[Version 0.00.2b RC1, written by ZoFreX]

If, like me, you have a multimedia keyboard, you probably want it to work with foobar2000. I've divided this up into two parts:

Part 1: Making the "launch multimedia application" button on your keyboard launch foobar instead of Windows Media Player.

Step 1: Associate foobar with .cda files however you see fit (from foobar's preferences is an easy way to do it). That's it!

Testing: Press the "launch multimedia application" button on your keyboard. If foobar is open it should jump to the foreground, if not it should open. If it worked, jump to the "It worked!" section. If it didn't, try the troubleshooting section and if it still doesn't work, try the "It didn't work!" section.

Technical note: Yes, Windows determines what program should be launched when you press "AppKey 16" (media player button) by what opens .cda files. It took a while to figure this out! This can actually be changed so it matches .mp3 files or whatever, just change HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\AppKey\16\Association (I give no warranty whatsoever for fiddling with this, nor have I tested doing so).


Part 2: Making the media player buttons (play, stop etc) work when foobar is minimised.



Step 1: Open preferences in foobar and go to General->Keyboard Shortcuts.

Step 2: Add a new shortcut for the function you want (in my case my keyboard has a combined play/pause button so I'm adding one for that).

Step 3: Select the function you want, in this case "Play or pause".

Step 4: Click in this box and press the button on your multimedia keyboard you want to associate with the shortcut. You should get something appearing here ending in (MM). If nothing appears, jump to the troubleshooting section.

Step 5: Check this box!

Testing: Minimise foobar, try buttons, see if they work. If they don't work, jump to the "It didn't work!" section. If they do work, jump to the "It worked!" section.

Troubleshooting:
The number one thing to check is whether or not your media buttons work in foobar when the window is selected. If foobar is open, by default the media buttons (pause etc) should work - if they do not then either your keyboard is horribly non-standard (uncommon) or something else is hooking the keyboard call first (e.g. vendor keyboard drivers). I use my keyboard and mouse without the Logitech drivers installed for maximum compatibility, you should try disabling / uninstalling vendor drivers and / or applications if that's an option and seeing if that fixes it. If you do want to have SetPoint running, see the section on that to get it working. If people start having other problems, then I might write a number two thing to check

Addendum A: Logitech SetPoint

Firstly, SetPoint is a horrible, poorly written program that I would strongly advise against having installed. However, you can get your media buttons working in foobar while it is minimised with a small alteration. Open up SetPoint's "players.ini" file, for me this is in C:\Program Files\Logitech\SetPoint\players.ini. At the bottom of the [players] list, add the line:

Restart SetPoint (i.e. exit it, and then start it again), and your keys should work, if you're using foobar v0.9.4.1. The window class will need to be changed if you are not, or if you're using a different user interface module - e.g. for columnsui, the classid would be {E7076D1C-A7BF-4f39-B771-BCBE88F2A2A8}. The best long-term solution is for you to know how to find out that classid, so read on:

I used Spy++ to find the classid, but not all of you will have Visual Studio installed so I checked out some of the free options. WinID was the easiest to use:




Step 1: Download, install and run WinID http://www.dennisbabkin.com/php/download.php?what=WinID

Step 2: With foobar2000 visible on screen and WinID in the foreground, mouse over foobar's title and press shift.

Step 3: WinID will now have taken a snapshot, click the "1" in the top left corner to view your snapshot.

Step 4: Copy the class from here into the players.ini line for foobar.

Step 5: Exit and re-open SetPoint. Your multimedia keys should now work for foobar when it's minimised!

If you want the media button to launch foobar then use the SetPoint software to bind that.

It didn't work!
So you've followed the instructions, tried the troubleshooting steps, and it still doesn't work. No worries. Post:

• What didn't work
• Whether the media keys work in foobar when it's focused
• Your version of Windows
• Your version of Foobar
• What keyboard you're using
• What drivers / software you have installed for your keyboard
• Anything else you think might be relevant

It worked!
Great! If you have a Windows / foobar version different to one in the "Tried & Tested" section, post so I can confirm it on that.


