[NEW APP] Typecast -- new application to search listings (use your Schedules Direct subscription)

An evolving, supported alternative to Rovi
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12noon

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#21

Post by 12noon » Sun Nov 25, 2018 12:48 am

LOL. You're right, of course. I wasn't thinking about my own algorithm as much as I was wishing on your behalf. Sorry for wasting your time.

I'll look into the premier property, but it won't be until I finish my "WMC remote scheduling" feature. I appreciate your patience.
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Paint

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#22

Post by Paint » Mon Nov 26, 2018 3:22 pm

couple of other issues I am finding:

Unchecked searches are producing emails (e.g. I opened Typecast today and I just got a bunch of emails for The Walking Dead. This search is unchecked and doesnt have an email action.)

Multiple emails for the same show (e.g. I just got about 40 emails for the same show. Is there anyway to consolidate these emails by show?)

Emails sent for shows that already were alerted (e.g. each time I open the application, I get the same emails from previous alerts).

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#23

Post by 12noon » Mon Nov 26, 2018 5:36 pm

Thanks for your comments. I really appreciate knowing how other people use Typecast and getting different points of view.

1. This is working as designed. Even if a search is unchecked, its actions will be processed. I considered whether actions should still happen in unchecked searches, and I decided that the check box will only indicate whether a search's results are displayed--e-mails and reminders will still happen. My reasoning is that if the user doesn't want actions to happen, they should remove them from the search. The check boxes are only for the user to quickly reduce clutter in their results. For example, to see all of the upcoming soccer matches, they can click the Toggle All button, check their "Soccer" search, and then click the Toggle All button again when they're done. In my case, I have some searches that are only to e-mail other family members about shows they're interested in, so I have them unchecked because I don't want to see their results, but I still want the e-mails to go out.

2. You should get one e-mail per schedule--and, yes, if a program has multiple schedules, you'll get an e-mail for each of them. If you want fewer e-mails, you'll have to tighten the search (perhaps restricting it to only HD or New programs). I understand why you might want a consolidated e-mail, but some people might want one per schedule, so I'll have to consider which way I want to go with that. (It's more difficult to consolidate, of course, because the plugin would have to buffer all of the e-mails, and how would it know when there won't be any more so it should send it?)

3. Having said that, you should definitely not receive multiple e-mails for the same show and start time (unless, of course, you've added multiple actions or it appears in multiple searches that also have actions). For example, you could request an e-mail one day in advance, another two days in advance, and yet another three days in advance. In that case, if you don't open Typecast for a few days, you could get all three e-mails at once.

If you're getting multiple e-mails for the same show (same title and start time), can you use the Support page on 12noon.com to send me the following:

1. Right-click the schedule you got multiple e-mails for, select Copy to Clipboard, and paste that into an e-mail or text file and send it to me.
2. Send me the Typecast.xml file.
3. Send me the Typecast.exe.config file from the most recent "app-2.8.##" folder in C:\Users\USER\AppData\Local\Typecast\app-2.8.##\Typecast.exe.config.
4. Send me two of the duplicate e-mail notifications.
5. If you can, please include when you last ran Typecast or how long it'd been closed?

Thanks again for your comments! :-)
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#24

Post by Paint » Mon Nov 26, 2018 6:30 pm

12noon wrote: Mon Nov 26, 2018 5:36 pm Thanks for your comments. I really appreciate knowing how other people use Typecast and getting different points of view.

1. This is working as designed. Even if a search is unchecked, its actions will be processed. I considered whether actions should still happen in unchecked searches, and I decided that the check box will only indicate whether a search's results are displayed--e-mails and reminders will still happen. My reasoning is that if the user doesn't want actions to happen, they should remove them from the search. The check boxes are only for the user to quickly reduce clutter in their results. For example, to see all of the upcoming soccer matches, they can click the Toggle All button, check their "Soccer" search, and then click the Toggle All button again when they're done. In my case, I have some searches that are only to e-mail other family members about shows they're interested in, so I have them unchecked because I don't want to see their results, but I still want the e-mails to go out.

