New Firefly Sofware (works also for Streamzap)

[StephaneM]

Hello,

Originally Posted by RiderFan

I noticed is that when I change the volume, both BTV and your program show a volume bar on the top right hand part of the screen. I can not seem to remove the lm remote part. How do I just show the BTV volume bar?

LM Remote KeyMap contains only a default profile that is very basic. So you are supposed to configure it for your applications and your liking. Especially : modify the default profile to launch application (and change what you do not like) and create new profiles for the application you will use.

In the default profile the Volume Up / Down and Mute are assigned to internal LM RKM volume management. This volume management only change the master volume (this seems to be the most popular demand) and display the volume osd.

If you do not want the volume osd, you can change the default profile to use a "AppCommand" action for Volume Up / Down and Mute and choose the right command "MediaVolumeUp" / "MediaVolumeDown" / "MediaVolumeMute" (and be sure to not check the "show volume osd when volume is changed out of LM RKM")

This way LM RKM will only send volume events to the active application and the application will do whatever she wants to the volume (when no application is active when your press volume buttons it may or may not work depending on the software you are running, but with XP it should work and change master volume).

You can also create a BTV profile and remap the volume up / down / mute key within the BTV profile by either using the keyboard shortcuts (+ / - / m) or the "AppCommand" actions.

Of you course you can both change the default profile and create a BTV profile, or only do one of these to your liking.

Alternatively you can modify the volume OSD skin / size / position and transparency to cover completely the BTV volume OSD.

Regards,
Stéphane.

[VistaVick]

Hi, StephanieM I wonder if you might help with a streamzap issue I am having, along with possibly other people.

The problem is with Microsoft Vista, besides the system volume control issues, the only real issue I am having is with trying to use the streamzap to control windows media center in vista. It seems some of the controls are mapped differently than in xp, most importantly moving the cursor up and down in menus! Right, left, and most everything else stills works with the streamzap but this is kind of a problem, the only alternative I see is to use either edit the streamzap or another remote with your software or another piece of software, buy the standard xp microsoft media remote which is supposed to work fine with vista, or resort to mouse mode, which is not ideal with media center anyway.

If I edit the .exe filename for media center to fool the streamzap into thinking its not a matching application up and down works, but fast forward, pause and many other controls are horribly laggy no matter what settings I use in the default streamzap config application.

Do you know if your software can help with this issue? I installed your donator version and tried to map a key to the up and down keyboard commands as listed in the readme, but of course these are ignored when the matching windows media center .exe is launched with streamzap.

I just somehow need to map the standard keyboard up and down (or whatever command is being used in vista for the menus) to streamzap to use windows media center correctly in vista. I have heard other third party remotes are also having the same problem.

[StephaneM]

Hello,

Originally Posted by VistaVick

Do you know if your software can help with this issue? I installed your donator version and tried to map a key to the up and down keyboard commands as listed in the readme, but of course these are ignored when the matching windows media center .exe is launched with streamzap.

Are you sure that my software is working on Vista? I do not have Vista to verfiy that it works or not... So are you able to customize buttons with my software other than the up/down key. The quickest way to check that it is indeed working is to download the "Notepad" profile from the online database (if downloading from the online database does not work, just create a profile for Notepad, using either the executable name notepad.exe or the class name Notepad, and for a streamzap "Power" button use a "keystroke" action where the keystroke you will send is "power{enter}" (without the quotes). Proceed in the same way with all other buttons. Then launch Notepad and press on Streamzap buttons to see if the button name are typed into Notepad.

If this is working, then you'll know that the software is working as it should. Now for the Up/Down keys you may use the "PressKey" action with :

Up = 38
Down = 40
Left = 37
Right = 39

But if the regular "Keystroke" action is not working, this "PressKey" action will surely not work either...

besides the system volume control issues

What is this issue? (I know Vista does introduce some mixer change, so I do not expect that my software will correctly handle the master volume).

Regards,
Stéphane.

[VistaVick]

Yes, I believe your software is working fine in vista, that is not where the issues come from.

