Blog Entry
Nov 08

XM Gadget Support Stuff

Posted in Gadgets, XM Online Radio

So we’ve gotten a few comments (okay, maybe more than a few) about the XM gadget’s stability over time and how people have to reset the gadget constantly to make it work.  We are looking into that, it’s most likely the re-login function not working properly and hopefully that should be fixed by the time we release the next version.

Currently, if you are having issues, try:  Re-Adding the gadget to the sidebar or Reinstalling the gadget and resetting the persistent settings in the Settings panel.

If those don’t work, there is one last thing to check:

Go to Internet Explorer->Tools->Internet Options->Advanced->Security->”Do not save encrypted pages to disk”

Make sure that is not checked.  I repeat, do not turn that on.

It would seem that the IE7 security settings do have a big effect on gadgets and how they store and use information.

(Tip Awesomely Provided By Eric @ Microsoft)

So if you are having trouble with the gadget, make sure to try everything on the list.  If it’s still not working after that, keep playing with it, and or let me know here and I’ll see what I can do to help.


This entry was posted on Thursday, November 8th, 2007 at 5:05 pm
and is filed under Gadgets, XM Online Radio.



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28 Responses to “XM Gadget Support Stuff”

  1. Scott Says:
    November 12th, 2007 at 9:40 am

    Very nice gadget; good appearance and well designed layout. The gadget promptly displays artist/song information but in all the times I have tried the gadget it has only played audio once. A competing XM gadget flawlessly plays the audio (but looks like crap compared to yours…) I have installed/reinstalled, moved it from the sidebar and back, reset, etc. I’ve done all of the fixes you have suggested, to no avail. Any further suggestions???

  2. admin Says:
    November 12th, 2007 at 11:11 am

    Hmm… That is odd. Try one last thing:

    Go to Computer->C:->Users->[Your User Name]->AppData->Local->Microsoft->Windows Sidebar->Gadgets

    Delete XMRadioData.xml

    Re-install the gadget. See if it works. Sometimes there are issues with the persistant settings file. I need to look into why it’s not 100% stable sometimes.

    If that doesn’t work though, I’m honestly not certain. We’re putting together notes of things to work on for the patch for this gadget, and the stability is the top issue.

  3. David G. Says:
    November 15th, 2007 at 8:34 pm

    Hi,

    Downloaded your XM gadget – very nice! – got it to play fine but it will not get song info – just says “getting info”……thanks

  4. Jimmy Says:
    November 16th, 2007 at 2:37 am

    echoing the above posters, i love the idea and look but the song info isnt downloaded every time and the stream isnt reliable either. if you improve the code to work every time like the other one without needing to restart or change settings, this would be the most incredible gadget ever.

  5. Eric P. Says:
    November 24th, 2007 at 3:35 am

    Looks like I found another bug. It looks like the channel list isn’t being built dynamically on LogIn; as such, old obsolete channels that aren’t available online anymore (like XM Pops Channel 113) still show up in my channel list but aren’t actually available. Also, all the holiday Xmas stuff (XM Exclusives, Ch 2, 3, 104-107) don’t show up at all.

    Beyond that, I’m waiting for the LogIn issue to come around around to see how well the new changes deal with it.

    Thanks!!

    Eric P.

  6. Eric P. Says:
    November 24th, 2007 at 3:32 pm

    Update: After looking at line 256 in GADGET.JS, I learned that the Gadget actually pulls XM Radio channel information from the BuildAGadget website. The XML is out of date and doesn’t reflect the proper set of channels. I changed line 256 as follows:

    LoadXML(“XMChannels.xml”);

    The causes the gadget to look for the channels file locally in the C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Sidebar\Gadgets\XMOnlineRadio[1].gadget directory. I then updated the XMChannels.XML file manually to bring it current.

    Doing this also presents the user with another possibility: You can edit the channel list to your specific liking. For example, I don’t ever listen Country, Christian, Hip Hop, Dance, Latin, Kids or World, so I just removed those blocks from the XML completely. Now I don’t have to sift past them in the Channels List .

