View Full Version : Native open source iPhone App for XBMC control in development
Hi folks, I'm thinking of starting development on a native iPhone application to control XBMC (for Xbox). Is there any similar ongoing effort? I've seen the iPhone web app, but a native version has more potential IMO. I'm gonna look at nad's HTTP API .NET app to start with, but this won't be a particularly quick dev process since I'm not too familiar with Objective-C & UIKit development. Any ideas/suggestions are welcome.
jmarshall
2008-02-11, 00:24
Just the webapp afaik, and it'll be most welcome - I was thinking about obtaining a touch at some point for use as a remote ;)
Here's a screenshot of the first prototype. It currently doesn't function; I've been just playing with the UI so far.
http://img516.imageshack.us/img516/9612/snap210319ap2.th.jpg (http://img516.imageshack.us/my.php?image=snap210319ap2.jpg)
Nice! gives me a reason to hack my iPod again :)
Not sure why my screenshot disappeared. Will update with newer screenshots later this week. Now that the basic UI elements are in place, I will start trying to connect it to XBMC. Fortunately, the iPhone/Cocoa framework has a pretty rich library for URL fetching.
I've set up a new google project page for this:
http://code.google.com/p/iphone-xbmc-controller/
The latest source code is checked into the subversion repository, but I'm not ready to create binary releases yet. Many features are implemented, but many are not, such as error checking, the "now playing" view, the settings page, and general performance optimization.
BTW, if there are any iPhone/iPod Touch developers out that know how to use a UISectionList view that enables the section index feature, please let me know. This feature would be useful in the music view of the app.
littlefreak
2008-03-06, 19:58
@s4v4ge:
Great Application! I really love it and use it on my iPod Touch 8GB. It works fine. I hope, you implement the rest of functions as soon as you can and don't stop develpment ;) It works better and faster than the web interface. Can't wait until new test-version is coming out *g*
keep up the good work!
greets littlefreak
agathorn
2008-03-06, 20:02
This is indeed neat. Getting an iPhone or iTouch in the next few months, so will be neat to play with this.
nice!!
i used this some time:
http://tlrobinson.net/projects/xbmciphone/
But its slow on SMB Shares, i give your tool a try.
THX for the work, and looking forward to updates!
oooh please make it skinnable... and i know this is very early but coverflow browsing for movies would be sick! ;)
great work man! keep it up,
littlefreak
2008-03-19, 15:41
Skinnable would be nice for future. But the main functions should work first ;)
so long
littlefreak
littlefreak
2008-04-01, 21:26
Are there any new infos about this project? I hope its not death :(
tescione
2008-04-03, 11:38
I use this app daily when playing my music and it works much better than the webinterface-versions. I'am really looking forward for further development, is there any news?
Are there any new infos about this project? I hope its not death :(
Indeed, this project is fantastic - I love it! Hope to have an update soon...
Hello...
I tried to install that app via AFP and than chmod that file but if I start the app the screen went black and after a while it crashs...
Does it work on 1.1.4? Is there an online repository?? Do I have to configure anything before put it on the phone??
sorry guys...
I made a mistake. A chmodded the dir and not the file ;-)
Now it works fine...
Hi guys,
Got this installed and running ok, but currently wont connect to my xbox for some reason (not to worry, I have a complicated setup port-forwarding from iphone through another computer to the xbox so it could be many things)
For some reason the readme file doesn't seem to unzip so I'm not sure what I am missing, do I need to do anything on the xbox end, is it connecting over the web interface or in some other way (might need to forward more ports?)
If I could access the sourcecode (which doesnt seem to be available either) or the readme maybe I could figure it out, anyone got some hints? lol Anyway hope to hear of more development on this thing.
cheers
I think the sourcecode is available (unless it's incomplete)
http://code.google.com/p/iphone-xbmc-controller/source/checkout
doesn't seem to work...
# Non-members may check out a read-only working copy anonymously over HTTP.
svn checkout http://iphone-xbmc-controller.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/iphone-xbmc-controller-read-only
and link doesn't work?
Hmm, weird it doesn't work.. I had that source code not to long ago, might be good to pop google a mail and see why it's not there. I certainly don't hope it's pulled.
Hi guys,
Got this installed and running ok, but currently wont connect to my xbox for some reason (not to worry, I have a complicated setup port-forwarding from iphone through another computer to the xbox so it could be many things)
For some reason the readme file doesn't seem to unzip so I'm not sure what I am missing, do I need to do anything on the xbox end, is it connecting over the web interface or in some other way (might need to forward more ports?)
I think it's just using the web interface.
SkeezerJ
2008-06-17, 18:20
We really need a Installer Source for this application! Any luck using this app on 1.1.4 anyone?
Sorry guys, I haven't worked on this in a while until recently, and hadn't seen all the replies to the thread.
I released a new version with a few new features and an Installer.app repository:
http://iphone-xbmc-controller.googlecode.com/files/repo-current.xml
I am using the googlecode site to host the repository; it seems to work well but there could be some unforeseen issues.
I have tested this with my ipod touch and FW 1.1.2. There are still open issues and quirks but it seems to be pretty useful nevertheless. Please let me know if you can get it working on newer firmware; I'm not going to upgrade until I get a positive report, due to the pain of downgrading.
Does not work with FW 2.0. It crashes right away. Permissions are 775 on all files incl. directory. Is there an error log that I can send you?
If you can get it to work with firmware 2.0. Maby you could upload it to AppStore and earn some money on it? I would be happy to pay!
mappyman
2008-07-31, 16:56
Why FW 1.1.2.. and not FW 2.0 ?
iPhone/iPod Touch FW 2.0 requires that apps be built with the "real" iPhone SDK which requires a Mac which I don't have at the moment.
