WifiRemote - a tcp remote control server 0.8.3 [2014-07-20] (1 Viewer)

[Shukuyen]

WifiRemote is a process plugin for MediaPortal.
It provides a connection point for clients over your network, lets them remote control your mediacenter in various ways and sends status updates back to the client. WifiRemote publishes your MediaPortal as a Bonjour* service to allow automatic discovery.

You want to use this if you use one of the supported clients (aMPdroid, CouchPotato) or if you want to develop your own client app (it’s easy, check out the documentation!).



Features

• Allows clients to connect to MediaPortal via tcp/ip
• Publishes a Bonjour* service for easy discovery
• Accepts and relays remote control commands (up, down, menu, …)
• Accepts and relays key presses (a, b, c, delete, space, …)
• Accepts and relays power control commands (shutdown, reboot, suspend, …)
• Can directly open plugin windows by skin id
• Provides basic security via username and password or passcode
• Sends information about status changes (selected item in skin, volume, now playing, …)
• Sends information about property changes (a client can subscribe to #Play and #TV properties)
• Sends information about installed and enabled window plugins
• Provides an open and easy to understand JSON api

*Bonjour is a technology (sometimes also called ZeroConf) that broadcasts services on your local network. This allows other computers or devices to find and connect to those services without having to enter an IP address and port. Bonjour comes bundled with Apple iTunes, so if you already have that installed you have Bonjour installed, too.



Clients using WifiRemote

At the moment there are three clients in development using WifiRemote:

• aMPdroid, an app for Android phones by DieBagger
• CouchPotato MediaPortal Remote, an app for iPhone and iPod touch by Shukuyen
• VoxCommando, a windows application that let's you control MediaPortal with your voice by JitterJames

If you want to develop your own client using WifiRemote don’t hesitate to read the documentation, browse our Google Code project or to contact us. If you have any feature requests or find bugs please let us know using our Bug Tracker.



Screenshots

As WifiRemote is a process plugin there is not much to see.
Below you can find some screenshots of the plugin setup.

See the client threads for screenshots of the remotes in action.



Download

You can download a MediaPortal Installer package at our Github page:

• WifiRemote 0.8.3.1 from the project page

You can also download WifiRemote from the MediaPortal Extensions repository here: https://www.team-mediaportal.com/extensions/input-output/wifiremote

New in v0.8.3.1

• Compatibility with MediaPortal 1.16 Pre Release
• Enforce video playback on main thread

New in v0.8.3
Forum post: https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/...r-0-8-3-2014-07-20.96251/page-44#post-1092165

• Bumped server version to 17
• Added possibility to add music to playlist from file (thanks johanj)
• Added possibility to add music to playlist from folder (thanks johanj)
• Fixed order of tracks when adding albums to playlist (thanks, Kucheek)
• Fixed crash that could happen when the Bonjour service was tried to be published multiple times with bad timing
• Fixed crash when plugins with identical IDs are read from MediaPortal config

New in v0.8.2.1
Forum post: https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/...r-0-8-1-2014-02-15.96251/page-41#post-1076405

• api level increased to 16
• MediaPortal 1.7 compatibility, does not work with earlier MediaPortal versions!
• added "TvPluginInstalled" boolean to welcome message
• fixed order of tracks when playing multi-disc albums (thanks, Kucheek!)

New in v0.8.1
Forum post: https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/...ver-0-8-2014-01-03.96251/page-39#post-1063868

• api level increased to 15
• added "ok" dialog to ShowDialogs
• fixed tv now playing message braking zero button for switching to previous channels (thanks johanj!)
• fixed crash when using MediaPortal screen blanking (thanks johanj!)
• added MediaPortal compatibility checks

New in v0.8
Forum post: https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/...r-0-7-1-2012-29-11.96251/page-33#post-1051653

Developers: The WifiRemote source code moved to github! Please go to https://github.com//WifiRemote to check it out and feel free to fork and submit pull requests!

• api level increased to 14
• MediaPortal 1.6 only, switched to .NET 4
• Request a screenshot with the screenshot command
• Fixed missing text in dialogs
• Fixed crash related to music db changes in MediaPortal 1.6 (thanks, sebastiii!)
• Fixed crash when encountering music with special chars in it (thanks, Martin K.!)
• Added Artist to now playing radio message (thanks, johanj!)
• Added methods for setting playlist repeat and shuffle (thanks, johanj!)
• Improved starting radio channel (thanks, johanj!)
• Send open dialogs to connecting clients
• Send facade info to connecting clients
• Added ViewType property to FacadeInfo message
• Added support for the trakt plugin rating dialog

New in v0.7.1
Forum post: https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/...er-0-7-1-2012-29-11.96251/page-27#post-937288

• Fixes problems with installed 4tr/argus tv plugins (oxan)
• Improves playback of playlist items (albums, artists, folders) (DieBagger)
• Reduce ui refreshing (DieBagger)

New in v0.7
Forum post: https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/...er-0-7-0-2012-25-11.96251/page-22#post-935640

• Better Integration of MpExtended
• Support notification plugin
• Improved TV support

New in v0.6

• Facade Support
• Dialog Support
• MpExtended Support
• Modifiers for Sendkeys
• Many bugfixes

New in v0.5
Forum post: https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/...-2-2011-10-07-a-96251/index17.html#post805809

• New command MP-TVSeries:
  * playepisode
  * playunwatchedepisode
  * playrandomepisode
  * playseason
  * playseries
• New command MovingPictures
  * moviedetails
  * playmovie
• New command Playlist
  * fill music playlist with sql
  * load playlist from playlist folder or path
• New command ActivateWindow (with load parameters)
• New command MPExtended:
  * PlayMediaItem
• Fixed: MovingPictures didn't appear in the plugin list
• Fixed: Screensaver now cancelled on each incoming command

