EventGhost:About
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What is EventGhost?
EventGhost is an open-source automation tool for MS Windows, that can be extended through plugins. It can use different input devices like infrared or wireless remotes to trigger macros, that on their part control a computer and its attached hardware. After the user has configured everything to its needs, the program will run silently in the system tray and waits for an event to arrive. So it can be used to control a Media-PC with a normal consumer remote for example.
Other common things that can act as a trigger for an event are:
- key presses (hotkeys)
- joysticks/gamepads
- a program is starting or is switched to by the user
- another program like EventGhost (on another PC), Girder or Netremote is sending an event through TCP/IP
- a special HTTP request is made to the internal web server
- another program is sending an event through ActiveX
and everything some code can catch, as events can also be generated through plugins.
EventGhost gives the user a GUI to configure macros that do all kind of things like:
- launching applications
- emulating keystrokes
- emulating mouse movements and clicks
- control the soundcard
- move, resize, etc. windows on the desktop
- execute Python scripts (Python interpreter and editor is built-in)
- transmit IR-codes to external consumer equipment, if you have a supported IR-transceiver.
- control external hardware devices like projectors and other media equipment through RS232 communication
- extensive control of programs, that have special communication interfaces, like some media players
and everything some code can do, as these list of actions can also be extended through plugins.
You can take a look at the list of plugins to find out, what has been implemented also.
The plugin system is the most integral part of the program. Every action EventGhost does and every event it sees, is implemented through a plugin, even the most basic ones. So every plugin has equal rights as built-in functions, because they are actually the same. The user can configure and use them through a consistent and hopefully easy to learn interface.
EventGhost is written mostly in Python with some low-level parts in C. Plugins can be written in any language that can produce DLLs, like C, C++, Delphi and Visual Basic. But of course they can also easily be written in Python.
Requirements
EventGhost runs on MS Windows 2000/XP/Vista or above (older OS versions are not supported).
If you want to use EventGhost together with an IR or RF remote, you need a supported hardware receiver.
License
EventGhost is released under the GNU General Public License (GPL).
So EventGhost is open source software. You can get and use it without charge.
Download
You can download EventGhost from the SourceForge releases page.
Beta versions are also frequently published, that might include some additional features. To find out how to get and install them, follow this link to the corresponding forum post.
Installation
If you are running Windows 2000, you might need to install GDI+ (gdiplus.dll) first. For all other Windows versions just run the Setup.exe and follow the instructions.
Documentation
We have started a EventGhost Wiki to document the project. A good start is the article: Controlling Your Living Room with EventGhost
Bug Reports and Feature Requests
There is a forum for bug reports and feature requests. Please follow the link below:
