RolRemote: Yet another software remote (for Win & Linux)

[fred2]

I found another problem before I close down here for the day....

The pause does not seem to work here:

If I add the following button :
set ::button_ctrl(1) {KEY_MENU+10000+KEY_DOWN+10000+KEY_DOWN+10000+KEY_RIGHT+10000+KEY_RIGHT+10000+KEY_DOWN ""}

the expected delay of 10 sec does not happen so this command does not complete as expected.
I used your example for adding this ctrl button 1

Or I must have made a mistake ?

[rol]

The pauses work for me. To test them, replace the KEYs in your macro with KEY_0. (It does nothing, but you have a feedback):
KEY_0+10000+KEY_0+10000+KEY_0+10000+KEY_0+10000+KEY_0+10000+KEY_0
You'll see that the pause works. I don't understand why it doesn't work for you.

I forgot to say that you have to relaunch the program to take the edited config file into account. (I've tried to add a "Reload config" option in the popup menu, but it's too difficult for a little advantage.)
I suggest to use the "Send raw key" window to test your macro. When it is OK, copy it in the config file to assign it to a button or menu, and restart the program.

BTW, a macro to select a function in the menu of the TV is difficult to do, as the menu has disabled options in some circumstances, and that options are automatically skipped. So, sending the right number of cursor keys is difficult, as it depends of the current state of the TV. For example, I suppose that your macro should select the next Antenna mode (cable, satellite...), but it will not work when you are recording a TV program, as the Channel menu is disabled, and your macro will go to the Network menu instead. Also, the durations of the pauses depend of the current load of the TV. When you are copying recordings via FTP, many pauses that work fine in normal circumstances are too short.
Try KEY_DTV and KEY_ANTENNA. I don't know if there is a key to select the Satellite antenna.

Here is the menu I've defined to select the sources I need:

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set ::menu_remote(Source) {
	KEY_DTV                        {TV}
	KEY_ANTENA                     {TV: Antena}
	KEY_EXT20                      {HDMI 1}
	KEY_AUTO_ARC_PIP_WIDE          {HDMI 2}
	KEY_AUTO_ARC_PIP_RIGHT_BOTTOM  {HDMI 3}
	KEY_AUTO_ARC_AUTOCOLOR_FAIL    {HDMI 4}
	KEY_HDMI                       {Next HDMI}
	-                              -
	KEY_TOOLS+KEY_ENTER+KEY_ENTER  {AnyNet+}
	KEY_COMPONENT1                 {Component}
	KEY_AV1                        {Ext: AV}
	KEY_PCMODE                     {PC}
	KEY_DMA                        {DMA}
	-                              -
	KEY_TV_MODE                    {TV  mode}
	KEY_CATV_MODE                  {Cable TV mode}
	KEY_DVD_MODE                   {DVD mode}
	KEY_VCR_MODE                   {VCR mode}
	KEY_STB_MODE                   {STB mode}
}

Honestly, I don't know if the KEY_DMA and the 5 KEY_*_MODE are really useful, but I have decided to leave them in the menu to test them easily.

[andysilent]

Thank you rol for providing your SoftRemote. Works "out-of-the-box" with my C-Series TV (model and firm see signature). I especially like the "PIP"-button. Only thing on my model is that PIP appears without TV-sound. Thus I created a "PIP"-menue with some additional macros (may need some fine-tuning in timing but are working good for me):

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set ::menu_remote(PIP) {
     KEY_PIP_ONOFF                   {PIP on/off}
     KEY_PIP_ONOFF+500+KEY_TOOLS+500+KEY_UP+500+KEY_UP+500+KEY_ENTER+500+KEY_UP+KEY_RIGHT+500+KEY_EXIT     {PIP & TV-Sound on}
     -                               -
     KEY_TOOLS+500+KEY_UP+500+KEY_UP+500+KEY_ENTER+500+KEY_UP+KEY_RIGHT+500+KEY_EXIT                       {TV-Sound on}
     KEY_TOOLS+500+KEY_UP+500+KEY_UP+500+KEY_UP+500+KEY_UP+500+KEY_ENTER+500+KEY_UP+KEY_RIGHT+500+KEY_EXIT {TV-Sound off}
     -                               -
     KEY_PIP_CHUP                    {PIP Channel-Up}
     KEY_PIP_CHDOWN                  {PIP Channel-Down}
     -                               -
}
/[code]

Do you have plans for the integration of the magic "3Speed" and "Factory" buttons as well? 
A "Factory" or "Ext.-Service"-Menue in your remote would be awesome...

