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pytsharp

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Posts posted by pytsharp

    COLORFUL bigbox theme

    in Big Box Custom Themes

    Posted

    This is really a fantastic theme and I would love to use it as my default, but I'm not managing to get the plugin that drives my LED marquee to work with it, which is stopping me at the moment.

    My plugin (LedMarqueeNoSerial) derives from UserControl and implements IBigBoxThemeElementPlugin. Normally, I just add a reference to the namespace in the XAML, and add an instance inside the Canvas, e.g. 

    <UserControl xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
             xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
             xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
             xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
             xmlns:transitions="clr-namespace:Unbroken.LaunchBox.Windows.Transitions;assembly=Unbroken.LaunchBox.Windows"
             xmlns:coverFlow="clr-namespace:Unbroken.LaunchBox.Windows.Controls.CoverFlow;assembly=Unbroken.LaunchBox.Windows"
             xmlns:cal="http://www.caliburnproject.org"
             xmlns:i="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/2010/interactivity"
             xmlns:ledMarqueeNoSerial="clr-namespace:LedMarqueeNoSerial;assembly=LedMarqueeNoSerial"
             ...

    and then at the end of the XAML file: 

    <UserControl>
  <Canvas>
    [...]
  	<Grid>
      [...]
    </Grid>
    
    <ledMarqueeNoSerial:BigBoxPlugin />
  </Canvas>
</UserControl>

    but when using the Colorful theme that doesn't seem to work and the plugin does not seem to be loaded.

     

    Any idea why this may be happening?

    Reference to System.IO.Ports

    in Third-Party Applications and Plugins (Development and Beta Testing)

    Posted · Edited by pytsharp
    Reformatted code

    Hi All,

    The 11.3 upgrade has broken the plugin I use to control my Arduino-powered LED Marquee. The plugin has a dependency on System.IO.Ports as it has to use serial communication to communicate with the Arduino. Everything was working splendidly until Launchbox was upgraded to .NET Core. I've been trying to make it work again for over a week now and all I get is this error popup whenever I start Big Box with a theme that has the plugin enabled.

      

    System.Windows.Markup.XamlParseException: 'The invocation of the constructor on type 'Ledmarquee.BigBoxPlugin' that matches the specified binding constraints threw an exception.' Line number '182' and line position '7'.
 ---> System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Could not load file or assembly 'System.IO.Ports, Version=4.0.3.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=cc7b13ffcd2ddd51'. The system cannot find the file specified.
File name: 'System.IO.Ports, Version=4.0.3.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=cc7b13ffcd2ddd51'
   at Ledmarquee.BigBoxPlugin..ctor()


     

    It looks like LaunchBox is trying to load the plugin assembly as a .NET Core assembly instead of a .NET Framework assembly, and System.IO.Ports.SerialPort  has been dropped from .NET Core and is only available in the Framework.

    @Jason Carr am I missing something obvious? Are you aware of any workarounds for this? I've been racking my brain for over a week now - I even ported the plugin to .NET Core and explicitly added a reference to https://www.nuget.org/packages/System.IO.Ports/ and copied the DLL over to the Plugins folder in LaunchBox but no luck.

    As a last resort, is there a chance I can downgrade to an older version of LaunchBox from before the .NET Core migration? I really want to be able to use my LED Marquee, I spent many months making the hardware and software to drive it :(

     

    Thanks!

    image.thumb.png.03f54c310c0a09fc5ce3de2d1d711c43.png

    Android Tablet / Phone Side Screen

    in Third-Party Applications and Plugins (Development and Beta Testing)

    Posted

    Oooh, that's fantastic, thank you for the heads up! Is that interface new? I hadn't looked at the Launchbox API Documentation for a while, and until the last time I checked, only the IBigBoxThemeElementPlugin and IGameMenuItemPlugin interfaces were available! I'm sure ISystemEventsPlugin will be perfect if it raises an event on app shutdown or similar! Thank you very much, I appreciate it!

    • Like 1

    Android Tablet / Phone Side Screen

    in Third-Party Applications and Plugins (Development and Beta Testing)

    Posted

    5 minutes ago, g0d53nd said:

    This is a great idea. Id use it just for the manuals itself. I have an android tablet now that hardly gets used so this would definitely have me dusting it off.

    Yep, that's pretty much the reason why I came up with the idea in the first place :) And even for those who don't have one, a decent Android tablet can be now bought for $50 or so, and it's a nice addition to a cabinet, if only to display the appropriate manual while playing! I'm planning to release a first beta of the plugin this week.

     

    • Like 2

    Android Tablet / Phone Side Screen

    in Third-Party Applications and Plugins (Development and Beta Testing)

    Posted

    Hi,

    I'm working on a BigBox plugin and an associated Android app to enable a tablet to be used as a side screen / auxiliary screen to show marquees / banners / control layouts and pdf manuals for the game that is currently selected in Big Box. The idea is that the tablet would be automatically synchronized via WiFi to the selected game in Big Box, and it would show relevant data for that game. This could be especially handy to show the control layout and manual for a game when using Big Box in a cabinet.

    I was wondering how much interest there would be in the community for me to release this plug in to everybody?

    Also, @Jason Carr, can I use the Big Box logo, or a derivative of it as the icon for the Android app?

    Thanks!

     

    • Like 6

    XAML Tips and Tricks

    in Big Box Custom Themes

    Posted

    Hi,

    I'm creating a new theme inspired by the Nevato theme for the AttractMode frontend (see video below).

    So far, I've got to this stage, with the help of the very kind @viking who's helped me by providing the source file for the arcade cabinet he used for his awesome cinematic videos:

    Mockup.jpg

    My main problem at the moment is that I would like to show the game video both as a background and in the arcade screen. The video works well in the BackgroundView, but I'm trying to use a  

    
<transitions:TransitionPresenter TransitionSelector="{Binding ImageVideoTransitionSelector}" Content="{Binding ImageVideoView}" IsContentVideo="true" />

    to show the same video in the arcade screen, but it always shows a screenshot of the game, and not the video. Am I doing something wrong or is there no way to show the same video twice at the moment? @Jason Carr, can you help ? :)

    Also, I have a couple more questions:

    • Is it possible to make the wheel elements rotated as well as offset? The CurveAmount parameter affects the offset but not the angle of the elements, so I can't achieve an effect similar to the one in the AttractMode wheel
    • Is it possible to remove any sort of fading when switching between videos? Even selecting No Transition in the BigBox options, BackgroundTransitionSelector seems to always apply a fade to videos. I would like to recreate the snappiness that can be seen in the AttractMode video when scrolling the wheel

    Thank you very much!

     

     

     

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