EventGhost (remote control and event listener)

[Pako]

it works great after I start EG and MB. It works maybe for 2-3 commands but then I lose all control over html and cannot access the page. Sometimes a restart of the browser on the phone works, most times it doesn't. ...

I'm sorry, but I do not know how I could help.

Pako, thank you again. But I tried to figure out how to customize the menu but didn't know how to.

I think it is quite simple and intuitive. Just play around with it a bit.
But it probably has no meaning if it does not work.


I have one idea and if it will really work, so I'm about two to four weeks will have another solution to remotely control of MusicBee using tablets and smartphones.

Pako

[Pako]

I just released a new version (0.0.4).
It contains many new features. For example:
1) Added action "Get static playlists"
2) Added actions "Add song to playlist" and "Add Currently playing song to playlist"
3) Added actions "Toggle mute", "Toggle shuffle" and "Toggle repeat"
4) Added actions "Increase / Decrease volume" and "Get track info"
5) Added actions "Get thumbnail" (Now Playing and Library groups)

Now I am preparing a sample to create a relatively comfortable web interface for this plugin.

It is possible that some minor changes are not backward compatible. I apologize to people who encounter it.

Pako

[Pako]

I did a web GUI for this plugin.
Here you can see how the control panel looks in a web browser:
Playing:

Paused:

Plugin mb_EventGhostPlugin_Setup.exe download here.
Everything else (what you'll need) download here.
After unpacking (I assume you have installed EventGhost and MusicBee)
- Run mb_EventGhostPlugin_Setup.exe (follow the instructions listed there)
- The folder www-musicbee place the anywhere it suits you
- File musicbee-webserver.xml you must open in EventGhost and set the necessary parameters of both plugins.
In particular, you have to (probably) change the path to the folder www-musicbee.

Now you can open the page in a web browser http://localhost:8080/index.html (use the same port as the Webserver plugin settings).
Note: If you open a page from another computer (or smartphone for example),
then you (obviously) need to replace "localhost" corresponding IP address.

Pako

[derausgewanderte]

thanks for the update. was looking forward to trying this.
here is what happens on my system.

I installed everything following your instructions. On the phone when I enter the url it finds the www-musicbee html and opens the page. Within EG I see that webserver and musicbee plugins are loaded.
However, none of the links on the webpage do anything. Seems to be an issue with the jscript talking to EG, because I can start and do everything with MB from within EG (e.g. run MB, play, stop and exit MB).
I made sure the paths are correct (they must be I guess since the phone finds your html page).
any ideas?

edit: a step by step;

installed MB and EG.
ran mb_EventGhostPlugin_Setup
no errors, checked and py and plugin were installed in the correct folders.

copied webserver folder (www-musicbee) into mb plugins folder

opened musicbee-webserver.xml in EG and get the following
-----------------------   
Plugin: Webserver
      Error starting plugin: Webserver
      Traceback (most recent call last) (1640):
        File "C:\Program Files (x86)\EventGhost\eg\Classes\PluginInstanceInfo.py", line 177, in Start
          self.instance.__start__(*self.args)
      TypeError: __start__() takes at most 8 arguments (9 given)
   Plugin: MusicBee
      Error starting plugin: MusicBee
      Application not found!
-----------------------
Ok to the MB plugin. I right click on the plugin and change to the correct path under configure. I get this:
-----------------------
Error starting plugin: MusicBee
Traceback (most recent call last) (1640):
  File "C:\Program Files (x86)\EventGhost\eg\Classes\PluginInstanceInfo.py", line 177, in Start
    self.instance.__start__(*self.args)
  File "C:\Program Files (x86)\EventGhost\plugins\MusicBee\__init__.py", line 1230, in __start__
    self.mr = eg.MessageReceiver("MusicBee_plugin_")
  File "C:\Program Files (x86)\EventGhost\eg\Classes\MessageReceiver.py", line 44, in __init__
    raise WinError()
WindowsError: [Error 1410] Class already exists.
-----------------------

When I try to configure the Webserver plugin EG just crashes.

