How to bring up Context Menu with Dell remote?
#1
After hours of searching these forums and trying everything I can imagine, I'm now posting for help... Smile

I just got a Dell Zino along with a Dell remote (screenshot attached). My problem is that none of the buttons on the remote bring up the Context Menu in XBMC.

I created a custom keyboard.xml file in my user directory, and put the following content in it to map the remote button "9" to the ContextMenu command. This is working. However, I'm not sure why. If I remove the <keyboard> sections from below, it does not work - I'm not sure why they're needed.

Obviously, this is a confusing workaround to get this working. My question is: am I doing this correctly? If not, what should I be doing? I would also like to add more mappings, but I'm not sure how to do this with specific buttons on the remote (i.e. anything other than numbers 0-9).

For example:

1. How would I make the main Windows button on the remote open XBMC instead of Windows Media Center (as it currently does)?
2. How would I make the Home button (upper-left) go to the XBMC home screen (it does nothing currently)?
3. How would I make the Power button (upper-right) close XBMC instead of turning off the Dell Zino (as it currently does)?

Thanks in advance for your help!




<keymap>
<global>
<keyboard>
<nine>ContextMenu</nine>
</keyboard>
<remote>
<nine>ContextMenu</nine>
</remote>
</global>

<ContextMenu>
<keyboard>
<nine>Close</nine>
</keyboard>
<remote>
<nine>Close</nine>
</remote>
</ContextMenu>
</keymap>


Image
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#2
Have a look at http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Usi..._with_XBMC

I don't know if the Zino remote is MS compatible (i.e. uses the eHome driver). Look in Device Manager under Universal Serial Bus controllers and see if there is an eHome IR receiver listed. If the eHome receiver is shown grab a copy of my addon from http://xbmcmce.sourceforge.net/ and install it using the "install from zip" option. The addon allows you to configure the remote buttons.

JR
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#3
Hi JR, thanks for your reply.

I do not see an eHome IR Receiver listed in Device Manager. However, I did download your addon, and when I ran the 'ShowKey' executable, it was capturing input from the Dell remote properly.

Can you explain how I install the addon within XBMC? I extracted the zip file to a folder - then from within XBMC, went to add a new addon and pointed to the directory - but XBMC didn't recognize it as an addon.
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#4
The addon is now part of the standard XBMC repository. It's in the Programs section.

However the addon will be of limited use if the Dell remote doesn't use the ehome driver. In particular it won't be possible to change the action of the Windows button or the Power button. To configure the Home button press it when ShowKey is running and see what ShowKey reports. If ShowKey detects a keystroke it will give you a template key mapping that you can copy and paste into your keyboard.xml.

You don't need the <remote>...</remote> section in your keyboard.xml. In Windows the remote controller (usually) emulates a keyboard so XBMC sees the button press as if you had pressed a key on the keyboard. That's why the mapping needs to be in the <keyboard>...</keyboard> section.

JR
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#5
I did get the addon working in XBMC, and unfortunately you're right - it's of limited use...since it doesn't use the eHome driver, I'm unable to map any of the buttons I'd like to.

Thanks for the info on the keyboard.xml file. I removed the <remote>...</remote> section and it still works. Just wanted to update this thread in the hopes it can help someone else in the future.

Thanks again for your help JR!
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How to bring up Context Menu with Dell remote?0