- Thread starter
- #11
Did anyone try it and did it connect?
PocketPC Remote Control (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter burty89
- Start date
- Thread starter
- #13
You've definately got .net compact framework 2.0 installed?
Its strange because it starts fine on my Dell Axim x51v and in the device emulator.
Its strange because it starts fine on my Dell Axim x51v and in the device emulator.
Austria
my thoughts...
I am conviced your plugin will become a very useful application. As the .net compact framework is more or less a subset of the .net framework it could make sense to develop this and even other applications for PDAs and Windows PCs simultaneously. A windows client could also be very interesting.
Therefore, we should think of designing a common plugin/interface for remoting applications. The PMPServer.dll plugin could be a good base for any enhancements.
In other threads IPTV was already discussed sometimes. Altough I am not already very familiar with the MediaPortal source code and design, I think even projects like IPTV could profit by your plugin some way.
Maybe it's worth creating a new thread for further discussion.
I am conviced your plugin will become a very useful application. As the .net compact framework is more or less a subset of the .net framework it could make sense to develop this and even other applications for PDAs and Windows PCs simultaneously. A windows client could also be very interesting.
Therefore, we should think of designing a common plugin/interface for remoting applications. The PMPServer.dll plugin could be a good base for any enhancements.
In other threads IPTV was already discussed sometimes. Altough I am not already very familiar with the MediaPortal source code and design, I think even projects like IPTV could profit by your plugin some way.
Maybe it's worth creating a new thread for further discussion.
A unerversal communication interface for external control would be the wisest way to go to my humble opinion. Then only one interfacehas to be maintained. I'm thinking about the External Control Plugin 2. At this moment it isn't supporting all features yet. But, as far I have understood, it will support more in the future.
- Thread starter
- #17
I'm glad it works for you cPH, TV is something I haven't tested myself yet (I have a system with MediaPortal and a TV tuner, but its not the one I develop on).
A windows client would be very possible as everything except the GUI could be used thanks to .net, as you said.
Bram, I hadn't heard of External Control Plugin before, I just found a thread about it now. I haven't read it all yet, but from the first few posts I gather that it uses web services? Personally I think thats too bloated for something like this. Currently I'm using the excellent UDP code found here on CodeProject and the updating of information on my pocketpc is almost instant over a wifi connection, I can hold the pocketpc next to my monitor and hardly notice the delay in updating compared to the time displayed in MediaPortal.
So, I'm thinking I will rename PMPServer.dll to something like ControlServer.dll to fit, and write a windows client in addition to the PocketPC one.
Just a small update of progress, I am working on allowing the music library of MediaPortal to be browsed on the pocket pc. Currnetly, the PocketPC can display a treeview containing all artists, and expanding an artist shows all of their albums. Next I plan to be able to show tracks when the album is expanded and allow them to be played.
A windows client would be very possible as everything except the GUI could be used thanks to .net, as you said.
Bram, I hadn't heard of External Control Plugin before, I just found a thread about it now. I haven't read it all yet, but from the first few posts I gather that it uses web services? Personally I think thats too bloated for something like this. Currently I'm using the excellent UDP code found here on CodeProject and the updating of information on my pocketpc is almost instant over a wifi connection, I can hold the pocketpc next to my monitor and hardly notice the delay in updating compared to the time displayed in MediaPortal.
So, I'm thinking I will rename PMPServer.dll to something like ControlServer.dll to fit, and write a windows client in addition to the PocketPC one.
Just a small update of progress, I am working on allowing the music library of MediaPortal to be browsed on the pocket pc. Currnetly, the PocketPC can display a treeview containing all artists, and expanding an artist shows all of their albums. Next I plan to be able to show tracks when the album is expanded and allow them to be played.
External Control Plugin uses .NET remoting, and the web service is just a wrapper of that to allow non .NET apps to use it, e.g. PHP.
Yes UDP is going to be faster, but .NET remoting is easier to use and works for the majority of uses. I was considering implementing UDP in ECP as well, and use multicast to implement event notifications, but I don't have the time to do that.
Anyway, like Bram said, we really need to get a common interface going because between all the similar plugins, there are conflicts. ECP cannot co-exist with WebPlaylistManager, and there were problems with MPBlue as well until I changed the remoting formatter. Given that you're using UDP, hopefully it'll avoid these conflicts, but I won't count on it, given I still haven't worked out why...and neither have the other devs on the other plugins.
I think there's room in MP to have both a remoting and a UDP interface and this would be quite beneficial for the project in general.