Next round. After removing the plugins in EG under Configuration I load plugin/program control/MusicBee and Other/Webserver
EG is asking me to configure each when loading plugins.
No errors.

I restart EG. No errors.
I connect to webpage on phone and can connect fine. No icon shows up for MB though. When I tap the icon to start MB it does nothing.
In EG on the other hand under Configuration/ MB tree, all commands works fine.

So, EG knows where MB is located and the webserver. However there is no communication between the scripts and EG apparently.

the old mb_WWWserver.dll plugin works fine (using a different port). I turned AV and Firewall off in all of this.

[Pako]

...
copied webserver folder (www-musicbee) into mb plugins folder
...

1) I think that the  mb plugins folder is not a suitable location for these files (there should really be only MusicBee plugins). However, it does not seem to cause problems.
2) You write, that you are opening a website on a smartphone. I do not know what it is and what kind of browser you are using. This can be a problem. Therefore it would be helpful to first open a webpage directly on the computer that is running EventGhost and MusicBee (as I described it in my previous post). Your browser must support HTML5.
3) Please test HTML5 support on your smartphone here: http://html5test.com/
4) Please write here, what were the results of the tests referred to in points 2) and 3)

Pako

[derausgewanderte]

thanks for getting back so quickly.

I point the webbrowser to the www-musicbee folder with your index.html on the PC that runs MB.
eg. http://192.168.2.105:8888/
It's a WP8 and runs the latest IE which can do html5.

I've just tried both IE and FF on my PC and get the same page with the same behavior that none of the buttons work. It's the same web page you pictured above (#32) but it is missing the MB icon and it reads that MB is OFF, irrespective of whether MB is running or off.

edit: there is one difference. while from the WP8 phone nothing appears in the log in EG, the commands sent via pressing the buttons on the web page list the commands in EG. However, it does not do anything to MB and still reads MB is off on the page.

edit1: one button actually works both from a PC or the WP8 and that is the Windows Vol button. That turns Vol on or Off and the second slider changes the volume.

I think this is getting closer. Looks like some of the actions in MB are not associated with HotKeys or not set on global?

edit2: no luck with resetting MB.

edit3: so here is how I got it to work.
1) I removed the plugins in EG
2) then loaded them again through configuration/add plugin (what I noticed is that an actions folder for MB was created, however NOT for the webserver)
3) I saved the EG settings as something other than default and closed EG.
4) I opened your musicbee-webserver xml file and copied the Folder sections of MB and the webserver and pasted them into the EG settings file (I found out that keeping the MB folder that was created in EG didn't work, therefore I overwrote the one in my EG settings with yours).
5) saved the modified EG settings and opened EG. The plugins loaded with the appropriate Folders with actions.
Everything is working great. Beautiful. thank you!!

So it seems that EG has issues loading your xml file. There was no way for me to get this to work, no matter what I tried. Only way was to start a new EG settings file and then copying your sections over.

edit4: I've noticed that artist image only shows when I pause and just shows a black square when I play (works fine within a browser on the PC that runs MB though). Tried different browsers on the phone but still the same issue with the artist image.
Ok, just confirmed this issue from other PCs on the LAN and also have the issue.
Hmm, it works perfectly fine from an Android device using Chrome.
Also works from Firefox on a different PC. The other browsers I tried on the WP8 must be just wrappers for IE.
Therefore seems to be an issue with IE. Wonder whether there is a simple fix in the index.html to address this?
The star ratings also do not show up.

Also, the phone gets really hot when on the page. Could it be that the constant polling of the song position is the reason for that?

thank you

[derausgewanderte]

so after I got everything working (except the artist image), now I have a different problem. Whenever I launch the webpage on the phone the PC running MB throws an error. Looks like something with the EG plugin.

Eg2MbMessages
unhandled exception has occured in your application.
Error during serialization or deserialization using JSON JavaScriptSerializer. The length of the string exceeds the value set on the maxJsonLength property.

See the end of this message for details on invoking
just-in-time (JIT) debugging instead of this dialog box.

