global hotkeys when minimized to tray

[Steven]

Crosmanrond, Chorpo,
could you try this one - its still experimental though
http://www.mediafire.com/?mtwk2unzy12

[Crosmanrond]

Works like a charm! though I do seem to have a semi-related issue where, after these two experimental builds, everything draws slowly, if at all(certain purely aesthetic parts of the player just grab whatever is behind them when the player opens). I fixed it after the first experimental build by completely reinstalling MB...I'll try for this one as well...

[Steven]

i cant think what would cause that - i havent touched the graphics aspect, and by re-installing i dont see how that makes any difference as you would just overwrite MusicBee.exe again
I recall you said you had this problem the very first time using MusicBee. Can you send a screenshot when it misbehaves

[Crosmanrond]

alright, I did a reinstall, and, as you said, this is unrelated, in fact it was my own fault. I was running too many programs at once and was making it so that MB could never fully draw...or something like that...anyway, it'll all running fine now, media keys work when MB is maximized, minimized, in mini-player, and in the tray. way to go!

[chorpo]

Another great job. Thanx. Works also here. I have also tested xardas problem with multimedia keys not working when MB is set to minimize to notification tray (http://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=846.0). It works as expected ;-) Also minimize to mini-player works like a charm...

I'm just curious. What was the problem??

[Steven]

when MB is only in the notification tray there is no visible window, so windows decides it doesnt need to send the multi-media key messages to MB. So i had to add a special handler for that

[acxl]

Hello,
sorry for bringing this topic up, but I have exactly the same problem with my Microsoft Multimedia Keyboard 3000 (IntelliType 8.0)/ Windows 7 Prof. x64 / MusicBee 1.2.4037.
The hotkeys only work if the MB window is focused, the hotkeys are also set to "global".

Is this a bug or is the 64-bit-Version of Windows responsible?

Thanks!

[Steven]

there are 2 sets of keys for the player
1 - Multimedia: xxxx
2 - Playback: xxxx

have you made both global?

[acxl]

Okay, the Multimedia hotkeys are all set global.

Next problem: I can't assign for example the Playback hotkey "Multimedia: Next" with the hardware hotkey "MediaNextTrack".
MB didn't react when I press the button?!

[Crosmanrond]

MB didn't react because the Microsoft Multimedia keyboards use virtual keys to trigger events rather than simply mapping keys normally(there are advantages, I won't explain them here though), a side-effect is that it is considered automated input when you press them, and they are ignored by most programs.

Solution:
Go to your keyboard settings and set your multimedia keys to actually send the Play/Next/Last/etc keys when they are pressed. (should be in Control Paney > Keyboard > Key Settings)

[VX]

I have Microsoft Comfort Curve Keyboard 2000 and all the multimedia keys works for me without installing any dedicated driver on Windows 7 64 bit. (However, if I wanted to change the multimedia hotkeys actions I'd have to install Microsoft Intelli Driver).

At first I had similar problem as SMD and ACXL: the multimedia hotkey Play/Pause didn't work with Music Bee (the other 3 hotkeys - for Volume Up/Down and Mute - worked though). I set it as Global in MB Preferences /Hotkeys and the problem is gone 


One small request: if MB detects a multimedia keyboard all the multimedia hotkeys should be set global by default.
Steven, what do You think

UPDATE:
I don't have to dig in the player preferences in order to use all the multimedia hotkeys with Media Monkey 4, Media Player Classic -HC, Windows Media Player or Foobar. All the hotkeys work with these players by default.
In Music Bee is merely the same except the one and only Play/Pause hotkey, which I have to set global to make it to work. Why the 3 multimedia keys work as expected and the one needs digging in the preferences Is it different

[acxl]

I checked the keyboard settings for IntelliType, all multimedia keys are set as standard, as you can see in the following pic (sorry, it's the german version):



MB still doesn't react when I press a multimedia key to assign it.

I've got no more ideas?

@Crosmanrond & VX: Have you got the x86 or x64 version of IntelliType installed (both are possible)?

[VX]

@Crosmanrond & VX: Have you got the x86 or x64 version of IntelliType installed (both are possible)?

I don't use any Intelli driver as Windows 7 64 bit recognizes my keyboard and mouse perfectly and I don't need to assign custom actions to the multimedia keys.

Ability to change the default action assigned to multimedia keys was the one and only reason why I installed Intelli Type driver some time ago. Sorry, but I just can't remember whether it was x64 (most likely) or x86 version.

As far as MB and multimedia hotkeys only the Play/Pause key is somehow problematic for me, but I hope we could find a solution.

I can't understand why it doesn't work by default with MB contrary to other multimedia hotkeys. The hotkeys Voulme Up/Down and Mute are painted silver with black icons whereas the Play/Pause key is black with silver icons just as other hotkeys for Internet and Calculator, but I guess it doesn't matter in this case. Any ideas 

[Crosmanrond]

I'm running the x86 version of IntelliType, but I doubt that's the issue...

A couple of debug questions:
Does Windows media player respond to your multimedia keys when minimized?
Try installing AutoHotKey then run a script and using the Key History view to see if your multimedia keys show up under their own names, or using the scan codes of another key(or two in my case).(sorry there's no simpler way to check..)

Other than that you might just try reinstalling MB...I've had weird issues fixed that way before...

[acxl]

Okay, thanks.
I'll try it this weekend.
With the WMP my keyboard is working perfectly.
In the past I'll updated MB always from (beta)build to build, let's see...