Kodi/XBMC Plug-in - Feature Requests

[michaeldecharon]

I just typed watchlist in the searchoption from the addons

[spud]

I just typed watchlist in the searchoption from the addons

what search option from the addons? could you tell me exactly what you did to install and what skin you are using?

[michaeldecharon]

what search option from the addons? could you tell me exactly what you did to install and what skin you are using?

I'm sorry Spud, i see the problem.

Watchlist is discontinued and the new script is called Skin Widgets, but i also have to adjust the skin to let it work.

So for now thank you for you're reply.

[OliP]

Hi Spud,

Thanks for your hardwork on the plugin so far.

Would it be possible to bring FanArt into the plugin, so we could use a virtual device to share the backgrounds, episode images and TV Show banners out to HSTouch?

I have another request about remote management of XBMC Settings, but im not 100% how best to implement it, i've asked a bit about it over on the XBMC forums but it fell on deaf ears.
Idea would be that as long a new XBMC instance had webserver etc turned on, you could deploy settings using the API. EIther a "Clone from" option or a web page where you could see all current settings and change them remotely.

The use case is, when adding a new xbmc client it could be configured in seconds automatically rather than requiring manual intervention (after enabling the web server etc) or having to configure with a remote / keyboard in environments that this is not always possible.
Initially i had suggested this become part of Chorus (the webUI) but i think the developer has other things on their plate atm

[OliP]

Also, would love to clarify the requirements for "Switch Player" i can throw a TV Episode from one to another, but it doesnt keep the timestamp, it starts the show over again - is that correct?

Cant seem to through music from one to another.

Does whatever is being played, need to be within the library for this to work?

[spud]

Would it be possible to bring FanArt into the plugin, so we could use a virtual device to share the backgrounds, episode images and TV Show banners out to HSTouch?

if I add a scripting function to get the fanart for the currently playing media, would that be ok for what you want to do?

I have another request about remote management of XBMC Settings, but im not 100% how best to implement it, i've asked a bit about it over on the XBMC forums but it fell on deaf ears.
Idea would be that as long a new XBMC instance had webserver etc turned on, you could deploy settings using the API. EIther a "Clone from" option or a web page where you could see all current settings and change them remotely.

The use case is, when adding a new xbmc client it could be configured in seconds automatically rather than requiring manual intervention (after enabling the web server etc) or having to configure with a remote / keyboard in environments that this is not always possible.
Initially i had suggested this become part of Chorus (the webUI) but i think the developer has other things on their plate atm

a bit out of scope of this plugin however I think it's possible to use the Kodi JSON API to get and set a setting.

Also, would love to clarify the requirements for "Switch Player" i can throw a TV Episode from one to another, but it doesnt keep the timestamp, it starts the show over again - is that correct?

Cant seem to through music from one to another.

Does whatever is being played, need to be within the library for this to work?

yes for the "Switch Player" action to work, the media being played needs to be in the library.
It has been a while since I tested this feature but if I remember correctly, it is supposed to resume playing where it stopped on the first player, and music is supposed to work too.

[OliP]

1. the scripting function for fanart - i dont know tbh. I want to be able to set a HSTouch screens background as the fanart of currently playing media.
I guess it would need to be a virtual device, like thumbnail currently is.

2. settings - fair enough it being out of scope.

3. switch player in my setup is currently working but restarts the media from start point, ive checked having the source xbmc in playing and paused modes - same result, the destination xbmc restarts the file. this is for video and music

[olag00]

Do you know where this plugin is getting its information such as MPAA, Type, Media Type, etc? I am wondering if it would be possible to get the aspect ratio of the movie as well? I have a 2.35 screen and a Lumagen video processor. I would like to have an event I can set the aspect ratio device to send a certain IR command via global cache to the video processor to display the correct aspect ratio. Currently I have to manually set it to 16.9, 2.35, 1.85 etc (I know a major inconvenience right?)

If I have to go in and manually add the aspect ratio into an xml file or a database I can do that, I just need to know where the plugin is getting its information and of course a device to be created.

thanks...

[spud]

Do you know where this plugin is getting its information such as MPAA, Type, Media Type, etc? I am wondering if it would be possible to get the aspect ratio of the movie as well? I have a 2.35 screen and a Lumagen video processor. I would like to have an event I can set the aspect ratio device to send a certain IR command via global cache to the video processor to display the correct aspect ratio. Currently I have to manually set it to 16.9, 2.35, 1.85 etc (I know a major inconvenience right?)

If I have to go in and manually add the aspect ratio into an xml file or a database I can do that, I just need to know where the plugin is getting its information and of course a device to be created.

thanks...

the plugin use the Kodi JSON API as defined here: http://kodi.wiki/view/JSON-RPC_API/v6
the API is very large so I don't know how internally Kodi retrieve each property, but I can see that there is a VideoAspect property, so I could add a scripting function to get the VideoAspect of the currently playing video. Would that be ok?

