.NET client applications for libCEC, the cross-platform library for controlling CEC-capable HDMI hardware (TVs, AV receivers, etc.) — primarily via Pulse-Eight's USB-CEC adapter.

This repository contains the managed (C#) apps only. It is not standalone: it is consumed as the src/dotnet git submodule of libCEC and builds against the managed wrapper assemblies that libCEC produces. See Relationship to libCEC below.

Both testers compile the shared sample source src/CecSharpTester/CecSharpClient.cs and are the best starting point for learning the API.

The C# code here talks to libCEC through a C++/CLI wrapper, not directly. The wrapper is what exposes the managed CecSharp namespace (LibCecSharp, LibCECConfiguration, CecCommand, CecCallbackMethods, …).

That wrapper is not part of this repository — it lives in the libCEC repo:

• src/dotnetlib/LibCecSharp → LibCecSharp.dll — CecSharp namespace for .NET Framework (used by cec-tray and the netfx tester).
• src/dotnetlib/LibCecSharpCore → LibCecSharpCore.dll — the same CecSharp namespace for modern .NET (used by CecSharpCoreTester).

These assemblies wrap the native cec.dll. The build layers are:

cec-tray / CecSharpTester        (this repo, C#)
        │  references
        ▼
LibCecSharp(.Core).dll           (libcec/src/dotnetlib, C++/CLI wrapper — the CecSharp namespace)
        │  wraps
        ▼
cec.dll                          (libcec/src/libcec, native C/C++ engine)

The .csproj files here reference the wrapper by HintPath into libCEC's shared output folder, e.g.:

<Reference Include="LibCecSharp">
  <HintPath>..\..\..\..\build\$(Configuration)\$(Platform)\LibCecSharp.dll</HintPath>
</Reference>

so the wrapper (and therefore libCEC) must be built before these apps.

This is a Windows-only build (the wrappers are C++/CLI). Do not open this solution and build it on its own first — build it through libCEC's orchestrator, which builds the native library and the wrappers, generates these projects from their .in templates, and then compiles the apps in the right order.

From a checkout of libCEC:

git clone https://github.com/Pulse-Eight/libcec
cd libcec
git submodule update --init --recursive     # checks out this repo into src/dotnet
python windows\create-installer.py           # builds cec.dll, the wrappers, and these apps

Useful flags (run from libCEC): -ni builds everything but skips packaging the installer; -vs generates the Visual Studio project files for development; -a {x64,x86,arm64} selects the architecture. See libCEC's windows/ and its CLAUDE.md/README for the full toolchain requirements (Visual Studio, CMake, Python 3.12+).

Build artifacts land in libCEC's build\<Configuration>\<Platform>\: cec-tray.exe, and net8.0\CecSharpCoreTester.exe.

Note: several project files here (*.csproj, Properties/AssemblyInfo.cs) are generated from .in templates by libCEC's cmake step so the version number is substituted in. Edit the .in file, not the generated file.

Once built, the solution project/cec-dotnet.sln can be opened in Visual Studio for development and debugging.

The USB-CEC adapter these apps drive is available from Pulse-Eight: https://www.pulse-eight.com/.

Dual-licensed under the GNU GPL v2 (or later) — see COPYING — or a commercial license from Pulse-Eight. Contact [email protected] for commercial licensing.