Anyway, we'll see if we can get the MP dev's attention...
Sam
Yes UDP is going to be faster, but .NET remoting is easier to use and works for the majority of uses. I was considering implementing UDP in ECP as well, and use multicast to implement event notifications, but I don't have the time to do that.
Anyway, like Bram said, we really need to get a common interface going because between all the similar plugins, there are conflicts. ECP cannot co-exist with WebPlaylistManager, and there were problems with MPBlue as well until I changed the remoting formatter. Given that you're using UDP, hopefully it'll avoid these conflicts, but I won't count on it, given I still haven't worked out why...and neither have the other devs on the other plugins.
I think there's room in MP to have both a remoting and a UDP interface and this would be quite beneficial for the project in general.
Anyway, we'll see if we can get the MP dev's attention...
Sam
- Thread starter
- #19
OK, Heres an updated version
It should work as before for the information at the bottom of the screen (position/duration, title, title, artist) but now you should also be able to view your music library by clicking the music button.
The music library was a problem because the UDP connection was prone to failing when sending a large amount of data. So, the plugin now runs a seperate small HTTP server which is used when large amounts of data need to be transferred (Music Library/TV Channels/etc). The HTTP server may seem like overkill but its only a small server (it will not serve files from your computer) and it will be useful in the future because I could add the ability to show status etc in a web browser.
Currently, the HTTP server is hardcoded to port 27001, so if you're using a firewall make sure the pocketpc will be able to access this port on the server machine. I will add the http port to the configuration dialog later.
If you click on TV, it will attempt to retreive a list of TV channels but it currently fails so leave that alone for now.
I also spent a lot of time tidying up to servers code ready for when I release it so this is why it took so long seemingly to just to handle the music library.
samuel337:
OK, I didn't read the whole thread about ECP and it sounds like a great plugin but for something like this I'd rather go with UDP and I've already been using it so my plugin and the compact framework app are somewhat built around it.
As for UDP being harder, check out the codeproject page I linked to in my last post, it makes it really easy to handle UDP.
I haven't tried ECP, WebPlaylistManager or MPBlue yet, so I have no idea if PMP can co-exist with them or not. I'll certainly try them in the future.
It should work as before for the information at the bottom of the screen (position/duration, title, title, artist) but now you should also be able to view your music library by clicking the music button.
The music library was a problem because the UDP connection was prone to failing when sending a large amount of data. So, the plugin now runs a seperate small HTTP server which is used when large amounts of data need to be transferred (Music Library/TV Channels/etc). The HTTP server may seem like overkill but its only a small server (it will not serve files from your computer) and it will be useful in the future because I could add the ability to show status etc in a web browser.
Currently, the HTTP server is hardcoded to port 27001, so if you're using a firewall make sure the pocketpc will be able to access this port on the server machine. I will add the http port to the configuration dialog later.
If you click on TV, it will attempt to retreive a list of TV channels but it currently fails so leave that alone for now.
I also spent a lot of time tidying up to servers code ready for when I release it so this is why it took so long seemingly to just to handle the music library.
samuel337:
OK, I didn't read the whole thread about ECP and it sounds like a great plugin but for something like this I'd rather go with UDP and I've already been using it so my plugin and the compact framework app are somewhat built around it.
As for UDP being harder, check out the codeproject page I linked to in my last post, it makes it really easy to handle UDP.
I haven't tried ECP, WebPlaylistManager or MPBlue yet, so I have no idea if PMP can co-exist with them or not. I'll certainly try them in the future.
i'm trying to get it work... i have set a bluetooth connection with LAN service and configured plugin with tcp/ip address of this network connection.
on my ipaq 3970 in Settings screen i can see the message 'Authorised, Connection Complete'. but, when i'm trying to select My Music screen, i get following error message:
"Error Downloading Music Library.
An error message cannot be displayed because an optional resource assembly containing it cannot be found."
playing controls (pause, stop) working OK and artist name showing on the bottom.
i have .NET CF 2.0 installed on my ppc...
rgs,
pirlone
on my ipaq 3970 in Settings screen i can see the message 'Authorised, Connection Complete'. but, when i'm trying to select My Music screen, i get following error message:
"Error Downloading Music Library.
An error message cannot be displayed because an optional resource assembly containing it cannot be found."
playing controls (pause, stop) working OK and artist name showing on the bottom.
i have .NET CF 2.0 installed on my ppc...
rgs,
pirlone