A general question regarding xml and Pocket Internet Explorer (on PktPC 2002):

The M$ pages I've read indicate that xml support is included int PIE, but charcoalgray99's pages don't seem to render properly. They show errors similar to those seen on IE if you've not applied the XML SP2 parser patch.

Is there some aspect of pages (as laid out) that's causing this not to work or is it something deeper? I'd like to take a stab at making a very basic play/pause/next/pick playlist page (to control an empeg linked to a stereo), but I'm a complete newbie and don't want to waste time if there's something deep that would prevent this from working. I haven't had a good wireless control over a (wired) empeg since the 1.x release and displayserver.

I haven't done anything web related since hand coding my company's first web pages in 1996.

Thanks.

-Zeke

I'd like to take a stab at making a very basic play/pause/next/pick playlist page (to control an empeg linked to a stereo), but I'm a complete newbie and don't want to waste time if there's something deep that would prevent this from working.

You do not need to have XML to do those things. Regular HTTP commands to hijack will do that. Check the source code to CharcoalGray's pages to see how they work.

Here are some examples of how to do commands without using XML. In the examples below, it is assumed that the address of your player on the network is "http://empeg", substitute the correct address for this as needed.

To access the built-in HTML playlists of Hijack (no XML), the command is:
http://empeg/?fid=101&ext=.html
From there, you can stream, download, or play any tune or playlist on the player.

Play
http://empeg/?serial=%20&nodata

Pause
http://empeg/?serial=W&nodata

Fast Forward
http://empeg/?button=Right.L&nodata

Rewind
http://empeg/?button=Left.L&nodata

Next Track
http://empeg/?button=NextTrack&nodata

Previous Track
http://empeg/?button=PrevTrack&nodata

Volume Up
http://empeg/?button=VolUp.L&nodata

Volume Down
http://empeg/?button=VolDown.L&nodata

Info Mode
http://empeg/?button=Info&nodata

Next Visual
http://empeg/?button=Visual&nodata

Toggle Shuffle
http://empeg/?button=Shuffle&nodata

Sleep
http://empeg/?button=Top.L&nodata

I haven't tried all of these out, I was just pulling code from CharcoalGray99's page. No warranty on the above items, expressed or implied.

Note that the "nodata" parameter is there just in case you don't want it to return a web page after you send the command. If you want it to come back with a refresh of its default HTML page, then omit the nodata parameter.

Tony,
You rock! I was indeed planning on dissecting Cg99's pages as a start, you just saved me at least an hour or two of staring blankly at the page files. Thank you. Even a semi-computer literate like myself can make a page with that. I'll be sure to post the page source when I do. Yay!

-Zeke

Got it. One last question, is it possible to issue a command that causes an 'insert next' or 'append' function (similar to the last step in choosing via artist/title etc)? On the PPC that'd be very useful as 'stream' & 'download' aren't really practical given the limited storage space on (most) PPC's.

I can look for it myself too, I don't mean to be a pain. I just thought you might know offhand if those commands exist. Flog me with the FAQ if I need it.
-Zeke

is it possible to issue a command that causes an 'insert next' or 'append' function

Heh. I almost answered that question in an above post, but decided not to because you had not yet asked about it explicitly.

The answer is no, not at the current time. The reason is that the 2.0 beta 11 software does not have a serial-port command for that purpose. Note, by looking at the code, that Hijack gets away with some of its tricks by injecting serial commands. Since there's no serial command to insert or append a specific FID, it can't do it.

Good news is, that feature will be coming in a future release of the player software. Hope I'm not giving anything away by revealing this, I don't remember if it was revealed before or not.

That's good news about the future release. I know enough not to bother with the when question (and I know they're busy on revenue generating projects). Even without that feature, it's still a good step up from where I am now. I'm going to try and format the page for easy PDA use with really basic functionality, probably with a basic controls page and a playlists link. Nothing pretty by today's standards, but quick & functional for me.

-Z

Tony,
I got a basic page working in about 45 minutes Friday night in that editor of all editors (kidding) MS Word. Meanwhile my OS disk bit the big one and this BBS is the 2nd web page visited on my re-reincarnated machine (I've done this dance before).

So, thank you for the help. I'll still post that page, but I have a few things to reinstall first - too numerous to mention.

-Zeke

Ok, I have a really (don't laugh) basic page:

<html>
<head>
<title>Play Pause </title>
</head>

<body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple style='tab-interval:.5in'>

<div class=Section1>

<p class=MsoNormal>
<a href="/?serial=%20&nodata" target="_blank">Play</a><br>
<a href="/?serial=W&nodata" target="_blank">Pause</a><br>
<a href="/?button=Right.L&nodata" target="_blank">FFWD</a><br>
<a href="/?button=Left.L&nodata" target="_blank">REW</a><br>
<a href="/?button=NextTrack&nodata" target="_blank">Next</a><br>
<a href="/?button=PrevTrack&nodata" target="_blank">Previous</a><br>
<a href="/?button=VolUp.L&nodata&nodata" target="_blank">Vol +</a>
<a href="/?button=VolDown.L&nodata" target="_blank">Vol -</a><br>
<br>
<a href=/?button=Info&nodata" target="_blank">Info Screen</a><br>
<a href="/?button=Visual&nodata" target="_blank">NextVisual</a><br>
<a href="/?button=Shuffle&nodata" target="_blank">Toggle Shuffle</a><br>
<br>
<a href="/?button=Top.L" target="_blank">Off</a>
</p>

</div>

</body>

</html>


My problem is that after I click a link I get the default index.htm page (in my case that's Charcoalgray99's page). Aside from renaming my page as index.htm is there a way to force the browser to go back to my little page listed above (titled control2.htm)? I'm sorry for such a simple question, but it's got me stumped.

-Zeke

Hi Zeke,
Change your links from
<a href="/?serial=%20&nodata" target="_blank">Play</a><br>

to...
<a href="?serial=%20&nodata" target="_blank">Play</a><br>

Getting rid of that first "/" should do the trick. If it doesn't work, you can just hard code the filename into that href tag.

Like so...
<a href="/control2.htm?serial=%20&nodata" target="_blank">Play</a><br>