2021-07-12, 22:22
Welcome to WinDash!
WinDash is a 10-foot user interface for Windows 10 & 11, designed to be used on your TV with a gamepad.
(Please note, this is not a theme for Kodi and so I'm not really sure if it fits the forum guidelines and should be posted here.
It will be ported over to Kodi eventually though, so I guess it is still a WIP skin but unreleased.)
The interface - at it's core, is a theme that runs on Kodi, wrapped around it is a set of services managed by WinDash. These constantly communicate with each other and the interface is designed to display/use information provided by the services.
The download contains a package of services and software created by me and Kodi which is required for the interface. This will not replace or interfere with your current install of Kodi.
What can WinDash do?
*Display your games, apps, UWP apps and Windows apps.
*Automatically imports/removes UWP and Windows apps and imports their icons. If you install an app from the Windows Store, it will automatically get added to WinDash, if you uninstall it, it will be removed from WinDash. Requires no input from the user.
*Add your games to the library using the library manager, set the artwork yourself or let WinDash automatically get it for you.
*Option to automatically manage your game library - this is experimental and is disabled by default, can be enabled via the settings.
*A constantly changing home screen based on your content and what you use, your most recently used app/game is displayed on the large tile, your other recently used content is displayed in order next to it.
*Fully customizable interface, change the layout, themes, colours, wallpaper, can be automatically be set based on your Windows desktop.
*Plays ambient music while on the home screen, the user can customize this to whatever they want or disable it completely.
*Adds full controller support when launching any UWP or Windows app, also uses an on screen keyboard. (Only tested with a Xbox controller).
*Option to integrate with Steam, launch Steam from your library and WinDash and all it's services will close. Steam will launch in Big Picture Mode - once it's closed, WinDash will return.
*Automatically update in the background while starting up, no popups, no input required from the user. If you lose connection, start a game, open a media app or if your internet speed starts slowing down then updates will be paused and attempted another time.
*Option to automatically start with Windows when you sign in.
Installation instructions:
Make sure you are either running Windows 10 or 11 and a device that is compatible with Kodi.
Download WinDash, extract the .zip anywhere on your computer.
Run the setup.exe - MUST BE RAN AS ADMINISTRATOR.
Click install, it will install to the correct folder in the background.
Be patient, WinDash will launch automatically once the core files are installed and will guide you through the rest of the setup.
Note:
WinDash will be installed to the root of your hard drive, normally C:\WinDash - this is required.
You can launch WinDash either by the shortcut on your desktop or automatically with Windows.
If you lose the shortcut, you can click on the "Launch WinDash.exe" located in C:\WinDash. Don't run any other executable, these are automatically managed by the core service.
Exiting WinDash:
Once WinDash has started, to exit - either press S on your keyboard or back on your controller to access the power options. Exiting will close any WinDash related service and return you to Windows.
Issues:
If you experience any issues with things not working, make sure you are running WinDash as administrator and no WinDash services have been removed/blocked by your antivirus.
Changing the ambient music:
Ambient music can be enabled/disabled from the settings in WinDash, if you would like to change the music, open up "AmbientConfig.xml" located in WinDash and replace the AmbientFile value. THIS MUST BE A .WAV FILE.
Amient music config:
How the library works:
Inside of the WinDash folder, you will find the folders called: apps, games, uwpapps and winapps.
UWPapps and Winapps are automatically managed by WinDash, this is done by scraping the "shell:AppsFolder" and sorting them in to categories.
Apps and games are normally managed by the user, there is an option to enable automatic game management but it isn't always 100% accurate.
Importing games automatically will scrape your "shell:AppsFolder", store the names and search the MobyGames database for matching results, if it finds your game on their database then it will import.
Your games/apps will be imported as folders inside of the correct library folder, it will then import an icon, fanart and create an app.py file. The app.py file is a python script and is what's called when launching the game/app. If you know a little python, you can customize this to do whatever you want it to do. For example, using an emulator and passing arguments to it to launch your game.
Inside the library files:
Importing artwork:
App artwork is automatically managed by WinDash, when importing a game you will need to provide a cover image and artwork. This can be automatically set by WinDash but isn't always 100% accurate. I recommend an cover photo of 500x500 and a background of 1920x1080.
How do I import Steam?
In the settings there is an option to add/remove Steam to your app library, adding Steam this way will force it to run in Big Picture Mode and will close WinDash until you exit Steam.
Importing steam:
How do I import games/apps?
In your games & apps, you will find an option called manage. Inside here you can add/remove items to your library.
Library manager:
I have provided an early release version that is available below, updates will be applied automatically. If you have any questions or bugs you'd like to report - please let me know!
Credit: The interface was originally based off the beautiful GTV skin by @roidy, credits go to him for the awesome work.
Update problems?
If anyone ever has any issues with automatic updates and wants to do it manually, the latest update is always available from this link:
https://github.com/expaulore/WinDash/blo...update.zip
Download the update.zip and extract it to your WinDash folder and overwrite the files.
DOWNLOAD (EARLY RELEASE)
DOWNLOAD (VERSION 2 - 25/7/21)
Version 2 of WinDash has just been released, if you are already running the early release version and don't want to reinstall, simply download "PATCH.zip" and extract it to your WinDash folder replacing any files. (As version 2 replaces core files and upgrades the autoupdate service, it cannot be installed automatically by autoupdate.)
If you're downloading WinDash for the first time, I recommend using Version 2. If you experience issues with Version 2, revert back to the early release and report it to me!
