How do you show the android status bar when using the xbmc app ?
#1
Hi Folks,

This my 1st post here and I am a complete noob to xbmc so please be patient with me Blush.

I have just purchased my 1st android TV box and I am quite pleased with it and the xbmc app but I would like to ask you to tell me how to show / call up the android status bar when using the xbmc app. With all other android apps currently installed when I move the mouse pointer towards the bottom of my TV screen, the android status bar appears and I can use it and if I move the mouse pointer away from the bottom of the screen the android status bar then conveniently disappears. However when I am in the xbmc app this does not happen and I end up having to quit xbmc if I want to call up the android status bar. Surely this isn't right and I must be doing something wrong.

I'd really appreciate your help with this issue. Thanks in advance.
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#2
That's specifically by design. The Android navigation bar is something designed for Android devices with a touch screen. XBMC/Kodi is designed to be the entire interface on your TV when you use it.
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#3
(2014-10-17, 23:50)Ned Scott Wrote: That's specifically by design. The Android navigation bar is something designed for Android devices with a touch screen. XBMC/Kodi is designed to be the entire interface on your TV when you use it.

Thanks for the prompt reply, Ned. OK, I accept what you've said but I have seen threads on this forum where the problem was the other way around where people wanted to hide the android status bar. I have actually seen a YouTube video where a person is giving a tutorial on xbmc with the android status bar showing...this was a video posted some 2 years ago and most probably recent versions of xbmc have now been designed to omit the Android staus bar to allow fullscreen view of xbmc, correct ?

So, in view of what we've said can you suggest a practical workaround or do I have to keep exiting xbmc every time I need to call up the android status bar ? It so frustrating having to do so especially if you need to get through several xbmc menus/paths to get back to where you were.
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#4
The way xbmc handles the status bar depends of your Android version.

On KitKat+, xbmc enters "immersive" mode, where we force the status bar to be hidden. On a touchscreen, the way to show the bar is to swipe up from the bottom of the screen. No idea if this works with a mouse.

On Android version below KitKat (probably 90% of the boxes), we don't actually do anything. All manufacturers implemented their own way to hide the bar on their boxes because Android did not offer any standard api, and we don't have any control on that.
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#5
Is there a specific function you are getting from the status bar? I don't know much about other methods of calling it up, but maybe we can find alternatives for whatever you were using it for.
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#6
@Koying : my android version is 4.4.2. I have used your method and it works a treat with my mouse ! I don't know how many times I swiped left and right and up and down with my mouse and it didn't work...this was of course because I never had the mouse pointer at the bottom of the screen whenever I tried ! (it was always in the middle of the screen !) You've solved my problem ! Thanks so much ! BTW to swipe using the mouse: left click & hold button depressed and then swipe. Wink

@ned Scott: thanks for your feedback too ! Just to give you an example why I would want to access the android status bar : I was watching a movie in xbmc and it started to stop. I had a hunch that it was a wifi signal strength problem and I wanted to see if my box was hooked up to my wireless router or to my wifi wireless extender but to do that I needed to call up the android status bar so that I could access the android settings menu...but Koying has now solved the problem for me.

To both : Anyway I was about to offer an alternative method myself which I discovered today: while watching the movie in xbmc, I would pause the movie, move the mouse pointer to the centre of the screen, right mouse click several times (to go back) until xbmc's main menu would come up. Once there I would select Programs > Android Apps and there I would find all my box's apps to select whatever I needed. Once done I would just right click several times as required to go back to the movie and restart it. I hope this helps others who might read this thread and have had a similar issue.
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How do you show the android status bar when using the xbmc app ?0