[rol]

Thanks for the tips. I didn't know that it is possible to enable the sound of the source and the PIP at the same time on the C series. On the D series, it's impossible. There are only the On and Off options in the Tools -> PIP menu.
On the D series, you can change the size, position and audio source via the main menu:

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KEY_MENU+200+KEY_UP+KEY_UP+KEY_RIGHT+100+KEY_UP+KEY_UP+KEY_UP+KEY_UP+KEY_UP+KEY_UP+KEY_RIGHT+100+KEY_DOWN+KEY_DOWN+KEY_ENTER+KEY_DOWN+100+KEY_ENTER+KEY_EXIT {PIP Size}
KEY_MENU+200+KEY_UP+KEY_UP+KEY_RIGHT+100+KEY_UP+KEY_UP+KEY_UP+KEY_UP+KEY_UP+KEY_UP+KEY_RIGHT+100+KEY_UP+KEY_UP+KEY_UP+KEY_ENTER+KEY_DOWN+100+KEY_ENTER+KEY_EXIT {PIP Position}
KEY_MENU+200+KEY_UP+KEY_UP+KEY_RIGHT+100+KEY_UP+KEY_UP+KEY_UP+KEY_UP+KEY_UP+KEY_UP+KEY_RIGHT+100+KEY_UP+KEY_UP+KEY_ENTER+KEY_DOWN+100+KEY_ENTER+KEY_EXIT {PIP Audio}

I did know KEY_PIP_CHUP and KEY_PIP_CHDOWN but AFAIK they do exactly the same thing as KEY_CHUP and KEY_CHDOWN. You can control the PIP channel with the standard P up and down and PRE-CH buttons. That seems logical, since when you are in PIP mode, the input must be HDMI or AV, and there is no way to change the channel for that kind of input. Might be different with the C series though; I don't know.


You can send KEY_3SPEED and KEY_FACTORY (and assign them to a button or menu entry), but they do nothing if you have a recent, restricted firmware. The TVs with recent firmwares still react to the equivalent code sent with an IR remote, but they ignore them when they are sent via the network. Since my remote is not tied to an IR hardware, they will not work if you have a restricted firmware. Blame Samsung!

[fred2]

I was not aware of the need to restart the program so that solved the problem. It may be good to include that in the user help somewhere.
It now works OK. I know of the difficult menu handling but the example was just to test a config.
In fact it does not matter too much as the menu works very well. I use :

set ::button_ctrl(1) {KEY_MENU+100+KEY_DOWN+200+KEY_DOWN+200+KEY_RIGHT+100+KEY_RIGHT+100+KEY_DOWN+100+KEY_ENTER+100+KEY_EXIT ""}
set ::button_ctrl(2) {KEY_MENU+100+KEY_DOWN+200+KEY_DOWN+200+KEY_RIGHT+100+KEY_RIGHT+100+KEY_UP+100+KEY_ENTER+100+KEY_EXIT ""}

It switches between satellite and cable and avoid the annoying use of multiple keys with Samsung TV. As you only use these keys in the same menu settings it does work ok.

I play around with the RolRemote and let you know if I find other problems.
Have a good day.

[rol]

I was not aware of the need to restart the program so that solved the problem. It may be good to include that in the user help somewhere.

It's why it is usually easier to use the "Send raw key" window to test the macro.
I've added a comment in the template file. (But the template file is created in the config dir when the program starts only if it doesn't exist already, so users of the current version will not see it.) I've also added a note in the first post of this thread.

