[HTFanatic]

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 > Shutdown Menu > S (MCE)
Exit --> Back --> Backspace (MCE)
Info --> Info --> I (MCE)
Guide --> Contextual Menu --> C (MCE)
Up Arrow --> Jump to Top --> Home (MCE)
Down Arrow --> Previous or Home --> Esc (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 --> Player Controls --> M (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.

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 return to the home screen, I would add the following to my keyboard.xml:

keyboard.xml:

<keymap>
<global>
<keyboard>
<esc mod="ctrl">ActivateWindow(home)</esc>
</keyboard>
</global>
</keymap>

The entry in the Harmony software would look like this:

Down Arrow (Harmony) --> Home --> Cntrl+Esc (SE)

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>
<esc>AudioNextLanguage</esc>
</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.

Although I have the Harmony "Ultimate" (with the Hub that comes with it), just to get an idea of how this whole thing works as described in this post above, If I correctly follow the directions here with regards to the "Custom Activities" setup directions and then "Required Devices", say for example if I had the "Harmony 650" model remote, would I then be able to use my "Harmony 650" to control Kodi and all of the buttons labeled in the image would work as is (ie based on the button mapping in the image, everything would work including each button without having to perform any other setup steps or programming the remote). Since I have the Harmony "Ultimate" version instead of the Harmony 650, should I just trust the process of these steps and then "test" out my Harmony "Ultimate" by pressing some of the buttons on the remote (after following the directions in this post of course) and seeing what it does within Kodi to see if my Harmony Ultimate maps out all of the functions described in the Harmony 650 image in the above post (and also to see and discover which buttons/functions my Harmony Ultimate is not able to map)

In other words, when you say "here is a Starter Keymap" when you posted the image with what each button on the Harmony 650 will be able to do with Kodi, does that mean that by going into "Customer Activities" then "Required Devices" and follow the directions in your post above, then the "Starter Keymap" you describe will automatically enable the Harmony remote to start controlling Kodi without having to do anymore setup steps?