Cross platform media control

[rashil2000]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe. I see that media control on Linux has been implemented via MPRIS. It would be great to have this functionality on all platforms.

Describe the solution you'd like There's a crate - https://github.com/Sinono3/souvlaki - which abstracts away media control under a unified function. It not only supports Linux (via MPRIS), but also has full support for Windows and macOS.

Describe alternatives you've considered None

Additional context This is what a typical function looks like in souvlaki:

    controls
        .set_metadata(MediaMetadata {
            title: Some("When The Sun Hits"),
            album: Some("Souvlaki"),
            artist: Some("Slowdive"),
            duration: Some(Duration::from_secs_f64(4.0 * 60.0 + 50.0)),
            cover_url: Some("https://c.pxhere.com/photos/34/c1/souvlaki_authentic_greek_greek_food_mezes-497780.jpg!d"),
        })
        .unwrap();

See https://github.com/Sinono3/souvlaki/tree/master/examples for more examples.

[jacksongoode]

This would be fantastic! 👍

[itytophile]

I've investigated the problem. It seems to me that to have access to the Windows media controls we need to have a "handle to a window" (HWND). Unfortunately ncspot is a terminal app and I didn't find a way to get a handle that works with souvlaki. I've used GetConsoleWindow (which is deprecated) without success.

[rashil2000]

Hmm, doesn't the example code there seem to be using a console application?

[itytophile]

To have a MediaControl instance (controls in your example) you have to provide a PlatformConfig that needs a HWND (https://docs.rs/souvlaki/latest/souvlaki/struct.MediaControls.html#method.new). On Windows it is required as you can see in souvlaki source code.

EDIT: In souvlaki repo it shows an example that uses winit to create a windows then get a handle from it. The other examples don't show how to get a handle from a console app unfortunately.

[rashil2000]

Ah, I see...

[jacksongoode]

@itytophile Well getting it working for macOS/Linux systems would still be a win right?

This feels like such a needed feature for a media player app.

[itytophile]

@jacksongoode I already have media control on my linux desktop (GNOME) and I thought that the feature was available on macOS. I don't have an apple device to test that out.

[jacksongoode]

@jacksongoode I already have media control on my linux desktop (GNOME) and I thought that the feature was available on macOS. I don't have an apple device to test that out.

Huh, then the controls aren't exposed for macOS.

[rashil2000]

MPRIS API is only available for Linux.

This issue request is for Windows and macOS support.

[jacksongoode]

Is this on the roadmap @hrkfdn? Global media keys on macOS would be really great.

[jacksongoode]

It seems souvlaki has support for zbus as a backend as well https://github.com/Sinono3/souvlaki#linux-backends-d-bus-and-zbus

[sreekarchigurupati]

Global media keys support would be great for MacOS. Would it also end up showing the album art here?

[ptixed]

I've investigated the problem. It seems to me that to have access to the Windows media controls we need to have a "handle to a window" (HWND). Unfortunately ncspot is a terminal app and I didn't find a way to get a handle that works with souvlaki. I've used GetConsoleWindow (which is deprecated) without success.

Couldn't you spawn an invisible window that would grab key events and pass them into ncspot?

[jacksongoode]

Couldn't you spawn an invisible window that would grab key events and pass them into ncspot?

That's how https://github.com/aome510/spotify-player/ approaches media controls.

[ptixed]

@jacksongoode Are you working on this? I was thinking of maybe picking this up as an excuse to learn rust.

[jacksongoode]

@ptixed No I'm not, I would go ahead and use that other project to guide you!