Over in my personal blog, I just launched my first publicly-available Media Center add-in: a client for YAC, the network caller-ID program.  My app the friendly names provided by the YAC server, and presents pictures of the caller (or a picture for the area code or state if there's not a match for the whole number).  Here's a screen shot:

I started writing the app as a "self-host" project during the weekends getting ready for last summer's Media Center release.  I wanted to really try out the add-in model, make sure the SDK had enough information about how to build add-ins, handle strong naming, get them registered with Media Center, and so on.  Being a mere hand-waving program manager, there were parts of the coding for this that were pretty tough to work out. 

But this weekend, I finally wrestled out a threading fix to a delayed-exit problem, and added the feature I'd most wanted: support for arbitrary paths, so the three Media Centers we've got at home can all use the same pool of pictures from a web server.  I'll write more particularly about the threading problem and its solution in the next day or so.  While I was looking for solutions Sunday afternoon, I saw at least one other developer on the net that hit the same issue.

I've made the source code available, with a decent smattering of comments.  I hope it serves as a good resource to you other add-in writers, and an opportunity for discussion.  And I *really* hope you help me finish some of the features. There's still plenty of work left. :)

Z.

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