IRScope 2.0.2.1 experimental, adds Capture Wizard function

Digital Larry · Post by **Digital Larry** » Wed Aug 10, 2011 11:10 am

Using IR scope to capture a lot of keys is quite tedious because you have to enter the notes manually one by one and do a lot of clicking on the UI.

I got the IR Scope source code and reached far back into my distant past, where I knew something about C++, to add this functionality.

To install this, get the IRScope 2.01 package here, unzip it to some handy location, then take the ZIP file and replace the IRScope.exe file. This new version is 2.0.2.1.

To choose which groups of keys you wish to capture, select from the checkboxes shown in the "Capture Wizard" group on the top panel.

The keys to be captured for each group are as follows:

Digits: { "Digit 1", "Digit 2", "Digit 3", "Digit 4", "Digit 5", "Digit 6", "Digit 7", "Digit 8", "Digit 9", "Digit 0" };

Cursor: { "Menu Up", "Menu Right", "Menu Down", "Menu Left", "OK/Select" };

DVR: { "Play", "Pause", "Record", "Stop", "Rewind", "Fast Forward", "Previous", "Next" };

PIP: { "PIP", "PIP Swap", "PIP Position", "PIP Ch+", "PIP Ch-" };

Colors: { "Red", "Green", "Yellow", "Blue" };

Menu: { "Menu", "Guide", "Power", "Info", "TV", "Radio", "Text", "Help" };

The Wizard mode will prompt you for each key in the list one by one and add the note automatically.

To initiate the Wizard mode, make sure at least one of the checkboxes is selected, then select “Capture Wizard” at the bottom of the “Advanced” menu.

Current known issues:
1) There is no way to skip one of the preassigned keys in the lists. If you wish to skip a key, just capture any key for that position then delete it later.

2) It doesn’t handle “No IR received” properly.

3) In the case where there is some problem with the capture, where the protocol analysis result shows up on more than one line, it should be recognized as an error, erased, and retried, but it doesn’t.

4) The “Redo” option doesn’t work properly.

Let me know if you find other issues. I'll try to figure out where to put the modified source code in the event someone wishes to try to solve the issues.

Thanks,

DL

alanrichey · Post by **alanrichey** » Sat Aug 13, 2011 6:54 am

Looks nice. Main problem is that the Cancel button doesn't appear to work. After testing it with a few digits I tapped the Cancel button to quit and it ignored me and carried on the Wizard. Had to 'kill' the program from Task Manager in the end.

Al

Digital Larry · Post by **Digital Larry** » Wed Aug 17, 2011 5:13 pm

Hi Alan,

Thanks for trying it out. What was happening was that it would cancel the current group of keys but continue with the next group.

I've fixed that issue - please download 2.0.2.2 from the same link and try it again.

Digital Larry

alanrichey · Post by **alanrichey** » Wed Aug 17, 2011 6:04 pm

Yes that's fixed, thanks. I like this a lot and will be using it, so some thoughts for your consideration:

1. Menu Up/Menu Down.... threw me a bit until I realised you meant the arrow buttons. They are not just used for Menu selection so maybe call them Arrow buttons, or just Up/Down/left/Right ?

2. Can we have a 'Skip' option button added to Yes/No/Cancel selections ? The later commands such as TV, Radio, Text... are not on all remotes and I know you could fire a dummy code and remove it later, but a 'Skip' button would be easier.

3. You have a 'Next' button, but I don't recall a 'Previous' button ?

4. Can you add the 4 Colour buttons ? They are fairly common these days.

5. Vol+/- and Mute ?

6. An 'Exit/Back' button ?

7. Page +/-

I suppose the ideal system is a user-configurable list, with you providing the default, but that probably involves a lot of work.

This is also probably too difficult, but on occasions I screw up and would like to restart the wizard part way through, maybe at the beginning of a new group of commands. So it was frustrating to have to start right at the beginning again each time. I have no idea how you would implement that, unless it was a sub-menu of the Advanced > Capture Wizard menu option ? Something like All, Numeric, Navigation, Transport, Colour, Other...

Cheers

Al

Digital Larry · Post by **Digital Larry** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 2:32 pm

Hi Alan,

Please go back and get 2.0.2.3 at the same link.

