feat: GPIO Buttons over USB Encoder

[jeripeierSBB]

Adds functionality of buttons which are connected by USB Encoder. #1156

Setup works by choosing an input device and then step by step mapping buttons to phoniebox functions. See README for usage.

Thanks to @Dieter4712 and @s-martin for the code base of this PR.

[s-martin]

Thank you!

[jeripeierSBB]

Thank you!

And thank you :-)

[martinSteidele]

Hi jeripeierSBB,

first of all: Thank you!

Unfortunately I had a small issue with using the function. I'm probably just too stupid to use it correctly but when i call setup-buttons-usb-encoder.sh I get an error from map_buttons_usb_encoder that the module "components" cannot be found.

I was able to fix the problem by copying the gpio_control folder from the components to the same folder as the .sh file and then removing the "components" in lines 9 and 14 of map_buttons_usb_encoder.py.

This solution seems really ugly to me, but unfortunately I don't know python at all, so I couldn't solve it any other way.

[jeripeierSBB]

Hi @martinSteidele

thanks for your comment. You just need to run the setup script from your RPi directory (home/pi/RPi-Jukebox-RFID).

something like:
cd /home/pi/RPi-Jukebox-RFID
sudo ./components/controls/buttons-usb-encoder/setup...sh

a documentation fix is already open as a PR (#1285 )

[martinSteidele]

Well that explains a lot. Thank you very much!

[daniel-mi]

Hi @jeripeierSBB I have a same problem while running the script.

Please can you habe a look on the result attached?
Thanks a lot
Daniel

pi@raspberrypi:~/RPi-Jukebox-RFID $ sudo sh ./components/controls/buttons_usb_encoder/setup-buttons-usb-encoder.sh
Please make sure that the Buttons USB Encoder and the buttons are connected before continuing...
Continue (y/n)? y

Choose the Buttons USB Encoder device from the list
0 Logitech K400
1 DragonRise Inc. Generic USB Joystick
Device Number: 1
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/home/pi/RPi-Jukebox-RFID/components/controls/buttons_usb_encoder/map_buttons_usb_encoder.py", line 6, in
import components.gpio_control.function_calls
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'components'

Start phoniebox-buttons-usb-encoder service...
'/home/pi/RPi-Jukebox-RFID/components/controls/buttons_usb_encoder/phoniebox-buttons-usb-encoder.service.sample' -> '/etc/systemd/system/phoniebox-buttons-usb-encoder.service'
Warning: The unit file, source configuration file or drop-ins of phoniebox-buttons-usb-encoder.service changed on disk. Run 'systemctl daemon-reload' to reload units.
Done.
pi@raspberrypi:~/RPi-Jukebox-RFID

[jeripeierSBB]

@daniel-mi Thanks for your bug report, I just fixed it. See PR #1346.

[daniel-mi]

Hey @jeripeierSBB, thanks a lot for the quick response and the fix.

Maybe I found another bug in the file map_buttons_usb_encoder.py at line 16

dir(components.gpio_control.function_calls.phoniebox_function_calls)))

This is not working for my installation, so I changed it to

dir(components.gpio_control.function_calls)))

now I can register the connected buttons.

Please correct me, if I am wrong, I am not familiar with python.

[jeripeierSBB]

@daniel-mi Are you using the latest state of the develop branch? I just made tests and dir(components.gpio_control.function_calls.phoniebox_function_calls))) is working correctly to map my buttons. For me it looks like you could have a too old version of components/gpio_control/function_calls.py ?

[daniel-mi]

Hi @jeripeierSBB, that's a good point. I will check that and get back to you again.

[arvidortwig]

Hi Folks,

don't know if its the right place to ask but i would like to use one of the buttons on my usb encoder (e.g. the start/pause-button) as shutdown button if i hold it for 2 seconds. the Script from "/home/pi/RPi-Jukebox-RFID/components/control/buttons-USB-Encoder/buttons-USB-Encoder.sh" shows the possibility to set a separate shutdown button but thats "to risky" if it works immediately. Any ideas ?

