What is Girder?

Girder is the Windows automation utility from Promixis, is the most powerful and feature-rich computer and home automation tool available. When used with infrared and wireless remote controls, Girder can control programs like WinDVD, WinAmp and Windows Media Player, in addition to many others. There is no limit to what you can do with Girder. Whether you want to manage your video and audio hardware, adjust your home theater lighting, or program your security system, you can control and automate it all with Girder. Plus, Girder's library contains hundreds of plug-ins, pre-configured actions, and support for leading third party hardware devices and software applications.

What can You do with CoolCommand?

This plugin has following options:

1. It can generate events in two way, old style by sending numbers (i.e. 0x46 when you press STOP button) and new style when it sends STOP event.
2. You can still use function keys (MTS, TVFM, Video and Display) but now they have no effect on POWER button.
3. POWER button behavior can be modified if you press one of the function keys before you press POWER, then it will generate WINFASTPVR, WINFASTFM, WINFASTRM or POWER event. If you again press POWER button it will generate POWER event.
4. You can chose if PLAY button will generate PLAY or PLAY/PAUSE event.

with it You also get GML files for Winfast PVR and Winfast FM and you also get a winfast.map file. Map file is for mapping remote events to girder actions, but in this case you must check option "Plugin sends RC Codes" or you will get every event twice (once from remote and other from mapping event).

Why did I make this plugin?

Soon after purchase of the Leadtek Winfast TV2000 XP Expert TV card I wished to use the remote control, that came with it, to control other software (PC) and that was not possible with bundled software. I missed ability to control volume, to pause and continue playback when I was watching video and things like that.

Luckily I've read in the PC (local computer magazine) about Girder and enthusiastically decided to give it a try. When I first tried it (girder v3.1 at that time) there wasn't a plugin for expert but after few months Brian Bennefeld released first version of his WFExpert plugin. Unfortunately his plugin had one drawback, because Brian made his plugin with four keys acting like function keys I could not get it to work with TV application (actually I could, but I needed to map four codes to one action). After reading in the forum that Brian will release source code I decided to wait and "fix" plugin.

On my surprise Brian had changed the plugin exactly the way I wanted it. Since I wanted to fiddle with it I decided to add few more possibility to the plugin. I added possibility do work with function keys or without them, then you could control Winfast PVR without help from girder and changed number of bits that plugin was reading from GPIO register (Brian's plugin was reading 8 bit and it should read 7).

After some time guy's from Promixis  started to develop new mayor version of girder (v4) so I decided to check out what they did with girder. Newer version was mayor improvement and I couldn't let Brian's and my work on plugin to be left behind. Since new Girder uses API v3 (although it supports API v2) I adapted plugin to the new api and changed (again) some stuff.

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© 2006 Zdravko Sebastijanovic.
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