    Here’s what the full XMChannels.XML should look like as of 11/24/2007 to be current:

    XM Exclusives
    XMExclusives
    2|XMX
    3|ARTIST CONFIDENTIAL
    103|HOLLY
    104|HOLIDAY TRADITIONS
    105|MUSIC CITY HOLIDAY
    106|CLASSIC CHRISTMAS
    107|SPECIAL X-MAS

    Decades
    Decades
    4|THE 40s
    5|THE 50s
    6|THE 60s
    7|THE 70s
    8|THE 80s
    9|THE 90s

    Country
    Country
    10|AMERICA
    12|X COUNTRY
    13|WILLIE’S PLACE
    14|BLUEGRASS JUNCTION
    15|THE VILLAGE
    16|HIGHWAY 16

    Pop & Hits
    PopHits
    20|TOP 20 ON 20
    23|THE HEART
    25|THE BLEND
    26|FLIGHT 26
    27|CINEMAGIC
    28|ON BROADWAY
    29|U-POP
    30|XM HITLIST

    Christian
    Christian
    31|THE TORCH
    32|THE MESSAGE
    33|SPIRIT
    34|ENLIGHTEN

    Rock
    Rock
    40|DEEP TRACKS
    41|BONEYARD – XL
    42|XM LIQUID METAL – XL
    43|XMU
    44|FRED
    45|STARBUCKS XM CAFE
    46|TOP TRACKS
    47|ETHEL
    48|SQUIZZ – XL
    49|BIG TRACKS
    50|THE LOFT
    51|XM MUSIC LAB
    52|THE VERGE
    53|FUNGUS – XL
    54|LUCY
    59|XM LED

    Hip-Hop & Urban
    HipHopUrban
    60|SOUL STREET
    61|THE FLOW
    62|SUITE 62
    64|THE GROOVE
    65|THE RHYME – XL
    66|RAW – XL
    67|THE CITY
    68|THE HEAT

    Jazz & Blues
    JazzBlues
    70|REAL JAZZ
    71|WATERCOLORS
    72|BEYOND JAZZ
    73|HIGH STANDARDS
    74|BLUESVILLE

    Lifestyle
    Lifestyle
    76|FINE TUNING
    77|AUDIO VISIONS
    78|ESCAPE
    79|ON THE ROCKS

    Dance
    Dance
    80|THE MOVE
    81|BPM
    82|THE SYSTEM
    83|CHROME
    84|XM CHILL

    Latin
    Latin
    90|FUEGO
    91|VIVA
    92|AGUILA
    94|CALIENTE
    95|LUNA

    World
    World
    100|AIR MUSIQUE – FR
    101|THE JOINT
    102|SUR LA ROUTE – FR

    Classical
    Classical
    110|XM CLASSICS
    112|VOX

    Kids
    Kids
    116|XM KIDS

    News
    News
    130|POTUS 08
    133|BOB EDWARDS SHOW

    Comedy
    Comedy
    150|XM COMEDY – XL
    151|LAUGH USA
    154|SPECIAL X

    Talk
    Talk
    134|THE AGENDA
    156|OPRAH & FRIENDS
    202|THE VIRUS – XL

    AOL Radio
    AOLRadio
    300|1 HIT WONDERS
    301|METALCORE
    302|NEW INDIE FIRST
    303|LATE NIGHT MIX
    304|SESSIONS@AOL
    305|SHUFFLE
    306|NEW ROCK FIRST
    307|NEW COUNTRY FIRST
    308|NEW HIP HOP FIRST
    309|NEW POP FIRST

    Although I haven’t taken the other XM Radio Gadgets apart, I think at least one of them builds the channels list itself on each login, but I’m not completely sure about it. Personally, I don’t mind tending my own channel list since this XML is so very easy to modify.

    It looks like the LogIn issues have been certainly minimized, but the problem still happens. Basically, if you leave XM Radio running on a specific channel for some unknown amount of time (45 minutes?) you get “silently” logged-out, even though the gadget continues to play music and update song info. When you try to change channels, however, it doesn’t change. You have to specifically press STOP and then PLAY to re-initiate connection which in turn allows you to change channels. So, this is much improved over v1.0 because at least now I don’t have to clear login info and re-type username and password to get back in each time it boots me.