WinDash is a 10-foot user interface for Windows 10 & 11, designed to be used on your TV with a gamepad.
(Please note, this is not a theme for Kodi and so I'm not really sure if it fits the forum guidelines and should be posted here.
It will be ported over to Kodi eventually though, so I guess it is still a WIP skin but unreleased.)
The interface - at it's core, is a theme that runs on Kodi, wrapped around it is a set of services managed by WinDash. These constantly communicate with each other and the interface is designed to display/use information provided by the services.
The download contains a package of services and software created by me and Kodi which is required for the interface. This will not replace or interfere with your current install of Kodi.
watch gallery
watch gallery
watch gallery
What can WinDash do?
*Display your games, apps, UWP apps and Windows apps.
*Automatically imports/removes UWP and Windows apps and imports their icons. If you install an app from the Windows Store, it will automatically get added to WinDash, if you uninstall it, it will be removed from WinDash. Requires no input from the user.
*Add your games to the library using the library manager, set the artwork yourself or let WinDash automatically get it for you.
*Option to automatically manage your game library - this is experimental and is disabled by default, can be enabled via the settings.
*A constantly changing home screen based on your content and what you use, your most recently used app/game is displayed on the large tile, your other recently used content is displayed in order next to it.
*Fully customizable interface, change the layout, themes, colours, wallpaper, can be automatically be set based on your Windows desktop.
*Plays ambient music while on the home screen, the user can customize this to whatever they want or disable it completely.
*Adds full controller support when launching any UWP or Windows app, also uses an on screen keyboard. (Only tested with a Xbox controller).
*Option to integrate with Steam, launch Steam from your library and WinDash and all it's services will close. Steam will launch in Big Picture Mode - once it's closed, WinDash will return.
*Automatically update in the background while starting up, no popups, no input required from the user. If you lose connection, start a game, open a media app or if your internet speed starts slowing down then updates will be paused and attempted another time.
*Option to automatically start with Windows when you sign in.
Installation instructions:
Make sure you are either running Windows 10 or 11 and a device that is compatible with Kodi.
Download WinDash, extract the .zip anywhere on your computer.
Run the setup.exe - MUST BE RAN AS ADMINISTRATOR.
Click install, it will install to the correct folder in the background.
Be patient, WinDash will launch automatically once the core files are installed and will guide you through the rest of the setup.
Note:
WinDash will be installed to the root of your hard drive, normally C:\WinDash - this is required.
You can launch WinDash either by the shortcut on your desktop or automatically with Windows.
If you lose the shortcut, you can click on the "Launch WinDash.exe" located in C:\WinDash. Don't run any other executable, these are automatically managed by the core service.
Exiting WinDash:
Once WinDash has started, to exit - either press S on your keyboard or back on your controller to access the power options. Exiting will close any WinDash related service and return you to Windows.
Issues:
If you experience any issues with things not working, make sure you are running WinDash as administrator and no WinDash services have been removed/blocked by your antivirus.
Changing the ambient music:
Ambient music can be enabled/disabled from the settings in WinDash, if you would like to change the music, open up "AmbientConfig.xml" located in WinDash and replace the AmbientFile value. THIS MUST BE A .WAV FILE.
Amient music config:
watch gallery
How the library works:
Inside of the WinDash folder, you will find the folders called: apps, games, uwpapps and winapps.
UWPapps and Winapps are automatically managed by WinDash, this is done by scraping the "shell:AppsFolder" and sorting them in to categories.
Apps and games are normally managed by the user, there is an option to enable automatic game management but it isn't always 100% accurate.
Importing games automatically will scrape your "shell:AppsFolder", store the names and search the MobyGames database for matching results, if it finds your game on their database then it will import.
Your games/apps will be imported as folders inside of the correct library folder, it will then import an icon, fanart and create an app.py file. The app.py file is a python script and is what's called when launching the game/app. If you know a little python, you can customize this to do whatever you want it to do. For example, using an emulator and passing arguments to it to launch your game.
Inside the library files:
watch gallery
Importing artwork:
App artwork is automatically managed by WinDash, when importing a game you will need to provide a cover image and artwork. This can be automatically set by WinDash but isn't always 100% accurate. I recommend an cover photo of 500x500 and a background of 1920x1080.
How do I import Steam?
In the settings there is an option to add/remove Steam to your app library, adding Steam this way will force it to run in Big Picture Mode and will close WinDash until you exit Steam.
Importing steam:
watch gallery
How do I import games/apps?
In your games & apps, you will find an option called manage. Inside here you can add/remove items to your library.
Library manager:
watch gallery
I have provided an early release version that is available below, updates will be applied automatically. If you have any questions or bugs you'd like to report - please let me know!
Credit: The interface was originally based off the beautiful GTV skin by @roidy, credits go to him for the awesome work.
Update problems?
If anyone ever has any issues with automatic updates and wants to do it manually, the latest update is always available from this link:
https://github.com/expaulore/WinDash/blo...update.zip
Download the update.zip and extract it to your WinDash folder and overwrite the files.
DOWNLOAD (EARLY RELEASE)
DOWNLOAD (VERSION 2 - 25/7/21)
Version 2 of WinDash has just been released, if you are already running the early release version and don't want to reinstall, simply download "PATCH.zip" and extract it to your WinDash folder replacing any files. (As version 2 replaces core files and upgrades the autoupdate service, it cannot be installed automatically by autoupdate.)
If you're downloading WinDash for the first time, I recommend using Version 2. If you experience issues with Version 2, revert back to the early release and report it to me!