************** Exception Text **************
System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
   at MusicBeeEgPlugin.MessageWindow.IsLocalPath(String pth)
   at MusicBeeEgPlugin.MessageWindow.WndProc(Message& message)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)

I reinitialized everything (uninstalled, removed setting files, reinstalled) still there.
Note that I can just ignore this message or continue and everything is working. It only happens on the first initialization and then is silent.

[Pako]

I thank you for your interest in the plugin and also for your patience during installation.
It would be very difficult to help you remotely.

Also, the phone gets really hot when on the page. Could it be that the constant polling of the song position is the reason for that?

Yes, probably yes.
But it's not just a matter of position. The script is regularly asked whether "anything new?". If yes, do update page. At the same time it asking for a position.
Now there is a timeout 500 ms. You can try to extend this interval.
It is on line 137 in file script.js.

so after I got everything working (except the artist image), now I have a different problem. Whenever I launch the webpage on the phone the PC running MB throws an error. Looks like something with the EG plugin.

Eg2MbMessages
unhandled exception has occured in your application.
Error during serialization or deserialization using JSON JavaScriptSerializer. The length of the string exceeds the value set on the maxJsonLength property.

See the end of this message for details on invoking
just-in-time (JIT) debugging instead of this dialog box.

************** Exception Text **************
System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
   at MusicBeeEgPlugin.MessageWindow.IsLocalPath(String pth)
   at MusicBeeEgPlugin.MessageWindow.WndProc(Message& message)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)

I reinitialized everything (uninstalled, removed setting files, reinstalled) still there.
Note that I can just ignore this message or continue and everything is working. It only happens on the first initialization and then is silent.

I would like removed this inconvenience, but I have a little information and in my case this does not happen.
It might help to attach here the corresponding parts of files ErrorLog.dat (MusicBee debug log) and <USER>\AppData\Roaming\MusicBee\EventGhost\DebugLog.txt (mb_EgPlugin debug log).

Pako

[derausgewanderte]

thank you!
before I start I wanted to thank you again. As I wrote, it is working with just two problems right now:
a) JSON error
b) no artist image on IE browsers

Took me a while until I figured out how to keep the debug in the plugin on. MB was picky and turned it off for some reason. Once I changed the debug value in Settings.xml in the C:\Users\MyName\AppData\Roaming\MusicBee\EventGhost folder, it started writing a debug file.

Don't know how to add a file here, so I will paste this in here. It's not too long.
What I did. Started EG. Opened www on Phone and tapped the run MB button.

