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4. CREATING A KODI ACTIVITY – MICROSOFT eHOME DEVICES

By this point, two devices should be added to your Harmony profile:

• MCE Keyboard
  
• Windows Media Center SE
  

Adding an Activity

MyHarmony:

• Choose Custom activity and follow the on-screen instructions.
  

Legacy Software:

From the Activities tab:

1. Select Manual Activity;
   
2. Choose Utility;
   
3. Generic Activity;
   
4. Add Required Devices;
   
5. Complete Set up.
   

Power On and Off – Only one device should be used to power the system on and off. I recommend Windows Media Center SE for this purpose. Leaving the computer off when not in use is the recommended setting. The Off state may be wake from sleep/hibernate, or wake from a power off state if your motherboard supports this.

Customizing Buttons – Harmony Keymap

To customize the remote, commands from the Kodi keymap must be matched to commands for a device in the Harmony database. Most key commands (e.g. "I") can be matched directly to the MCE Keyboard, so this process can usually be planned without looking up anything in the Harmony software. The idea is to match commands in the Kodi keymap with a corresponding button on the remote.

Below is an example starter keymap for a Harmony 650. This keymap covers most of the essential commands for navigation and playback and is a good launching point for a more elaborate key design.

Click here for a complete list of Kodi keyboard commands.

eHome: Basic Keymap – Harmony 650:



Basic Keymap Command List:

Harmony --> Kodi Command --> Device

*Cust (Start) --> Start Kodi --> Win + # (SE)
Cust (Quit) --> Quit Kodi --> Alt + F4 (MCE)
Cust (Full) --> Fullscreen --> Tab (MCE)
Cust (Codec) --> Codec Info --> O (MCE)
Menu --> Sidebar Menu --> M (MCE)
*Exit --> Back --> Backspace (MCE)
Info --> Info --> I (MCE)
*Guide --> Contextual Menu --> C (MCE)
Up Arrow --> Jump to Top --> Home (MCE)
Down Arrow --> Jump to Bottom --> End (MCE)
Cust (Watched) --> Watched Status --> W (MCE)
Cust (Item Up) --> Move Item Up --> U (MCE)
Up --> Up --> DirectionUp (SE)
Down --> Down --> DirectionDown (SE)
Left --> Left --> DirectionLeft (SE)
Right --> Right --> DirectionRight (SE)
Channel Up --> Page Up --> ChannelUp (SE)
Channel Down --> Page Down --> ChannelDown (SE)
*OK --> OK --> Enter (SE)
Prev --> Shutdown Menu --> S (MCE)
Play --> Play --> Play (SE)
Stop --> Stop --> Stop (SE)
Rewind --> Rewind --> Rewind (SE)
Fast Forward --> Fast Forward --> FastForward (SE)
Skip Back --> Skip Backward --> , (MCE)
Skip Forward --> Skip Forward --> . (MCE)
Pause --> Pause --> Pause (SE)
0 to 9 --> Number Keys --> 0 to 9 (MCE)

*Start Kodi – The command Win + # is a means of opening a program in Windows. The # refers to the program's position on the Taskbar. Pressing Win + 3, for example, would open the third item on the Windows Taskbar.

*Long-press – Jarvis v16 introduced a long-press for select keystrokes. Holding a key for a couple of seconds enables a secondary command. Currently, this is limited to three keystrokes and only appears to be compatible with eHome receivers:

• Short: Enter –> Long: Contextual Menu
  
• Short: Backspace –> Long: Home Screen or Shutdown Menu
  
• Short: Contextual Menu –> Long: Sidebar Menu
  

• Short: Enter –> Long: Pause
  
• Short: Backspace –> Long: Stop
  

Advanced Configuration – keyboard.xml

It is possible to add commands not included in the list of Kodi keyboard controls by creating a file called a keyboard.xml. For example, if I wanted a command to toggle the videos section to show only unwatched, watched or all videos, I would add the following to my keyboard.xml:

keyboard.xml:

<keymap>
<global>
<keyboard>
<s>SendClick(Videos,10)</s>
</keyboard>
</global>
</keymap>

The entry in the Harmony software would look like this:

Prev (Harmony) --> Send a click to a control in a given window --> S (MCE)

If I wanted to map commands already assigned to other keys for specific circumstances, such as fullscreen playback, subsections could be added:

<keymap>
<FullScreenVideo>
<keyboard>
<home>subtitledelay</home>
<end>AudioNextLanguage</end>
</keyboard>
</FullScreenVideo>
</keymap>

The above file should be created in a text editor such as Notepad or Notepad++ and saved as keyboard.xml. The .xml must be stored at the following location:

C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Kodi\userdata\keymaps

Click here for a complete list of Kodi Action IDs.
Click here for a complete list of Kodi built-in functions.

More information on the formatting and contents of a keyboard.xml can be found here.

Link: Another take on how to bind a key to a custom command.