    I do want to ask – is it possible for the Gadget to detect if music’s actually playing or not? Typically when the connection times-out preventing a channel change, the song info still updates, even on the newly selected channel – but music won’t play. Does the Media Player return an error code that could automatically cause the Gadget to recycle the login process after some timeout period? If not, then you probably have it working as best as it could given the constraints. I’m sure XM Radio hates this gadget; they would MUCH rather their Flash-based player time-out the streaming after 30 minutes of what they consider “non-use”. I absolutely despise having to come over to my machine multiple times throughout the day to re-start the music because the Flash ‘Crapplication’ timed-out do to “non-use”.

    Finally, I think I found a problem with the Settings.html. After I setup the gadget and program favorites, etc…, if I go to the settings dialog and tell it to clear ONLY favorites, it kills my Login info as well. I’d like someone else to verify this. I looked through SETTINGS.HTML starting at line 102 and it LOOKS like it’s programmed right. Function ResetFavs() only flushes FavList, but every time I select that option, it kills my preserved login info as well (Username and Password).

    There’s also some other fallout from this scenario… After I re-type login info, the channels list won’t show up; it says there’s likely a connection lag. (As I indicated earlier, I’m loading XMChannels.XML from a local file., not from the BuildAGadget website.) To get it to work, I have to go through this routine:

    1) Go back into settings
    2) Reset all Data
    3) Reset Favorites
    4) Close the XM Radio gadget from Sidebar
    5) Re-add it to Sidebar
    6) Provide Login info to the Gadget
    7) Try to access channels again (still fails)
    8) Close the gadget from Sidebar once again
    9) Re-add it to Sidebar one last time
    10) Access Channels – Now working.

    I don’t think this particular oddness is due to me changing the source of XMChannels.XML, but I suppose it could be. Again, I’d like someone to verify the behavior of the Reset buttons in the settings menu. It does this on two different machines I have.

    That’s it for my input. It’s DEFINITELY better than v1.0.

    Thanks!

    Eric P.

  7. Doug C. Says:
    November 27th, 2007 at 7:34 pm

    Also having issues with no volume. I have tried all suggestions with no luck. I see a new Volume Mixer for the gadget within Vista – changing the volume there also does nothing.

  8. Doug C. Says:
    November 27th, 2007 at 7:39 pm

    I was able to get it to work on my notebook PC. I noticed it automatically configured Windows Firewall. I actually have Norton Internet Security installed on the PC where it is not working – is it possible it is blocking the necessary communication(s)? I also noticed on the PC where it is not working, the channel list does not have any names (where they are properly populated on my laptop).

  9. admin Says:
    November 28th, 2007 at 3:15 pm

    It’s entirely possible that Norton has blocked the Ajax calls out from the sidebar or even from this gadget itself. Norton has a way of being… Dominating? Okay, probably an understatement.

    Unfortunately, it looks like you’ll have to go hunting through Norton’s settings and permissions to see if the process can be unblocked.

  10. Doug C. Says:
    November 29th, 2007 at 1:43 pm

    Thanks – I actually disabled the Norton Personal Firewall and retried installing it – no luck :( .

  11. Carrie Says:
    February 7th, 2008 at 12:21 am

    Is there any way to add a higher volume level on my xm sidebar?

  12. The Staff Says:
    February 7th, 2008 at 12:00 pm

    Carrie, the volume goes up to 100% for the player in the gadget itself. If that is still too low, you may want to turn the volume up on your speakers.

  13. John Says:
    February 10th, 2008 at 12:59 pm

    Ok the song wont play, Like there is now sound what do i do? I see the info but no sound!!!!

  14. The Staff Says:
    February 10th, 2008 at 3:02 pm

    John, do you have the latest version? Have you tried any of the tips on the support page? http://www.buildagadget.com/XSupportXMGadget.php

  15. Greg Says:
    April 10th, 2008 at 1:40 pm

    i have try all that you offered, I even downloaded a program called “RegCure” and IE7 “tools”,”internet options”,advanced”,etc., still to no avail. I still cannot get my “xm online radio” to work, i.e., no sound!!!!

    What can I do???

