Difference between revisions of "Computing screen"

Revision as of 21:53, 24 May 2008

Introduction

The Computing screen allows you to use external applications, like Mozilla or MythTV Setup. There are two columns on the screen -- one for installed programs and one for web bookmarks.

How to use

For OnScreen Orbiters

The on-screen Orbiter menu is used by a Media Director.

On the on-screen Orbiter main menu, click the "Computing" button. This will bring up a screen displaying "Installed programs" and "Web bookmarks".

If you click on a web bookmark, Firefox be used to start the webpage in fullscreen mode (except the "Home" and "Stop" buttons, which will be displayed at the bottom of the screen). The keyboard and mouse will control Firefox; events and orbiter will ignore the keyboard until Firefox is closed.

If you click on an Installed Program, the "Application Desktop" will appear, running the installed program. Below the "Desktop" button will be a label that indicates the name of the external application running. To close the external application, press the "Exit" button. (If no external application is running, the label, "Desktop" and "Exit" buttons will be hidden.)

Whenever you then click the home button, the main menu will reappear.

For other Orbiters

For Orbiters that do not use the on-screen Orbiter menu (such as webpads, mobile phones, and PDAs), the procedure is similar.

• If xine or another media player is running while using hte Computing features, the xine window won't be visible.
• If an external application is running and you wish play a movie, xine will be visible instead of the Orbiter menu.

Implementation details

To encapsulate the logic for Computing screen, a screen handler is being used, overridden in ScreenHandler the method SCREEN_Computing.

SCREEN_Computing method

In here:

- we are registering callbacks for cbObjectSelected and cbDataGridSelected events.

- then will we decide if this orbiter is a OSD orbiter (in which case we know the status of any external application that might be started) or not (in which case will use 'Get Active Application' and get the info from the right OSD Orbiter);

- if there is an external application running, we'll show "Desktop" and "Exit" buttons and the associated label; if not, these objects will be hidden.

Computing_ObjectSelected callback method

If the user presses "Exit" button, orbiter will send a "kill application" command to App_Server and it goes to main menu. Also, any information related to an external application running is being reseted.

If the user presses "Remote" button, the controlled Orbiter is sent to "Application Desktop" screen and an "Activate Window" with the window class of the external application as parameter is sent to controlled Orbiter. Orbiter already has all the information about external application.

Computing_DatagridSelected callback method

Once a cell is clicked in Computing screen, this callback method is being called. The cell has embedded in its value variable a comma delimited list will parameters about the application to run (window class, description, etc.). Then, a "Spawn Application" command is sent to App_Server and the controlled Orbiter will be notified with a "Active Window" command about the external application being started.

Activate Window command

This command is implemented in its overridden version for OrbiterLinux. In here, a small module called "Windows List Manager" is being notified about the application to activate. When Orbiter goes to "Application Desktop" screen, RenderDesktop is called and OrbiterLinux will know that it's time to find the external application's window and to activate it / set its position.