Topfield TAPs

Appearance

AskDelete TAP ​

Introduction ​

AskDelete is a small convenience TAP program that prompts the user to delete a playing or recording file immediately after it is manually stopped on a Topfield TMS HD PVR. That's all it does, nice and simple.

Select Delete on the prompt display to delete the file. Select Keep, or just press STOP or EXIT key immediately, to cancel the prompt and do nothing, i.e. keep the file. The prompt is also dismissed automatically after 30 secs of no user input.

I developed this on my Australian TF7100HDPlus model PVR but it should work on at least all other Australian TMS models, i.e. TRF-2400, TRF-2460, TRF7170, and TRF7160. Should work on all twin and quad tuner firmware versions.

Read the latest documentation or download the latest built TAP.

Installation ​

Download and unzip the file and then use an FTP client to copy AskDelete.tap to /ProgramFiles/AutoStart/ on your PVR (or copy it via a USB flash stick). Start it explicitly or restart your PVR. You also need the Firebird font set. The easiest way to install the font set is to install and run the SmartEPG Installer which will install all the font files automatically. Just ensure that SmartEPG is not installed in AutoStart so that it does not run at startup.

This TAP supercedes similar functionality provided by one of the functions of the QuickPlay TMS TAP so if you are running that TAP either disable the delete prompt function, or disable/remove the entire TAP.

You can press the MENU button while the prompt is displayed to change some default settings. Here you can set an option to prompt to delete recording on PLAY & RECORD (default), PLAY only, or RECORD only. Can also change window timeout from the default 30 secs.

Justification ​

Most users will find it convenient to be prompted immediately to delete the file they just manually played or stopped recording.

AskDelete has a few advantages compared to QuickPlay and perhaps other TAPS which provide a delete prompt.

  1. QuickPlay is a very large and multi-featured TAP which adds overhead to your PVR if you only want the delete prompt function (which is all I personally found I ever used). AskDelete is simple, purpose-specific, and efficient.

  2. AskDelete prompts you to delete the file for both playback and recordings in progress/timeslip that you manually stop. QuickPlay only prompts on playback, not recording.

  3. AskDelete stops playback/recording and puts you in real-time view immediately, just as in normal operation. AskDelete then presents the prompt display. When configured to use the stop key for the delete prompt, QuickPlay pauses the current playback file while the prompt is presented, which can be glitchy when near the end of the file.

  4. AskDelete has a nicer, native looking prompt display and also presents the name of the file to be deleted. QuickPlay only displays a generic prompt.

  5. AskDelete times out and cancels the prompt display after 30 secs of no user input. QuickPlay does not time out.

  6. QuickPlay exhibits a long term bug that if you enter the File Archive list soon after deleting a file then that file is listed for a while (with a zero length). You get a system error if you try and delete this file. AskDelete has a different design which avoids this.

  7. Current version QuickPlay (v4.93a Mar 2012) exhibits a bug on Australian TMS PVRs where it does not recognise the white key so you can not use it's advanced functions anyhow.

Author ​

License ​

Copyright (C) 2012 Mark Blakeney.

This program is free software. and is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Change History ​

v1.0 - 2012-03-20:

Original version.

v1.1 - 2012-03-21:

Don't prompt user if file does not exist. This occurs if a recording is so short the PVR does not save the file.

v1.2 - 2012-03-25:

TAP size and minor efficiency improvement. TAP size shrunk from 470KB to 247KB by compressing font bitmap files in FireBirdLib. I plan to submit this backwards compatible change to FireBird.

v1.2.1 - 2012-03-26:

TAP size shrunk from 247KB to 195KB after some more optimisation in FireBirdLib.

v1.2.2 - 2012-04-13:

Minor code improvement.

v1.2.3 - 2012-06-03:

Simplify file delete prompt. My wife suggested changing the "Yes/Delete" and "No/Cancel" button labels to just "Delete" and "Keep". After changing this, I agree it clarifies and unclutters the dialog.

v1.2.3.1 - 2012-06-16:

Rebuilt same as version v1.2.3 but linked with older FireBirdLib v2012-04-28 because I suspect the newer FireBirdLib version v2012-05-19 has a bug in the change for TMSOSDMenu/OSDMenuDestroy() which causes a PVR lockup.

v1.2.3.2 - 2012-06-22:

After corresponding with FireBird we determined that my call to OSDMenuDestroy() after the OSD display gets closed was redundant so I have removed it, although we do not see why this would have initiated the above bug with the new FireBirdLib. Possibly there was some odd system interaction/timing issue with 2 successive calls to TAP EnterNormal(). I have also changed the TAP to only process idle and key events on recommendation from FireBird as that may be related.

v1.3 - 2013-02-13:

Added configuration menu to set option to prompt to delete recording on PLAY & RECORD (default), PLAY only, or RECORD only. Can also change the window timeout. Also upgraded to FireBirdLib v2013-02-10.

v1.3.1 - 2013-02-16:

Added support for TMSCommander.

v1.4 - 2013-02-18:

Added TAPID function to appear in TMSCommander tap list.

v1.5 - 2016-01-05:

Forced refresh of message window if SmartEPG is running since it force clears the OSD message area while it's info window is displayed. This is an ugly hack but better than leaving the window hidden.