Jump to content
Flirc Forums

Harmony confusion -- which programming method to use?


joek

Recommended Posts

Is there anyway to get the custom Flirc device/profile for Harmony Remote to be able to wake and sleep the computer with single button presses. I understand that not all possible commands are implemented in the Harmony device profile at this point but it seems given the new firmware with one of its main features being a wake command that this would have been an obvious command to implement in the Harmony profile. Shut down or sleep can be done through XBMC menu selection I guess although that can take several steps depending on what skin you have and may not be possible at all, again depending on the skin setup and the current available Harmony commands. For example I have Openelec with Frodo 12.2 and Transparency skin and the only way I know to shut down or sleep the system is with the "S" key (shutdown or system menu) or Ctrl+end (exit XBMC) both of which are not available in the current profile. As far as waking, again there is no wake command and if I do not implement this feature then with the new firmware any remote key press will wake my system whether programmed into Flirc or not. See my previous post

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Let me add to the above post that I am using the latest V1.0.0 RC2 firmware and I understand that is is not considered a stable release and that the Harmony profile is not considered fully functional so if there is not work around at this time that is fine. Overall I think the Flirc hardware and software are heads above anything else available, thanks for all the work and support.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

OK, so I found another way to access the shutdown menu from the skin and I can always manually wake my HTPC by pushing the power button so not a lost cause it just leaves things to complicated for my wife to run unfortunately. Aslo I think the poweroff command in the Flirc profile does not work because I am using Frodo and it looks like this profile is based on Eden and I think the keyboard commands changed with Frodo for this function.  I will hope that these features are added eventually and in the meantime consider changing back to the non-Flirc profile method. Besides wake and sleep I would also recommend adding Esc in the future as well. I also wonder if possible now or in the future to combine the built in commands from the Harmony profile with adding additional commands or overriding some commands from the Flirc GUI or command line utility programs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I took the route of manually configuring FLIRC with a Harmony 650.  I also added 20 extra keys through the IR learning feature.  I programmed the Harmony 650 with the Panasonic TV profile and used a second learning remote to "learn" the numbers 1-10.  Then I turned around and had the Harmony "learn" the IR codes for the same 10 buttons extending the FLIRC profile.  I did this again with the Samsung TV profile so I had 20 additional buttons I could use.

 

I mapped the 10 buttons to ALT-F1 through F10 and CTRL-F1 through F10 in FLIRC.

 

With the new firmware you SHOULD be able to assign one of these buton presses to the WAKE key.  If you suspend XBMC you should be able to wake it using this button press.

Taking another one of these new buttons, I set it up to suspend XBMC and made the modification to the keymap.xml file.

 

Here is the relevant section in the <global> block

 

  <global>
    <keyboard>
      <f7 mod="ctrl">Suspend</f7>
      <f8 mod="ctrl">Reboot</f8>
      <f9 mod="ctrl">Powerdown</f9>
      <f10 mod="ctrl">ShutDown</f10>
      <f4 mod="ctrl">reloadkeymaps</f4>
      <k mod="ctrl">reloadkeymaps</k>
    </keyboard>
  </global>

 

Then in the Harmony software for the device, you can setup the power control for the device so that power on presses your wake key and power off presses CTRL-F7.  That should get power on and off working in XBMC.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Let me add to the above post that I am using the latest V1.0.0 RC2 firmware and I understand that is is not considered a stable release and that the Harmony profile is not considered fully functional so if there is not work around at this time that is fine.

We'll be improving the harmony support (it's something I really want too!) - we have contacts at harmony (who seems very nice). We'll get there - thanks for the patience  :)

 

Glad you're enjoying your Flirc!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I took the route of manually configuring FLIRC with a Harmony 650.  I also added 20 extra keys through the IR learning feature.  I programmed the Harmony 650 with the Panasonic TV profile and used a second learning remote to "learn" the numbers 1-10.  Then I turned around and had the Harmony "learn" the IR codes for the same 10 buttons extending the FLIRC profile.  I did this again with the Samsung TV profile so I had 20 additional buttons I could use.

 

I mapped the 10 buttons to ALT-F1 through F10 and CTRL-F1 through F10 in FLIRC.

 

With the new firmware you SHOULD be able to assign one of these buton presses to the WAKE key.  If you suspend XBMC you should be able to wake it using this button press.

Taking another one of these new buttons, I set it up to suspend XBMC and made the modification to the keymap.xml file.

