[RELEASE] Advanced Launcher - Applications Launcher Addon for XBMC

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Angelscry Offline
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Lightbulb  2010-11-19 17:01 [RELEASE] Advanced Launcher - Applications Launcher Addon for XBMC Post: #1
Advanced Launcher | Manual | WiKi | Forums | Tutorials | Gallery | GitHub | Archives | Donate

Current Version : 2.0.7 (Frodo, Eden & Dharma) from Angelscry's Repository 1.2.2 or Direct Download

Advanced Launcher allows you to start any Linux, Windows and OS X external applications (with command line support or not) directly from the XBMC GUI.
Advanced Launcher also give you the possibility to edit, download (from Internet resources) and manage all the meta-data (informations and images) related to these applications.

[Image: fanart.jpg] [Image: screenshot006.jpg]
screenshot 1 : Advanced Launcher categories display (Arcades, Comics, Console, PC Games, Websites, etc...) with Xperience More skin.
screenshot 2 : Nintendo DS launcher using DeSmuME emulator (Windows) with Metropolis skin.

Addon Features :
  • Run Windows, Metro, Linux and OSX applications with auto-suggested arguments.
  • Start any file from specified directory using selected application.
  • Collect informations of applications and images and using internal module scrapers
  • Folder recursive scan option for new added items (with images and data collect options).
  • 3 collect options : manual, semi-automatic and automatic.
  • Add, remove and edit options of applications directly from XBMC GUI
  • Thumbnails and Fanarts images support.
  • Sort launcher into custom categories.
  • Search applications and items by name, genre, studio, platform and release date.
  • XBMC built in functions support for launchers.
  • Multi-disc selection support.
  • Automatic and Manual data Import/export with .nfo files (compatible with RCB addon)
Included scrapers : Additional scrapers :
[Image: screenshot000.jpg] [Image: screenshot001.jpg]
screenshot 3 : Pc games launcher using .lnk files support (Windows) of Advanced Launcher with Cirrus Extended skin.
screenshot 4 : Comics reader launcher using qcomicbook application (Linux) with .cbr files with Aeon Nox skin.

Advanced Launcher Updates :

Version 2.0.7
  • Fix No fanart message display.
  • Fix change category display.
Version 2.0.6
  • Fix audio sound loop when starting an application,
Version 2.0.5
  • Fix AudioEngine hog (thanks to fritsch and Nortin).
Version 2.0.4
  • Fix ComicVine scraper.
Version 2.0.3
  • Fix category assignment for files launcher creation.
Bugs report and support :
If you obtain a script error message when using Advanced Launcher, please post here (using pastebin service) the content of the xbmc.log file just after the error occurred. This file contain the information concerning the script error, that will help to quickly identify the problem. If Advanced Launcher is not able to start correctly an application, when reporting your problem, please post here (using pastebin service) the content of the launchers.xml file. This file contain the information concerning your launcher configuration, that will help to quickly identify the problem.

[Image: screenshot000.jpg] [Image: screenshot002.png]
screenshot 5 : Internet browser launcher using chromium application (Linux) with .html files with Fusion skin.
screenshot 6 : Magazine reader using Acrobat Reader application (Windows/Linux) with .pdf files with Cirrus Extended v3 skin.

Skins supporting Advanced Launcher :

Basically, all the skins are working and are compatible with Advanced Launcher. But not all the skin are supporting all Advanced Launcher features (aka. display of all the metadata managed by Advanced Launcher). You will found here a table with the list of skins supporting (or not) Advanced Launcher : http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Com...n_features.
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(This post was last modified: 2013-05-18 05:04 by Angelscry.)
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olafvs Offline
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2010-11-19 18:01 Post: #2
Looks nice. I will try it this weekend Nod
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joeranjensen Offline
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2010-11-19 18:29 Post: #3
Yes, it looks realy nice. Only tested it for about an hour. tested with SNES9x and nestopia. I realy like the scraping function, but is there a way to scrape all games in one operation instead of one at the time? Allso I wish it could launch the emulators more seamles.
Nice job and keep up the good workBig GrinBig Grin
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Angelscry Offline
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Location: MTL, Canada
2010-11-19 19:03 Post: #4
joeranjensen Wrote:I realy like the scraping function, but is there a way to scrape all games in one operation instead of one at the time?
Not yet. But it is planned for the next versions. I actually need more feedback concerning the manual scrapping. So, when the manual scrapping will be "stable" I will add the automatic scrapping.
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Robert de Clair Offline
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2010-11-19 22:13 Post: #5
angelscry

