[bengalih]

Ok...after your long, long wait (that is sarcasm BTW) I have a new version for you. I've updated to 2.0b to reflect the new 2.0 Netflix interface.

After responding to your last posts I stepped back a bit and though about it. Once I determined to restrict only to full screen operation, things became a bit easier. Then, when I decided to restrict to only the resolutions I know for sure are being used, that made it even easier.

This way there are only 2 sets of button images, a low-res set for anything below 1920x1080 and a high-res for 1920x1080. I have tested the following resolutions:

1024x768 (common for older 720 displays)
1280x720 (true 720)
1280x800 (because my laptop supports it)
1920x1080 (true 1080)

I suspect that it will work with anything under 1280x800 with no more changes. If people are running at anything between 1280x800 and 1920x1080 or anything above 1920x1080 then I may need to update with an additional image set - but I will only do that upon request (and may need assistance getting images for resolutions I can't reproduce).

With the exception of the multiple image sets, the script is actually much more streamlined. Because things stay full screen the whole time, I was able to remove several subroutines from the script and all their corresponding scan regions and images...to the extent that the main script is about 15-20% smaller than before.

Despite the pain in the butt, the new UI is actually pretty nice for non Media Center viewing, as it allows better scaling of the video to all sizes.

As always, let me know how its working for you...

[MonsieurPoirot]

Wow, thank you so much. I'll give this a shot this weekend and let you know if there are any problems.

[kevev]

Bengalih, I have tested this on my XBMC box and on my laptop. Both are running Windows 7 Enterprise. I know you are getting tired of hearing this, but fullscreen does not work for my setup.

I have tested by just launching IE and it seems that when xbmcfom takes over and puts the video in kiosk mode the IE window looses focus. It seems like your app may be grabbing focus and that is why the "f" or click on fullscreen(whichever the app is doing) is not being translated because of this. Can you have the app click once in the center of IE after kiosk mode so that it grabs focus. I think this will fix my issue.

I wonder if this has anything to do with the version of windows I am running.

My setup:
Windows 7 Enterprise, Microsoft security Essentials, Latest windows patches.

[bengalih]

...it seems that when xbmcfom takes over and puts the video in kiosk mode the IE window looses focus. It seems like your app may be grabbing focus and that is why the "f" or click on fullscreen(whichever the app is doing) is not being translated because of this...

XBMCFoM doesn't put the video in Kiosk mode...XBMCFlicks does that. FoM simply sits in the background until it sees a Netflix window go active and when it does it responds by putting it into full screen (via a center-screen click and an "f"). If FoM grabs focus of anything it is because it already sees Netflix as active

Lines 87-94 in the AutoIt (.au3) file consist of the following:

Code:

        if WinActive("netflix") or WinActive("silverlight") Then
            if $newNFLaunchFlag = 1 Then
               ;Bring Netflix into Fullscreen
               While NOT WinActive("Silverlight")
                  MouseMove(@DesktopWidth / 2, @DesktopHeight / 2,0)
                  MouseClick("left", @DesktopWidth / 2, @DesktopHeight / 2)
                  send("f")
               WEnd

This method is entirely different than the previous (pre-2.0b) methods that I used to go into full screen. The fact that neither method seems to work on your machine would indicate a problem with your setup. I had requested you install and try on a different machine and never got any feedback from that.

As you can see from the code above, we wait until Netflix is active (this technically will be any window with "netflix" in the title, so it will match on "Netflix - Windows Internet Explorer" which should be the title window for an IE launch or "Netflix - Google Chrome", etc...).

The code then goes on to say that as long as Silverlight is not the active window (which should be true whenever Netflix is NOT in full screen), then go ahead and move the mouse to the middle of the screen, click the middle, and send "f". So, you see it already does click in the middle of the screen, and should be repeatedly doing this until full screen happens.

I can only assume that you are doing something nonstandard that is either causing this whole subroutine not to function properly, or else something else running on the system which would interfere with these operations. As those things can be any one of hundreds or thousands of possible scenarios there is no way for me to know or account for them.

I know of (based only on forum posts) only a handful of users using this program and no one else has reported these issues. Those aren't big numbers, but I suspect there are at least 3x that many silent users as most people won't even post if they don't have a problem. I myself have tried on 3 systems (all Windows 7 Enterprise 64-bit) and do not experience the problem.

What you can try is this. Change the code above to this:

if WinActive("netflix") or WinActive("silverlight") Then
if $newNFLaunchFlag = 1 Then
;Bring Netflix into Fullscreen
While NOT WinActive("Silverlight")
beep(200,500)
MouseMove(@DesktopWidth / 2, @DesktopHeight / 2,0)
MouseClick("left", @DesktopWidth / 2, @DesktopHeight / 2)
send("f")
WEnd

This simply adds dull audible beep in to let you hear that it is in the subroutine and silverlight is NOT active. If you keep hearing the beep, it means that it detects Netflix as open, but not in fullscreen, if the beep keeps sounding it means that the method of clicking in the middle and pressing "f" is not bringing it to full screen. If you don't get any beeps at all, then it doesn't seem to be detecting that you have Netflix active.

