News 02/13/2007
I've gotten to work on some new server code (ASP.NET driven). So far things are looking good. Furthermore the setup has gotten a lot easier with ASP.NET. No more fiddling with COM permissions! And, if all goes well, the Cassini webserver will come bundled with the setup so minimum fiddling all around.
What is it?
InControl is a way to conrol your Itunes remotely from just about any browser. This isn't for streaming music but controlling your Itunes that is located at a central location (ie. your desktop connected to your stereo).
InControl should be considered a word in progress and currently in beta
How Does it Work?
Follow the setup guide and simply browse your home network for the InControl interface.
What Do I Need?
- A web server set up on your machine - for those less savvy or just want a simple install I suggest WAMP
- The InControl files.
- Itunes.
- Help? Check out the FAQ.
- I HIGHLY suggest Firefox (tested 2.0) or Opera (9.02+). IE generates table listings very slooooowly. Your music library, for instance, may take a very long time to load in IE. Note: The first time you load your music collection may take a long time in any browser.
What Needs to be Done(A short list)?
- Code and CSS cleanup. The SDK wasn't as straight forward as I had hoped (curse you playlistcollection indexes!). Certain features were hacked together to compensate, cramping my coding style. That and I'm under deadline for actual paying work.
- I've got some great interface ideas, but who has the time? Seriously though, soon.
- Shorten up how the tracks display in a table(this would allow huge lists 4k+ to work on the Wii which has memory limitations, see how to best use it for a Wii in the Faq section below).
- Source list.
- New server code! Yikes all this polling. Need new server code that can listen for events and hopefully drop the COM configuration requirements.
- Various bug fixes
- Better control over playlists (make new ones, add, delete songs etc).
- Font resizing.
Questions? Comments? Like to help others? Post on the Forum
Check out other projects here
GUIDE:
I had hoped to make setting up InControl as easy as possible but you know how things get out of control...
Step 1: Download InControl here.
Step 2: Set up your webserver if you don't already have one.
The WAMP way:
- Download WAMP.
- Run the installer
- Accept the default web root that the installer offers
- Unzip InControl into your web root (by default this should be: C:/wamp/www/)
- Set up permissions for COM Objects. Great tutorial can be found here. I threw security into the wind and set permissions for 'Everybody' opposed to 'IUsr'. SUBSTITUTE itunes FOR MICROSOFT EXCEL APPLICATION! Oh, and I'd start on page 2.
The BRS WebWeaver way - untested but I assume it'll work
- How to from engagdet.
The IIS way
- If you have XP Pro, Win2k, or Vista Biz+, you can install IIS through control panel->Add/remove programs. Click on Add/Remove windows components. Check IIS and install it.
- Now you need to get PHP installed... you're on your own here.
- Drop InControl in c:\Inetpub\wwwroot.
- Set up permissions for COM Objects. Great tutorial can be found here. I threw security into the wind and set permissions for 'Everybody' opposed to 'IUsr'. SUBSTITUTE itunes FOR MICROSOFT EXCEL APPLICATION! Oh, and I'd start on page 2.
Step 3: Test it on your localhost. Surf your browser to http://localhost/incontrol
If you see it you're good to go.
Now you should be able to access InConrol on your home network. You need to find out what your local IP address is. For instance on my D-link mine is http://192.168.0.100/inconrol. Your mileage may very. You can find out your local address by going to Programs->Accessories->Command Prompt and typing ipconfig. One of those IP address is your home network (I would assume anything that starts with 198.x.x.x.
FAQS:
What browsers does this work on?
It's been tested on IE7 (loads big playlists slowly), Firefox 2.0, and Opera 9.02