this is a log from within EG:
-----------------------------------

Code

 ---> Welcome to EventGhost <---
MB.Run
   MusicBee: Run MusicBee
      MusicBee: Run MusicBee
MusicBee.PluginStartup
   Webserver - variables initialization
      Webserver: Set temporary value: mbRunning: True
      Change Master Volume: 0.00 %
      Webserver: Set temporary value: Volume: {eg.result}
      MusicBee: Now playing command: Get artwork thumbnail: 128
      Webserver: Set temporary value: thumbnail: {eg.result}
      MusicBee: Player command: Get volume
      Webserver: Set temporary value: VolumeLevelChanged: {str(eg.result)}
      MusicBee: Player command: Get mute
      Webserver: Set temporary value: mute: {("False","True")[eg.result]}
      MusicBee: Now playing command: Get file tag: Album
      Webserver: Set temporary value: album: {eg.result}
      MusicBee: Now playing command: Get file tag: Artist
      Webserver: Set temporary value: artist: {eg.result}
      MusicBee: Now playing command: Get file tag: TrackTitle
      Webserver: Set temporary value: trackTitle: {eg.result}
      MusicBee: Player command: Get play state
      Webserver: Set temporary value: playstate: {eg.result}
      Webserver: Set clients flags: tracks
      MusicBee: Now playing command: Get file tag: Rating
      Webserver: Set temporary value: rating: {eg.result}
      MusicBee: Now playing command: Get file tag: Year
      Webserver: Set temporary value: year: {eg.result}
      MusicBee: Now playing command: Get track info
      Webserver: Set temporary value: info: {eg.result}
      MusicBee: Player command: Get shuffle
      Webserver: Set temporary value: shuffle: {("False","True")[eg.result]}
      MusicBee: Player command: Get repeat mode
      Webserver: Set temporary value: repeat: {eg.result}
      Get Mute Status
      Webserver: Set temporary value: sysMute: {("False","True")[eg.result]}
MB.play/pause
   MusicBee: Player command: Play/Pause
      MusicBee: Player command: Play/Pause
MusicBee.PlayStateChanged.Playing u"E:\Musik\L\Lisa Hannigan\Live at Fingerprints (2009)\02 - Splishy Splashy.flac"
   Webserver: Set temporary value: playstate: {eg.event.suffix.split(".")[-1]}
      Webserver: Set temporary value: playstate: {eg.event.suffix.split(".")[-1]}
MusicBee.TrackChanged [u'E:\\Musik\\L\\Lisa Hannigan\\Live at Fingerprints (2009)\\02 - Splishy Splashy.flac', u'Splishy Splashy\nLisa Hannigan\nLive at Fingerprints']
   Webserver: Set track infos
      MusicBee: Now playing command: Get file tag: TrackTitle
      Webserver: Set temporary value: trackTitle: {eg.result}
      MusicBee: Now playing command: Get file tag: Artist
      Webserver: Set temporary value: artist: {eg.result}
      MusicBee: Now playing command: Get file tag: Album
      Webserver: Set temporary value: album: {eg.result}
      MusicBee: Now playing command: Get file tag: Rating
      Webserver: Set temporary value: rating: {eg.result}
      MusicBee: Now playing command: Get file tag: Year
      Webserver: Set temporary value: year: {eg.result}
      MusicBee: Now playing command: Get track info
      Webserver: Set temporary value: info: {eg.result}
   Webserver: Set temporary value: thumbnail: {eg.result}
      MusicBee: Now playing command: Get artwork thumbnail: 128
      Webserver: Set temporary value: thumbnail: {eg.result}
MB.stop
   MusicBee: Player command: Stop
      MusicBee: Player command: Stop
MusicBee.PlayStateChanged.Stopped u"E:\Musik\L\Lisa Hannigan\Live at Fingerprints (2009)\02 - Splishy Splashy.flac"
   Webserver: Set temporary value: playstate: {eg.event.suffix.split(".")[-1]}
      Webserver: Set temporary value: playstate: {eg.event.suffix.split(".")[-1]}

-----------------------------------

This is the log from C:\Users\MyName\AppData\Roaming\MusicBee\EventGhost\DebugLog.txt
Note that I added two lines. 1) when the error occurred. 2) when I continued and pushed the play button
-----------------------------------

Code

 2013-11-04 19:13:20   PLUGIN STARTED - MusicBee version: 2_1; API revision: 33; Interface version: 29; Plugin version: 0.0.5
2013-11-04 19:13:20   SENDING:  0x00000000  PluginStartup|4718644
2013-11-04 19:13:23   WM_APP+1  0x00004952  0x00000080
2013-11-04 19:13:23   SENDING:  0x00004901  |iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAIAAAACACAIAAABMXPacAAAAAXNSR0IArs4c6QAAAARnQU1BAACxjwv8YQUAAAAJcEhZcwAADsM
2013-11-04 19:13:23   WM_APP+1  0x00000024  0x00000000
2013-11-04 19:13:23   WM_APP+1  0x0000000d  0x00000000
2013-11-04 19:13:23   WM_APP+1  0x00004a2b  0x0000001e
2013-11-04 19:13:23   SENDING:  0x00004a01  |Live at Fingerprints
2013-11-04 19:13:23   WM_APP+1  0x00004b2b  0x00000020
2013-11-04 19:13:23   SENDING:  0x00004b01  |Lisa Hannigan
2013-11-04 19:13:23   WM_APP+1  0x00004c2b  0x00000041
2013-11-04 19:13:23   SENDING:  0x00004c01  |Splishy Splashy
2013-11-04 19:13:23   WM_APP+1  0x0000001d  0x00000000
2013-11-04 19:13:23   WM_APP+1  0x00004d2b  0x0000004b
2013-11-04 19:13:23   WM_APP+1  0x00004e2b  0x00000058
2013-11-04 19:13:23   SENDING:  0x00004e01  |2009 11 17
2013-11-04 19:13:23   WM_APP+1  0x00004f56  0x00000000
2013-11-04 19:13:23   SENDING:  0x00004f01  |FLAC 44.1 kHz, 866k, Stereo, 3:37
2013-11-04 19:13:23   WM_APP+1  0x0000000f  0x00000000
2013-11-04 19:13:23   WM_APP+1  0x0000001e  0x00000000
2013-11-04 19:13:23   WM_APP+1  0x0000503f  0x00000000
2013-11-04 19:13:23   SENDING:  0x00005003  |{"Recently Added":"E:\\Musik\\MusicBee\\Playlists\\Recently Added.xautopf","Recently Played":"E:\\M
2013-11-04 19:13:23   WM_APP+1  0x00005157  0x00000000
2013-11-04 19:13:23   SENDING:  0x00005103  |{}
2013-11-04 19:13:24   WM_APP+1  0x00005247  0x00000000

