AirControl (3rd Party Control API) Discussion

My favorite news that came out today with the 1.7 update to ATVFlash (Black) is the beta of AirControl.  Not only does it open up lots of possibilities with regards to 3rd party remote control (Crestron, Control4) but it also works great with the free Mac application.  Makes it super easy to control the AppleTV completely from Mac OS… and also to enter text (for searches, or inputting long URLs into Couch Surfer Pro.)

More info on the: Support page


Already we are seeing some add-ons to leverage this new control:

Tiny script for marking X episodes as watched in AppleTV MediaPlayer

https://gist.github.com/310081

 

I thought I’d start a thread for more discussion.  What other ideas do you have?  How can the Mac app be improved? 

I for one, would love to see an AirControl script (or better yet, a bookmarklet, and/or Safari extension?) to send the current URL to AppleTV’s CouchSurfer Pro.  Navigating to launch CouchSurfer, and then copy-and-pasting the URL into AirControl’s text field works… but clicking a button sure would be easier.  This workflow would make CouchSurfer a much more viable presentation tool.

 

 

 


 

 

 

Actually it wouldn’t be that hard to create a function to navigate the onscreen keyboard, you just need to remember the current position and mode of the cursor.

I’m busy over the weekend, I’ll maybe post something next week

This is not done yet by any means. But you can select various characters…
Still needs lots of work.

https://gist.github.com/3104089 

andsens, thanks for that, but text entry is already built into the AirControl Mac application.  Click this button when on an ATV screen with a text entry field:

 

So really what I wanted was a script to leverage that native control, to take the current URL in your computer’s browser, and open it with a click in Couch Surfer Pro on the ATV.

I agree that I am really excited for the potential aircontrol provides.

Is there any way to get a copy for the source code for the mac app or aircontrol (mainly just to see if there are any more commands besides the ones listed available) I would really look forward to being able to launch a specific app ex media or tv shows, or even feedback of the current application or what app is currently highlighted. also it would be great to be able to change the port number aircontrol listens on.

This is a great addon I already have a working crestron module!

Thanks for all the hard work!

I couldn’t help myself. The script is done now. It also types all the special characters.

I haven’t tested it thoroughly. It works as long as the starting position is the lower case a.

https://gist.github.com/3104089

Here are some undocumented aircontrol commands:

wake=1     – wake AppleTV
sleep=1    – Sleep AppleTV
plugin=com.apple.frontrow.appliance.settings            – Navigate to settings menu
plugin=com.apple.frontrow.appliance.media/LocalSources  – Navigate to My Files menu
kf=1      – relaunch AppleTV (reset)
np=0      – ?? unknown command ??

does anyone know the name of the netflix plugin?

I did some digging and here are some other plugins to try (haven’t tested yet)

 

com.apple.frontrow.appliance.internet.flagstaff

com.apple.frontrow.appliance.internet.vimeo

com.apple.frontrow.appliance.internet.nba

com.apple.frontrow.appliance.internet.movie-trailers

com.apple.frontrow.appliance.internet.wsj

com.apple.frontrow.appliance.internet.NHL

com.apple.frontrow.appliance.internet.internet-photos

com.apple.frontrow.appliance.internet.dot-mac

com.apple.frontrow.appliance.internet.flickr

com.apple.frontrow.appliance.internet.photo-stream

com.apple.frontrow.appliance.internet.internet-youtube

com.apple.frontrow.appliance.internet.internet-podcasts

com.apple.frontrow.appliance.movies.movie-trailers

com.apple.frontrow.appliance.internet.netflix

 

So I tested all the above plugin options I posted above and none of them work :(. But I did get the following to work for XBMC

plugin=com.apple.frontrow.appliance.xbmc (You still have to press select to get passed the second option screen)

I’m still looking, since I mainly use netflix and xbmc I am hoping I will find something.

Success! Netflix, lol! so simple it was tricky!

/plugin=netflix

guess im a bit overdue to register on this forum… anyhow since i love working on aircontrol so much it was a good time for me to chime in on a discussion.

 

all you need to do is use the last component of the identifier (internet-youtube, netflix, movie-trailers, NHL… etc)

these /should/ all work in 5.0 + (the version with the redesigned main menu) in 4.4.4 only the internet based identifiers will work… mostly do to an oversight on my part.

re: any more api, there is none, you guys have smoked the whole thing out.  

as for navigating into stuff like my files in media, thats when the path comes in (ie com.apple.frontrow.appliance.media/LocalSources) the way that one works is based on the plugins identifier and then each category inside those plugins also has its own unique identifier. snuffing those out takes some sneaky work with cycript.

 

@nitotv: thanks for this awesome plugin. is it possible to navigate o a specific playlist using folder structure commands?
It would be great to use Aircontrol to play a playlist… So that the AppleTV could be used as an alarm clock, for example

Hi Folks

I am sorry in advance for this base question.

Could someone please give me a basic run down of “airControl”, it’s features and general uses.

Thanks

Is there a way to list the names of all plugins?

For instance in roku you can do it (so it gives the names easily)

For instance weather isn’t called weather and I tried all of the toll gate spelling possiblities.

 

What about Media player? Any direct link to that?

see post #6 above

plugin=com.apple.frontrow.appliance.media/LocalSources – Navigate to My Files menu

no, but its on my to-do list.