[Angelscry]

I've got a feature idea. Could you add launcher id tag to the launcher itself and a way to accept arguments? If you do so skis with support for custom shortcuts on the home menu could have a way to launch common used launchers from the home menu.

Example, in shade now you can create a home screen shorcut to the script (plugin.program.advanced.launcher) if there was the id. and an option to parse arguments you could create a shortcut to the script plugin.program.advanced.launcher("1") for example and that would launch the app with id=1. If no arguments are passed then the normal app view would show.

What do you think?

This feature is already supported by the addon

• Go into Advanced Launcher
  
• Select a launcher
  
• Go into launcher context menu and select "Add to Favorite" option
  
• Go into you skin sub menu option and select this Favorite as submenu.
  

It will automatically get the launcher name, launcher thumbs and put it as submenu. It is how it works for me with Alaska.Revisited. This feature is not working for roms, only for launchers. Here are the corresponding code lines of the guisettings.xml file :

Code:

<setting type="string" name="skin.alaska.revisited.programbuttonname_2">Boxee</setting>
<setting type="string" name="skin.alaska.revisited.programbuttonimage_2">/media/emulation/launchers/thumbs/Boxee_thumb.jpg</setting>
<setting type="string" name="skin.alaska.revisited.programbuttonpath_2">RunPlugin(plugin://plugin.program.advanced.launcher/?Boxee,return)</setting>

[Angelscry]

Rectification : It is also working with roms. You just have to avoid to use special characters (like bracket) into launcher name or rom name to make it works.



Here is how it appear into the guisettings.xml file :

Code:

<setting type="string" name="skin.alaska.revisited.programbuttonname_3">The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time</setting>
<setting type="string" name="skin.alaska.revisited.programbuttonimage_3">/media/emulation/nintendo64/roms/The Legend of Zelda - Ocarina of Time_thumb.jpg</setting>
<setting type="string" name="skin.alaska.revisited.programbuttonpath_3">RunPlugin(plugin://plugin.program.advanced.launcher/?Nintendo 64/The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time,return)</setting>

So if your skin is able to start plugin from submenu using this command line :

Code:

RunPlugin(plugin://plugin.program.advanced.launcher/?[b]#launcher_name#[/b]/[b]#rom_name#[/b],return)

It may works...

[fr500]

Rectification : It is also working with roms. You just have to avoid to use special characters (like bracket) into launcher name or rom name to make it works.



Here is how it appear into the guisettings.xml file :

Code:

<setting type="string" name="skin.alaska.revisited.programbuttonname_3">The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time</setting>
<setting type="string" name="skin.alaska.revisited.programbuttonimage_3">/media/emulation/nintendo64/roms/The Legend of Zelda - Ocarina of Time_thumb.jpg</setting>
<setting type="string" name="skin.alaska.revisited.programbuttonpath_3">RunPlugin(plugin://plugin.program.advanced.launcher/?Nintendo 64/The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time,return)</setting>

So if your skin is able to start plugin from submenu using this command line :

Code:

RunPlugin(plugin://plugin.program.advanced.launcher/?[b]#launcher_name#[/b]/[b]#rom_name#[/b],return)

It may works...

Cool, thanks didn't know it was there already

[KiSUAN]

Well I`ve done some fine tunning to some views...

I added the option to use Gamesys Fanart as Background (thanks Angel) for the Panel view and added the option to have extrathumbs in Slide view.



* AVL + Slide Extrathumbs

Place the extrathumbs in C:\Users\User Name\AppData\Roaming\XBMC\addons\skin.night.purity\extras\avlfanart\(name of the launcher)\

Name the images thumb1.jpg & thumb2.jpg, there is a folder with images an example.

*AVL + Panel Gamesys Background

Images located in C:\Users\User Name\AppData\Roaming\XBMC\addons\skin.night.purity\extras\avlfanart\

Just name the image as the Gamesys, there are some images as example.

You can get the complete list of gamesys from: C:\Users\User Name\AppData\Roaming\XBMC\addons\plugin.program.advanced.launcher\resources\scrapers\gamesys (open with notepad or other)


Enjoy.

[srsobieraj]

Hi Angelscry & ALA community,

Request/Suggestion/Thought:

"Run Before" & "Run After" inputs for Launchers & Roms.

I'd like to be able to run Xpadder with different configurations depending on the Emulator I'm using. I think the best way to do this would be to include a Run Before option for Launchers. I can simply type the command-line argument that I want to run before and after ALA launches the Emulator. I'd like to do something like this:

Code:

C:\Xpadder\xpadder.exe controller1.profile controller2.profile

<ALA executes emulator>

Taskkill /IM xpadder.exe /F

So I can pass arguments to the command line both before and after ALA runs the emulator.