I believe the standard up/down keyboard commands that usually work with most xp programs and xp media center to navigate menus does not move the cursor up and down in the vista version of media center! Despite the fact that the up and down arrows on my microsoft keyboard do move the cursor up and down....strange but this is what I found.

I will try your presskey idea, but I thought of a solution for now I think. I will run vista media center using a renamed .exe so streamzap does not use a matching profile. And I will use your software with the keyboard shortcuts for media center assigned to the pause, fast forward etc keys which effectively eliminates the response issues I had using some of streamzap's buttons with the renamed media center .exe.

The volume issue is just the way vista handles the various volume controls separately for each program and sound device now....nothing to do with your program.

Thanks for your help.

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by VistaVick

I will try your presskey idea, but I thought of a solution for now I think. I will run vista media center using a renamed .exe so streamzap does not use a matching profile. And I will use your software with the keyboard shortcuts for media center assigned to the pause, fast forward etc keys which effectively eliminates the response issues I had using some of streamzap's buttons with the renamed media center .exe.

Well, when you are using my software all Streamzap mappings are disabled, so you do not have to rename the Media Center executable. Also FYI the streamzap lag is in my opinion a bug : on my development PC running Windows XP the default Streamzap software is horribly slow. For instance pressing a button raise CPU to 100% for one second and then the action is carried out (of course using my software does resolve this lag issue). So it is not directly related to Vista.

The volume issue is just the way vista handles the various volume controls separately for each program and sound device now....nothing to do with your program.

So you may want to try the "VolumeChange" action it should only modify the master volume of the PC.

Regards,
Stéphane.

[VistaVick]

I ended up just using virtual key codes for almost everything with your program, which worked much better than keystrokes in this situation, now everything works great with no real lag problems. I suggest anyone having problems like me just google for virtual key codes and use the ones you need.

Yes, there is some lag with streamzap with some aps, but nowhere near as bad as I was experiencing using vista and the default media center profile with streamzap. Must be an issue with how that built in profile interacts with vistas media center compared to xps, of course it was written for xps media center not vista.

Thanks for your help.

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by VistaVick

I ended up just using virtual key codes for almost everything with your program, which worked much better than keystrokes in this situation, now everything works great with no real lag problems.

That's great !

Now I don't understand why the managed code is not able to send up and down, whereas the platform invoke is able to... go figure. Because that's the difference between "PressKey" and "Keystroke". "PressKey" is using platform invoke to simulate press and release of a key (I needed this for the Firefly Mini to not disrupt normal keyboard use and that's why it is not documented) and "Keystroke" is the managed .Net way of sending keystroke (so in theory it should be the preferred way : also it seems that during the vista beta stage, there was a security problem with the way keystroke were sent...)

Regards,
Stéphane.

[samundsen]

There seem to be a bug in the LM Remote Keymap for the Firefly Mini. The SkipBackward and SkipForward are reversed. I have to map SkipBackward to MediaNextTrack and SkipForward to MediaPreviousTrack for it to work right....

[StephaneM]

Hello,

Originally Posted by samundsen

There seem to be a bug in the LM Remote Keymap for the Firefly Mini. The SkipBackward and SkipForward are reversed

Yes, it will be fixed in the next version.

Regards,
Stéphane.

[gelakent]

Must thankyou for a great software but Ive got a little problem. I am using streamzap remote and LM software but my remote stops responding after a couple of days so I have to retsart my computer. Tried this from streamzap faq:Uncheck the box that says "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power." but it didnt help. Any suggestions of what to do?

[StephaneM]

Hello,

Originally Posted by gelakent

I am using streamzap remote and LM software but my remote stops responding after a couple of days so I have to retsart my computer. Tried this from streamzap faq:Uncheck the box that says "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power." but it didnt help.

I have the same problem though unchecking "Allow the computer to turn off this device" seems to resolve partially the issue (For now I only have uncheked it on the USB hub where the Streamzap is connected, but normally you have to do it on all USB ports).

However when the remote is no longer responding (even the red LED is not blinking) I simply unplug the remote and plug it back and it works again. So you do not need to restart your PC.

Note: I really don't think it's related to energy saving feature because sometimes the remote stop responding right after pressing a button. So I don't know why Windows would turn off a device when you are obviously using it...

Regards,
Stéphane.

[gelakent]

Originally Posted by StephaneM

Hello,

I have the same problem though unchecking "Allow the computer to turn off this device" seems to resolve partially the issue (For now I only have uncheked it on the USB hub where the Streamzap is connected, but normally you have to do it on all USB ports).

However when the remote is no longer responding (even the red LED is not blinking) I simply unplug the remote and plug it back and it works again. So you do not need to restart your PC.

Note: I really don't think it's related to energy saving feature because sometimes the remote stop responding right after pressing a button. So I don't know why Windows would turn off a device when you are obviously using it...

Regards,
Stéphane.

Ok I will try that, thanks for the tip.

[ciaran00]

Hi,

Some questions:
* Why can't we map Winkey?
* How to assign a button to switch between apps like on Streamzap driver? Assigning Alt + Tab to a button just switches between 2 apps (as expected)
* Connected to question above. Can we enable "pass thru" for any of the buttons on the remote, like the pwr button or app buttons? This would just enable the driver to handle it instead of your app
* Can you add option for volume up + down to change master + wave simultaneously like on streamzap driver? Or make it pass through?
* Can your app distinguish between number/non-numpad key? IE: How do I specify Numpad 2?
* Brightness controls on my cinema display use Ctrl + Alt + "+" key on numpad for brightness up. I try this: ^%{ADD} but it doesn't work. Any idea?
* Can we change the skin on volume OSD? How to do it? I have PNGs I want to use.

Great app. About to donate.

Thx!

[mstrunk]

I just wanted to say thank you for this great program. I'm currently working on creating profiles which will be uploaded once they are done. I recommend everyond give it a try, it's really quite easy to use. I got support from Stephanie also that if you want to move your profile from one machine to another you can just copy this file. Handy if your HTPC is dedicated.
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\LM Gestion\LM Remote KeyMap\profiles.xml

[StephaneM]

Hello,

Why can't we map Winkey?

Because the method I use doesn't support it. You can however simulate the Windows Key by using the "keypress" action and using the virtual key code 91 (but it's not really that useful)

How to assign a button to switch between apps like on Streamzap driver? Assigning Alt + Tab to a button just switches between 2 apps (as expected)

I don't think it is possible right now. I'm thinking of a "Navigation" mode for a future release that will enable you to do Alt+Tab and other things.

Connected to question above. Can we enable "pass thru" for any of the buttons on the remote, like the pwr button or app buttons? This would just enable the driver to handle it instead of your app

No this is not possible, either you use the native Streamzap profiles or another, this is the way the Streamzap is working.

Can you add option for volume up + down to change master + wave simultaneously like on streamzap driver?

I'll see what I can do

Can your app distinguish between number/non-numpad key? IE: How do I specify Numpad 2?

By using the "Presskey" action and typing the right virtual key code (from 96 to 105, respectively 0 to 9)

Brightness controls on my cinema display use Ctrl + Alt + "+" key on numpad for brightness up. I try this: ^%{ADD} but it doesn't work.

I don't think it is possible to emulate, it must requires a keyboard interrupt.

Can we change the skin on volume OSD? How to do it? I have PNGs I want to use.

Yes you can change the skin, the volume skins are in C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\LM Gestion\LM Remote KeyMap\skins. For example the "blue-two.xml" file is the skin for the Blue Vertical volume control. Make a copy of this file, rename it and change the content for instance :

* skin name="Blue Two" change this to change the name of the skin
* background color="#E0F0FC" this is the RGB background color
* mask / rectangle this is the shape of the volume slider
* shapes : contains all shapes inside the slide, the important one is slider path="btv/" where you type the name of the folder that contains all PNG images of the volume slider and icon src="speaker.png" is a PNG image that you can display where you want.

Coordinates are experessed in % of the global slider windows (a rectangle)

Regards,
Stéphane.