I know I've been quiet for a while, but I've been busy. My wife got me a Surface last year for Christmas, and I've been working on a ModernUI (or Metro UI) interface for Premise since them. It went live on the Windows Store last night! Search for PremiseMetro and you'll find it. It currently supports Surface (x86, x64) and Surface RT (ARM) running Windows 8.1. There are some screen shots available on the Windows Store site.
There are a few prerequisites. First you need to install the Premise Web Services (I posted that yesterday). The install guide is brief and to the point, and I've included a short programmers guide if you are interested in using the services for building your own software that can access Premise through Windows Communication Foundation (WCF). Second, import the PremiseMetro XDO file you'll find in the Premise Web Services zip file. Finally, there's a directory to put into the Web Images folder under Premise. That's documented in the Premise Web Services release notes.
PremiseMetro uses the hierarchy defined in Builder to create the interface (similar to Automation Browser). The app supports major Premise control elements including Locations, Lighting, Scenes, and MediaZones with a special emphasis on MediaZones (more on that later). Support for my Netnews and MSNWeather modules is also included. Unfortunately, Windows Store apps don't allow for user-built extensions (at least I can't figure out how to do it). So, I'll need to add support for additional control elements for the foreseeable future.
I make use of Premise's MediaZones in my setup, so I wanted to make sure the new UI had reasonably good media handling. MediaZones support the use of media shortcuts setup in Builder. If a media shortcut is found, the referenced media is rendered in a Media Browser control to the right of the transport controls of the Media Zone. You can browse, search, and play media directly from the MediaZone's media browser control. Searching is wild-card enabled and only searches the "Name" property of the objects in the current window. One enhancement to standard MediaZone functionality is the addition of Jukebox functionality. It was a little tricky and I had to extend the MediaZone class in Premise to do it. Hopefully, you won't find any mistakes
I also added local Media Player. It visually looks like a media zone and can be accessed by swiping down from the top of the screen. It too has a Media Browser that shows content and playlists that can be browsed. It too also has Jukebox functionality built in.
There is a stand alone Media Browser available by swiping from the top and selecting "Media". It can be browsed and searched. Media can be selected and played on a Media Zone but swiping up from the bottom and tapping the "Play" button, and selecting the Media zone on which to play.
Scenes can be accessed by swiping from the top and tapping the "Scenes" button. They can be played and stopped simply by tapping the tile associated with the Scene.
This is my first attempt at a Windows Store app, so I expect some bugs...
Enjoy!
There are a few prerequisites. First you need to install the Premise Web Services (I posted that yesterday). The install guide is brief and to the point, and I've included a short programmers guide if you are interested in using the services for building your own software that can access Premise through Windows Communication Foundation (WCF). Second, import the PremiseMetro XDO file you'll find in the Premise Web Services zip file. Finally, there's a directory to put into the Web Images folder under Premise. That's documented in the Premise Web Services release notes.
PremiseMetro uses the hierarchy defined in Builder to create the interface (similar to Automation Browser). The app supports major Premise control elements including Locations, Lighting, Scenes, and MediaZones with a special emphasis on MediaZones (more on that later). Support for my Netnews and MSNWeather modules is also included. Unfortunately, Windows Store apps don't allow for user-built extensions (at least I can't figure out how to do it). So, I'll need to add support for additional control elements for the foreseeable future.
I make use of Premise's MediaZones in my setup, so I wanted to make sure the new UI had reasonably good media handling. MediaZones support the use of media shortcuts setup in Builder. If a media shortcut is found, the referenced media is rendered in a Media Browser control to the right of the transport controls of the Media Zone. You can browse, search, and play media directly from the MediaZone's media browser control. Searching is wild-card enabled and only searches the "Name" property of the objects in the current window. One enhancement to standard MediaZone functionality is the addition of Jukebox functionality. It was a little tricky and I had to extend the MediaZone class in Premise to do it. Hopefully, you won't find any mistakes
I also added local Media Player. It visually looks like a media zone and can be accessed by swiping down from the top of the screen. It too has a Media Browser that shows content and playlists that can be browsed. It too also has Jukebox functionality built in.
There is a stand alone Media Browser available by swiping from the top and selecting "Media". It can be browsed and searched. Media can be selected and played on a Media Zone but swiping up from the bottom and tapping the "Play" button, and selecting the Media zone on which to play.
Scenes can be accessed by swiping from the top and tapping the "Scenes" button. They can be played and stopped simply by tapping the tile associated with the Scene.
This is my first attempt at a Windows Store app, so I expect some bugs...
Enjoy!
