Guide: Couch friendly remote switching between SageTV and ZoomPlayer (MCE and HIP)

[IncredibleHat]

I was working on this in another thread, and thought maybe it would be useful for others who may want to use this type of setup, or get ideas, or whatever. I present as is with no warranties, applied logic, common sense snafoo... er, you get the idea. I would like to note this will ONLY WORK right with SageTV 6.3.8 or greater using FSE mode, as it is that version that has the fixed FSE minimize/maximize code. If you do not use FSE, then you may be able to use an older version of SageTV and still have all this work. YMMV.


GOAL: To switch from SageTV 6.3.8+ to ZoomPlayer Pro 5+ with just one remote button.

What this does, is tell HIP to execute one of two batch files that will perform a serious of actions to switch between the two applications with just one button press. This avoids the window focus issues and application FSE hog problem.

While in SageTV:
- Pressing "DVD Menu" button goes to ZoomPlayer.

While in ZoomPlayer:
- Pressing "Big Green" button goes to SageTV main menu.
- Pressing "Live TV" button goes to SageTV live tv playback.
- Pressing "Guide" button goes to SageTV program guide menu.
- Pressing "Recordings" button goes to SageTV recordings menu.


What I use/need for this all to work:
- HIP
- MCE Remote
- SageTV 6.3.8+
- ZoomPlayer Pro 5+

HIP is setup as you would setup HIP for use with the MCE remote (I wont discuss that part here as it can be lengthy, when all the info is on the HIP forums). I then setup the buttons above as follows (location of where you put the bat files is up to you):

- SageTV -> DVD: EXEC(C:\Controls\switch-to-zoom.bat|||Switch to Zoomplayer|0)
- ZP -> START: EXEC(C:\Controls\switch-to-sage.bat|||Switch to SageTV|0)
- ZP -> TV_LIVE: EXEC(C:\Controls\switch-to-sage.bat|livetv||Switch to SageTV|0)
- ZP -> GUIDE: EXEC(C:\Controls\switch-to-sage.bat||guide|Switch to SageTV|0)
- ZP -> TV_REC: EXEC(C:\Controls\switch-to-sage.bat|recordings|Switch to SageTV|0)


Now the two batch files needed to make the transition are as follows:

- Bat file to go from SageTV 6 to ZoomPlayer Pro 5:

:: C:\Controls\switch-to-zoom.bat
@ECHO OFF
:: Minimizes SageTV and Launches/Restores Zoomplayer

:: Minimize SageTV first
:: 44 = Sleep/Power Off

START /wait /d"C:\Program Files\SageTV\SageTV" SendMessage.exe -C SageApp -N SageWin -M 1258 -W 0 -L 44

:: Pause 1 second for the above to occur

SLEEP 1

:: Launch (or restore) Zoomplayer Forward
:: 32817 = WM_APP + 49
:: 053 = exit
:: 039 = minimize
:: 138 = bring to front

START /d"C:\Program Files\Zoom Player" zplayer.exe /DVD /MOUSEOFF /FORCEFS
:: Uncomment to use restore instead of launch method above
START /wait /d"C:\Program Files\SageTV\SageTV" SendMessage.exe -C "TMainForm" -N "Zoom Player" -M 32817 -W 138 -L 0

- Bat file to go from ZoomPlayer Pro 5 to SageTV 6:

:: C:\Controls\switch-to-sage.bat
@ECHO OFF
:: Quits/Minimizes Zoomplayer and Restores SageTV

:: Exit (:: or minimize) ZoomPlayer first
:: 32817 = WM_APP + 49
:: 053 = exit
:: 039 = minimize
:: 138 = bring to front

START /wait /d"C:\Program Files\SageTV\SageTV" SendMessage.exe -C "TMainForm" -N "Zoom Player" -M 32817 -W 53 -L 0
:: Uncomment to use minimize instead of exit above
:: START /wait /d"C:\Program Files\SageTV\SageTV" SendMessage.exe -C "TMainForm" -N "Zoom Player" -M 32817 -W 39 -L 0

:: Pause 1 second for the above to occur

SLEEP 1

:: Restore SageTV to front
:: Guide = 18
:: LiveTV = 63
:: Recordings = 86

START /wait /d"C:\Program Files\SageTV\SageTV" SendMessage.exe -C SageApp -N SageWin -M 1258 -W 0 -L 43

SLEEP 1

:: Branch to sub menu if arg was passed

IF "%1"=="guide" GOTO GUIDE
IF "%1"=="livetv" GOTO LIVETV
IF "%1"=="recordings" GOTO RECORDINGS

GOTO :END

:GUIDE
START /wait /d"C:\Program Files\SageTV\SageTV" SendMessage.exe -C SageApp -N SageWin -M 1258 -W 0 -L 18
GOTO :END

:LIVETV
START /wait /d"C:\Program Files\SageTV\SageTV" SendMessage.exe -C SageApp -N SageWin -M 1258 -W 0 -L 63
GOTO :END

:RECORDINGS
START /wait /d"C:\Program Files\SageTV\SageTV" SendMessage.exe -C SageApp -N SageWin -M 1258 -W 0 -L 86
GOTO :END

:END

"What is SLEEP"? That comes from a simple program that was included a long time ago on the NT Resource Dev Kit. All it is, is a tiny little exe file you put in the C:\WINDOWS directory. If you do not have this file, then you can grab it here: SLEEP.zip. It's not a trojan or virus. If you still don't trust it, then you can find it yourself buried in some multi-megular install of a bunch of toolkit files and such. I present it as is for convenience.

That really is all there is to it. I am not sure I could answer any questions of different methods, or using different remotes or remote handler programs (like girder, or ghostevent), because I have not done a single bit of research or testing with anything else! Haha. However if you do ask, someone else may know the answer, so don't be afraid to speak up about something.

As well, if there is an error in any of the above, I musta goofed on copy pasting and typing this all up, and I will fix it if I see it or it is brought to my attention.