new moving pictures skin (by request) (1 Viewer)

[tamago_quin]

As per request here is my skin for moving pictures. After upgrading to .5.5b I noticed the xml files have changed. I haven't had time to check the new xml file and whats there but I'll try to update this skin as soon as possible.

remember this is a list view so up and down cycle through the movies. Thumbnail view is for your preview right now. it should only show your thumbnails right now, not my text. if enough people are interested I'll update you on this. As it has been noted above it is lots of manual work to use text so use at your own risk

any questions or comments please post! thanks

quincy

I'm messing around with skinning Moving Pictures and have a question on the use of :

#MovingPictures.SelectedMovie.alternatecovers = "C:\Documents and Settings\..."
#MovingPictures.SelectedMovie.extra.alternatecovers.1 = "C:\Documents and Settings\..."
#MovingPictures.SelectedMovie.extra.alternatecovers.2 = "C:\Documents and Settings\..."
#MovingPictures.SelectedMovie.extra.alternatecovers.3 = "C:\Documents and Settings\..."

In movingpictures.xml I would like to use one cover for the filmstrip view and in movingpictures.details.xml use a different cover. I'm guessing that's what these are for?

I am using this code but nothing is happening:

<control>
      <description>DVD Cover</description>
      <type>image</type>
      <id>0</id>
      <posX>40</posX>
      <posY>435</posY>
      <height>400</height>
      <width>200</width>
      <height>300</height>
      <texture>#MovingPictures.SelectedMovie.extra.alternatecovers = "C:\ProgramData\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal\thumbs\MovingPictures\Covers\details\"</texture>
      <visible>!Control.IsVisible(50)</visible>
    </control>

am I on the right track or am I delirious in my intentions?

thanks

quincy

 

[fforde]

try this:

<control>
      <description>DVD Cover</description>
      <type>image</type>
      <id>0</id>
      <posX>40</posX>
      <posY>435</posY>
      <height>400</height>
      <width>200</width>
      <height>300</height>
      <texture>#MovingPictures.SelectedMovie.extra.alternatecovers.1</texture>
      <visible>!Control.IsVisible(50)</visible>
    </control>

Although the name alternate covers is slightly misleading, it actually is a list of ALL the covers, so the first one in the list very often will be the selected cover by the user. if you try the second one in the series (.2 rather than .1) you will probably see better results.

The real problem you are going to run into though is movies where there is only one cover. In those situations you would probably have nothing displayed on the screen because there WOULD be no alternate cover to show. I think to do what you want to do would require a code change providing a new variable that either displays an alternate cover or displays the primary cover if there is no alternate. Maybe you can figure out how to do it in the skin though. If you are serious about making it happen and you think a code change is needed to make things work, submit an enhancement request (see my signature).

One thing to note, those fields will not benefit from delayed loading or any other speed enhancements for background artwork management. You need to use #MovingPictures.Coverart to get speed benefits of fancy loading. this of course would blow the whole two covers thing out of the water though. Another reason why an enhancement would be necissary to do this right.

And finally there was no thought given to exposing that field to the screen. All of the #MovingPictures.SelectedMovie.* fields are dumped directly from the database, it's totally automatic. The idea is to give as much to the skin designer as possible so they can do things that may not have been thought of before (like what you're wanting to do). But unfortunately some fields come with a few caveats like mentioned above.

 

[tamago_quin]

that did the trick, thanks!!! It may not be perfect for everyone but it works perfect for me! If other people would like a 100% foolproof way I could add it but as of now I don't see a need.
keep up the great work!!!

thanks for your help!!!!

quincy

 

[fforde]

That's an interesting layout for your first screen shot. Which view type is that, list view?

 

[tamago_quin]

Its filmstrip view using custom covers

I could never figure out how to give list view a horizontal orientation so I used a filmstrip instead. I want it to look like my aeon main menu, which i did get pretty close

 

[fforde]

Very clever, I like it.

 

[tamago_quin]

thanks! I don't need so many graphics on the screen at one time. I like simple.

here is my list view for the plugin:

I'm actually a little more fond of list view more so than the filmstrip at this point.

 

[fforde]

It's a nice minimalistic setup, I like it. I think it would not be ideal for people with hundreds of movies (at least until filtering is enabled) but I can see people using it. You should consider publishing your skin files.

 

[Darre]

try this:

<control>
      <description>DVD Cover</description>
      <type>image</type>
      <id>0</id>
      <posX>40</posX>
      <posY>435</posY>
      <height>400</height>
      <width>200</width>
      <height>300</height>
      <texture>#MovingPictures.SelectedMovie.extra.alternatecovers.1</texture>
      <visible>!Control.IsVisible(50)</visible>
    </control>

Although the name alternate covers is slightly misleading, it actually is a list of ALL the covers, so the first one in the list very often will be the selected cover by the user. if you try the second one in the series (.2 rather than .1) you will probably see better results.

The real problem you are going to run into though is movies where there is only one cover. In those situations you would probably have nothing displayed on the screen because there WOULD be no alternate cover to show. I think to do what you want to do would require a code change providing a new variable that either displays an alternate cover or displays the primary cover if there is no alternate. Maybe you can figure out how to do it in the skin though. If you are serious about making it happen and you think a code change is needed to make things work, submit an enhancement request (see my signature).

One thing to note, those fields will not benefit from delayed loading or any other speed enhancements for background artwork management. You need to use #MovingPictures.Coverart to get speed benefits of fancy loading. this of course would blow the whole two covers thing out of the water though. Another reason why an enhancement would be necissary to do this right.

And finally there was no thought given to exposing that field to the screen. All of the #MovingPictures.SelectedMovie.* fields are dumped directly from the database, it's totally automatic. The idea is to give as much to the skin designer as possible so they can do things that may not have been thought of before (like what you're wanting to do). But unfortunately some fields come with a few caveats like mentioned above.

An easy sollution would be to just have a control with <texture>#MovingPictures.SelectedMovie.extra.alternatecovers.1</texture> first, and then have a new one with <texture>#MovingPictures.SelectedMovie.extra.alternatecovers.2</texture> overwrite the first one.. If there is no alternate cover the first one would still be visible?

Oh and I like the design

 

[ThaClown]

tamago_quin:
Could you post those files?