The problem is that I would need to specify "Run Before" and "Run After" for each Rom, but still have a "default" value. I run a variety of Windows games on my computer and many require a different Xpadder layout.

This solution isn't perfect, but it would solve my problem. Has anyone encountered this problem and solved it? Can anyone help with a better solution? It's driving me nuts!

Would EventGhost be able to solve this problem? ie, use EventGhost to detect a certain application launch, then run Xpadder when it opens and kill it when it closes?

[Angelscry]

Hi Angelscry & ALA community,

Request/Suggestion/Thought:

"Run Before" & "Run After" inputs for Launchers & Roms.

I'd like to be able to run Xpadder with different configurations depending on the Emulator I'm using. I think the best way to do this would be to include a Run Before option for Launchers. I can simply type the command-line argument that I want to run before and after ALA launches the Emulator. I'd like to do something like this:

Code:

C:\Xpadder\xpadder.exe controller1.profile controller2.profile

<ALA executes emulator>

Taskkill /IM xpadder.exe /F

So I can pass arguments to the command line both before and after ALA runs the emulator.

The problem is that I would need to specify "Run Before" and "Run After" for each Rom, but still have a "default" value. I run a variety of Windows games on my computer and many require a different Xpadder layout.

This solution isn't perfect, but it would solve my problem. Has anyone encountered this problem and solved it? Can anyone help with a better solution? It's driving me nuts!

Would EventGhost be able to solve this problem? ie, use EventGhost to detect a certain application launch, then run Xpadder when it opens and kill it when it closes?

After a long reflexion, I have decided to not add pre and post command line support to the Advanced Launcher add-on. It will better to use external scripts or executables to manage other application than the one started. As I have already explained several time here, that you can do this using Autoit scripts. For example in your case you can create a simple script that could look like this :

Code:

if $CmdLine[0] = 1 Then
        Run ( '[b]C:\Xpadder\xpadder.exe controller1.profile controller2.profile[/b]' )
    Run ( 'emulator.exe -arg1 -arg2 "' & $CmdLine[0] & '"' )
    ProcessWaitClose ( "emulator.exe" )
    ProcessClose ( "[b]xpadder.exe[/b]" )
EndIf

Then you could compile it to launcher-emulator.exe exectuable file using Autoit. Then you will have to create a launcher like this :

Code:

...
<name>Game Launcher</name>
<application>c:\\path\[b]launcher-emulator.exe[/b]</application>
<args></args>
...

That's all. The script if simple (6 lines) and will do exactly what you want. Do you can next improve it. For example you can analyses the $CmdLine[0] command line argument and extract the rom filename from it and start xpadder.exe using related controller profile.

Using Evenghost is not a good idea for me.

[User 55003]

Hi Angelscry & ALA community,

Request/Suggestion/Thought:

"Run Before" & "Run After" inputs for Launchers & Roms.

I'd like to be able to run Xpadder with different configurations depending on the Emulator I'm using. I think the best way to do this would be to include a Run Before option for Launchers. I can simply type the command-line argument that I want to run before and after ALA launches the Emulator. I'd like to do something like this:

Code:

C:\Xpadder\xpadder.exe controller1.profile controller2.profile

<ALA executes emulator>

Taskkill /IM xpadder.exe /F

So I can pass arguments to the command line both before and after ALA runs the emulator.

The problem is that I would need to specify "Run Before" and "Run After" for each Rom, but still have a "default" value. I run a variety of Windows games on my computer and many require a different Xpadder layout.

This solution isn't perfect, but it would solve my problem. Has anyone encountered this problem and solved it? Can anyone help with a better solution? It's driving me nuts!

Would EventGhost be able to solve this problem? ie, use EventGhost to detect a certain application launch, then run Xpadder when it opens and kill it when it closes?

What type of game pad do you have?
With a logitech game pad I just use the logitech profile software..
Create a profile for each emu and select "Apply profiles to games automatically" in global profiler settings.

[srsobieraj]

What type of game pad do you have?
With a logitech game pad I just use the logitech profile software..
Create a profile for each emu and select "Apply profiles to games automatically" in global profiler settings.

I am using the Xbox 360 Wireless controller. It doesn't have a profiler app unfortunately.

That's all. The script if simple (6 lines) and will do exactly what you want. Do you can next improve it. For example you can analyses the $CmdLine[0] command line argument and extract the rom filename from it and start xpadder.exe using related controller profile.

I wasn't aware that AutoIt supported If or Switch statements. I will check it out more thoroughly, thank you for your suggestion. Once I have my controller(s) working, I will have a complete Home Theatre experience, and it's all thanks to this add-on!

[Angelscry]

I am using the Xbox 360 Wireless controller. It doesn't have a profiler app unfortunately.