2. You should get one e-mail per schedule--and, yes, if a program has multiple schedules, you'll get an e-mail for each of them. If you want fewer e-mails, you'll have to tighten the search (perhaps restricting it to only HD or New programs). I understand why you might want a consolidated e-mail, but some people might want one per schedule, so I'll have to consider which way I want to go with that. (It's more difficult to consolidate, of course, because the plugin would have to buffer all of the e-mails, and how would it know when there won't be any more so it should send it?)

3. Having said that, you should definitely not receive multiple e-mails for the same show and start time (unless, of course, you've added multiple actions or it appears in multiple searches that also have actions). For example, you could request an e-mail one day in advance, another two days in advance, and yet another three days in advance. In that case, if you don't open Typecast for a few days, you could get all three e-mails at once.

If you're getting multiple e-mails for the same show (same title and start time), can you use the Support page on 12noon.com to send me the following:

1. Right-click the schedule you got multiple e-mails for, select Copy to Clipboard, and paste that into an e-mail or text file and send it to me.
2. Send me the Typecast.xml file.
3. Send me the Typecast.exe.config file from the most recent "app-2.8.##" folder in C:\Users\USER\AppData\Local\Typecast\app-2.8.##\Typecast.exe.config.
4. Send me two of the duplicate e-mail notifications.
5. If you can, please include when you last ran Typecast or how long it'd been closed?

Thanks again for your comments! :-)
thats fine. ill let you know if I get the same emails twice again. thank you for clarifying

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#25

Post by 12noon » Sat Dec 22, 2018 11:18 pm

I don't bump this thread for every release, but this is a pretty big one that directly addresses a suggestion for WMC features that was made here.
choliscott wrote: Fri Nov 09, 2018 6:37 am I don't suppose this can be updated to allow scheduling within WMC, since the Windows version of My Media Center is no longer available?
I've released Typecast 2.9.1, which implements the first phase of support for Windows Media Center--displaying scheduled and recorded information from WMC. (Phase 2 will add the ability to schedule a WMC recording directly from Typecast.) These features are optional; if you don't use WMC, nothing will change (but I suspect everyone here uses WMC). :wink: If you want to use them, download the Typecast WMC component from 12noon.com, run it on your WMC machine, and enable the WMC features in Typecast. (Detailed instructions are on 12noon.com.) Typecast will configure the server automatically, so you don't need to mess around in configuration files. If you install the Typecast WMC server in a folder that's synchronized by a cloud service between your Typecast and WMC machines, then the machines don't need to run at the same time (except for that one-time configuration).

Thanks a million to @choliscott for suggesting this feature! :clap: :wave: :thumbup: Despite the fact that I double-check my WMC recordings daily--using an app I wrote to e-mail a list of the scheduled and completed recordings to me--I would never have thought of this. :oops: :roll: I hope others find it as useful as I do, but if not, I still love using it myself! :D

Please feel free to contact me with any issues you find, suggestions for improvement, incomplete documentation, or other ideas. (You can probably use this thread for immediate concerns, but you can also PM me or use the Support page on 12noon.com.)
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#26

Post by Gripweed » Sun Dec 23, 2018 3:25 am

Maybe I'm looking at this from a different angle but I don't see how this WMC scheduling feature of Typecast is going to be of any benefit to me compared to My Media Center. I only use my Windows computers for processing TV shows and a few other related things. They are tucked away in the corner and for the most part just automatically do their own thing with little oversight by me. Almost all my regular daily computing is done on a Chromebook or to a lesser extent on Android. Nine times out of ten I remote connect to the Windows machines from the Chromebook rather than sit down in front of them. I still have one Android tablet (that I don't use that often) that still has the My Media Center app on it and I can still schedule WMC remotely from it. That was the benefit of MMC to me, the remoteability of it. Since I would have to remote into Windows to run Typecast I might as well just do the scheduling directly right on WMC itself. When I saw that you got excited about the MMC idea I envisioned that you were more or less going to make a MMC clone. To do that would need an Android client app and possibly an iPhone one (I can't remember whether MMC had one) to make it similar to My Media Center. Again, maybe I'm looking at it from my own acute angle but I just don't see where it would be of any help to me as you are setting it up.