            ##this is where the JSON error message shows up.

            ##this is where I start playing the currently highlighted song by tapping the play button on the Phone.

2013-11-04 19:16:23   WM_APP+1  0x00000000  0x00000000
2013-11-04 19:16:23   SENDING:  0x00000001  PlayStateChanged.Playing|E:\Musik\L\Lisa Hannigan\Live at Fingerprints (2009)\02 - Splishy Splashy.f
2013-11-04 19:16:23   SENDING:  0x00000002  E:\Musik\L\Lisa Hannigan\Live at Fingerprints (2009)\02 - Splishy Splashy.flac|Splishy Splashy<LF>Li
2013-11-04 19:16:23   WM_APP+1  0x0000532b  0x00000041
2013-11-04 19:16:23   SENDING:  0x00005301  |Splishy Splashy
2013-11-04 19:16:23   WM_APP+1  0x0000542b  0x00000020
2013-11-04 19:16:23   SENDING:  0x00005401  |Lisa Hannigan
2013-11-04 19:16:23   WM_APP+1  0x0000552b  0x0000001e
2013-11-04 19:16:23   SENDING:  0x00005501  |Live at Fingerprints
2013-11-04 19:16:23   WM_APP+1  0x0000562b  0x0000004b
2013-11-04 19:16:23   WM_APP+1  0x0000572b  0x00000058
2013-11-04 19:16:23   SENDING:  0x00005701  |2009 11 17
2013-11-04 19:16:23   WM_APP+1  0x00005856  0x00000000
2013-11-04 19:16:23   SENDING:  0x00005801  |FLAC 44.1 kHz, 866k, Stereo, 3:37
2013-11-04 19:16:23   WM_APP+1  0x00005952  0x00000080
2013-11-04 19:16:24   SENDING:  0x00005901  |iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAIAAAACACAIAAABMXPacAAAAAXNSR0IArs4c6QAAAARnQU1BAACxjwv8YQUAAAAJcEhZcwAADsM
2013-11-04 19:16:24   WM_APP+1  0x00000053  0x00000000
2013-11-04 19:16:24   WM_APP+1  0x00000053  0x00000000
2013-11-04 19:16:25   WM_APP+1  0x00000053  0x00000000
2013-11-04 19:16:26   WM_APP+1  0x00000053  0x00000000
2013-11-04 19:16:26   WM_APP+1  0x00000053  0x00000000

-----------------------------------

crossing my fingers that you'll see something that I can do to make the error go away.
not knowing what I am talking about ( ) my guess is that it has to do with this line:
SENDING:  0x00005003  |{"Recently Added":"E:\\Musik\\MusicBee\\Playlists\\Recently Added.xautopf","Recently Played":"E:\\M
possibly the JSON data range is set too small for the amount of data that is there? I read up about the error message from my previous post and people posted to increase the maxJsonLength value to address problems like this. Maybe I have to refresh or clean my Recently Played list?