I wasn't aware that AutoIt supported If or Switch statements. I will check it out more thoroughly, thank you for your suggestion. Once I have my controller(s) working, I will have a complete Home Theatre experience, and it's all thanks to this add-on!

Believe me. AutoIt is REALLY powerfull and the online documentation is really complete : http://www.autoitscript.com/autoit3/docs/ When I was a windows user, few years ago, I was able a create command line launchers that were able to start emulators that did not have command line support (by simulate keys typing and windows menu navigation).

[fr500]

Hi Angelscry & ALA community,

Request/Suggestion/Thought:

"Run Before" & "Run After" inputs for Launchers & Roms.

I'd like to be able to run Xpadder with different configurations depending on the Emulator I'm using. I think the best way to do this would be to include a Run Before option for Launchers. I can simply type the command-line argument that I want to run before and after ALA launches the Emulator. I'd like to do something like this:

Code:

C:\Xpadder\xpadder.exe controller1.profile controller2.profile

<ALA executes emulator>

Taskkill /IM xpadder.exe /F

So I can pass arguments to the command line both before and after ALA runs the emulator.

The problem is that I would need to specify "Run Before" and "Run After" for each Rom, but still have a "default" value. I run a variety of Windows games on my computer and many require a different Xpadder layout.

This solution isn't perfect, but it would solve my problem. Has anyone encountered this problem and solved it? Can anyone help with a better solution? It's driving me nuts!

Would EventGhost be able to solve this problem? ie, use EventGhost to detect a certain application launch, then run Xpadder when it opens and kill it when it closes?

Just do a batch file that launches xpadder, then your emulator then tracks if your emulator is running (maybe each 3 seconds or 10 whatever you want) once it finds the emu is finished kills xpadder and back to emu. You don't need external tools at all, they add complexity and you'd need to learn a scripting language. sh on linux and batch files (or powershell scripts) on windows can do almost anything.

@echo off

REM launch third party tool
c:\path\to\tool\yourtool.exe


REM launch your app
cd c:\path\to\your\app

app.exe %1

REM wait a couple of seconds in case main process spawns another process
timeout 2

REM oset the following variable to the process that should be tracked
REM usually the same name as the program executable
REM you can find this looking at the Windows Task Manager

set process_1="app.exe"
set ignore_result=INFO:

REM check if the process is still running each interval. If not return to XBMC
REM interval is 3 seconds here
:1

set var=notrunning

for /f "usebackq" %%A in (`tasklist /nh /fi "imagename eq %process_1%"`) do if not %%A==%ignore_result% set var=running

timeout 3
if %var% == running goto :1

REM wait for another interval and then kill 3rd party tool

timeout 3
if %var% == notrunning taskkill /F /IM yourtool.exe


exit

Also you might create a shortcut to this .bat and add it to XBMC, in this shortcut you should set the startup path to your app's path and set it to start minimized to avoid the ugly DOS window popping up.

Remark: I'll eventually clean this up so it's shorter, clearer but I'm doing...well a lot of stuff lately and this just works

[Angelscry]

Version 0.9.12 : This new option bring 2 new setting parameters : default paths folders for launchers thumbs and fanarts.

• If you let these 2 paths empty, each time you will create a new stand alone launcher, you will be asked to indicate a thumbs and a fanarts folder.
  
• If you setup these 2 paths, each time you will create a new stand alone launcher, corresponding thumbs and a fanarts folders will be automatically assigned by this 2 paths.
  
• For file launchers, thumbs and fanarts folders will be always, by default, the same than the roms thumbs and fanarts folders.

Changelog

• update french translation
  
• add title formating for title starting by "The", "A" and "An"
  
• add thumbs and fanarts default paths settings for launchers
  

[kevenz]

after 3 hours I finally managed to get Demul working properly with ALA.... if anyone cares, just ask me

[fr500]

Version 0.9.12 : This new option bring 2 new setting parameters : default paths folders for launchers thumbs and fanarts.

• If you let these 2 paths empty, each time you will create a new stand alone launcher, you will be asked to indicate a thumbs and a fanarts folder.
  
• If you setup these 2 paths, each time you will create a new stand alone launcher, corresponding thumbs and a fanarts folders will be automatically assigned by this 2 paths.
  
• For file launchers, thumbs and fanarts folders will be always, by default, the same than the roms thumbs and fanarts folders.

Changelog

• update french translation
  
• add title formating for title starting by "The", "A" and "An"
  
• add thumbs and fanarts default paths settings for launchers
  

Is the article sorting configurable (The, A) I don't like it, it should respect XBMC's global setting for this.

Kudos for the default paths!

[KiSUAN]

Great, thanks a lot!!!

[butchabay]

Play Game Trailer on press Down for Fanart View:





New Rightlist View, on press Right starts Game Trailer in Fullscreen: