XBMC addon question
#1
I actually posted this in the XBMC General help and support, but thought it would be more applicable in this section.

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=139419 (Spelled the XBMC incorrectly in the header).

Quesiton:

Hi,

I'm actually new to the xmbc media center software and I'm trying to understand what it is, so sorry in advance if my questions are stupid.

From my understanding XBMC was designed to for a media center and supporting the features of a media center. However, can it be used for other applications. Specifically can someone just leverage off the menu/graphical interface to support other functionality.

I'm doing a trade study and I'm trying to create an application that receive data (status) in the form of JSON through specific transport layer protocol such as DDS or TCP. I'm guessing that the developer will have to create a customized plugin to process the data received and use the xbmc api to update the menu/graphical interface. I'm guessing that I would have to customize this plugin for each platform that I want to support? One of the main goals is to achieve the speed of an application user interface vs. a web browser and have a uniform look and feel between different platforms. Would XBMC help with this ?

Does anyone know how difficult this will be? Or is XBMC not the best tool to use for this? I was also wondering how customizable the xbmc skins are. I notice that it handles the customization of the look and feel of menus and embeded video players. If I wanted to implement animation or for example an LED alert which indicates the status of something, is that possible? In general, is it possible to create widgets functionality for visual effects like you can with jquery.

Someone responded that you could create plugin with Python. Is there any other languages supported for creating addons other then Python?

Any advice appreciated, Thanks
D
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#2
Xbmc skins are probably the most customizable software in existence right now.
If your project has nothing to do with media, Xbmc isn't the tool for the job. With that being said, a python addon could be made to do whatever you want. Currently, python is the only supported language.

From the sound of your project, I recommend web2py. That's the best General app framework I've found in my travels
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