I had hoped that apps built with the old SDK would continue to work with the new FW, but they must've changed a lot in the OS (structure sizes, etc.).
Believe me, I want to have a solution for the 2.0 FW as well. Thinking about the Hackintosh route.....
By the way, I just got word that the app seems to work OK for FW 1.1.4, so I expect it would also work for 1.1.5.
Also, the code is still available here:
http://iphone-xbmc-controller.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/
I think the URL someone posted earlier was wrong.
mappyman
2008-08-01, 01:01
Its a shame.. I have a 3G phone with 2.0.
I thought I saw somewhere that a 2.0 compatible SDK was leaked.
The API differences between 1.1.4 and 2.0 is pretty substantial, hence why there is no Installer.app for 2.0. So basically, all applications will need to be ported to be 2.0 compatible.
There may be some hope. There is a "compatibility" toolchain that allows compilation of 1.1.x apps for FW 2.0 with minimal code changes. Will try it out in the next couple of days.
The build for 2.0 FW is now working. Add the following URL as a source in Cydia, and you should see XBMCControl in the Multimedia package section.
http://home.austin.rr.com/jsavage/iphone/Cydia/
I haven't been able to fully test everything out in the 2.0 FW yet, so report any issues you find at http://code.google.com/p/iphone-xbmc-controller/issues/list
ewequeone
2008-08-06, 14:49
I really do wish I knew how to assist you in programming with this, but alas, I don't. This is absolutely awesome work and I can't wait to see where you take it.
Cheers,
Jason.
Just installed it on my 3G iPhone. Will test it when I get home. Thanks!!!
imthewa1rus
2008-08-11, 05:49
I just had to register to say awesome job and thank you s4v4g3!
You've done some great things with this program and like ewequeone, I cannot wait to see what else do decide to add on.
It worked perfectly first try :-)
I just had to register to say awesome job and thank you s4v4g3!
You've done some great things with this program and like ewequeone, I cannot wait to see what else do decide to add on.
It worked perfectly first try :-)
Same here,
found the project after googleing "xbmc iphone" to see if anyone already worked on it and I've been amazed to see what the software already do.
can't wait to have the "Video" support.
great job.
Video support will be available soon, since it will be almost identical to the Music view.
Please add comments to the feature summary page on the project wiki to help me to prioritize which features to add first:
http://code.google.com/p/iphone-xbmc-controller/wiki/FeatureSummary
Also, it's likely that future releases will only support FW 2.0.x, since I've updated my ipod touch to FW 2.0 and can't test on 1.1.x anymore.
Gamester17
2008-08-13, 01:41
Any chance you could add some simple skinning/theming (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theme_%28computing%29) support?
:cool:
fastdump
2008-08-14, 15:32
I've been following this thread anxiously for a while now and finally installed it on iPhone 2.0 - and working SWELL! :laugh:
Some observations:
Even though 'Videos' view isn't yet implemented, once a video is playing then the 'Now Playing' feature works fine (can pause/play/etc.) - GREAT! :nod:
Navigating to 'Playlists' under the 'Music' folder always crashes the app to the home screen. ???
I can navigate through Last.FM and Shoutcast plugins fine but the 'Play | Queue | Get Info' bar doesn't appear when selecting a station so I can't open/play them. :oo:
Thansk s4v4g3 - keep up the AWESOME WORK! :grin:
Nick8888
2008-08-14, 16:25
Can this app function as a remote with basic up down left right select etc? That would be a handy little feature while you are working on implementing video and pictures etc.
Gamester17
2008-08-14, 16:58
Easy access buttons for "Love it" and "Hate it" while playing music (or music video) for LastFM.
ewequeone
2008-08-27, 14:31
don't want to pressure you, but any updates? :)
cheers,
jason.
Sorry, have been on vacation, so there's no new version yet. Have spent some time refactoring and porting the code a bit at a time to the official iPhone SDK. I will shoot for a new release by this weekend with a couple of new features.
Gamester17
2008-08-27, 19:50
@ s4v4g3, maybe you should team up with narcan if he is willing to open source his app?
http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=35064
???
Sorry, have been on vacation, so there's no new version yet. Have spent some time refactoring and porting the code a bit at a time to the official iPhone SDK. I will shoot for a new release by this weekend with a couple of new features.
Wow, I presume this means it would be available from the Apple Appstore - good to hear!
Thanks for your help.
Rand Al Thor
2008-08-30, 20:35
Sorry, have been on vacation, so there's no new version yet. Have spent some time refactoring and porting the code a bit at a time to the official iPhone SDK. I will shoot for a new release by this weekend with a couple of new features.
Good to hear. Can we get some screenshots or perhaps a video of the thing in action?
danr-xbmc
2008-09-10, 16:07
Any news on a release? thx
When do you think you will have this up in the iTunes APP store?
danr-xbmc
2008-09-19, 23:43
It's there now. £2.99
thelatejc
2008-09-30, 01:25
It's there now. £2.99
Is it? I only see that other attempt on there from AU apple store. S4v4g3's one is only available via his project page so far as I can see...
http://code.google.com/p/iphone-xbmc-controller/
Personally, I don't like the look of the apple store one, and I'm not inclined to part with $6 to get it.
hellozzj
2008-10-09, 11:44
I'm a Chinese user,when I use xbmc control for iphone ,if the artist or the album's name is Chinese ,xbmc control displays unnormal. Is there any ideal to solve this problem?