FrontRow Remote - Page 7

super-fly · 03-18-2006, 09:25 PM

i had it crash on me a few times too...the buttons get stuck in the pressed position and then it crashes

hotch · 03-18-2006, 09:28 PM

also, i've set up my powermate to quit the remote if i hold it down for over a second... that seems to be a good solution, as i don't always have a keyboard handy

Mahalis · 03-18-2006, 10:47 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by super-fly

The command key is the one with the weird looking shape on it right? What if I don't have that key...just out of luck?

Hitting Menu from the main Front Row screen will work just as well.

Sorry for the lack of updates recently, y'all - I've been at a big robotics competition thing (the FIRST Peachtree Regional, if anyone has heard of it and/or cares). I'll be working on getting menu-quitting working as soon as possible.

CArringt · 03-20-2006, 02:24 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Mahalis

Hitting Menu from the main Front Row screen will work just as well.

Will this exit both "Front Row" and the FRR App?

Quote: Originally Posted by Mahalis

I've been at a big robotics competition thing (the FIRST Peachtree Regional, if anyone has heard of it and/or cares).

I've thought about getting into that. how'd you do?

hotch · 03-20-2006, 05:01 PM

my 2 requests would be to make much bigger buttons (lets sacrifice prettyness for usability? i want to be able to use it blind, you know?), and somewhat significantly longer (maybe 10 seconds) on screen before it goes away.

what do you think?

CArringt · 03-20-2006, 05:15 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by hotch

my 2 requests would be to make much bigger buttons (lets sacrifice prettyness for usability? i want to be able to use it blind, you know?), and somewhat significantly longer (maybe 10 seconds) on screen before it goes away.

what do you think?

I think the buttons are fine as is. customization we be offered as the app progresses. Example:
-Size
-Location
-Time Out
-Resolution settings

And "prettyness" is essential That's one of the things that sets this appart from a pc app. it will just take getting used to. just like when you first get a new remote for the tv. you have to look at it everytime you go to use it, but after time it's second nature

hotch · 03-20-2006, 05:20 PM

yeah, i just have trouble using it while driving, the menu and play buttons are alright, but the others are tough

Mahalis · 03-20-2006, 09:34 PM

Updated. Holding Menu for one second now quits both Front Row and the Remote.

hotch · 03-21-2006, 01:47 AM

is that the only change, or is it more stable now?

CArringt · 03-21-2006, 12:37 PM

stability is being worked on. Mahalis has the crash logs and is going through them but nothing is instant. the next update should address these issues

hotch · 03-21-2006, 02:44 PM

of course, i don't mean to be pushy at all, i just wanted to know if i should install this update or not

CArringt · 03-21-2006, 04:20 PM

ok i have a question and based on the answer i have a quick extension idea.

This program is written in objective c. is there anyway to embedd an applescript?

The reason i'm asking is:
i quit front row and the remote while listening to an alabama song (i'm a hick nerd) and i "command-tab"ed over to itunes real quick just in time to see the album art of the song i was listening to still in the "Album Art" view pane. So i'm thinking with a basic apple script for itunes you can call for the song rating and re-rate the song in frontrow.

Ie:
Holding the Play/Pause button for two seconds brings up a five start system using:

tell application "iTunes"
get rating of current track
end tell

and:

tell application "iTunes"
set rating of current track to 60
end tell

Like i said i'm not sure this will work but it in theory it should.

Any thoughts?

Mahalis · 03-21-2006, 04:41 PM

Okay, good news - I've found the beginning of a trail that may lead to a reason for the crashes. I suspect that the crashes and general weirdness are happening when - for one reason or another - the system is already handling a pressed key. That can be a key on the keyboard, a custom-mouse-driver-input thing (like the back and forward buttons on some Logitech mice), or whatever a Powermate sends. There are several ways this might be fixed - if anyone has a good way either to detect already-held-down keys systemwide or to trap the weird error this is throwing and account for that, let me know.

Edit: Updated again. Anyone who's been having crash-issues, please try this version.

MINI4cathy · 03-21-2006, 05:26 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by hotch

my 2 requests would be to make much bigger buttons (lets sacrifice prettyness for usability? i want to be able to use it blind, you know?), and somewhat significantly longer (maybe 10 seconds) on screen before it goes away.

what do you think?

This is why Apple only puts the clickwheel on devices that have a display. Even the iPod shuffle doesn't have it. A drive-time touchscreen interface needs to be very different to be usable without looking.

Ph75 · 03-21-2006, 07:29 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by CArringt

ok i have a question and based on the answer i have a quick extension idea.

This program is written in objective c. is there anyway to embedd an applescript?

Look into NSAppleScript and NSAppleEventDescriptor, something like:

Code:

NSAppleScript *myAppleScript = [[NSAppleScript alloc] initWithSource:@"tell application \"iTunes\"\nget rating of current track\nend tell"];
NSAppleEventDescriptor *result =  [myAppleScript executeAndReturnError:nil];
if([result length]>0)
//Handle the string with [result stringValue] or whatever type it is;

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