New Firefly Sofware (works also for Streamzap)

[StephaneM]

Hello All,

I just uploaded a replacement software for the Firefly, Firefly Mini and Streamzap remote

It is designed to be as customizable as the Hauppauge remote but this time you have a full remote profile editor and can assign any actions to all buttons on the Firefly remote. Basically you'll be able to use this instead of Girder, so it should be simpler to use.

I allows you to assign more than one actions to each button like :

* sending keyboard shortcuts
* sending WM_APPCOMMAND message
* sending Windows Message
* Moving the mouse
* Playing a sound
* Shutdown / suspend / hibernate / restart your PC

It can handle multipress on remote buttons (like press one time one "2" for sending the "2" key, two times on "2" for sending the "a" key... with a nice osd)

It does feature a volume osd, a menu osd (donator feature) and a mouse mode (donator feature).

You can download and learn about it here.

For those of you that already have the Beyond Media Basic Software installed, you'll have to shutdown Beyond Media Basic and install my utility and it should work. If it doesn't work, there is a link on the previous web page for downloading the Firefly driver only (that is without the Beyond Media Basic software).

Note : for those who have downloaded the version 1.7 before 25 December 2006, the Firefly and Streamzap editions were swapped, so if you tried the software you ended up with the wrong edition (donators edition were ok though). Sorry for the inversion, the download links have been fixed.

Regards,
Stéphane.

[awx]

I haven't looked at it closely yet but it seems quite nice. Thank you for sharing this with us.

Can you tell me a bit more about your software? My first questions are:

• On a fresh XP install, can I install your software by itself and have full functionality (not installing FF+BMB)?
• Your app works with a global profile and app specific profiles, correct? Can you elaborate on how this works? Same as the FF software or more flexible? Could it send control a single app even when that app is in the background and ignore all other apps/windows.
• What language is your app written in? How much RAM does it use?
• Can it run as a service? Does it work with non-Admin/non-Power User user accounts (FF does this 99%).

Thanks. I'm actually happy with the FF software but may well donate to your project.

[optikhog]

Wow, this is exactly what I've been looking for! Thanks so much!

[StephaneM]

Hello,

On a fresh XP install, can I install your software by itself and have full functionality (not installing FF+BMB)?

You'll need the Firefly drivers (it is linked on my site), basically it is the X10 driver which is a COM server.

Your app works with a global profile and app specific profiles, correct? Can you elaborate on how this works? Same as the FF software or more flexible? Could it send control a single app even when that app is in the background and ignore all other apps/windows.

Yes there is a default profile and applications profiles. By default a profile is selected based on the active window (search by title or class name), or you can force a profile (when a profile is forced it can bring its corresponding window to foreground). For working with an application in the background, you will need to force a profile, and use in this profile the FindWindow and SendMessage action : for finding the window that is your background application and then sending message to it.

What language is your app written in? How much RAM does it use?

This is a .Net (C#) application and memory usage is up to what .Net decides, but typically 4 MB are used for default features (that is responding to remote events), if you use Osd features expect 9 - 10MB.

Can it run as a service? Does it work with non-Admin/non-Power User user accounts (FF does this 99%).

It doesn't run as a service and it should work with non admin account (though I have not checked this yet but all my other application does work so...)

Regards,
Stéphane.

[awx]

OK, thanks for your answers. I donated €8. I would have donated more if the source code was available. Hope you consider adding support for the Sony PlayStation 3 Bluetooth remote.

The reason I ask about running as a service is because the FF software won't work at the XP login screen. It would be nice if there was some way that you could pick a user account and enter a numeric password to login to XP.

[StephaneM]

Hope you consider adding support for the Sony PlayStation 3 Bluetooth remote.

If there is a SDK why not.

The reason I ask about running as a service is because the FF software won't work at the XP login screen. It would be nice if there was some way that you could pick a user account and enter a numeric password to login to XP.

Hmm, I don't think it is possible. A service can interact with the desktop, but I don't know if it would work in the login screen (this is not the desktop so...). I'll try to see if I can do something.

Regards,
Stéphane.

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by awx

The reason I ask about running as a service is because the FF software won't work at the XP login screen. It would be nice if there was some way that you could pick a user account and enter a numeric password to login to XP.

So I tried to make a service for the Firefly remote and it's not working : it does work when you are logged in to your desktop, but it doesn't work at all when you are at the login screen (well I only tried on a domain login screen but should be the same with XP login screen). Moreover sometimes the service refuse to start : and I guess it is caused by the X10 COM Server that doesn't shutdown properly with my quick and dirty service...

Regards,
Stéphane.

[rmiles7721]

Originally Posted by awx

OK, thanks for your answers. I donated €8. I would have donated more if the source code was available. Hope you consider adding support for the Sony PlayStation 3 Bluetooth remote.

The reason I ask about running as a service is because the FF software won't work at the XP login screen. It would be nice if there was some way that you could pick a user account and enter a numeric password to login to XP.

Just out of curiousity, is there a reason not to use Tweakui to just have XP automatically login at boot time? There are a couple of things that I use with my HA system that don't play too well with services either, so that is what I do.