[olag00]

That shouldn't be a problem for a scripting command but I am not much of a script writer so if possible to provide an example of how I would use it would be beneficial. I have tried to get the current time left in a movie by using the example of "GetCurrentTime" function in the user guide but could never get it to work just due to my zero knowledge in scripting.

[spud]

in version 3.0.0.31 available here, I have added a device for Fan Art and a scripting function to get the Aspect Ratio of the currently playing video.

here is an example of a C# script to print to the log the aspect ratio. Copy this code to a .cs file for example Kodi.cs, replace "Kodi (spud)" with the name of your Kodi player, then run the script from a HS event:

public object Main(object[] Parms)
{
    double aspectRatio = (double) hs.PluginFunction("XBMC", "", "GetCurrentAspectRatio", new object[] { "Kodi (spud)" });
    
    hs.WriteLog("Kodi Script", "Aspect Ratio = " + aspectRatio);
    return 0;
}

here is a screenshot that shows the new fan art device

[olag00]

Thanks for adding the aspect ratio call... I notice it writes the aspect ratio to the homeseer log, do I need to use one the log monitoring plugins (BLLogMonitor, UltraLog3, etc) to monitor the log or can I use the entry in the log another way to create an event to send an IR command? I haven't used either one so I am not sure of the capabilities yet...

[spud]

Thanks for adding the aspect ratio call... I notice it writes the aspect ratio to the homeseer log, do I need to use one the log monitoring plugins (BLLogMonitor, UltraLog3, etc) to monitor the log or can I use the entry in the log another way to create an event to send an IR command? I haven't used either one so I am not sure of the capabilities yet...

no, writing to the log was just a dummy example. If you want to send an IR command I guess you would do something like this

public object Main(object[] Parms)
{
    double aspectRatio = (double) hs.PluginFunction("XBMC", "", "GetCurrentAspectRatio", new object[] { "Kodi (spud)" });
    
    if(aspectRatio < 1.8)
    {
        hs.TriggerEvent("Video processor A");
    }
    else if(aspectRatio < 1.85)
    {
        hs.TriggerEvent("Video processor B");
    }
    else
    {
        hs.TriggerEvent("Video processor C");
    }
    return 0;
}

where "Video processor A/B/C" are events that send the IR command
Alternatively if your IR plugin has some scripting capability you could replace the TriggerEvent lines with the direct IR command to send.
Or you can save the aspect ratio in a virtual device and then use that device value in an event

[olag00]

Looks like I got the script to run but it is showing 0.

Jul-01 7:10:24 PM	 	Kodi Script	Aspect Ratio = 0
Jul-01 7:10:24 PM	 	Event	Running script in background: C:/Program Files (x86)/HomeSeer HS3/scripts/olag00officeAspectRatio.cs
Jul-01 7:10:24 PM	 	Event	Event Trigger "XBMC XBMC Aspect Olag00Office"

I didn't try doing the IR command since I am just trying to get it to read the aspect ratio first. This is the script:

public object Main(object[] Parms)
{
    double aspectRatio = (double) hs.PluginFunction("XBMC", "", "GetCurrentAspectRatio", new object[] { "olag00Office" });
    
    hs.WriteLog("Kodi Script", "Aspect Ratio = " + aspectRatio);
    return 0;
}

Is this something on the Kodi side?

[spud]

Looks like I got the script to run but it is showing 0.

Jul-01 7:10:24 PM         Kodi Script    Aspect Ratio = 0
Jul-01 7:10:24 PM         Event    Running script in background: C:/Program Files (x86)/HomeSeer HS3/scripts/olag00officeAspectRatio.cs
Jul-01 7:10:24 PM         Event    Event Trigger "XBMC XBMC Aspect Olag00Office"

I didn't try doing the IR command since I am just trying to get it to read the aspect ratio first. This is the script:

public object Main(object[] Parms)
{
    double aspectRatio = (double) hs.PluginFunction("XBMC", "", "GetCurrentAspectRatio", new object[] { "olag00Office" });
    
    hs.WriteLog("Kodi Script", "Aspect Ratio = " + aspectRatio);
    return 0;
}

Is this something on the Kodi side?

do you have Kodi playing a video when you run the script?

could you add some other scripting function calls like below so that we know if the problem is specific to GetCurrentAspectRatio

public object Main(object[] Parms)
{
    int currentTime = (int) hs.PluginFunction("XBMC", "", "GetCurrentTime", new object[] { "Kodi (spud)" });
    int totalTime = (int) hs.PluginFunction("XBMC", "", "GetTotalTime", new object[] { "Kodi (spud)" });
    double aspectRatio = (double) hs.PluginFunction("XBMC", "", "GetCurrentAspectRatio", new object[] { "Kodi (spud)" });
    
    hs.WriteLog("XBMC Script", "Current Time in secs = " + currentTime);
    hs.WriteLog("XBMC Script", "Total Time in secs = " + totalTime);
    hs.WriteLog("XBMC Script", "Aspect Ratio = " + aspectRatio);
    return 0;
}