Try my front end?

ClockWorK · 12-23-2007, 08:34 AM

Hi. This is only my second post on here. And I haven't even figured out how to post an image yet. (but I'm not a n00b -- I have a 12 years of programming experience.) But I am working on a front-end. Who isn't these days, right? But anyway, it's coming along. It is currently under constant development, so it's progressing very quickly. I've posted the program on my website (http://www.compulsivecode.com/carpc.html) for anyone that wants to tinker with it. Screenshots are available there as well. There's no help or instructions. Just an EXE, a config file (.INI) and some images. Actually, I just added a simple README.TXT.

There's no installer. Just unzip it, play with the INI file, and run the EXE. If you hate it, delete the folder. Maybe tell me which part you hated..

The program is designed to work with either a touch-screen or a numeric keypad.
0 takes you to the main screen. So does clicking on the status bar.
+ is like tab.
* is previous track.
- is next track.

The other buttons do what they say the do. Home, up, PgUp, Left, Right, End, Down, PgDn, Enter

I'm struggling a little bit with designing the interface for browsing media, but it does at least work at the moment. Maybe other people can give me some suggestions / ideas.

Currently Supports:
Music, including CDs (with visualizations of course)
Video, including DVDs
GPS (with mapping if you have Streets and Trips installed)
Camera View (for rear-view cam)
Screen Dimming
Playlist Resume (remembers your previous playlist and position)

For the Future:
OBD2 information (eventually)
Voice Commands (possibly)

Since the images are all external resources, they can be changed to suit your liking. The images supplied all use solid colors, and can easily be edited. Also included is a "blank" image. Fonts and colors are controlled through the CarPC.ini file.

A complete history of the development changes is available on my site also.

Eventually, if there is interest, the source-code will also be made available.

Thanks for reading. If you try the program, let me know what you think. I appreciate any feedback, positive or negative.

fantamos · 12-30-2007, 07:49 PM

What are you using for the music and video player? winamp,wmp?

ClockWorK · 12-31-2007, 10:18 AM

WMP is driving the audio, video, and visualizations. I originally wrote the program to use WinAMP, but I didn't have a lot of luck using it for video, so I ended up going with WMP. If there's enough interest, I could add the choice of using WMP or WinAMP to drive the audio and visualizations, and still use WMP for video.

VBWizz · 01-06-2008, 04:02 PM

I have a dll that I wrote that remotes windows media Player, and that will give you access to the EQ and Visualizations, pm if you want and I will send it, I also wrote a dot net control for XM. the dll is a C++ Com control so that should work in any com language, the XM Control is .NET only though..

ClockWorK · 01-07-2008, 10:23 AM

Thanks for the offer, VBWizz. I might take you up on it at some point, if development of this project gets that far. I hadn't given much thought to providing access to the EQ or to any visualization options yet. Unfortunately, I don't think anyone actually liked the front-end, so I'm not sure what my next step is with it. If this project gets that far, I'll try writing the EQ part of it myself first (of course). Thanks though. I really appreciate the offer.

VBWizz · 01-07-2008, 05:15 PM

You Got it man, No Problem, Let me know if you need help, I am currently working with some people at one of the big auto makers, Cant say who it is yet, on a front end that I have been working on. I allways told my self if no one else is intersted, I'll have it in my car and that is the coolest thing in the world.

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