 

Here is the relevant section in the <global> block

 

  <global>

    <keyboard>

      <f7 mod="ctrl">Suspend</f7>

      <f8 mod="ctrl">Reboot</f8>

      <f9 mod="ctrl">Powerdown</f9>

      <f10 mod="ctrl">ShutDown</f10>

      <f4 mod="ctrl">reloadkeymaps</f4>

      <k mod="ctrl">reloadkeymaps</k>

    </keyboard>

  </global>

 

Then in the Harmony software for the device, you can setup the power control for the device so that power on presses your wake key and power off presses CTRL-F7.  That should get power on and off working in XBMC.

Great post. (I'll probably link to it)

 

I guess this is the work around for people who need it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For those that want to go the route of editing their XBMC keymap file this URL has 2 useful utilities for Windows users: http://xbmcmce.sourceforge.net/

 

There is a showkey.exe that will give you the exact line of text you need to add into your keymap.xml file and it works great as a key tester.  It's better than opening a word processor since it gives you information on key modifiers ctrl and alt.  There is also a program to actually help you create the keymap.xml file itself although I prefer to hand edit the file.

 

It goes without saying that with all the extra keys you can add lots of extras.

 

My example above added 4 options for power.  Suspend puts the computer to sleep.  Reboot will reboot the computer.  Powerdown powers off the machine.  Shutdown is slightly special.  It automatically performs the action defined in the System -> Settings -> System -> Power Saving -> Shutdown Action.  So this could sleep or power off the computer depending on what you configure.

 

I like having a key code to reload the keymap so when I edit the map I can test out the key immediately in XBMC without reloading XBMC.  Also, if you have a typo you have a chance to fix it and reload again.

 

Here are a few other uses for the extra keys I've added to the global section:

 

      <f1 mod="alt">ActivateWindow(Home)</f1>
      <f2 mod="alt">ActivateWindow(videolibrary,movietitles,return)</f2>
      <f3 mod="alt">ActivateWindow(videolibrary,tvshowtitles,return)</f3>
      <f4 mod="alt">ActivateWindow(MyVideo,files,return)</f4>
      <f5 mod="alt">ActivateWindow(MyPictures)</f5>
      <f6 mod="alt">ActivateWindow(MusicLibrary)</f6>
      <f7 mod="alt">ActivateWindow(Weather)</f7>

 

I assign these to the soft buttons on my Harmony.  This allows me to jump to Home, Movies, TV Shows, Video Files, Pictures, Music and Weather in that order.

 

If you want to know exactly what keys do what in XBMC, this link shows the default keymap.xml file for XBMC: https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/blob/master/system/keymaps/keyboard.xml#L39

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have been experimenting and it looks like you can manually add new commands to the Harmony Flirc profile just like other Harmony profiles. I was afraid that if a remote button was mapped to a command/key in Flirc using the GUI or CLI that the new configuration would completely override the firmware default mappings that the Harmony profile relies on but it appears to not be the case.

 

I have been able to add new commands/codes to the Harmony Flirc profile from within MyHarmony using the "add a command" function under Devices or Buttons which allows the Harmony to learn new codes from another remote. Then I use the Flirc GUI or CLI to map the new button/code to the key/command I want Flirc to send. An example is that I created a "Wake" command in the Harmony Flirc profile and learned the power on code from another remote to the Harmony. I then went into the Flirc CLI (also was able to repeat with the GUI) and recorded this new Harmony button to the "Wake" key. All the other default commands remain active and the keys command in the CLI just shows the new keys added. I hope this make sense (maybe everyone already new this) because it allows the use of the current Harmony profile to generate the majority of your Harmony commands and you only have to add the missing ones instead of trying to come up with another good base remote profile like the "Panasonic TV" remote etc. Overall I think that there will be less commands that need to be added. I guess basically this is a composite of the two solutions for setting up a Harmony remote. Along with murkyl's post above this appears to open up a whole range of customizing possibilities w/o having to start from complete scratch on the the more basic/common commands.

 

I have not tried to assign a button that is sending an existing/default Harmony profile command/code to a new key/command in the Flirc GUI or CLI (like ContextMenu to key "M" instead of "C") nor have I tried to create a new Harmony command/code and assign it to an already existing default firmaware key/command (like Home to "Back"). 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've gone down the path of the Harmony beta firmware and I am generally happy with the result.

One thing I found though is that my XBMC won't stay asleep. I try to suspend which it does but then within 10 or so seconds it automatically wake again. This never happened before.

 

I would like to try and compare the Samsung/Panasonic TV approach however I can't seem to be able to map the keys using the GUI anymore. Is there a way to go back to the latest stable firmware again? I've tried but can't seem to get it to work.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Hi everybody,

New here - I just purchased the Flirc, didn't set it up yet.

I do have an harmony, and have an additional question: it is already set up to use "Media Center PC", I can still use normal Flirc GUI to set up the keys "manually" right? Or do I have to use one of the 2 methods (beta FW or using a TV profile)?

