RemoteConnector

[bob3695]

Hey guys,

This is still very much in the experimental stage but I thought I would get it out there for you guys so the brave (aka the developers and/or computer savy) can start playing with it. I am developing a web server that is run on NodeJS, Express and AngularJS with Monogo as the database server to help bridge the gap between devices DemoPad has problems accessing and also to enhance some features of devices it already can control.

GitHub: https://github.com/bob3695/RemoteConnector

Features:

• 1. A searchable webpage for Movies and TV Shows in your Plex Library
  2. A state API (so you can sync state between devices. eg What devices are currently on in the living room)
  3. An API to pull movie information in a nice readable format for DemoPad

That is just the beginning though. I will also write up instructions on how to use these features and probably also attach demo projects for the features.

Instructions
Install

1. Install Monogo (http://www.mongodb.org/). I am not providing instructions on installs as it differs from OS to OS. Please post here if you need help.
2. Install Node (http://nodejs.org/). Install should be a simple install package.
3. Grab code from the GitHub Repo. You will need to use git to pull it.
4. Launch Mongo. Please see the mongo website for instructions (or post here)
5. Open Command Prompt/Terminal and navigate to where you pull the git repo to.
6. Run 'npm install'. This will install any missing dependencies (there should be no missing dependencies)
7. Run 'node app.js'. This will start up the server on port 3001.

More detailed instructions will come.

I will be updating this thread with instructions on setup and how to use all the different features but I am out of time for now! For those of you that know Node and Mongo this would be a fairly straight forward setup.

Showcase

I posted this in another section of the forum but since it is powered by RemoteConnector I figured I would also drop this here. This is 100% within DemoPad (no web view) and pulling my Plex server information from the RemoteConnector. This can be expanded to XBMC with some work as well.

[trevorst]

Nice work.
It looked like that was an XBMC screen when the movie started ???

[bob3695]

No sir. That is Plex with a skin that makes it look like XBMC. I do however have code to start movies in XBMC (using JSON-RPC so it works with Frodo) but that needs more work because I don't have code to pull XBMC libraries yet.

[bob3695]

I've added a quick demo project of scrolling through 2 movie covers at a time. Note that this will not work with version 1.4.1 of DemoPad but requires version 1.4.2 (unreleased). I was provided a beta version so until they release it do not expect the demo to work on your iOS device. The titles will appear but no movie covers or starting of the movie.

Note that you need to change a few items in the project to make it work with your setup. First of all you need to get the RemoteConnector website up and running then in the DemoPad project you will need to update the plex device to point to your plex SERVER (not client) and the RemoteConnector device to point to the computer running the RemoteConnector website (they can be one in the same). After that you need to update two labels... "PlexServerIP" and "PlexClientIP". Once you do that the project should work (at least the movie titles until 1.4.2 hits the app store).

I am uploading now to just give an idea of how simple the DemoPad side of the video I showed really is.