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#27

Post by 12noon » Sun Dec 23, 2018 4:31 am

You're absolutely right. My Windows application won't be useful to someone who isn't running Windows. Although I'm mildly curious about using Microsoft's Xamarin to develop for Android, I've decided I'm not really interested in learning two new platforms (Android and iPhone) and dealing with their app-store idiosyncrasies (not to mention their O/S ones). Anyway, yeah, this is a Windows-only solution.
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#28

Post by 12noon » Tue Feb 26, 2019 11:34 pm

Paint wrote: Mon Nov 19, 2018 3:30 pm 2: How can I create a search filter that displays any premiers (aka new series)? This option is available in WMC via categories-> Premieres
I've just released Typecast 3.1.0 which includes the ability to search for schedules of Premiere shows. You can also specify just movies or episodes if you want.
choliscott wrote: Fri Nov 09, 2018 6:37 am I don't suppose this can be updated to allow scheduling within WMC, since the Windows version of My Media Center is no longer available?
Typecast 3.1.0 now supports instructing your WMC to record series or single programs. One advantage Typecast has over Ceton's abandoned My Media Center is that your Windows Media Center does not have to be running at the same time as Typecast when you issue the Record command. When your WMC resumes from sleep, the Typecast WMC server will read the command from a cached file and schedule the recordings. In turn, it will similarly return responses to Typecast in an offline file. To do this, you need to install the Typecast WMC server in a folder synchronized (using OneDrive, DropBox, or something like that) with your machine running Typecast. Instructions are on 12noon.com.
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#29

Post by Kick4U » Fri Mar 01, 2019 10:50 pm

Thank you for this cool program!

Do you think there is a way to associate/link with the callsigns enabled in MCE? I don't have all channels in my lineup enabled and it'd be really nice if Typecast was able to sync automatically with what MCE has.

It would also be great to be able to use the CTRL button to select multiple channels and be able to select all and unselect all in a simple manner.

Sincerely!

PS- I tried creating a service for TypecastWMC.exe and it seems that Windows isn't too happy with it (Windows is thinking that its not initializing correctly.
For what it's worth, I placed TycastWMC.exe in the same directory as Typecast and used the following command:

Code: Select all

sc.exe create TypecastWMC binPath= "C:\Users\MCE\AppData\Local\Typecast\TypecastWMC.exe"
sc.exe config TypecastWMC start= auto
Last edited by Kick4U on Fri Mar 01, 2019 11:34 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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#30

Post by Paint » Fri Mar 01, 2019 10:56 pm

Paint wrote: Mon Nov 19, 2018 3:30 pm 2: How can I create a search filter that displays any premiers (aka new series)? This option is available in WMC via categories-> Premieres
12noon wrote: Tue Feb 26, 2019 11:34 pm I've just released Typecast 3.1.0 which includes the ability to search for schedules of Premiere shows. You can also specify just movies or episodes if you want.
Thank you for incorporating this feature!

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#31

Post by 12noon » Sat Mar 02, 2019 2:01 am

Kick4U wrote: Fri Mar 01, 2019 10:50 pm Do you think there is a way to associate/link with the callsigns enabled in MCE? I don't have all channels in my lineup enabled and it'd be really nice if Typecast was able to sync automatically with what MCE has.

It would also be great to be able to use the CTRL button to select multiple channels and be able to select all and unselect all in a simple manner.

PS- I tried creating a service for TypecastWMC.exe and it seems that Windows isn't too happy with it (Windows is thinking that its not initializing correctly.
For what it's worth, I placed TycastWMC.exe in the same directory as Typecast and used the following command:

Code: Select all

sc.exe create TypecastWMC binPath= "C:\Users\MCE\AppData\Local\Typecast\TypecastWMC.exe"
sc.exe config TypecastWMC start= auto
1. In short, probably not but I do like the idea, so I'll look into it. It'd have to be something along the lines of "Disable all channels except the callsigns WMC tells Typecast." (Of course, it'd also have to be just a Enable Only WMC Stations button on the Settings WMC tab instead of something Typecast just went ahead and did.)

