[dobbelina]

Hi!

I'm wondering if there are any other Raw Input messages than these 3:

Code:

<button>,00,00,00,03,81,00  System Power: will cause Windows to shut down  
<button>,00,00,00,03,82,00  System Sleep: will cause Windows to sleep  
<button>,00,00,00,03,83,00  System Wake: will cause Windows to wake from sleep

Reason i'm asking is because ONLY the Raw Input messages overrides XBMC when/if it hangs.

I would like to configure one button in rawmode that brings up the taskmanager so that i can "kill"
XBMC when the need arises.
Example that doesn't work:

<button>,00,00,00,03,03,29 Ctrl+Shift+Escape: Brings up taskmanager

Example that does work, however it's Normal keypress mode, so it's a no go:

<button>,00,00,00,04,03,29 Ctrl+Shift+Escape: Brings up taskmanager

The only way to get out of a hang with a MCE remote today, is to configure the powerbutton to
sleep.
Once the powerbutton is pressed again, you'll get back into Windows with it's focus gone from XBMC.

One can then either program a button to open taskmanager (as above Normal keypress mode), or to open the Windows key to open the Start Menu.
A simple script that restarts XBMC can then be pinned to the start menu, to get out of a crash.

This sleep solution works, but isn't ideal.

Any ideas?

[dobbelina]

Pull up to my bumper baby...

[baijuxavior]

Install eventghost, add mce addon and capture the button press that you want to display task manager. Define an action to start task manager.

[dobbelina]

Thanks baijuxavior,

For a long time i thought eventghost only was some kind of plugin for XBMC, but
after your suggestion i had a look at it.
Wow, this is some powerful stuff !!
The possibilities seems endless...
After some short experimenting i already have it configured the way i want.

Now, all that remains is to see if can avoid to get my big butt out of bed next time XBMC
throws a fit

[baijuxavior]

Instead of starting task manager you can kill xbmc.exe directly.

[dobbelina]

Instead of starting task manager you can kill xbmc.exe directly.

The way i did it is to map the Windows key on the remote to the actual Windows key.
(To activate the Start Menu)
I then compiled the following batchfile to an exe that i pinned to the top of the start menu:
It kills XBMC forcefully and then restarts it with one click.

Code:

@ECHO off
TASKKILL /im XBMC.exe /f
PING 1.1.1.1 -n 1 -w 3000 > nul
IF /i %PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE%==AMD64  GOTO 64BIT
IF /i %PROCESSOR_ARCHITEW6432%==AMD64  GOTO 64BIT
START "" "%ProgramFiles%\XBMC\XBMC.exe"
GOTO END
:64BIT
START "" "%ProgramFiles(x86)%\XBMC\XBMC.exe"
:END

If somebody is interested in the above compiled exe, here it is:
RESTART_XBMC.ZIP (240 kb)

I Haven't had time to play around with EG, but i noticed that the power buttons default behaviour is actually to shut down XBMC before giving you the Windows shutdown options.
Whether this works when it crashes remain to be seen.

[dobbelina]

I Haven't had time to play around with EG, but i noticed that the power buttons default behaviour is actually to shut down XBMC before giving you the Windows shutdown options.
Whether this works when it crashes remain to be seen.

Update:

The powerbutton sends the keystroke Alt+F4
That is "only" a quit command, and probably wont get you out of a freeze.
BUT, i found this little code snippet that allows you to make a taskkill command directly from
a remote button:

Code:

import os
os.system("taskkill /im XBMC.exe /f")

Just copy paste the above code into a python command under the button that is your kill switch.

Just awesome this Eventghost!