You indicated from a previous post that you have some experience in the past with AutoIt. I would suggest you start doing some debugging on your own as the full screen code is now entirely in autoit (not sikuli). I will assist where I can and should you find something that will make this work on non-standard setups I will try to integrate into the main code.

---

Here is another trick to try (do it after making the beep modification so you can get audio feedback as well).

Launch XBMCFoM and then type in Start > Run "notepad netflix"

It will ask if you want to create the file, say yes. This will open a notepad instance of a file called netflix. It should be active (in the foreground). This means that the AutoIt script will detect netflix as open...so you should start hearing the beep and seeing the "f" key typed in the notepad windows....you should also see the mouse constantly moving back to screen center.

You can also test with IE outside of XBMC by launching your movie url with the format:

iexplore -k http://movies.netflix.com/WiPlayer?movie...XXXXXXXXXX

you can get the full url from any launched show in IE. That will launch in Kiosk mode which is the same way XBMCFlicks (NOT XBMCFoM) launches it.

[kevev]

I have tested on 2 of my systems. I have one more I can test on. I think it is Ultimate edition. Will let you know.

[bengalih]

I also just discovered that some of my autoit code was really no longer needed based on the way the new Netflix GUI works. Also under the assumption (that I am now working on) that as long as Netflix is open we want it to be full screen...I have made some slight modifications.

What basically happens now is that opposed to a one time deal before, the system should be CONSTANTLY monitoring for Netflix being open and will put it back into full screen if it falls out (assuming Netflix is still active window - as I wouldn't want to FORCE it back to Netflix if someone intentionally moves it off).

Go ahead and download this updated autoit file and use this as your base. The line numbers I quoted above will be slightly off, but you'll be able to find the code close enough.

[bengalih]

Update...I removed the above posted beta autoit file above... use this one instead.

I added some other checks as well as a new manual full screen function. This function will do the following:

Bring Netflix to the forefront (activate)
Make it full screen

This can be useful for someone that might have a reason to totally refocus netflx (say a background pop-up appears and takes focus away).

Please do all tests with this copy.

[bengalih]

I have tested on 2 of my systems. I have one more I can test on. I think it is Ultimate edition. Will let you know.

I can't see how the version of Windows 7 would influence the behavior. Nonetheless, if you don't get anywhere after this next file and set of tests, you can PM me a sysinfo in addition to whatever else you discover.

[kevev]

I have tested on 2 of my systems. I have one more I can test on. I think it is Ultimate edition. Will let you know.

I can't see how the version of Windows 7 would influence the behavior. Nonetheless, if you don't get anywhere after this next file and set of tests, you can PM me a sysinfo in addition to whatever else you discover.

Will do. Thank You for the updates.

[kevev]

Whatever you did with that last edit worked. I get fullscreen. It had the arrow in the middle the first time, then I rebooted and the arrow goes away every time now and I get fullscreen.

[bengalih]

Whatever you did with that last edit worked. I get fullscreen. It had the arrow in the middle the first time, then I rebooted and the arrow goes away every time now and I get fullscreen.

Don't confuse the arrow being there with not being in fullscreen. It is possible to be in full screen and still see the arrow depending on the behavior of other programs.

I've just been doing some tests and it seems if XBMC isn't in fullscreen, then the arrow goes away. If XBMC is in fullscreen, then the arrow often stays.

You should judge full screen by the icon in the Netflix GUI of by the use of the "f" and "esc" keys to see if your state changes.

I still have been finding some weirdness and inconsistency in several scenarios and am adding in some additional checks to try and account for them and to move the cursor out of the way even when in full screen.

Hopefully I will have another update tomorrow night.

[kevev]

Hey Bengalih, any updates? If you are on vacation this weekend, ignore my post. :p

[bengalih]

Yeah, been working on one...wasn't in a rush to get it up since it seemed the last one fixed the issues.

New version basically just has a couple tweaks to help hide cursor, prevent accidental relaunching of episode when closing IE, some new methods for closing IE... stuff that if you weren't seeing problems before if probably wouldn't affect you.

One thing I did add which is pretty cool is an auto Netflix login...sometimes (for unknown reasons) Netflix thinks I'm not logged in and gives me the sign-in page when launching. New feature allows you to enter your credentials in the script and it will auto-fill out that form.

Do you have any other open issues that are causing problems? Or are you just looking for the latest and greatest?

I've actually been using the new version on my own rig for the past couple of days (eating my own dog-food as it were, as opposed to just constantly debugging and improving and therefore not really using )....and it seems to be doing well.

I should have some free time tomorrow to get it together and up here...

[bengalih]

Ok, 2.1b is up.

Quite a few changes - especially to any custom configuration and logging/debugging.

I would suggest a quick read of the changelog and instructions for any confusion.

[kevev]

Just looking for the latest & greatest.

I have the Netflix login screen sometimes too. It's nice that you added the autologin. Thank You for the release. I will try it out soon.