Solved: Open/close CD with one command

[Holger]

Hello,



for my HTPC I developed a small tool for closing an open CD and opening a closed CD. Ron was so kind to enter it in the Misc section of the downloads. The name is SwitchCD.

Hope it is helpfull for you and I would be happy to get feedback.

Best Regards
Holger

[sibix]

Works great! :D
So I don't need MultiGroups with several states for the button. The open/close always works on the first keystroke no matter how the drive was opened/closed before. This is very useful for CD-Writers that are ejected by the burning-app.

<german>Warum is mir das eigentlich nich eingefallen *selbstvorwerf*? Ist auf jeden Fall ne coole Sache. 8) </german>

Thanks!

[war_pig5]

It is better than multigroups in so many ways! For one, a multigroup gets out of sync if you use use the drive's eject button and then try to use Girder. It might take a second girder event to re-sync the state counter.

I like this so much that i think this should be integrated into a future version of Girder!

It works for me in windows XP for the following drives:

Pioneer 104s (slot-loading DVD drive; works with default "level" setting. i tried this just for testing purposes; this program seems unnecesssary for slot-loading drives.)

Teac W58-E (cd-rw drive; made noise but didn't open with default "level" setting. does anyone know what this noise is? i ask because, while i don't think this can damage the drive, strange noises are rarely a good thing. in any case, it works with a level setting of 620 or higher).

If a lot of people need higher level settings, you might consider raising the default level value.

By the way, what exactly does the "level" setting do? my best guess is that it is a timeout in milliseconds for the drive to check wether the tray is closed. The readme wasn't too specific about that.

[Holger]

@war_pig5:

For understanding the meaning of the level you have to understand the working of the tool: Because there is no status for the door of the cd accessable by the Windows API I had to do in a different way. I let the door open and check how long it takes (Time before and after the command). If the difference is inside the level it means that the door is already open and so I let the door close.

I think the strange noise for your CD_RW is the sound of opening and closing wihtout having time to bring it to end. But it is really surprising that rising the level solves this, but I would like to ask you testing a new version of my application. Could you send me your email-adress (via PM or email)? I would mail the update to you...

Best Regards
Holger

[dainabyrne]

i LURVE this programme - can anyone create a similar thing with turning a monitor on/off and playing/pausing a DVD in PowerDVD

thanks

daina

[Holger]

Hi dainabyrne,

what exactly the applications should do? Does PowerDVD not already has a Play/Pause-switch?

Merry XMas and best regards
Holger

[dainabyrne]

it has a menu which has play and pause, but not a situation where its play/pause (play and pause for the one choice) - different to a cd where you have the one button for open AND close

daina

[war_pig5]

PowerDVD *does* have a play/pause switch - but it is just not labeled as such. play a file, then hit pause (playing stops). then hit pause again (playing starts).

tested on XP (4.0)

[war_pig5]

I think the strange noise for your CD_RW is the sound of opening and closing wihtout having time to bring it to end. But it is really surprising that rising the level solves this

actually, raising the level did not make the noise go away. what it did was to solve the problem of the tray not opening. i'm sorry for not being very specific about this before. i must have drank too much egg nog... but its beginning to wear off now.