v2.0
Control Winamp via Bluetooth using your mobile phone
(Developed for Sony Ericsson K750i/W800i)
by Colin Edwards, Aug. 2006
Introduction (Why?)
Using your mobile phone to control your PC is all well and
good and has a certain gadget-factor that you can show off to your friends
but just how useful is it really?
The whole point of using a remote control is that you are not near the
device your are manipulating, right? The word 'remote' aint in there for
nothing! But with how many PC applications can this actually work to any
degree of satisfaction?
Sure, things can be achieved with apps like Media Player and even Winamp
but these functions require to be pretty basic for one very simple reason:
If you are beyond a certain distance from your PC's screen you can't
frikkin' read it! When I'm listening to music in my armchair I want to do
more than just turn the sound up and down and skip to a certain song!
This is where UberWinampHID comes in. Instead of controlling Winamp with
your phone, you now control the UberWinampHID interface and that, in turn,
will control Winamp. The benefit of all this? More control, more
flexibility and greater ease of use.
How?
The interface was created using AutoHotkey which is a very powerful
scripting tool that allows the user to assign functions to the keyboard or
mouse and so control the behaviour of running programs.
One of the major problems I encountered was that I couldn't directly access
Winamps Media Library to get the data I needed to 'feed' the interface but
then I stumbled across a plug-in for Winamp that allowed me to perform an
export of the library into XML format.
This program processes that XML file and allows you to navigate through it using
the UberWinampHID interface. The on-screen display that the user interacts with is actually
an HTML file and, hence, is displayed in the default browser. UberWinampHID was
designed with my browser-of-choice in mind and that browser is Firefox. The best
viewing experience can be achieved using the Full-Screen
extension which hides the title bar, status bar and all toolbars.
Installation
To use UberWinampHID you must do the following
[1] - Download UberWinampHID and unzip it to a folder of your
choice.
[2] - Download and install the Media Library
Export/Import plug-in for Winamp
[3] - Run an export of the Media Library (On the Media Library's 'File' menu,
select 'Export Database'). Call it 'library.xml' and save it to the
UberWinampHID folder you created in [1] above
[4] - Install the HID profile (contained in the zip file) to your phone
That's it! You're good to go!
User Operation
Double-click the UberWinampHID icon (i.e. run UberWinampHID.exe) to start
the program. The following window appears:
Here's what it all means:
Process Winamp Export File
Check the 'Process Winamp Export File' checkbox in order to process the
Library Extract you created earlier. You will not need to check this box
again unless you have performed another Export from Winamp's Media Libray
(for example when you have added new music files to it)
Organise tracks into these categories
The three checkboxes for 'Genres','Artists' and 'Albums' determine the way
your music is organised by UberWinampHID and represent a top-down
hierarchy. For example, if you checked just the box for 'Artists', all tracks
would be organised into their respective Artists (rather than into their Albums and then
into their Artists). The only screens you
could navigate to would be 'Artists' and 'Tracks' - no Genre or Album
information would be visible, searchable or browse-able. You might prefer this option if
you are one of those people who doesn't have many entire albums but, rather, a few selected
songs from many different albums. Likewise, you might want to exclude 'Genre', since many artists
are classified differently by different people and your MP3 collection probably reflects this.
OSD Options
These govern the look of the UberWinampHID display. Here you can select a
'wallpaper' and an image with which to highlight selections. You can also
determine the number of rows that are visible and text size and colour.
When you are done, press the 'Start UberWinampHID' button to start using
UberWinampHID. You can return to the Pre-Processor Options window at any time
by right-clicking the UberWinampHID icon in the System Tray and selecting 'Options'.
You might want to do this to re-configure the display or re-organise the Media Libray.
Below is an example of the main UberWinampHID interface
which should also serve to better illustrate the settings just
discussed:
Now, having switched on the remote control from your phone hand-set, you
are ready to sit down, relax and listen to your favourite tracks ;-)
The table below shows how the keys from the phone are mapped to those on the
keyboard. Of course, these mappings are also present in the HID file
located on the phone.
