Now we're talking! Random thoughts after a successful setup!

Any line n a macro that starts with a // is comment and is ignored by the server up to the ending !

The ! is the macro delimiter. It denotes the end of a command or comment line.

That's have the macro processor knows when one server command stops and the next begins.

 

I just released a SmartRemote template update that 

1) Adds sample pages for XBox and Playstation. These pages assume you are controlling them via IR and the IR models have the names XBox and Playstation appropriately. The server that was just released adds XBox and Playstation as known sources and will create activation macros for them. NOTE: you will have to edit the activation macros to specify what IR device is controlling the player. The macro has comments where this has to be done.

2) Turns on SmartRemote hard button repeats for the 4 cursor keys, the volume up and down buttons along with the channel up and down buttons. If you press and hold down these buttons they will start repeating at a rate of about 4 per second. The change was made in the SmartRemote.js file. If you update the Designer and then update your SmartRemote project you will pick up this new javascript file. Depending on how it is cached it may be necessary to flush the cache on your SmartRemote.

Consider this an experiment. Let us know how it performs.
 

David Li wrote:

Hi Nillaz
Glad to hear you are really getting your custom system configured!

re: Long Press...I suspect the ability to send a LONG press to a device is based on that devices protocol. Does it accept a long press from an IP connected controller? Can you provide a real use case? re: you might be trying to get into a submenu...but what you REALLY are trying to do is invoke an action IN that submenu. Maybe that is discretely possible by a new command....that could be assigned to the myDesigner defined long press command.

Also, I would think of the Smartremote as the "daily use" remote...not scoped to program / configure any one piece of hardware (like to do a video or audio calibration through custom command invoked from deep submenus).  Not that might not be possible...but I would get the daily use stuff working (WAF) first.
 

Thanks David I hope your trip this weekend was a good one!

I agree about the daily use thing which is why I said I could live without the Denon remote codes. Seriously, I'll either get over it or work around it. No biggie.

As for the daily use stuff and WAF, the button thing very much ties into that. I'm not exaggerating even a little bit when I say we use the long press thing daily...my wife even more so than I.

Admittedly I have no idea how this works with other IP based remotes. The SmartRemote is my first.

I originally used the Android dashboard thing as an example because I figured it was easy for people to envision and wrap their heads around. A far more important use case is in an app like Youtube and Smarttubenext (STN is a variation of Youtube app). I pay for Youtube Premium and the wife uses the standard Youtube app on the daily but I generally prefer the Smarttube app for some additional features pertaining to things like sponsorblock. This applies to both.

Here's a real world use case in the Youtube app. I don't believe that I can post photos here but I've linked two pics in Google Photos here . The first is the main Youtube screen. The second is the submenu that pops up in the app when I long press the OK button on the Shield remote. Suppose I wanted to save that Joe Scott video to watch later. I could go into the video and after it loads I could scroll through the multiple menu options to get to the Save Video option, save it to my Watch Later folder, and then press back multiple times to get back to the Youtube main page. It's irritating and unnecessarily time consuming.

With a long press it brings up that submenu, I click Watch Later and then I'm still on the main Youtube page. Much faster. It also gives common options like to jump directly to a channel in order to subscribe, etc.

Alternatively, if I hated Joe Scott (This is impossible! Answers with Joe RULES!) the submenu gives me a quick means of telling Youtube that I'm not interested in this particular piece of content or to never recommend any of his content ever again.

This submenu paradigm is basic functionality on the Shield. PLEX uses long press behaviors to bring up options for add to playlist, mark as watched/unwatched, remove from continue watching, etc. The AppleTV+ app uses this to bring up content details, remove from watch next, etc. Prime Video uses this to add content to a watchlist, hide movies that I'm not interested in, etc. I could list all kinds of apps but I'm sure you get the idea.

It would be hard to live without this capability in a home like ours where we basically stream everything. Doing anything otherwise would be far more clunky and unpleasant.

My wife uses this quite regularly. For example she'll do a search in Youtube for her goofy KPOP content (she's addicted to BTS lol) and then as she scrolls through the results she'll long press to invoke the submenu and save any video that looks interesting to her KPOP folder so she can watch them at her leisure in one place. If I tell her that from now on she has to start each video, save it within the video, back out, and then wash rinse repeat with each piece of content I'll be facing an insurrection in my own home. The WAF in this situation would be so low as to border on zero.

I like the remote. I also like being married. I don't want to have to choose one or the other.

DaveP
the macro sets the "state" of your devices? on, off what input ect?
for a activity
automation is used for? tasks trigger by variable inputs
and what is "A/V Sources" function?
also is a server variable for the accelerometer on the remote
and is there a way to delay commands
like for a power on pause input change

Thanks

Sat32 wrote:

DaveP
the macro sets the "state" of your devices? on, off what input ect?
for a activity
automation is used for? tasks trigger by variable inputs
and what is "A/V Sources" function?
also is a server variable for the accelerometer on the remote
and is there a way to delay commands
like for a power on pause input change

Thanks

If the device and sioftware driver supports Status / states, then there will be a variable that updates on change of state.  You can also mimic a status by using a SetVariable command to update a var value to a particular value when you push a button or run a macro.

Automation Rules can trigger commands / actions when a variable value changes to a defined value.  To "let me know when the SmartRemote battery is less than 20 percent full".  That would be an Automation event.

AV sources are devices that manage media content.  And when you put a AV device in a "room" then the default behaviour is to display an appropriate icon for that media source device when that room is selected (made Active).

Delays are implemented using the Pause command used in Macros.

davep wrote:

I just released a SmartRemote template update that 

1) Adds sample pages for XBox and Playstation. These pages assume you are controlling them via IR and the IR models have the names XBox and Playstation appropriately. The server that was just released adds XBox and Playstation as known sources and will create activation macros for them. NOTE: you will have to edit the activation macros to specify what IR device is controlling the player. The macro has comments where this has to be done.

2) Turns on SmartRemote hard button repeats for the 4 cursor keys, the volume up and down buttons along with the channel up and down buttons. If you press and hold down these buttons they will start repeating at a rate of about 4 per second. The change was made in the SmartRemote.js file. If you update the Designer and then update your SmartRemote project you will pick up this new javascript file. Depending on how it is cached it may be necessary to flush the cache on your SmartRemote.

Consider this an experiment. Let us know how it performs.
 

Super! I will try this tonight or tomorrow and definitely report back how it goes.