[s4czech]

Nice! (finally, something for firefly custom buttons)

Ok question, what if I'm using the firefly with XP Media Center? (not beyondtv)

My goal is to be able to use the A B C D buttons.

Do I need to uninstall the FULL FireFly install package/driver first?
(and then install the driver only you have linked)

If your program does not work together with the firefly program, will you have a Media Center profile? I dont know what all the various shortcuts are to make video/audio/tv/skip functions work. I'd rather just add A B C D then have to map the whole thing from scratch.

[awx]

Originally Posted by rmiles7721

Just out of curiousity, is there a reason not to use Tweakui to just have XP automatically login at boot time?

Then you can't utilize separate parent and kids accounts, etc. Now you need a bluetooth keyboard/mouse to login and afterwards use the FF.

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by s4czech

Ok question, what if I'm using the firefly with XP Media Center? (not beyondtv)

It should work with the default profile for the most common buttons (play / pause etc..)

My goal is to be able to use the A B C D buttons.

You'll be able to customize those buttons and all other buttons for Media Center.

Do I need to uninstall the FULL FireFly install package/driver first?
(and then install the driver only you have linked)

I have not tested it with the default Firefly software, but I guess that you can install my software, shutdown the Firefly software and see if it works or not. If it doesn't work, then uninstall the Firefly software and install the driver I linked.

If your program does not work together with the firefly program, will you have a Media Center profile? I dont know what all the various shortcuts are to make video/audio/tv/skip functions work. I'd rather just add A B C D then have to map the whole thing from scratch.

There is no profile for Media Center (but the play / pause etc... should work with the default profile, so basically you'll just have to create a profile for Media Center and customize only the A, B, C, D buttons).However I will add an online profile database to be able for you to search for a profile submitted from other users.

Regards,
Stéphane.

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by awx

Then you can't utilize separate parent and kids accounts, etc. Now you need a bluetooth keyboard/mouse to login and afterwards use the FF.

I'll try harder to see if it can be made but I really have no hope (the service mode if it were working couldn't be customizable. Also for the Streamzap remote it's a dead end as a window is needed to receive Streamzap events).

So instead of making it work in the login screen, why not take a different mean to do what you want : instead of relying on the login screen, maybe I can create a new action that will let you choose a windows login (there is still a problem with the password input that need to be adressed).

Regards,
Stéphane.

[Deisama]

I love this program! Its so nice not having to load the whole Firefly beyond TV app just so I can use the remote.

Plus your profile editor makes it sooo much easier to custimze the buttons! Finally no more searching through all the other profiles trying to find a similar function to copy and paste!

Thanks so much for taking the time to make this program

I only had one real request I think would be awesome to see:
Right now it searches profiles based on Window Class or Window Text, but the firefly software also lets you choose based on the exe name. Would it be possible to do something similar? There are programs like Zoom Player, where the title text changes all the time depending on whats playing, and the classname (TClassMain or something) is extremely obscure and difficult to locate. having the option to just type "zplayer.exe" would really help.
The other reason it would be useful is sometimes theres a whole set of games or programs that use the same keymappings. Sometimes there are adventure games or other mouse driven games, where you only need the keyboard for a couple very simple keypresses. and it would be really cool to be able to use the same profile for everything in say "g:\Games\Adventure\*"

Thanks again!

[StephaneM]

Hello,

Originally Posted by Deisama

Would it be possible to do something similar? There are programs like Zoom Player, where the title text changes all the time depending on whats playing, and the classname (TClassMain or something) is extremely obscure and difficult to locate. having the option to just type "zplayer.exe" would really help.

Yes it is possible, I will introduce this feature in the next revision of the software.

The other reason it would be useful is sometimes theres a whole set of games or programs that use the same keymappings. Sometimes there are adventure games or other mouse driven games, where you only need the keyboard for a couple very simple keypresses. and it would be really cool to be able to use the same profile for everything in say "g:\Games\Adventure\*"

However, this will not work for in this situation. But you can still manage to make it work the way you want :

* Create a "shared" profile that will work for all your games / application. Put whatever you want in the windows title / class name (it really doesn't matter).

* Map one of the buttons of the Firefly to the "DisplayMenu" action. And create a menu for each of the game / application that does share the same remote profile. Create as many menu entries you need for launching each game / application (you can even specify an icon for the game / application) and under each menu entry put a :

* change profile action : change to the remote profile that all games / applications is sharing
* launch application action : launch the application corresponding to the menu entry

* In the "shared" profile, customize the power button of the firefly to : close the application (Send Message action) and change the remote to the default profile (change profile action).

This way LM Remote KeyMap will not try to search a profile that match the application that currently have the focus, but instead will use the "shared" profile (allthough I may need to make some change because I don't think that the SendMessage, Foreground, AppCommand action will work correctly in this case, but this will be fixed in the next revision)

Regards,
Stéphane.

[Deisama]

Does the program test for an exact match, or just to see if its contained in the String?
If its just testing to see if its contained, and I listed "D:\Games" as the exe name, than wouldn't any exe that was in that directory return true when you checked against Process.ModuleMain.FileName?