Tried & tested on:
Windows XP SP2
Vista build 5744 (Part 1: setting file associations from inside Foobar on non-administrator account fails hard, setting .cda assocation to foobar through Windows makes the media application launch button work fine)
foobar v0.9.4.1

thanks a lot dude...

Thank you so much. It worked great on my Dell E1505 laptop (using the media direct keys). thanks a lot.

Cheers for this man, i've managed to get the play/stop/next/previous buttons working ages ago but never got the media button to open foobar instead :]

Just a note:

There is a known issue with Opera intercepting multimedia keys when the browser has focus. The Opera Devs are aware and working on a fix.

Something to keep in mind if you're having button issues...

This trick works on my Logitech Desktop (MX3100) with Foobar2000 v0.9.4.1 and Win XP Pro 64-bit SP1 when Logitech's SetPoint sw is closed.

When SetPoint is running is foobar is minimized, this trick does not work. I don't want to miss the features of SetPoint (+ uberOptions) and still want to be able to contol other media players using my MM buttons.

Any idea how to accomplish that?

Thanks in advance

ZoFreX says:
Special.O, I installed SetPoint (which was a horrible, horrible experience) just for you! <3 Anyway, I updated the original post with a section on SetPoint, it's a little complicated but hopefully it'll work - let me know

I'm trying it now. LX700 Keyboard with setpoint and uberoptions. Foobar v0.9.4.1 with WinXP SP2. Did what you said and it doesn't work. It does work when it's on screen but not when it's minimized. Setpoint also doesn't recognize foobar2000 in the media player button options. It only lists Winamp, WMP, WMP10. I can manually set it to launch foobar.

It may be uberoptions. Though that just adds more abilities to Setpoint.

Works!

I use 2k3 x64 and SetPoint with Überoptions and your instructions worked as a charm

DiNovo Laser keyboard

"I just re-installed SetPoint and installed UberOptions, and I haven't been able to recreate your problem (except foobar not showing in the drop-down list; that can be done but there's no real point). Please verify that you're using the correct ClassID using WinID, let me know how it goes!"

foobar2000=wac,foobar2000.exe,{E7076D1C-A7BF-4f39-B771-BCBE88F2A2A8}/1,xxx,xxx,xxx,xxx,xxx,xxx,xxx,0,1,foobar2000

Pretty sure, I'm using ColumnsUI and plus the WinID matches.

Yay, my account is active! Thanks to everyone for their feedback so far

Laughing man, I've just realised what's wrong - the ID for Foobar sans ColumnsUI is "{DA7CD0DE-1602-45e6-89A1-C2CA151E008E}/1", the ID for Foobar with ColumnsUI is "{E7076D1C-A7BF-4f39-B771-BCBE88F2A2A8}" - the "/1" is part of the ID for Foobar, it shouldn't be there for ColumnsUI. Hope that helps!

It works! Thank you!

Thanks - the good news mean, I got the 'play/pause' button working in foobar at last The bad news is the 'volume' buttons on the keyboard seem tied to adjusting Windows volume control and not foobar's volume...and I can't get the play/pause to work when foobar's minimised. Anyway, here's the requested info - any suggestions appreciated:

* What didn't work - nothing when foobar minimised, volume controls control windows volume control not foobar.
* Whether the media keys work in foobar when it's focused - play/pause does
* Your version of Windows - XP Pro
* Your version of Foobar - 0.9.2
* What keyboard you're using - microsoft natural ergo 4000
* What drivers / software you have installed for your keyboard - MS intellitype

Intellitype? K. You'll have to hold while I find a Microsoft keyboard...

Thanks - let me know if you figure anything out. I really like the MS natural keyboards as hardware, but the software sucks (MS is very inflexible in what you can programme the multimedia keys to do )

One more thought - you *can* programme some keys to load a particular file - would there be a way to program a macro to press the appropriate key combo to pause/play foobar, adjust its volume, etc? You can also set keys to run one of a list of commands, but nothing to do with foobar appears in the list.

If you can program keys to run a command you could program them to do things like

Works great, thanks Now, if you know the codes for volume +/-, and skipping tracks, that'd be really handy.

Lol so this is where i've done wrong. Finally got my G15 MM button working for foobar. Thanks a lot.