Here are the buttons contained within each group:

Digits = { "Digit 1", "Digit 2", "Digit 3", "Digit 4", "Digit 5", "Digit 6", "Digit 7", "Digit 8", "Digit 9", "Digit 0" };

Cursor = { "Arrow Up", "Arrow Right", "Arrow Down", "Arrow Left", "OK/Select", "Exit", "Back" };

DVR = { "Play", "Pause", "Record", "Stop", "Rewind", "Fast Forward", "Previous", "Next" };

PIP = { "PIP", "PIP Swap", "PIP Position", "PIP Ch+", "PIP Ch-" };

Colors = { "Red", "Green", "Yellow", "Blue" };

Menu = { "Menu", "Guide", "Power", "Info", "TV", "Radio", "Text", "Help" };

Vol/Chan = { "Volume +", "Volume -", "Mute", "Channel +", "Channel -", "Page +", "Page -" };

"Previous" is in there - just before "Next".

Adding "Skip" after a capture is going to take a little more effort - maybe next week I'll have time for it. Yes it would be ideal to have a user configurable list, but I'm too lazy to do that at present.

Regarding starting over half way through - please note that the groups you wish to capture each have a checkbox in the panel up top called "Capture Wizard". It's just to the right of "Save" options. So to start over without capturing a group you've already captured, just uncheck that group.

Regards,

DL

alanrichey · Post by **alanrichey** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 3:48 pm

Thanks, looks good. My apologies for not reading the original post properly, I see you addressed most of my comments there before I even checked it

And I tell other people to RTFM

And I now realise the reason I didn't see the colour buttons was that the default was to have them switched off.

I promise to improve.............

Seriously trivial, but I find the message box asking if the learn was OK, actually blocks the screen, so I have no idea if it worked or not. Any way it can be displayed offset ?

Any way the default group settings can be saved to avoid having to set/unset them ever time ?

Al

Digital Larry · Post by **Digital Larry** » Fri Aug 19, 2011 10:29 pm

Hi Alan,

What about this concept?

You can select a set of groups. This translates to a list of key names. You can then show the whole list of key names thus created and then toggle them on or off individually. Then you could save that set as a user defined list which you could load any time you liked.

Using the groups is then a quick way to get started. Making the user defined list allows you to adjust it to your specific needs. And of course it would be a simple text file so you could edit or create them at will.

I'll check into moving the dialog box over.

Thanks for your feedback... it's motivational - I haven't done any programming in several years and have to relearn the basics every time I do it.

DL

alanrichey · Post by **alanrichey** » Sat Aug 20, 2011 4:56 am

Yes, sounds good.

alanrichey · Post by **alanrichey** » Sat Aug 20, 2011 5:37 am

Another problem just surfaced. If a decode is not perfect and it gives 2 or more results, then the automatic Note insert fails, as it simply increments by 1 instead of the number of entries actually displayed. So it gets alocated to the wrong entry.

Digital Larry · Post by **Digital Larry** » Sat Aug 20, 2011 8:04 am

Thanks Alan. That "decode error" one is tricky because I have to try to force a decode error to occur and I'm not at all sure how to make it happen when I want to. Anyway as I mentioned previously it's still a little bumpy on handling less than ideal conditions. Keep the comments coming!

DL

Barf · Post by **Barf** » Sun Aug 21, 2011 4:25 am

Tried the 2.0.2.3 version. "No" button does not work, possibly since I was testing on a German Windows 7. In this context: The text says "Yes", "No", and "Cancel", while the buttons say "Ja", "Nein" and "Abbrechen". (Isn't Windows wonderful, does not allow you to write non-localized programs?

) Cancel works though.

I would like to cast my vote for a template file. The program can come with a few preconfigured (TV, Settop SAT/Cable, DVD/Bluray,...) from which the user can, ir desired, derive his own. If I read in a remote, I like to start by defining the keys, then handing over to a program to read in those, possibly even maintaining comments ("upper row"). Fixing partial lists is a pain.

Possibly some work, but the checklist interface did not write itself either

Digital Larry · Post by **Digital Larry** » Sun Aug 21, 2011 8:09 am

Hi Barf,

As I mentioned in my first post, "No", aka "Redo" is not working properly. I'm not convinced it has anything to do with the language, I just didn't implement it yet.

I think I'm going to stick with the concept of key groups as a starting point for quickly creating a set of keys for any given remote.

There will be two main options in Capture Wizard:

Use Key Groups
Use Key List

When using key groups, you could copy the keys defined by those groups to the active list and then save it. Editing of the key list within the application is probably the last thing I'd implement since you can do it in Notepad.

The key list will simply be a list of key names, one per line, e.g.

Digit 1
Digit 2
Digit 12
World Domination
Cheese Pizza

etc.

I think customizing key lists yourself and then letting you load one (standard file open dialog) will give you all the flexibility you need.

Thanks for your feedback.

DL