Opened 18 years ago

Closed 18 years ago

Last modified 18 years ago

#2264 closed defect (wontfix)

Mac OS X: lauch frontrow from media menu

Reported by: mythtv@… Owned by: Nigel
Priority: minor Milestone: unknown
Component: mythtv Version:
Severity: medium Keywords:
Cc: Ticket locked: no

Description

With the 'apple remote' patch applied, it's no longer possible to use the apple remote to lauch frontrow while mythtv is running.

This patch puts back that functionality by adding a "Front Row" menu item to the "Media Library" menu.

Here's the main purpose for this

  • you can access media stored on the mac
  • It's possible to use Front Row as a replacement for MythMusic by installing mt-daapd on your myth backend.
  • If you want to adjust the volume on the mac, you can get in Front Row and play a movie, and adjust from there. (OK, it's a kludge, but it works)

as time permits, I'm also going to try to add daap and dpap support on the backend, so Front Row & the iLife suite can access mythmusic, mythgallery, and mythvideo stuff (maybe even mythtv stuff)

I know it's a pain, but I've made the patches against 0.19.fixes rather than 0.20. I'm crossing my fingers they'll apply cleanly, since most of the work is in the plugin area, and is new.

Attachments (2)

mythfrontrow.patch (25.4 KB) - added by mythtv@… 18 years ago.
patch for mythplugins
mythfrontend.mythtv.patch (1.1 KB) - added by mythtv@… 18 years ago.
Patch to mythtv for mythfrontrow support (adds item to menu)

Download all attachments as: .zip

Change History (9)

Changed 18 years ago by mythtv@…

Attachment: mythfrontrow.patch added

patch for mythplugins

Changed 18 years ago by mythtv@…

Attachment: mythfrontend.mythtv.patch added

Patch to mythtv for mythfrontrow support (adds item to menu)

comment:1 Changed 18 years ago by anonymous

P.S. it's also necessary to add --enable-mythfrontrow to the contrib/osx-packager.pl script. My packager script is all hacked up, so I didn't include it in the patch. If I get time, I'll attach a patch with a clean change to osx-packager.pl.

comment:2 Changed 18 years ago by Isaac Richards

Milestone: 0.20
Resolution: wontfix
Status: newclosed

Why can't that be done with EXEC and a local mod to the menus?

comment:3 Changed 18 years ago by mythtv@…

Resolution: wontfix
Status: closedreopened

Because Front Row runs all the time in the background, you don't exec it. You have to send a message to activate it.

comment:4 Changed 18 years ago by Isaac Richards

Resolution: wontfix
Status: reopenedclosed

So, write a script to do that. Exec that. No new plugin required.

comment:5 Changed 18 years ago by Nigel

Kris, I am afraid Isaac is right - making all these changes to activate a background program from the MythTV frontend seems very wasteful, when exiting the frontend and clicking the remote will do the same thing.
It is like "duelling banjos" but with media frontend-style programs instead of musicians :-)
That said, is there any reason why a Front Row plugin couldn't be developed to start up MythTV.app or MythFrontend.app? Along with a nice Front Row style theme, it would keep the strengths of the two programs without needlessly polluting them with duplicate features.

comment:6 Changed 18 years ago by awk@…

I don't believe that FrontRow? has any plugin mechanism at all - it's a quite self contained application.

Other app's that you see 'integrating' with FrontRow? (like a recent EyeTV update) are actually seperate apps that just mimic the style/look and feel.

comment:7 Changed 18 years ago by mythtv@…

I do have to admit Isaac's right. When I thought about the script solution, it's definitely a lot cleaner. Wish I'd thought of it before - my myth newbieness is showing. My only excuse (such as it is) is the doc for the EXEC command is under 'menu themes', so I hadn't noticed it because 'themes' makes it sound cosmetic.

Actually, you can achieve exactly the same functionality I was trying to implement with this AppleScript:

 tell application "System Events"
   key code 53 using {command down}
   delay 0.5
   key code 53
 end tell

and this addition to library.xml:

 <button>
    <type>MUSIC</type>
    <text>Front Row</text>
    <action>EXEC osascript /path/to/your/frontrow.scpt</action>
  </button>

awk@… is right, there's not a (published) way for Front Row to start another program; EyeTV is a lookalike, and activates front row from a menu item, just like this.

However I think there is a way to get a much cleaner integration than this. If I add DAAP and DPAP support to the backend, I should be able to get the videos, pictures, and music to show up in Front Row as "Shared Movies" etc., just like content on other Macs does. You can already get music by installing mt-daapd on the backend. You wouldn't need mythfrontend at all, until you wanted to update the schedule (which you could do via mythweb instead) - but that's a topic for somewhere besides this bug.

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