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User

11.06.2011 10:32:09

Controlling Behaviour Priorities

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This posting is older than 6 months and can contain outdated information.

In a nutshell, this is what Remote Buddy does to determine which application to control / which Behaviour to pick:

1) Check the currently active (in terms of "input focus") application: if there's a behavior for it, it gets picked. If not, it proceeds with 2).

2) Check which applications are running in the background: if there's a behavior that supports background control of a running application, it gets picked. If not, it proceeds with 3)

3) Switch to the Default Behaviour.

The Spotify Behaviour supports background control. It will therefore be picked automatically when:

1) there's no behavior for the currently active application
2) Spotify is running

Best regards,
Felix Schwarz

These entries from the FAQ may be relevant to this topic:

Hardware - Apple® Remote

After uninstalling/quitting Remote Buddy, my Mac® no longer reacts to the Apple® Remote. (FAQ015E0241)
To enable you to use all capabilities of the IR Receiver of your Mac®, Remote Buddy is using its own driver. In contrast, all other applications with integrated Apple® Remote support usually use the OS X Apple® Remote subsystem.

As long as you're running Remote Buddy, Remote Buddy and its driver are responsible for turning the received button presses into actions. As soon as you quit Remote Buddy, this task is again handled by the OS X Apple® Remote subsystem.

If other applications don't use the interface to the OS X Apple® Remote subsystem correctly, this can lead to the effect that nothing happens when you press a button on your Apple® Remote. For as long as you're running Remote Buddy, issues like this are covered by Remote Buddy and it's driver and are therefore not visible to you. However, as soon as you quit Remote Buddy, the OS X Apple® Remote subsystem is back in control and any issues caused in it by other applications become visible.

Therefore Remote Buddy is neither the cause of the issue nor is it responsible for it. Instead, the cause of the issue exists independently of Remote Buddy. It's located elsewhere and can also only be solved there.

Although our products can't cause any such issues, we're regularly contacted about such issues and asked for help. In order to make locating and fixing the cause of such issues as easy and efficient as possible, we've developed a free diagnostics tool: Remote Control Diagnostics. It can locate issues with a single click and will provide you with information about the issue as well as with instructions on how you can fix it.

User

11.06.2011 10:59:27

Re: Controlling Behaviour Priorities

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This posting is older than 6 months and can contain outdated information.

My situation:

I have written a new Behaviour in the Behaviour Construction Kit (B.C.K.). I would really prefer it to also "support background control". But be chosen by Remote Buddt in a preference that is higher than Spotify.

"Behaviour Factory" in B.C.K has checkboxes / settings to individually configure each new custom behaviour. Its the "Specification and metadata" tab. There is no setting that says exactly: "background control". However there is this 1 checkbox:

[X] Handle application in background with priority [ 1024 ] (1024 min, -1024 max)

Question 1:

Does this option allow me to make my own custom behaviour take a higher background priority than Spotify? I mean - is this the correct setting to affect these background Behaviour Priorities within Remote Buddy?

Question 2:

If Q1=yes, then what number should be entered into the box to ensure the priority is greater than (eg Spotify)?

If Q1=no, then how else can we move Spotify to a lower priority, given that its pre-built as an official behaviour? If necessary, would it help to duplicate / replace the Spotify Behaviour with 2nd custom behaviour?

Question 3:

Do all behaviours with background background (for example iTunes, FrontRow and so on) have the same background priority? Or are they each set to some default, but unique priority arrangement? For example, will iTunes always override FrontRow, or visa-versa?

Many thanks.

User

14.06.2011 15:16:01

Re: Controlling Behaviour Priorities

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This posting is older than 6 months and can contain outdated information.

Thanks for asking.

[X] Handle application in background with priority [ 1024 ] (1024 min, -1024 max)

Question 1:

Yes. The Spotify Behaviour that ships with Remote Buddy has a priority of 1024 (the minimum).

Question 2:

If Q1=yes, then what number should be entered into the box to ensure the priority is greater than (eg Spotify)?

If you want your Behaviour to be preferred, you should use a value of 1023 or less here.

Sidenote: if you're implementing your own Behaviour for Spotify, be sure to turn off the one that ships with Remote Buddy (by unchecking the checkbox in front of it at Prefs > Behaviours). Otherwise, which Behaviour is chosen for controlling the application is undefined and may vary on a case by case basis.

Question 3:

Do all behaviours with background background (for example iTunes, FrontRow and so on) have the same background priority?

Most use the lowest priority of 1024.

Or are they each set to some default, but unique priority arrangement? For example, will iTunes always override FrontRow, or visa-versa?

iTunes, DVD Player & Co. use different priorities based on the state of the system and the applications. For example, if you have DVD Player and iTunes running in the background, Remote Buddy will pick DVD Player if a DVD is inserted - and iTunes otherwise.

IIRC none uses a -1024 priority, so if you want to make sure your Behavior always "wins", that's probably the value you'll want to use.

Best regards,
Felix Schwarz

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