What a great guide! Can I ask a question though... How the tell do I change what my Multimedia Volume Control does? Currently it's set to the wrong sound card, so is of little use. Foobar calls the control ('Volume up (MM)' and 'Volume down (MM)')
This would be great to find out because I've searched the internet for months looking for this info...

What keyboard / software / soundcards are you using?

To everyone who's wondering things: I managed to brick my computer with a bios update (go Asus!) hence the lack of updates - posting this from my dad's, who I'm visiting for the weekend. Hopefully I'll be up and running again soon!

Hi,

Its a standard wireless Dell keyboard, no software. My sound card is an EMU 1820M.

Cheers! Works great with a wired Microsoft Natural Multimedia Keyboard!

I had the same problem. Intellitype really sucks

Then I had a brainwave, or more likely a seizure. Remove Intellitype.

Sure enough the standard keys still work (this is on XP SP2) and now the media keys work when foobar is minimized. I don't have volume keys on this version of the keyboard so can't help there.

Bit late in the day, but it might help.


Meddler

I have a wireless HP keyboard that came with the computer. There doesn't appear to be any software to configure keys.

The keys work when foobar is in focus, but without configuring it. No multimedia button presses are recognised by foobar in the shortcut configuration box.

I'm using Windows XP SP2, with foobar v0.9.4.2.

This didn't work for me.

- The media buttons (F5-F8 while holding the Fn key) doesn't work globally
- They work when foobar is focused
- OS: Windows XP SP2
- I'm usingFoobar 0.9.4.2
- Keyboard: Logitech DiNovo Edge
- Drivers: SetPoint

I have done the WinID trick and added the line you posted (with the right ClassID) to the bottom of the [players] section of the players.ini.

Oh, nevermind, it works now. I just pointed the cursor at the wrong part of the foobar window when taking the snapshot.

Ah.. I have a twist to the problem here...

I'm running Windows XP Media Center Edition so the "Play/Pause" button doesn't execute Windows Media Player, but instead, it runs Media Center.

I've tried all the solutions you've given but they've all failed. Even when I change the file association to AppKey 16, it still runs Media Center. Heck, I've even tried replacing it with a ShellExecute key leading to fb2k. Still didn't work.

Does anybody have a clue as to how I could stop Media Center from executing and have fb2k run instead?

http://www.randyrants.com/sharpkeys/

The program sharpkeys may help you. I've used this program to correct assignments for volume and media button keys on my non-microsoft keyboard. Sharpkeys makes a registry hack for you (you could do it by hand, but Sharpkeys knows most of the scancode assignments). You could possibly re-assign your media keys to send other scancodes. Then make the 'new' keys work with Foobar2000. This may be unnecessary if you can otherwise disable WMP WMC from starting.

Do you have MS IntelliType installed? I installed it despite having a third party keyboard. After maping my (non-standard mapped) media keys to 'standard' scancodes, IntelliType let me do all kinds of one-press macros, or keystrokes. I can also disable the extra keys. Mostly, I like that my volume keys work with an OSD display—all programs. Foobar2000 has separate volume control key assignments and a different OSD display that won't interfere with my muliti-media keys.
I'm unfamiliar with Windows XP Media Center, so I don't know what other factors play into this. I have XP Pro.

Thanks for the suggestion Danny_8, but it doesn't seem SharpKeys will fix the problem. The keys are already correctly mapped.

As for MS Intellitype, it doesn't seem to work either.
It seems that the multimedia keys are dependent on the Toshiba hotkey.exe process.
However, the multimedia keys ("Play/Pause", "Stop", "Next", "Previous") cannot be configured.

The scenario here is:
No media player running:
"Play/Pause" Key, On press --> Starts up Media Center

foobar already running, w/o Media Center:
"Play/Pause" Key, On press --> Starts up Media Center

foobar AND Media Center already running:
"Play/Pause" Key, On press --> Plays/Pauses media in foobar.

So basically everytime I want to use the "Play/Pause" hotkey for foobar, I need to have Media Center running first. That's not really something I appreciate.

Ah, well.