New in v0.4.2
Details: https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/...-1-2011-08-19-a-96251/index15.html#post797695

• Fixed keymap (home button not working and more)
• Added addresses field to qr code
• Fixed autoconnect issue
• Close screensaver on connect

New in v0.4.1
Details: https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/...0-4-2011-08-04-a-96251/index9.html#post778098

• Show all window plugins in plugin list
• Fixed bug with assembly comparison: Detecting tv plugin should now work

New in v0.4
Details: https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/...3-1-2011-07-12-a-96251/index8.html#post773026

• Sort plugins
• Rename plugins
• Hide plugins
• Support for MediaPortal playlists (client developers see here: Commands - MediaPortal Wiki)
• NowPlaying message reports item ids of movies, videos, series and songs
• Added PlayChannel command to start tv on a specified channel (developer docs still missing)
• Fixed exception when a second (or third..) client connects while sending a message to all clients
• Added IsPlayerOnTop to status message: Determines if the media player is the topmost window (client developers see here: Messages - MediaPortal Wiki)
• Force client disconnects on close: Waiting for read prevented socket closing on pc suspend

New in v0.3

• Better handling of missing Bonjour service
• Authentication via Passcode
• Allow relative volume changes
• Allow clients to specify image size
• Added more information to QR code
• Fixed commandstartrepeat/stoprepeat
• Fixed wrong bonjour install url
• New playlist control commands
• Startposition added to playfile command
• Added error checks, fixed bugs

New in v0.2

For users:

• Fixed resume from standby
• Added port check in configuration

For developers:

• Added command for requesting the nowplaying message
• Added command for requesting the status message
• Added support for polling (non-persistent) connections
• Added "IsFullscreen" property to nowplaying messages

Demo Client

We put together a demo client application for Windows to help you test your WifiRemote installation and give a starting point for developing your own client app.

The demo client is a very basic remote that is able to connect, send some commands and display the current MediaPortal status. You can find its source code on Github.

Download WifiRemoteDemoClient_1.1.zip

Please extract all files to one folder and run DemoClient.exe. Please note that the .NET framework 4 is required.

Source File / Project URL

All souces files are available on the next link :
https://github.com//WifiRemote

 

[disaster123]

AW: WifiRemote - a tcp remote control server 0.1 [2011-05-05]

that sounds absolutely great. Where can i get Couchpotato? Wasn't able to find it in the App Store?

 

[Shukuyen]

Re: WifiRemote - a tcp remote control server 0.1 [2011-05-05]

Hey disaster, it isn't submitted yet. I am almost done (TM) with the first version and already made a forum thread for it. See the first post, I edited in a link to the CouchPotato thread.

 

[neilk]

Re: WifiRemote - a tcp remote control server 0.1 [2011-05-05]

Hi There

Any chance of a blackberry app that can utilise the plugin? Will be great if I could use something similar from my BB

Regards

Neil

 

[Shukuyen]

Re: WifiRemote - a tcp remote control server 0.1 [2011-05-05]

A blackberry app is definitely possible with the plugin. Maybe someone could start something based on the aMPdroid code as Blackberry also uses (a reduced version of) Java ...

 

[neilk]

Re: WifiRemote - a tcp remote control server 0.1 [2011-05-05]

Thanks for the response< i hope there is someone willing to try creating an app with BB support

 

[VidarParry]

Re: WifiRemote - a tcp remote control server 0.1 [2011-05-05]

Hi there,
This looks like it could be useful. I've downloaded the file but....
1. Is it supported on MP 1.1.2.0?
2. How do you install it?

Cheers
...Steve

 

[Manhattan]

Re: WifiRemote - a tcp remote control server 0.1 [2011-05-05]

This is fantastic. Funny too since I was looking for something like this last week. I hope to use a few of my old phones for this application however they are all Windows Mobile 6.1. I'm sure this will be the case for many users. Can a client be constructed to work with WM6.1?

 

[Shukuyen]

Re: WifiRemote - a tcp remote control server 0.1 [2011-05-05]

Hi,

1. Is it supported on MP 1.1.2.0?
2. How do you install it?

1. Yes the version uploaded to team-mediaportal download archive is for 1.1.2, 1.1.3 and 1.2.0 alpha(!). On our google code page you can also download a version for 1.2.0 beta.

2. Just double click the .mpe1 file and follow the instructions. The only thing you have to do is click on next a few times Then after installation is complete configure the plugin (open mediaportal configuration, go to plugins, scroll all the way down to wifiremote, right-click -> configure). Here you can install Bonjour if you want to and configure network and auth settings of the plugin.

Next step would be to get a client. In SVN is a very limited demo windows client if you have visual studio and want to compile that (I will upload a compiled version tomorrow or so) or you have to wait for the first versions of aMPdroid and CouchPotato.

This is fantastic. Funny too since I was looking for something like this last week. I hope to use a few of my old phones for this application however they are all Windows Mobile 6.1. I'm sure this will be the case for many users. Can a client be constructed to work with WM6.1?

All the technologies used are pretty standard: TCP/IP sockets, JSON, ... So that should be possible for nearly every (mobile) OS if they allow development and have a network connection. You just have to find someone with knowledge in Windows Mobile programming and the motivation to build a client app.

 

[VidarParry]

Re: WifiRemote - a tcp remote control server 0.1 [2011-05-05]

2. Just double click the .mpe1 file and follow the instructions. .

Thanks Shukuyen.
My version doesn't have an MPE1 file. It's a zip file called WifiRemote_0.1.0.1.zip. Have I grabbed the wrong file?
Cheers
...Steve