| Function | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phone Key | Keyboard | Browser Mode |
Search Mode (Where different from Browser Mode) |
|
| Left Soft-key | < | Plays previous track on playlist | ||
| Right Soft-key | > | Plays next track on playlist | ||
| Volume Up | Numpad + | Increase volume by 1% | ||
| Volume Down | Numpad - | Decrease volume by 1% | ||
| Joystick Left | Left Arrow | Navigate to Parent Screen (e.g. from Album to Artist) | Note: When in Search Mode you may still navigate from (say) Album to Artist (or vice verse) and the Search Expression will not be lost. This allows you to search for (e.g) an Artist and then a Track using the same Expression. | |
| Joystick Right | Right Arrow | Navigate to Child Screen (e.g. from Album to Tracks) | ||
| Joystick Up | Up Arrow | Move up an on-screen list | Jump to previous match for Search Expression | |
| Joystick Down | Down Arrow | Move down an on-screen list | Jump to next match for Search Expression | |
| Joystick 'Fire' | Spacebar | Add selected track to playlist (enqueue) | ||
| Camera Button | BREAK |
Suspend HID Interface (Will no longer respond to the phone and the PC's keyboard resumes it's normal functionality) |
||
| 1 | 1 | Jump to first item starting with the numerics 0-10 (cycling) |
Each repeated pressing of a key within three-quarters of a second will
increment to the next letter, in much the same way as basic texting
works on your phone.
Example: Pressing 'P' three times in quick succession equates to the letter 'R' (P=>Q=>R). Once the situation arises that no key has been pressed within a three-quarters of a second period, you are taken to the first item in a list that begins with that letter, in this case 'R' |
In Search Mode, you can build up entire words by using the keys on your phone in
the same manner as for Browser Mode. The three-quarters-of-a-second time-out period simply
moves you to the next letter in the Search Expression as you build it up. Note, however,
that you need only wait for the time-out to occur if you are about to enter a letter using
the same key as for the previous one.
Example: To enter the Search Expression 'ABOUT' do the following: Press 'A' and wait for the time-out. The display shows 'A' Press 'A' twice rapidly (A=>B). The display shows 'AB' Press 'M' three times rapidly (M=>N=>O). The display shows 'ABO' Press 'T' twice rapidly (T=>U) and wait for the time-out. The display shows 'ABOU' Press 'T' once more to enter the final 'T'. The display shows 'ABOUT' |
| 2 [ABC] | A | Jump to first item starting with 'A'/'B'/'C' (cycling) | ||
| 3 [DEF] | D | Jump to first item starting with 'D'/'E'/'F' (cycling) | ||
| 4 [GHI] | G | Jump to first item starting with 'G'/'H'/'I' (cycling) | ||
| 5 [JKL] | J | Jump to first item starting with 'J'/'K'/'L' (cycling) | ||
| 6 [MNO] | M | Jump to first item starting with 'M'/'N'/'O' (cycling) | ||
| 7 [PQRS] | P | Jump to first item starting with 'P'/'Q'/'R'/'S' (cycling) | ||
| 8 [TUV] | T | Jump to first item starting with 'T'/'U'/'V' (cycling) | ||
| 9 [WXYZ] | W | Jump to first item starting with 'W'/'X'/'Y'/'Z' (cycling) | ||
| * | Numpad * | Perform a Global Search (e.g. for part of a song or artists name) | Enter Search Mode |
[1] If you have finsihed entering a Search Expression (as described above), press * to perform the
search.
[2] If you are currently browsing the results of a Search, press * to cancel Search Mode and return to browser mode. |
| 0 | Numpad 0 | Add to Favourites (a Favourites.m3u playlist file is created in the Winamp folder) | ||
| # | # | Toggle 'Shuffle' On and Off | ||
Other Things You Should Know (in no particular order)
[1] - I am keen to have feedback on this application
- particularly if there are bugs or improvements that can be made. Just
let me know about
them!
[2] - I have Winamp v5.111 and it works fine on my Win 2000 PC! I
haven't tested it on any other machine. Period.
[3] - I have a Sony Ericsson W800i. However, this application does not
preclude the use of other makes and/or models. If you can create a HID file
incorprating the required mappings, you can use UberWinampHID. If like me,
you use a Sony Ericsson handset (and why wouldn't you!?) you can get the
necessary PC software from their website to create the HID file. It is then
just a matter of sending it to your phone via USB/Bluetooth/Infra-red.
[4] - If you want to re-map the keys for any reason, including for the
purpose of creating your own HID file, do it yourself!
[5] - You don't necessarily have to use your phone with the interface. Just
press the keys in the table above to test the functionality. Bear in mind,
though that it is intended to be used with a remote control
[6] - My own Winamp Media Library contains only audio files. I haven't tested
what happens when the export includes other types of media
[7] - If you have configured Winamp to run in your System Tray when minimised, UberWinampHID
will not be able to control it!