i wrote a bat file in main folder of winuae

content
winuae.exe -f "Lotus III The Ultimate Challenge.uae" -statefile="Savestates\Lotus III The Ultimate Challenge.uss"

in config file are putted disc two of game. and save state is after changing disc screen
this is working commandline from this bat so config files are automatically searched at configurations folder. savestate files must be inputet with folder just as i wrote.

so im glad to separate thread with new better launcher.
Thank you.
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Angelscry Offline
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2010-11-19 22:25 Post: #6
Robert de Clair Wrote:winuae.exe -f "Lotus III The Ultimate Challenge.uae" -statefile="Savestates\Lotus III The Ultimate Challenge.uss"
Ok, so no full path. I will try to see to wrote you a small Autoit script that will launch the game with this command line. I think it will be better than adding some conditional codes into the launcher add-on. Some users may want to use another emulators than WinUAE to launch their games or want to use WinUAE with different arguments or parameters.
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Angelscry Offline
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2010-11-19 23:15 Post: #7
@Robert de Clair: This if an AutoIt script that may works to launch Winuae with the saves states. Name it for example winuae-lancher.au3 then compile it into winuae-lancher.exe using the AutoIt free software.
Code:
if $CmdLine[0] = 1 Then
    $path = StringSplit($CmdLine[1], "\")
    $romname = $path[$path[0]]
    $savename = StringReplace($romname, ".uae", ".uss")
    Run ( 'winuae.exe -f "' & $romname & '" -statefile="Savestates\' & $savename & '"' )
EndIf
Then modify your launchers.xml file and replace winuae.exe by winuae-lancher.exe for the application tag and remove all the content of the arguments tag. The AutoIt script works like this : When you start for example the command line :
Code:
winuae-lancher.exe "c:\program files\winuae\roms\romname.uae"
the script will extract the name and start winuae with the right command line:
Code:
winuae.exe -f "romname.uae" -statefile="Savestates\romname.uss"
I'm not sure that my autoit script will works at 100% but it is the idea.
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(This post was last modified: 2010-11-19 23:18 by Angelscry.)
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Rob Loach Offline
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Location: Toronto, ON
2010-11-20 03:57 Post: #8
I absolutely love what you did with this, and the direction you're taking it.

Thoughts:
  • Assignable key in the Addon Settings to quit the running application... Would probably need the Subprocess management to check if the key is pressed. Would be extra cool if you could quit and choose a new game using the controller, no need for the keyboard.
  • Automatically fill in the file arguments dialog for a given set of emulators... Maximus Arcade has a few arguments setup for some emulators.
(This post was last modified: 2010-11-20 03:59 by Rob Loach.)
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scalpel Offline
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2010-11-20 11:55 Post: #9
Hi angelscry.
Could you check this skin why launcher or rom info is not displayed? Its have this option in skin. Maybe you find solution and nate will correct this.
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=82065

Regards
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Robert de Clair Offline
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2010-11-20 12:54 Post: #10
I think idea is perfect, but something is wrong

background:
emulator files are E:\Emulatory\WinUAE\
there are folders like a:
Configurations (with config uae files)
Savestates (with saved states) Wink

a romfolder for Advanced Launcher Application (ALA) Big Grin - is Savestates (E:\Emulatory\WinUAE\Savestates)

compiled autoit script launched by ALA just run winuae and doesnt load uss or uae file so may there is missing or too much " ' or other signs whos meaning i dont understand :>
additionally after launch autoit script ALA take back XBMC to foreground :/ (in background are still staying winaue)
(This post was last modified: 2010-11-20 13:00 by Robert de Clair.)
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