, I just installed sharpe develop but still don't appear to have the file microsoft.mshtml.dll anywhere on my HDD

Have you got the full version of Visual Studio on your machine?

hoppy · 2006-07-07, 15:45

I found it in a developers xmltvgrabber app. I just downloaded the zip (you have to register with the forum to download it), copied the microsoft.mshtml.dll into microsoft.net/primary Interlop Assemblies dir ran:

gacutil -i Microsoft.mshtml.dll
regedit /s Microsoft.mshtml.dll

in a cmd prompt in the same dir and it works prefectly

Edit:

Doh! I didn't include the link!

http://forums.dvbowners.com/index.ph...opic=6322&st=0

2006-06-29, 19:41	#1 (permalink)
clockworx Portal User Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 3 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Some questions from a new developer Hello all, First of all, MediaPortal is great software. I'm receiving a Via EPIA setup today that I will be putting it on, and also will hopefully be working on some plugins. From my first few days of compiling the code and working on the plugin, I had a few questions/suggestions. Please take these as constructive criticism from the viewpoint of someone new to plugin development, and not as a rant :evil: about issues in MediaPortal. 1) My initial checkout via SVN was broken and would not compile. I got the complete source, but had to back up a few revisions to get something that compiled. Is there any way to check out a recent "milestone" that is guaranteed to compile, or is there anywhere that lists the last compileable revision? 2) I am developing using Visual C# express, and noticed that on a fresh install of XP, the project cannot reference Microsoft.mshtml. Visual C# express installs the 2.0 runtime by default, so that is installed, and from googling it appears that the mshtml object either comes from a full visual studio install, the SDK (which microsoft warns developers should not depend on end-users having installed), or an add-on pack from people who have office installed. Is anyone else aware of this issue, and is there a fix, or something additional I need to install (or is this item being removed in the future)? 3) The Plugin HOWTO documentation is a good start, but for anything but the most basic button-only interface I had to go looking into the source code for other plugins that do similar features to what I'm trying to do. I've done some documentation work, and am hoping that as I learn more about plugin coding I might be able to contribute to this myself. 4) While looking through the code for other plugins, I noticed that there is a Utils class containing some common functionality, but that most plugins implement the code for some of the functions in Utils themselves (such as fetching a web document). Has there been any discussion into a common API/documentation for helper functions such as this that are used very commonly in plugins? 5) Similar to (4), I noticed many plugins use a similar GUI style, and was wondering if there might be some benefit to implementing a universal list-style GUI. This is probably partially due to laziness since what I have in mind would also be a list-style GUI , but so many plugins seem to use the list/drill-down list style, and also a screen to show item/more info/thumbnail. This might speed along plugin development if most of the common GUI functionality is implemented, and can just be extended in the new plugin class. 6) Slightly off-topic, but I attempted to play a WMV9 file in my My Videos, and only got a blank screen. Is this video format supported, or would I have to convert to another format to have it be playable? (I receive the files as WMV9 from source) Thanks for any help, and hopefully you'll be seeing some contributions from me in the future.

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2006-07-07, 14:25	#2 (permalink)
hoppy Portal Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Cambridge, UK Posts: 79 Thanks: 2 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	I've got the same problem, a missing reference to microsoft.mshtml with C# express. Does anyone know where this can be found? I've found an update pack on the MS site, but this requires office 2003 to already be installed. I also found an update for xp for the Primary Interop Assemblies but this didn't include mshtml. Basically we need the files located in the Microsoft.net/Primary Interop Assemblies/ directory.

2006-07-07, 15:09	#4 (permalink)
hoppy Portal Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Cambridge, UK Posts: 79 Thanks: 2 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Thanks Patrick, I just installed sharpe develop but still don't appear to have the file microsoft.mshtml.dll anywhere on my HDD Have you got the full version of Visual Studio on your machine?

2006-07-07, 15:45	#5 (permalink)
hoppy Portal Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Cambridge, UK Posts: 79 Thanks: 2 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	I found it in a developers xmltvgrabber app. I just downloaded the zip (you have to register with the forum to download it), copied the microsoft.mshtml.dll into microsoft.net/primary Interlop Assemblies dir ran: gacutil -i Microsoft.mshtml.dll regedit /s Microsoft.mshtml.dll in a cmd prompt in the same dir and it works prefectly Edit: Doh! I didn't include the link! http://forums.dvbowners.com/index.ph...opic=6322&st=0