ethanz's blog

new (0.51) version of MCE-YAC add-in

2005-03-03T08:44:00Z

I just put up the new (0.51) version of MCE-YAC up on my personal blog. Version info and commentary is over there, along with the download page.

Thanks to everybody who gave me great, crisp feedback. You make this easy. :)

new (0.51) version of MCE-YAC add-in

2005-02-21T12:19:00Z

I just put up the new (0.51) version of MCE-YAC up on my personal blog. Version info and commentary is over there, along with the download page.

Thanks to everybody who gave me great, crisp feedback. You make this easy. :)

my new Media Center add-in: MCE-YAC

2005-01-20T11:24:00Z

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. :)

What are you writing?

Media Center SDK on MSDN

2004-10-13T06:28:00Z

Hi, I'm Ethan Zoller, the program manager for the extensibility platform we provide in Windows XP Media Center Edition. Since you landed on my page, you probably already know that our 2005 version shipped this morning.

As part of our launch today, the Media Center Software Development Kit is now available, and, for the first time, directly browsable from MSDN. The content on MSDN is a mirror of the compiled help file we include with the downloadable SDK, so you won’t have to do a download if you want to get an overview of Add-ins or look up the details for an API call. All this, from a single, easy-to-remember location:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/mce

This is not just a minor revision to the SDK. Based on tons of feedback from our ISV, IHV, OEM and hobbyist customers, we grew our page count from the 2004 version's ~150 pages to nearly 500 pages: the SDK covers broader subject matter (the aforementioned add-ins, working with Media Center Extenders, building applications that use our triple-tap control, scheduling recordings, technical information on components of the Plus! pack included in our product, and so on), more overview material and deeper exploration of many areas including a checklist for reviewing your application, links to community sites like our developer newsgroup and blogs, and Much Much More.

We still have downloadable content, of course, and in addition to an off-line version of the documentation on MSDN, you’ll find:

Dramatically simplified templates for building hosted HTML applications
A redistributable triple-tap activex control, allowing ISVs to do text-input from HTML pages on our 2004 product as well as the 2005 version
Printable map of our object model
Sample add-ins with source code
Visual Studio project files to help you build, install and register add-ins
MSAS (aka Front Panel Display) sink and sample app that providing external .NET applications easy access to media center events and state.

An important caveat about what’s live right now: because our data is so new, it’s not yet indexed as part of search.microsoft.com. We should be fully indexed by early next week (probably sooner).

We couldn’t have shipped the new SDK without a lot of help. Giant thanks go to everybody on the development and partner teams, and of course, all the external and internal partners and customers who gave us great (and sometimes wonderfully pointed) feedback along the way.

What are you writing?