Keeping XBMC on top in Windows 7 Home Premium x64
#16
I'll second the request for an integrated feature. I have my computer hooked up to two different TVs in two different rooms with extended displays. When XBMC minimizes on my living room screen, I have to go to the other room, turn the TV on, then re-maximize it. I have to use extended displays because WMC requires it for recording TV...
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#17
Lol I got banned for pointing out a never ending problem, XBMC going that path where its best to ban people then to listen to there customers?

I did really switch from an AMD system to an Intel system trying to get rid of the problem, it was not a lie or anything just expansive and gave me a ban aswell, hahaha.

I can inform that the full window mode will give tears in the movie picture when the picture got fast moving objects and if you care for the movie quality you must use the full screen mode and then XBMC loose focus on some systems. soo Using full windows mode is not an option, atleast not for built in CPU GFX solutions.

Guess they ban me again, I guess I should just give up about this problem cos there is nothing wrong with XBMC.

And people that dot'n have English as there native end up alot more hard as they wanted, but who cares better ban then listen to what people try to tell ya?.


.
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#18
(2012-04-03, 20:01)fableman Wrote: Lol I got banned for pointing out a never ending problem, XBMC going that path where its best to ban people then to listen to there customers?

Customers? Or just people who get a free product and a ton of free dev time? Seems the dev team could just enjoy it and screw the whole "customer" thing. We'd have more time to enjoy it and way less hassle. Of course we'd earn less rofl Rofl

Did you really wait a week to say that? Surely a guy of your talent could've come back triumphantly with a patch....
System: XBMC HTPC with HDMI WASAPI & AudioEngine - Denon  AVR-3808CI  - Denon DVD-5900 Universal Player  - Denon DCM-27 CD-Changer
- Sony BDP-S580 Blu-Ray  - X-Box 360  - Android tablet wireless remote - 7.1 Streem/Axiom/Velodyne Surround System
If I have been able to help feel free to add to my reputation +/- below - thanks!
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#19
(2012-04-04, 01:09)DDDamian Wrote: Did you really wait a week to say that? Surely a guy of your talent could've come back triumphantly with a patch....

What happen to the code and solution I posted on this forum like 2 years ago ? But the answer was there is nothing wrong with XBMC, and this time when I bring up this problem I got a Ban

Over and Out, rest my case there is nothing wrong with XBMC just the users/customers.
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#20
Hi everyone,

I have the same problem as Fableman. I set the true fullscreen mode but everytime i have a fu**** pop-up like windows update or anything else, xbmc is reduce in taskbar ! No idea of what to do...

Thanks
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#21
This is a feature of the Windows DirectX system. Until you can kidnap Bill gates and force him to change it, the only solution is to use windowed fullscreen, but depending on your video card you may see video degradation.

The best option is to look at what you have installed and remove anything that produces unnecessary pop-ups, or at least configure it not to display pop-ups.
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#22
Hi guys,

I got sick with the focus problems with XBMC and built a tool that forces focus on XBMC.
Called the tool FocusBitch which is basically a launcher that launches a process (here XBMC) and maintains it's foreground status.
When I saw this thread I modified the code (didn;t test) so you can let it maintain focus indefinately (set time to 0) but beware it will never give you time to do anything but XBMC while XBMC is loaded. If you exit XBMC it will let you do stuff again. I use it to keep foreground status for the first 30 seconds only.
Maybe this will help :-)

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/17086160/XBMC/FocusBitch.zip

Source code + readme included in the zip
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#23
(2012-03-20, 02:52)digitaltomj Wrote: There are two options, you can tweak your registry settings in windows...or use AutoHotKey as mentioned above...I tweaked the registry for windows 7 my first time...but after installing windows 8 I decided to go the AHK route and I must say it is not only easier, but because you can reverse it, its better since there may be times you dont want xbmc to be on top...there is actually a great app in the AHK repository called Min2Tray

I use this script and it works great, and you can choose the key combo that makes it make windows always on top with a nice and easy UI

PS...You could also use Min2Tray to minimize a program to the system tray

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#24
digitaltomj a tool like that (or an instruction) should be packaged in XBMC since it is neccesary for a good working media center.... my opinion :-)
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#25
Many thanks WillemB for FocusBitch.

I get better performance with true full screen and it's nice to feel secure that no foolish windows process is going to steal focus unexpectedly at any time.

One question: what argument should I add to:

Code:
FocusBitch.exe 30 "C:\Program Files (x86)\XBMC\XBMC.exe"

to make XBMC start with high priority every time?

Thanks again Smile
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#26
FocusBitch (wiki) is so cool we gave it a page on the XBMC Wiki. Feel free to update it with whatever info you want.
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#27
(2012-06-20, 02:24)Ned Scott Wrote: FocusBitch (wiki) is so cool we gave it a page on the XBMC Wiki. Feel free to update it with whatever info you want.

I'd be very happy to update that wiki with necessary arguments to add to the .cmd file to make XBMC start with different priorities.....if I could only figure out what those arguments are Wink

I've tried adding "high" and "/high" to the end of the line but with no joy. Anybody know?...I'm sure it's pretty simple Smile
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#28
@WillemB
Do you think you could update your app to have a watchdog to force XBMC to a specific display?

those of us that have dual display setups have the problem with focus, but also, XBMC often decides to launch on Display #1 (Desktop) when it was set to launch on Display #2. Thus forcing us to navigate to Setttings menu and change it everytime... not kid/wife friendly at all.

thx for helping!
I'm not an expert but I play one at work.
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#29
I'm using the following autohotkey script to start xbmc and keep it in focus. This works like a charm and no window can steal the display as long as the script is working. Save this script to your startup folder.


#NoEnv ; Recommended for performance and compatibility with future AutoHotkey releases.
#Warn ; Recommended for catching common errors.
SendMode Input ; Recommended for new scripts due to its superior speed and reliability.
SetWorkingDir %A_ScriptDir% ; Ensures a consistent starting directory.
#SingleInstance ignore ; use only one instance of the app

#!Enter:: ; Add a hotkey to start xbmc using Ctrl+Alt+Enter. Useful for the mce green button.
Process, Exist, xbmc.exe ; check to see if xbmc.exe is running
If (ErrorLevel = 0) ; if xbmc is not running
{
run "c:\program files\xbmc\xbmc.exe" ; start xbmc
}
else
{
traytip, Message, xbmc is already running, 5, 1 ; if xbmc is already running then show a balloon message. For debugging only. You can comment out or delete this line.
}


loop ; continously checks whether xbmc is on focus
{
Process, Exist, xbmc.exe ; check to see if xbmc.exe is running
WinActivate, ahk_class XBMC
;sleep 1000 ; time delay between check. If commented out, the script will continuously keep xbmc on top.
}
return
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#30
Thanks for FocusBitch. Worked great.
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