2. I'll see if I can do that. In the meantime, I recommend using the keyboard to arrow up/down the list and the Space bar to enable/disable each station. You can also use the Filter control to search for a set of channels (e.g., "HD" to find all high-definition channels) and press the Select All or Select None button to enable/disable all of the displayed channels.

3. It's not designed to be a service. I could stop it from reading from and writing to the console, but it also doesn't know about start/stop/etc. There's not really an advantage to it being a service because you can drop a shortcut to it in your Programs Startup folder so that it starts when Windows starts (and set Minimized so it doesn't appear).
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#32

Post by jachin99 » Sat Mar 02, 2019 4:24 am

What would you think about Windows Home Server 2011 dashboard addin or remote web access addin for typecast? This would let users schedule recordings, and view schedules in one place while they are away from home. I don't think either of those would be too hard to create, and I have made launchpad addins in the past. They were only four lines of code and an icon file.

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#33

Post by 12noon » Sat Mar 02, 2019 5:48 am

jachin99 wrote: Sat Mar 02, 2019 4:24 am What would you think about Windows Home Server 2011 dashboard addin or remote web access addin for typecast? This would let users schedule recordings, and view schedules in one place while they are away from home. I don't think either of those would be too hard to create, and I have made launchpad addins in the past. They were only four lines of code and an icon file.
Does MS still support WHS2011? Unfortunately, as with many things, it's a good idea, but supporting it (including developing and testing it for every release) would mean I'd have to buy WHS2011 and build a machine to run it. (Yes, I could use a VM, but I've found those to be imperfect substitutes for the real thing, especially when dealing with networks.) Also, that would help only WMC users who run WHS2011, and there are even fewer of those than WMC users. :-) It'd be more cost-effective and benefit more people for me to actively support Typecast and the Typecast WMC server communicating over the Internet. (And, as I mention on 12noon.com, I think it already works the way it is. I'm just not sure about end-to-end security AKA encryption, so I want to investigate WCF further before I say it's cool. OTOH, does anyone really care about encrypting your WMC scheduling information?)
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#34

Post by Kick4U » Sun Mar 03, 2019 6:08 pm

12noon wrote: Sat Mar 02, 2019 2:01 am 3. It's not designed to be a service. I could stop it from reading from and writing to the console, but it also doesn't know about start/stop/etc. There's not really an advantage to it being a service because you can drop a shortcut to it in your Programs Startup folder so that it starts when Windows starts (and set Minimized so it doesn't appear).
I can see why it wasn't designed to be a service; however, it's so lightweight that it wouldn't do much harm running 24/7 in the background. Running it on startup works, but leaves the application in the taskbar (minor nuisance). I really feel that installing TypecastWMC as a service should be an option during installation (as well as an option to install/uninstall the service under the WMC option).

From what I searched, there seems to be many reasons for that Windows "thinks" that TypecastWMC didn't start like it's not logging anything or compiled in debug mode (https://stackoverflow.com/questions/167 ... ol-request). Maybe it's something extremely simple :thumbup: .

Thank you again for this great program. I look forward in using it more and more.

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#35

Post by 12noon » Sun Mar 03, 2019 9:01 pm

Kick4U wrote: Sun Mar 03, 2019 6:08 pm From what I searched, there seems to be many reasons for that Windows "thinks" that TypecastWMC didn't start like it's not logging anything or compiled in debug mode (https://stackoverflow.com/questions/167 ... ol-request). Maybe it's something extremely simple :thumbup: .
The reason is because it doesn't implement the ServiceBase interface (i.e., including the OnStart() and OnStop() methods), which is required for all services. I'm mostly concerned with the additional complexity of a service for users--installing it as an admin, stopping it to update it, starting it, checking the Event Viewer for any issues. (Since Typecast is probably not running on the WMC machine, making it install/uninstall/start/stop the service isn't enough.)

If the primary concern is its taskbar icon, I think a better solution would be to put it in the notification area. I need to do that with Typecast, too, so I'll probably do them at the same time.

BTW, I'm definitely working on getting channels from WMC.
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#36

Post by Kick4U » Mon Mar 04, 2019 3:08 am

Excellent! I think having two notification icons will be great and I'm glad to hear that you are working on syncing WMC channels with Typecast.

Good Luck

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