This project has been replaced with a rewrite that is itself a Pandora client and has no dependency on the pianobar-windows application. This greatly simplifies its operation. See the new repo here: https://github.com/Todd1561/TandoraTCP

Tandora Proxy

This program is used to interface between the pianobar-windows open source application and any program that can send TCP commands. This would generally be useful in a headless home automation A/V setup to bring Pandora to your sound system. This application works by leveraging the Telnet server that can be enabled in Windows and remotely starting/sending commands to Pianobar.

Install Steps

1. Enable the Windows Telnet service (3rd party telnet servers should work, too)
2. Set the Telnet service to start automatically in services.msc
3. Disable the idle timeout setting by entering tlntadmn.exe config timeoutactive=no in an elevated command prompt
4. Download the latest pianobar-windows build from pianobar-windows and save it to a folder along with TandoraProxy.exe
5. Install the TandoraProxy service by running C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\InstallUtil.exe TandoraProxySvc.exe
6. Modify tandoraproxy.cfg to suit your needs.
7. Remember to open the TCP port you decide to use for TandoraProxy (1561 by default) on any relevant firewalls
8. Once the program is running you can send the below commands to control Pianobar. These are just sent as raw ASCII via TCP. You'll get a response back with the current status of Pianobar/TandoraProxy.

From here you can use whatever language you want that can work with TCP sockets to interace with TandoraProxy/Pianobar.

Commands

• update have TandoraProxy query pianobar-windows for the current song, station, play time and whether or not playback is active and a list of your Pandora stations.
• playpause toggle playing and pausing music playback.
• next play next song.
• thumbsup like current song.
• thumbsdown dislike current song.
• change station <station name> change the current station.

Response

IS PLAYING: True/False indicator if Piabobar is playing music
STATION LIST: Pipe-separated list of Pandora stations on your account
CURRENT STATION: The currently selected Pandora station
CURRENT SONG: The song currently playing
CURRENT TIME: Current play time and remaining duration
Waiting for TandoraProxy to start up... Service cannot reach the Pandora servers yet, so we're waiting

Example Response

IS PLAYING: False
STATION LIST: Aerosmith Radio|Bruce Hornsby Radio|Dave Matthews Band Radio
CURRENT STATION: Bruce Hornsby Radio
CURRENT SONG: "Sweet Child O' Mine" by "Scott D. Davis" on "Rockfluence"
CURRENT TIME: -00:46/05:58

Known Issues

Doesn't seem to work with the latest version (2020.04.20) of Pianobar-Windows, stick with version 2019.05.03. For some reason the key commands are erradically accepted by pianobar and the responses are erratic as well. I suspect something has changed with pianobar that makes it incompatible with the telnet library I'm Currently using. Need to investigate more.

Author

Todd Nelson
todd@toddnelson.net
https://toddnelson.net