Does it make sense to try and map them improperly?
Have you looked on thegreenbutton.com (WMC enthusiast web site) ?

I would also consider disabling the Toshiba process. It may not be necessary.

I'm curious if you like WMC otherwise. It looks neat to me but I haven't lived with it. If I had the moolah I cough up and buy myself a notebook with WMP pre-installed before Vista comes out. I like the Fujitsu models.

Does the control panel Set Program Access and Defaults have any effect?

It is part of the Add and Remove Programs control panel.

I'm grasping at straws here.

I used to have the media keys working on my real old Toshiba laptop while running its hotkey process (on my computer, it was called something like tfncky.exe...not too sure).

Anyway, my laptop's software included an applet in the Control Panel where I could select what my default media player, CD player, and DVD player were. If your computer's software is similar, then a simple registry edit is necessary to create an entry in that applet for foobar2000. Here's the registry file I used:


There are instructions in the first post of this thread to find the correct "WindowClass" (classid) you'd need (I use ColumnsUI). Also, I'm pretty sure that you should change "Path" to be the complete path to foobar2000.exe. From what I remember, foobar2000 wouldn't start if I just pressed Play/Pause, but the buttons would work just fine otherwise. (It's been a while since I've used my laptop )

@danny_8:
Ah, I guess I forgot to mention I'm on a Toshiba laptop.

If I disable the hotkey.exe process, all the multimedia hotkeys cease to function. So I would ASSUME that it's necessary until proven otherwise.

As for mapping the keys improperly intentionally, I'm not quite sure what else I'd map the keys to...

I actually have already created a similar thread on thegreenbutton.com, although I haven't gotten many replies yet.

I personally am not too fond of Windows Media Center, mainly because I don't hook up my computers to TVs. Another thing I don't really like about WMC is that I can't really customize it to look different or fit in with my desktop. It's awfully 'user-friendly' so theres barely anything you can really configure.

@gfngfgf:
Well, it seems like my Toshiba laptop runs different software from yours. In fact, that registry directory doesn't exist in my computer and there was never an option to select the default media player, etc. It's really frustrating to not be able to find a solution to a problem like this. None of the existing resolutions seem to work for Windows XP MCe...

I've actually already tried that earlier. Disabled everything media center related. Still no luck. Media Center still launches.

I would disable hotkey.exe and experiment a bit. You can always re-enable it later. Are you using startup.cpl or some other startup-managing software?

The media keys may 'cease to function' but I believe they'll still continue to send scan-codes. See if they do. If they do, you can use whichever driver software you wish (within reason). Assuming hotkey doesn't perform some other critical function like temperature monitoring, you could jettison it.

Some folks were ripping Intellitype earlier in this thread but I think it's better than all third-party keyboard drivers I've ever installed, and I've messed with quite a few. Definitely don't try to layer several keyboard drivers, however. Choose one.


I didn't scrutinize the solution proposed at the thread start, but it seems more complicated than necessary. I'm going to read it carefully to be sure.

Anyway, good luck whatever you try!

I guarantee you hotkey.exe is a necessary process. In fact, even my function key fails to operate once I terminate it. Disabling the function key isn't exactly a good idea on a laptop.

Also, the next and previous keys still work on foobar, and it does so without launching Media Center. But once I terminate hotkey.exe, they too fail to function.

How do I check if a key sends scan-codes btw?

Yep, I did realize you were running a Toshiba notebook from the outset.I guess you're talking about the modifier key that allows you to emulate the numeric keypad while pressed. Your F1 thru F12 still work, I hope. That would suck! I see your reluctance to disable hotkey.exe and I don't fault you for it.

You said you didn't know what other key you'd assign if 'improper' assignment was attempted. The idea was to make some other assignment—there are many unused scan-codes. But really, you want to use one that MS uses in one of their products. Something like 'copy' or 'paste'. Then, you'd use Intellitype to assign a function to that key. With a little luck, media player wouldn't launch, but your action would.