just wildly guessing here  

edit: wow, thanks for pointing me to the debug, which let me figure this out myself!!
it is in fact the recent played list that causes the error. once I cleared my long "Now Playing" list in MB, the error message vanished. Apparently that list had more data than maxJsonLength allowed. It turns out that I didn't even notice that the "Choose track...." button showed an empty list when tapped on the phone. That was another hint that something with the Recently Played list was amiss.

edit1: turns out there is a "prune played tracks: keep the last xy tracks" under Preferences/Now Playing in MB (what a beautiful program!). My list was over 350songs long when the error showed up. Will play with the pruning value to still keep a decent Recently Played list and not cause the error.

edit2: It certainly is the Recently Played list. When I empty it and there is nothing in MB in that list it throws an error as well (can't find object).
The problem with the Json error is deeper though I think. When I play a song from the music collection the Now Playing list consists of ALL songs in my library (>50k). That is because I've set Play Now action to clear list and play all tracks. Of course your routine will choke on that and it probably wouldn't matter what size I set maxJsonLength value to. I've changed this to 'queue selected tracks and play now' which only adds the double clicked file to the list while keeping other recently played songs. This is manageable only to a certain point of course until the Json error will show up again.

Just for future reference. Where would I be able to change the maxJsonLength value to allow longer Recently Played lists?
thanks

[derausgewanderte]

Now the only thing that bugs me is the artist image not showing on the Play button on the phone. Is there another way of pulling that from MB?
There is this www server plugin
http://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=8366.0
which pulls the artist image from MB. Maybe I can borrow the line in that index.html file into your index.html?
This plugin works fine on my phone (however it's missing important features that you added, e.g. vol control and more). The artist image works perfectly fine with that plugin though.

What is weird is that it displays the artist image when paused, transparent underneath the play button. But it shows a black box when playing.

[Pako]

Just for future reference. Where would I be able to change the maxJsonLength value to allow longer Recently Played lists?

I do not know. This is probably some settings in MS Visual Studio.
I will try to find out more about it.

Now the only thing that bugs me is the artist image not showing on the Play button on the phone. Is there another way of pulling that from MB?

I do not know how I can help:
I have only PC and Android smartphone available.
In all browsers album cover normally visible.
And even in MS IE too (but there are other shortcomings).
I recommend experimenting with the script.js file (keywords #thumbnail and  #playbutton).

Pako

[derausgewanderte]

thank you. I will look at the script.js and compare to the other plugin script file to see if there are differences in handling the button behavior.

[derausgewanderte]

thank you. I will look at the script.js and compare to the other plugin script file to see if there are differences in handling the button behavior.

well, I can't figure it out. looks all Spanish to me.
the fact that the Pause action displays the artist image with the play button superimposed clearly shows it is there. How do I invoke the same action for pressing the play button again? I don't mind having it displayed the same as the Pause action. At least it won't show a black box.

thank you

edit: tsts, right when I give up I find something.

It seems IE does not like the overlay of the playbutton with the thumbnail using float. When I take

Code

 <img style="width: 128px; height: 128px; float:left" id = "playbutton" alt=""></td> 

out of the html file (line 25) it shows the album cover fine. Of course it doesn't show the play button anymore when I hit Pause. It remains the thumbnail (album cover). But I don't mind this.

It also explains why the ratings right next to this image doesn't show either since it uses "float" in line 41.
And these are exactly the two lines that use "float" and a black box is shown instead of an image.

trying to find alternatives for float. Reading about float I certainly find issues and problems galore with IE (mostly older versions).

If you have any suggestions or ideas on how to change the IE behavior let me know.

ps, changing the timing to 1000 works fine and the phone is not getting hot anymore - thanks!
and thank you again for the wonderful plugin. works fantastic on my Lumia 920

[Pako]

I thank you, that you devote so much effort into my plugin.
Perhaps other users will benefit from it.
I did some research and I found something that might be worth a try.
Please try this modification:

Code

<img style="width: 128px; height: 128px; float: left; display: inline" id = "playbutton" alt=""></td>

Thanks, Pako

[Pako]

A new version (0.0.6) released.
Added two actions to group Now playing list command: Move track and Move track (offset).

Pako