I don't use Xbmc but a combination of windows mediacenter, media browser, mpc-hc and powerdvd.

I would prefer not to reprogram the harmony itself, but rather the flirc to use my current harmony setup. I have additionally some custom commands to setup (such as color keys to circle audio streams and subtitle streams in MKVs)

Thanks - and sorry if this is already answered somewhere...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi cris,

 

Flirc can work with the keys that already exist on the harmony - you will need to program the keys in the flirc gui (which seems to be what you want to do).

 

I'm sure flirc will do want you want it to, wait until you have it - it's much simpler when you have it than when you're reading about it etc.

 

If you have any more problems; make a new forum thread in the general questions and we'll help :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Am very happy with the way the flirc works with my Harmony 525 using the latest beta firmware.

 

What button command do I use to get back to the XBMC main page (where you select films/video/settings etc)? Or something equivalent to pressing escape on the keyboard?

You got it in there :) . Switch to keyboard controller in the flirc GUI and map the remote button to esc

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hmm having problems as when I try to map a new command to the remote it says no more space for new buttons for some reason.

 

I got that with the beta firmware.  Seemed to happen when I reprogrammed too many keys without deleting the existing mapping first.  I ended up reverting to stable firmware, and it went away.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Hi all, new here. Got my flirc last night & seems to work quite well with my Harmony remote, much better than the crappy IR receiver built in my laptop. Have a couple issues with my PC sleeping by itself and also randomly waking up, stupid thing woke me up this morning a few time hearing the fan spin up haha, just had to turn it off.   Was hoping someone can help, I'll explain how i've set it up first. I am running Win 8 x64, XBMC Frodo, Harmony 650 remote, Flirc beta rc4, using the Harmony flirc xbmc profile.  

 

It looks like I've done something similar to here. In the Harmony software I've setup two custom Additional Buttons (the ones you see on the little remote screen) for my XBMC Activity, called them 'XBMC On' and 'XBMC Off'. I mapped these two buttons to use the Yellow and Blue buttons on my Samsung TV since I already had this device in my Harmony config and these buttons were unused.  

 

I then went over to my XBMC machine and opened up the Flirc GUI and programmed my new custom buttons. My 'XBMC On' button sends the 'Wake' key from the Full Keyboard controller, and my 'XBMC Off' button sends the Shutdown key from the XBMC controller (I've set the Shutdown command in XBMC to Sleep).  

 

These two buttons work perfectly, however I am having a problem where if I leave my PC idle for a few minutes or so it will go to sleep, and even worse the PC will randomly wake itself up later on. I'm not too sure if it's Flirc, my remote, or Windows causing this. I had the suspend_detect option enabled in the Flirc GUI, could this be causing it? One thing I didn't check was maybe turning off my network adapter from allowing it to wake my PC (I think you can do that?).

 

Anyone have any other ideas? I'm at work at the moment so I'll have to play around with it a bit again tonight. Thanks in advance for any help (and sorry for the long post) :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Yo Chris whats up with this link

 

For the harmony profile to work you'll need beta firmware and software (currenty on release candidate 2): 

 

I click the link to download the beta and I get failed no file error on windows. I was wanting to try this with my harmony remote and download the profile on harmony website.

 

Bryanbear

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

I have a good question if someone has the answer.  I am using the beta harmony configuration with the beta firmware, and I cannot locate a key on this that does the 'ESC' key which will take you back to the main home screen.  I was playing around and I cannot get any of the pre-set buttons to do what the ESC key does in XBMC.  Any help would be appreciated.  Thank you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
  • 3 weeks later...
  • 3 months later...

For those interested in adding commands to the Harmony Ultimate remote using Flirc and XBMC, there is a very simple way to do that without having to fiddle with :

- installing the old generic Samsung/Panasonic TV generic profiles to emulate the Flirc device

- using the command learning feature of the Harmony remote

- manually editing XML keyboard layout files

 

Just add a device using the Flirc Harmony profile in the Harmony app, so you don't have to manually assign all the keys to buttons using the Flirc GUI

 

In case some key/button assignments are missing, make the necessary adjustments using the Flirc GUI. For example, the M key (OSD menu) cannot be mapped to a button in the Harmony app. What i did was i assigned the DVR button on my remote to the AudioNextLanguage command in the Harmony app. Then, i overrode that assignment by associating the DVR button to the M key using the Flirc GUI. The thing is, you have to first assign commands to buttons in the Harmony app before those buttons become available in the Flirc GUI.

 

Going from that, i was able to assign the wake and suspend commands to buttons on my Harmony remote and add those commands to my "Use XBMC" activity.  Now my PC goes to sleep when pressing the OFF button and wakes up when pressing the XBMC activity button.

 

More on that here :

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...