[Firedomain]

As the title may not so clearly explain, When a user logs out (to the login screen) the WebServer service stops, which breaks the connection to the official iOS remote (the remote me & my famailys familys use)

(See "Webserver Stopped when user log off" & "XBMC Remote for iOS not working at login User Profile Login Screen" for examples)

this issue does not affect android users to my knowlegde because as joethefox said

the different between the two is that the android remote is using the event server for the remote part while the ios app is using the json-rpc api. There are two candidate solutions: the ios app switches from json to the event server for the remote control, or something should be done on XBMC side to allow json calls during this task.

I would like to see either:

1. Kodi add support for a system wide WebServer Setting/Enabling
   
2. Kodi iOS Remote switched to Event Server
   & as a bonus
   
3. Kodi iOS Remote add a profiles screen & intelligent Library Updating (on the iOS app) so when a user logs in they do not need to refresh each category. (eg. scrolling to the top of TV Shows) & when a user logs out the app shows no librarys.
   

I have been struggling to use Kodi with profiles & iOS Remote this way for years, as most searches will show people searching for a solution since at least 2013/12.
I have tried enabling the webserver via the advancedsettings.xml hoping that it would enable it at the login screen but with no luck.
Any time i or someone else accidentally logs out i have to reboot Kodi, or in most of my cases the Raspberry Pi.


I Currently use Kodi with 3 users throughout the house with the help of Emby Syncing everything. Emby has an option to update the server when no users are logged on, which in my situation, is never. Therefore i have an emby add-on set to reboot it every night (potentially interrupting my viewing).

On every Kodi install in my house i currently have to:

• Use the "Kodi Callbacks" Add-on for each user to "ActivateWindow(loginscreen)" (or soething along those lines) after an idle timeout. That way i keep the connection with iOS Remote.
  
• Have Kodi Auto-login with my account at startup & Kodi Callbacks opens the login screen once it starts up (but unfortunately my library stays selectable from the iOS Remote app.)
  
• Set a Shortcut in the iOS Remote app to "Activate a specific window" to go to the "loginscreen", so i dont need to wait for the timeout if i want to switch users.
  
• Go to each library on the iOS Remote & scroll up to refresh every time i switch users.
  
• Set different colors on each users interface (Kodi 17b1) so i know who is logged in when shown the login screen (so people don't play media using the wrong profile)
  

This is really tedious & feels so hacky for something that i feel should have been built into kodi/iOS for years.
This is an amazing piece of software that ive been using since the "Xbox Media Center" days, but unfortunately it seems that if your primarily an iOS user (theres a lot of us!) then your SOL.

tags: logout logoff log off disconnect disconnected disconnecting profile web server apple iphone ipad ipod touch control

[Captain_Tactful]

You're not alone, this is exactly the problem i'm facing here aswell.

I'm surprised at the lack of response

To be clear.
If a secondary profile copies settings from the master. They should stay copied.
Skins should be seperated, as the name suggests, from settings and only change appearance.

The main reason for having profiles, i can see , is to enable proper parental controls. Allowing a child to browse film coverart above their age range is not acceptable in my book.

[Firedomain]

Thanks for the response!

I'm surprised at the lack of response

I assume that's because of my terrible wording & lengthy post! Haha
Hopefully one day someone with a bit more knowledge/power chimes in.

[Captain_Tactful]

After much messing about and searching for viable solutions, I've found a fairly straight forward solution.

Fortunately for me, I'm using a 3rd party control system, which gives a couple of control options.
Currently using the JSON API to send HTTP strings, but as you mentioned the NIC drops when on the login screen, whether off first boot or subsequent profile logouts.
I searched for a simple way to emulate a keyboard press through rs232/serial, ideally through an ASCII string, but to no avail.
So I plugged in a usb to IR receiver I had lying around and it works through a standard MCE remote.
Combine that with the AMBER skin, where you can easily lock down the Kodi menu options, so that inquisitive minds can't play with the settings and voila a 90% perfect solution.

[Captain_Tactful]

After further playing with the JSON, it has transpired it's a bug, i'm sure.

If the profiles menu is invoked via JSON. The browser based remote (:8080 default) has a red popup that says connection is lost to the server. But this is not true as control remains. In addition it repeatedly pops up with the 'connection lost' error all the while the setting-profiles menu/window is shown. (also with the pin entry window which is part of the switching profiles process).

Must be a combination of a bug and the iOS dropping the command when it sees no connection or is told there is no connection to the reqceiving server. Even if the receiveing server is the one telling it there's no connection? (grabbing at straws)