Your macros work probably well, but you can theoretically remove most pauses to somewhat speed it up. The software remote waits for the response of the TV after having sent the KEY, and that's usually sufficient. In my experience, a pause is necessary only when the TV has to open a new dialog window (and in some rare cases, when it closes it), and when it changes a configuration option that requires re-initialising the hardware (such as when you change the 3D mode). The cursor movements in a menu can usually be linked together without any pause. That means that you can probably remove the pause after the DOWN KEYs, and perhaps also after the KEY_ENTER (but not after the KEY_RIGHT, as a new sub-menu must be opened). However, as I said above, when the TV is busy doing something in the background, such as a FTP transfer, the pause (or even a longer pause) may be necessary. It's a pity, as there is no way to know if the TV is busy or not.
Perhaps replacing the "+PAUSE+" between two keys with a single coma may also work, but I haven't tested that yet.

[rol]

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# v0.3 (September 28, 2012)
# - Command line argument to send a key or macro to the TV and exit immediately without opening the GUI.
# - Added the "Home" option in the popup menu to open the RolRemote thread at SammyGo forums (Windows only).
# - Added the "Restart" option in the popup menu, to restart the program and load an edited config file.
# - Shortcut key Control-i changed to Control-s (for the Control-Source button, Next HDMI input function).

I've found a simple way to reload the config file after the edits: the program is simply restarted. Use the "Restart" option of the popup menu.
I have also added the "Home" menu to open this thread in your browser. The popup menu has also been somewhat revamped.

It is now possible to send a single key or macro from the command line. If a key or macro is provided as an argument, it is sent to the TV, the GUI is not opened, and the program exits immediately. That can be useful if you need to send a specific KEY from a batch file, for example to turn the TV off after having copied some files to your local PC. You can also create a shortcut and add the key or macro in the Target field, if you need to send often a specific key or macro easily, without having to open the GUI and click on buttons. Type RolRemote.exe /? or RolRemote -h (or --help) to display the command line help dialog.
Example of command line usage under Windows:

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"D:\Tools\RolRemote.exe" KEY_POWEROFF

[fred2]

Yes, it needed some tweaking and a mix of , and +delay+ made it now 99 % reliable. response also depends on the network of course.

I include here my 2 keys ctrl 1 is for going to satellite and ctrl 2 is for going back to cable.

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set ::button_ctrl(1)	    {KEY_MENU+200+KEY_DOWN,KEY_DOWN,KEY_RIGHT+200+KEY_RIGHT+100+KEY_DOWN,KEY_ENTER+200+KEY_EXIT, ""}
set  ::button_ctrl(2)  {KEY_MENU+200+KEY_DOWN,KEY_DOWN,KEY_RIGHT+200,KEY_RIGHT+100+KEY_UP,KEY_ENTER+200+KEY_EXIT,  ""}

I did not find any other issues our TV's are the same D-series so not likely a problem for me.
Thank you again for the very useful gadget.

[rol]

Here is v0.6. Sorry, I forgot to post v0.4 and v0.5.

Changes:

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# v0.4 (October 6, 2012)
# - Added the possibility to load a plugin written in Tcl/Tk.  Not really documented.
# v0.5 (February 20, 2013)
# - Now, the TV, Prev and Next white labels on the remote are clickable.
# - It is now possible to add as many plugins as you want.
# v0.6 (August 27, 2013)
# - Added the possibility to send text directly to text fields of Smart apps.

As you can see, you can now send text to text fields of Smart apps, such as the URL of the Web Navigator app. See the right-click popup menu. It's handy!

The TV, prev and next labels on the TV are now clickable (although they do not look as buttons). They send the TV, prev and next commands to the TV.

There is also the possibility to write external plugins, but I haven't documented it (and I don't think I'll do it). If you need info on that feature, leave a message here. As an example, I have included a plugin that plays the beginning of all files of the current directory of the connected HDD, during a configurable number of seconds. (It can also be used to re-generate the thumbnails of the video files contained in the directory, if you set the timing to the minimum.) If you don't need that plugin, just remove the file "preview_plugin.tcl" from the installation directory.

The download links are in the first post of this thread.

Have fun!

[juusso]

Oki, looks nice. Tired to input text trough RC. Now this is much better. Thanks!