I know of several programs that will help reveal when keys are pressed. Sharpkeys will, of course. I would disable hotkey.exe, experiment with sharpkeys, and take some notes. Possibly the Fn issue (assuming I ID-ed that correctly) could be worked around. One might enable hotkey, check the scancode for Fn. Then disable hotkey, and re-check the code. [edit: see next post] As part of the key-realignment, re-assign the correct scancode to Fn. Final solution has alternative driver (Intellitype or some other) making desired result from re-mapped keys (registry hack assisted by sharpkeys). No CLASSIDs are used.

The other one (scan code revealer) that comes to mind is TweakUIXP, which is excellent for other reasons. TweakUI won't show you actual codes but if a 'mystery' key is the same as one of the Microsoft keyboard keys, it will scroll to that function. In fact TweakUIXP can be used to make assignments to a limited degree. Hope this helps. I had a similar issue with my Chicony keyboard driver always launching IE when I didn't want it to.
I worked through it (two years on and off) only after I found sharpkeys.

I said check the scan code for Fn. I think I mean check the scan codes for all the numeric keys while Fn is depressed. It really helps to make some notes on paper while you do this.

You should be able to do what you desire (get your media keys to behave) but you may have to re-map a dozen or more keys (media keys and possibly numeric keypad keys) to make it happen. Possible fly in the ointment: will the brightness and ancillary functions require hotkey.exe? It'd be real nice if they didn't. Don't give up!

Oh yeah, I hate the fact that my USB keyboard won't power-on my system, but my (relatively crappy) PS/2 keyboard will! I use the PS/2 'cause I really need that feature to work. I mean, my CPU's like three feet away!

This is very strange. After using SharpKeys to help detect scancodes, I realized that my multimedia keys are recognized differently when pressed with/without the function modifier key.

On press -
"Media: Play/Pause" only:
SharpKeys can't detect.

"Media: Play/Pause" with Fn modifier:
SharpKeys recognizes scancode as "Media: Play/Pause"

I get similar results with all the other multimedia keys on this laptop. The Launch Media player button, which is configured to launch the calculator, launches Windows Media Player when pressed with the Fn modifier down.
SharpKeys can't seem to detect most of the Fn key features and when hotkey.exe is terminated, most of the Fn keys fail to work. Brightness +/- happens to be an exception though.
Supposedly though, if I can figure out the scancode for the "Play/Pause" key without the Fn modifier, then I could remap it to "Media: Play/Pause".

Now, you might be wondering why I have a launch media player button and not have it configured to launch foobar but the issue here is that I can't seem to use the "Play/Pause" button without first launching Media Center. Also, under ideal conditions, the "Media:Play/Pause" button should be able to launch an instance of foobar (NOT Media Center) when one does not already exist.

Thanks for all the help danny_8.
Maybe I should try something outrageous like installing foobar into the Media Center folder and then replacing the media center exe with the foobar one.

Seems that when I have foobar associated to .cda, I can use the "App: Media Player" key to launch foobar. However, the computer will only recognize it as the "App: Media Player" key when the Fn key is depressed. When it isn't, it's an unknown key that SharpKey can't seem to find the Scancode for.

The same goes for the "Play/Pause" key. The computer will recognize the "Media: Play/Pause" key is being depressed only when the Fn key is also depressed. Otherwise, it'll just launch Media Center like it always does.

So basically, the hotkeys work, but I have hold down the Fn modifier key first everytime I want to have the "Play/Pause" key work the way its supposed to.
Still can't launch foobar with the "Play/Pause" key like my other computer can though.

Speaking of Logitech, does anyone know of a program which let's you modify the display on the DiNovo MediaPad? I'd like to display the current song playing.

Yeah, that makes sense. I noticed that sharpkeys cannot detect my media keypresses once Intellitype is running.

It's been quite a few months since I re-aligned my keyboard, but one thing I do remember is a lot of head-scratching. I believe I had to uninstall my (3rd party) keyboard driver (and Intellitype was not yet installed) before I could make sense of my keyboard. Sharpkeys is imperfect but still useful. If you look around the web, you see lots of folks have similar or identical issues to what you're experiencing. Hardware manufacturers are not especially concerned once they get their product out the door and as long as it doesn't crash. Margins are slim so they don't justify the programmer effort. The worst thing is when they farm out their software requirements to a lame-brain third party.

