[sgtpepper]

is there a way to programatically toggle the display from fullscreen to the gui (like pressing the x button on the controller)?

i have a server script running in the background and when the server receives a certain command i want it to pause the player, toggle to the gui and then display a dialog.

if this isn't possible, is there another way to let the script display information to the viewer, without closing the video currently playing?

i'm building a kind of a notification server that should be able to display information on the screen for me, like when the phone rings, a caller id box connected to a computer sends info about the phone number and whos calling to my xbmc, so that i easily can decide wether or not i should pick up the phone or just continue watching the movie

[Alexpoet]

essentially, you want a function that looks something like this:

if phonecallevent:
player.pause()
myclass.domodal()
player.pause()

there's no player.unpause(), and player.play() starts it over from 0:00. that can be an annoying one to work out. this example assumes you've got a class myclass that inherits from xbmcgui.window. the myclass.domodal() call will draw the gui, which will remain open until you press the "back" button, or whatever else you have mapped to close the window. then, when the window closes, the second player.pause() will unpause the video, so it'll keep going.

i'd actually throw in a time.sleep(.5) or something like it between the pauses and unpauses, but i tend to do too much padding of that sort.