  16. The Staff Says:
    April 10th, 2008 at 2:09 pm

    Greg, Do you have the latest version? We can probably assume that you’ve deleted the XML file, so if you’re still getting issues, is the play button pressed down? If so, it could be a Windows Media Issue, if not, then restart the sidebar and try again.

  17. Will Says:
    June 17th, 2008 at 9:10 am

    I’m also having troubles all of a sudden. I was using version 1.5 for months without a problem on my laptop and about a week ago I noticed it wouldn’t play any sound. So just now I uninstalled it completely and re-installed version 1.7, but I still don’t hear anything. Sucks, this was a nice gadget.

  18. David C. Says:
    June 22nd, 2008 at 9:38 pm

    I’m having the same problem as John, nothing is playing at all, I see all the info just fine, but no sound. I’ve tried everything you’ve recommended, I reinstalled the add on, tried the latest update, and the support. Now what?
    thanks.

  19. Jeff Says:
    August 1st, 2008 at 11:35 am

    Love the idea of having an xm gadget in google. I was so happy when I came across it. But the whole idea of having a gadget is convenience. Having to constantly add/remove…add/remove…add/remove…defeats the whole purpose of having a gadget in the first place! Though I love having the ability to use XM from my sidebar…I would rather use another alternative until the bugs are fixed. I find it’s less painful and now a welcome process…to just go to their site and access the player that way. Best of luck on the future versions! I’ll be keeping my eyes posted!!

  20. Doug Says:
    September 13th, 2008 at 4:16 pm

    I have installed and uninstalled, added and removed, reset and…..reset I guess but I can’t get this to work. I login and “Click here to ((start))” and the current content frame opens (and refreshes if need be) in the side window but clicking on it does nothing (clicking and clicking and clicking). Any thoughts?

  21. Ltrain Says:
    September 20th, 2008 at 1:22 am

    Howdy.

    I love the xm google gadget.. on the login window.. I’m having trouble using the tab key to switch from the USERNAME field to the PASSWORD field. Is there something I might be doing wrong? does the same happen with the vista sidebar gadget? any info would be great.. thx

  22. Ltrain Says:
    September 20th, 2008 at 1:43 am

    ahhh

    I just tried getting the new updated xm radio google gadget to work. The old one worked just fine.. but I can’t get this one to work at all. and I can’t find the old version I was using :( Man.. I’m going to miss that gadget.. any info on how I can find the old version until the bugs are worked out of the latest update?

    thanks

  23. The Staff Says:
    September 21st, 2008 at 4:43 am

    Ltrain, can you elaborate on the problems with the updated version? The new one should fix the tab issue on the login screen, but we only made a quick fix to get the channels to play. If there’s anything else going on, let us know and we’ll see if we can patch it up. As for getting the older version, maybe try Google’s gadget gallery, they may not have pushed out the new update yet.

  24. wayne Says:
    January 12th, 2009 at 5:13 pm

    Also having issues with ver 1.7, it won’t log in. an added twist, I am running 64bit Vista, however i don’t think this affects gadgets.

  25. wayne Says:
    January 12th, 2009 at 5:22 pm

    OK found how to get it to log in, it is IE7’s security optioon enable XMLHTTP support must be checked)

    (internet options>advanced – security – enable native XMLHTTP support)

  26. rocannon Says:
    May 25th, 2009 at 10:57 am

    i just got sound to work: go into IE privacy settings and add xmro.xmradio.com as a site from which you’ll accept cookies.

    when i did that i got sound from XM gadget.

  27. Robert Says:
    July 15th, 2009 at 9:44 am

    Love your Google gadget for XM. I actually listen via satellite during the day when I’m in my office and your gadget lets me see the artist/song title easily (the satellite receiver is in a different room).

    Only problem I see is that the height of the gadget seems to be wrong in the sidebar view. The bottom is always cut off. For example, only the top of the letter N is visible on the channel button on the left. I can drag it smaller, but not big enough.

    No idea what version I have – the about box says 2008.

    Thanks much for this.

  28. The Staff Says:
    July 16th, 2009 at 11:41 am

    Robert, you may want to download the latest version of the gadget and delete the data files per the Gadget Settings -> Help -> Bottom section. Let us know if your still running into the cutoff issue after that.

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