Thanks,
Arvid

[jeripeierSBB]

Hi @arvidortwig

For myself a chose a similar solution: Pressing 10 times the pause button lets shutdown the phoniebox. Maybe this is a solution for you or inspires you to implement your idea.
I modified the buttons_usb_encoder.py as following:

#!/usr/bin/env python3

import sys
from threading import Timer

sys.path.append(".") # This command should be before imports of components

import logging
from evdev import categorize, ecodes, KeyEvent
from io_buttons_usb_encoder import button_map, current_device
from components.gpio_control.function_calls import phoniebox_function_calls


logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
count = 0


def counterDecrease():
    global count
    count = count - 1


try:
    button_map = button_map()
    function_calls = phoniebox_function_calls()
    for event in current_device().read_loop():
        if event.type == ecodes.EV_KEY:
            keyevent = categorize(event)
            if keyevent.keystate == KeyEvent.key_down:
                button_string = keyevent.keycode
                if type(button_string) is list:
                    button_string = '-'.join(sorted(button_string))
                try:
                    function_name = button_map[button_string]
                    try:
                        getattr(function_calls, function_name)()
                        if function_name == 'functionCallPlayerPause':
                            count = count + 1
                            r = Timer(4.0, counterDecrease)
                            r.start()
                            if count >= 10:
                                function_calls.functionCallShutdown()
                        else:
                            count = 0
                    except:
                        logger.warning(
                            "Function " + function_name + " not found in function_calls.py (mapped from button: " + button_string + ")")
                except KeyError:
                    logger.warning("Button " + button_string + " not mapped to any function.")
except:
    logger.error("An error with Buttons USB Encoder occurred.")

[arvidortwig]

Hi @jeripeierSBB: Thank you very much for your script alteration. works like a charm ;)
Just had to rerun the setup script from the home directory because it was throwing me the components-missing error:

cd /home/pi/RPi-Jukebox-RFID
sudo ./components/controls/buttons-usb-encoder/setup...sh

[pampel2]

Hi folks, thank you first of all for the great work! I am not sure, if that is the right place, but the documentation of the setup is a bit short and I am wondering, why the script is not working for me at all. I connected the "EG STARTS Nullverzögerung USB Encoder" with the USB port on the Raspberry Pi and connected six buttons with the first six K push button terminals. I made a fresh install of Raspian, installed the Phoniebox with GPIO Buttons, rebooted and run the setup script from the RPi-Jukebox-RFID-folder as root. When I pushed the buttons during the script, the response was correct and the script said, that the function is correctly mapped to the button. But after a restart into the phoniebox, the buttons do not work at all. Does anybody has any idea? I couldn't fight anything here or on the relevant forums. Thank you very much!

[jeripeierSBB]

@pampel2 it sounds like your service is not running after configuration. Did you check with systemctl if the buttons usb encoder service is running? If so, please check if your installation directory is as following: /home/pi/RPi-Jukebox-RFID

[pampel2]

@jeripeierSBB thank you very much for your quick reply. It looks like the service is not running, There are the services phoniebox-gpio, -rfid and -startup, but nothing with usb or encoder. Regarding the directory I am not sure how to see that. I run the script from the RPi... folder, but there is no file in this folder with usb or encoder in it (just in the relevant subfolder). How can I find out and how can I actually start the service manually? Thanks again!

[pampel2]

I was able to solve the problem by running the script through a ssh. The rpoblem probably was, that I run the script while a usb keyboard, a mouse and a hdmi monitor were connected. When I disconnected these and run the script via ssh everything is working well. So thanks again for your quick help! But by the way one more question: is there a way to use the Joystick as input device for the phoniebox? When I connect it to the board, moves of the Joystick are not recognized by the script. But that could be a very interesting way to skip and adjust volume....

[arvidortwig]

@pampel2 @jeripeierSBB one more question to the use of buttons: is there any chance to set buttons from the usb-encoder to start a audio stream (e.g. webradio) instead of using the rfid-reader ? one button matches one folder or stream ?
It would be great to build your own "squeezebox" and have 4-6 buttons every one starting a different webradiostation.

Cheers,
Arvid

[jeripeierSBB]

I was able to solve the problem by running the script through a ssh. The rpoblem probably was, that I run the script while a usb keyboard, a mouse and a hdmi monitor were connected. When I disconnected these and run the script via ssh everything is working well. So thanks again for your quick help! But by the way one more question: is there a way to use the Joystick as input device for the phoniebox? When I connect it to the board, moves of the Joystick are not recognized by the script. But that could be a very interesting way to skip and adjust volume....

Happy to hear that :-). I‘ve never experimented with the joystick, so I just don‘t know. But feel free to experiment with the script code, also PRs are welcome :-)

[jeripeierSBB]

@pampel2 @jeripeierSBB one more question to the use of buttons: is there any chance to set buttons from the usb-encoder to start a audio stream (e.g. webradio) instead of using the rfid-reader ? one button matches one folder or stream ? It would be great to build your own "squeezebox" and have 4-6 buttons every one starting a different webradiostation.

Cheers, Arvid

Hi @arvidortwig . I think it should not be a technical problem, but you would need to implement this kind of configuration. PRs are always welcome :)