Sending events to girder using the event manager

[Roscoe62]

I use girder and an RS232 interface on my preamp/processor to control the volume. I already have the volume commands set up in girder. Now all I need is to have a button set up in XLobby to trigger it. Does anyone know how to do this with the event manager? I'm using the new Alpha 40.1

Any help is appreciated!

Cheers
Ross

[Twit]

Ok , this is how it used to work but has been a while since i tested it.

1- Create your new command in girder ( you have already)
2- Learn an event in girder but pick "girder event" instead of all fom the drop down next to the learn button.
3- A box opens and you must enter a name for the event - you will need this name in xlobby so make it something memorable/meaningfull. Click OK.

5 - As an example (easier to walk through) load the event manager and click on music then on pause (ie winamp pause).
6 - On the right under commands you will see a girder command click it then highlight send event string.
7 - In the text box at the bottom enter the memorable name you used in girder. Click add.

Close the event manager and go to the music page and click the pause button - besides pauseing winamp it should trigger girder to do the command you origionally set up.

Later
Simon.

[Roscoe62]

Thanks Simon,

I'll give that a try when I get home tonight.

When you mention loading the event editor, do you mean by hitting F2 and selecting the event manager tab?

[noviceboy]

yes he means that

[Twit]

Noviceboy is correct - sorry it was 3 minutes before CSI on the TV and i was typing real fast.

Did it work?

LAter
Simon

[Roscoe62]

No.

I opened the event manager tab, found "music", selected "pause" but on the right under commands there is no girder there. Maybe it's changed?

[noviceboy]

It's there top of the command list called "girder". You are probably just looking in the Music commands section?

[Roscoe62]

Following Twit's example, I select music, and then pause, but from there I can't see any command list. Sorry to be a pain, but where are you looking to find this?

Maybe if I tell you what I'm doing, that might give some context to it.

When playing music, I want to alter the existing volume controls so that instead of controlling the windows/winamp volume, they will instead trigger a girder command I have attached to my rs232 cable to my preamp processor. I've already checked that these girder commands work. I just need to set up the trigger.

I thought that using the skin editor I could go in and edit what the existing volume control buttons do. However, I'm not sure how to change those existing buttons to trigger girder instead.

There seems to be an awful lot of things that can be changed/edited on a button, but I don't know how to get it to do what I described above.

Knowing what the desired outcome is, will this change the procedure at all?

I should have described this in my initial post but there it is anyway.

Thanks in advance!

[oneman]

Hit F2, go to the event manager tab, on the left side expand the last event folder (SKINS), expand the music folder, now drill down to volume down and volume up, expand them and del the attached command , now with volume down selected go to the pane on the right, select the command tab, the first thing you should see at the top is girder, expand this and click on send event string, now enter the name of your volume down girder event you created in girder, click add. You should see your girder command added to the volume down event on the left. repeat for volume up.

I'm assuming you have the latest release, the music folder may be located differently in the event manager for earlier releases...

Hope this helps... If not, I'm sure one of the board vets will help you out...

[Roscoe62]

Thanks Bryan,

I'll give this a shot tonight

[Roscoe62]

OK, first things first......that procedure worked perfectly, so thank you!!

However, that's left me with some other questions.

How did you know to go straight to the SKIN folder, select the music category and change the volume up/down there? I note in the list of events there was also a music category there which also has a sub-category volume up/down.

If I changed the volume command directly in the music folder, how would that be different?

If I wanted that command to also work from my PPC, would I have to do anything different?

I thought changing commands like the way I described would be done in the skin editor by selecting the appropriate button and going from there.

I realise there's a lot in XLobby I don't understand, but sheesh! I'm beginning to realise how MUCH I don't know!

Can someone set me straight? Please?

[Twit]

The 'skin folder' is only in the latest release. I think Steven realised that when people post thier skins they also post thier 'eventgroups' folder , as this is linked to the skin functions. So he decide to incorporate an events group into the skins folder - just makes it easier to share skins.

If you look in your skin directory, you will see there is also a 'eventgroup' folder. As far as I understand (I forgot to mention this in my first post - sorry) xlobby will use the skin eventgroup first then move to the main one if it does not find what it is looking for.

And one last thing...you can now store your events and databases within the skin directory itself...although I didnt have time to expoit this new feature...this is the way to go....it will allow for simple installation of skins. You should see 2 new directories in the default skin "eventgroups" and "databases"....both of which will OVERRIDE if the main ones if they both contain the same events or databases

As music vol+/- exists in the skin directory xlobby will use this. If you deleted the vol+/- in the skin folder, xlobby would use the default 'music category' section.

Later
Simon.

Read carefully as i am really crap at explaining things.

[noviceboy]

Read carefully as i am really crap at explaining things

Doing a great job so far!

[oneman]

The first thing to understand is that this is Alpha software and that Steven is constantly working on it. So one version may have a music folder in the top tree, another may have it in the skins folder, and another may have it in both. The version I'm looking at is Alpha 40.1 prerelease 5 and the music folder only exists in the skins folder.

The bottom line, there could be 10 music folders and it wouldn't matter.

F2, event manager: Create an event (any folder, any name, doesn't really matter) --> assign a command to it (girder, windows, IR, etc..) --> then go to the skin editor --> select your button --> select button tab, event tab --> and assign your event ...

So you can have multiple vol up / down events but your button will only call the one that you have assigned to it.

There is nothing special about the PPC screens other than the size. From the main menu click help, ppc screens, and there you go. You edit them just like any other screen. You can assign the same event to multiple buttons on different screens. So just assign the vol up / down to the PPC screen up and down. Now you're controlling the same event from a differnt screen.

Take Care...

[oneman]

oops... twit beat me to it