I think MS ought to provide a universal keyboard macro/customizer that works will all hardware. That would benefit more users than Aero. Same goes with mouse drivers. I have a logitech trackball I love except for the d@mn driver software that comes with it. The driver hangs my computer when I awaken from sleep/standby mode (not often used). Logitech spams me but won't respond to tech inquiries or fix their driver. My wrist problem got better so I went back to my MS mouse.

Just to ensure full disclosure I should have stated I continue to use my media keys for their 'normal' use to control WMP. I recently got into Foobar again (getting DSL renewed my appetite for internet radio) and I've been hanging out here trying to understand various plugins.

It occurred to me that I should try to map my media keys to Foobar similar to what you are trying. I had the same problem with WMP launching. I could disable Intellitype (don't really want to) and it would behave. My solution was to allow intellitype to run but disable the media keys. Now at least I got my system to work with Foobar 2K attached to my media keys. I do have to launch FB manually before the keys work. And I haven't lived with this arrangement, so there may be other issues. Hey, maybe I'll use this for a while! I hardly even use WMP except to watch the occasional *ahem* video.

One thing I dislike about Intellitype is you have to choose which MS keyboard you wish to emulate. What if you want to take a key from here ("copy" from Office keyboard) and a key from there (MM key from a different keyboard)? S-O-L!

One way to do this is to bind the desired key to a Windows shortcut using your keyboard driver. (Instead of binding that key to a Foobar function using Foobars preferences panel.) The shortcut would look something like this:

"c:\program files\foobar2000\foobar2000.exe" /play

"play or pause" is probably a better choice. Unsure of the exact syntax. My latest riff is trying to develop command scripts for Foobar to open radio stations. It's a challenge for me. Here is the command line reference page: http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?ti...mmandline_Guide

This is probably not worth the trouble but I thought I mention it. I'm sticking with the simple 'prefs page bind' for myself.

Did you get volume working? (Sorry for not replying for so long) You said the volume control modifies the wrong sound card - what other sound cards have you got and are you using them all? If not I'd advise disabling all but the one's you are using.


Danny_8 suggested something called sharpkeys, I guess you could give that a whirl:




See post above this one.

Interesting SetPoint hacking

I've been using a Logitech keyboard with multimedia keys successfully for a while now, by not having SetPoint installed, but recently got myself a Logitech mouse too. Now I need to have SetPoint running, and it grabs hold of control of the keyboard too, ruining all the multimedia keys which used to work just fine.

I've been hacking about with SetPoint for some time, and come across the following. If you close SetPoint, then open your settings file in \Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Logitech\SetPoint\user.xml, you should find a Device element with the DisplayName of your keyboard, and Class="KeyboardDevice". In it, there are a bunch of Button elements, with nice descriptive Names. Find the buttons you want to fix, and for each one, look inside the Trigger element for a Param element which has an attribute Silent="0". Change that to Silent="1". Once you've done that to all the media buttons you want to fix, save the file, and start SetPoint again. Those buttons with Silent="0" you can still set the behaviour for in SetPoint (which is handy for those buttons which don't have a standard behaviour), and those buttons with Silent="1" behave as if SetPoint was not running. Result!

Hope this is useful to others too,

Alex

Hi, I'm from Russia so, sorry for my mistakes. I've got some troubles with it:)
So, my keyboard is Defender Wireless Multimedia Keyboard. When I'm trying to make hotkey, there are no actions in the window (in menu I mean).
So me driver is standart (MK02014 Multimedia Keyboard Driver). When I push some multimedia keys it opens mediaplayer, and with medaiplayer it works...
But, I like foobar)
So, here is a photo of my stuff http://www.defender.ru/products/klaviatury...-nabory-/12002/ (sorry for russia)
Thanks a lot...

There is an alternative for the Logitech SetPoint settings:
In players.ini, add these lines


The difference to the other method is, that the keys are working no matter in which state foobar is (minimised, in background...), it shows up in the SetPoint key configuration and ... doesn't seem to work with ColumnsUI u.u (at least for me)

This method is mentioned in the first post (Addendum A). You need to edit the window class to match the one that Columns UI uses (instructions in the first post).