[solved] How to in MP2 (1 Viewer)

[joecrow]

BTW as a further sanity check does your remote has a "Clear" button on the middle of the bottom row, that should send ESC out of the box, i.e. no mapping required. Also see here in the Wiki for a pic. of the remote I think you have.

 

[CyberSimian]

the remote Back button performed a backspace, deleting the last character typed (numeric or alphabetic).

That shows that your remote is sending the BACKSPACE keystroke when you press the BACK button on the remote. MP is expecting the ESC keystroke when you press the BACK button.

Both @joecrow and I use the Ortek/Hama remote. I use it exclusively with MP1, but @joecrow uses it mostly with MP1 and occasionally with MP2. I was under the impression that support for the Ortek/Hama was added to MP2 sometime in 2019, but I have no personal experience of it.

check the ESC is mapped to Back as shown in the attached screenshot.

Is this correct? I have never used the MP2 "Input Devices" facility, but surely the user should be mapping the BACKSPACE key to the "Back" function? (It is very possible that I have no idea what I am talking about. )

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

 

[joecrow]

Is this correct? I have never used the MP2 "Input Devices" facility, but surely the user should be mapping the BACKSPACE key to the "Back" function? (It is very possible that I have no idea what I am talking about. )

Yes that is correct, what is confusing is that the list on the left is the function that can be mapped, i.e. we want the back on the remote to send ESC, if you see what I mean.

 

[CyberSimian]

if you see what I mean.

I will have to pass on that one.

But if you have it working correctly with MP2, you must be right.

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

 

[jclifford]

Thank you all very much - problem completely solved.

 

[joecrow]

I will have to pass on that one.

As mentioned in the Input Device setup the list on the left is the function, you select it and the have 5 seconds to hit a button that you want to map it to. It is just the other way round to the MP 1 mapping where you have a list of the actual buttons (on the left) and you choose a function you want that button to perform.
As far as I can tell the Input Device setup enables the user to map just about any type of device to the functions available in MP2, it really is very good. I wish we could do something similar for MP1.

Thank you all very much - problem completely solved.

Was it the mapping in Input Devices setup???

 

[jclifford]

I had tried using the mapping facility but the problem was more in my head. It never occurred to me that the act/function of returning to the previous screen could be called ESC.
In the PC world the function is widely graphically represented by a clickable icon of an arrow pointing to the left (and called "Back" ) - in all the browsers I have used, MCW, Windows Explorer AND in MediaPortal2. In programs based on text entry such as the MS Office suite an anticlockwise arrow is used for "Undo".
Dictionary.com defines "Escape key" as "a key (frequently labeled Esc) found on most computer keyboards and used for any of various functions, as to interrupt or cancel the current process or running program, or to close a pop-up window." There is no mention of it being used for "return to the previous view".

 

[joecrow]

I had tried using the mapping facility but the problem was more in my head. It never occurred to me that the act/function of returning to the previous screen could be called ESC.

I do sympathise and have no idea why MP2 decided to use the Escape function as the "back" key, MP1 doesn't, but it was always that way and prior to the introduction, last year, of the Input Devices setup it meant the Hama/Ortek remote was a non-starter on MP2. As of now MP2 is looking more and more attractive to me, if they integrate Madvr so I could play my collection of 3D.mkv vids natively, as I can with MP1, I would switch my HTPC without hesitation.

 

[CyberSimian]

I do sympathise and have no idea why MP2 decided to use the Escape function as the "back" key, MP1 doesn't

MP1 does use the ESC key on the keyboard to mean "return to previous panel"; see this page in the Wiki. It is MP1's "Centarea HID" that receives the Ortek/Hama's BACKSPACE keystroke and translates it into an ESC keystroke.

Since the Ortek/Hama appears to Windows as a keyboard, the BACKSPACE key on a real keyboard is also translated to ESC by the "Centarea HID" (the "Centarea HID" cannot tell where the keystroke originated).

Edit: The above is not quite correct; the "Centarea HID" receives the BACKSPACE keystroke and translates it into the "Back" function, which can of course be changed to any other function using the config editor in "MP Config". However, a real keyboard is treated just the same as the remote.

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

 

[joecrow]

I stand corrected, I guess that since I had always enabled the "Sceneo" option in MP1, even before your much improved Centarea HID was available, I had assumed it did not use Escape even from the KB.