Question about skinning - 2X 'Playing next' labels (was:Thumbs) in Music Now Playing (1 Viewer)

2BitSculptor

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    I've run into an issue, I think.

    When designing my Now Playing skin xml, I wanted to have a large image of the current thumb in the background (with the alternating Artist image animation) as part of a default background if there was no Fan Art to display, and have a small Thumb of the CD cover art display only when there WAS Fan Art.

    It seems, when there are 2 instances of #Play.Current.Thumb (even when one is not visible) then the cycling animation stops working. This blows my initial Idea out of the water.... I can live with it, but I like the alternating Cover/Artist image.

    Any way to work around this?

    Thanks

    Chuck
     

    2BitSculptor

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    • #2
    I've run into an issue, I think.

    When designing my Now Playing skin xml, I wanted to have a large image of the current thumb in the background (with the alternating Artist image animation) as part of a default background if there was no Fan Art to display, and have a small Thumb of the CD cover art display only when there WAS Fan Art.

    It seems, when there are 2 instances of #Play.Current.Thumb (even when one is not visible) then the cycling animation stops working. This blows my initial Idea out of the water.... I can live with it, but I like the alternating Cover/Artist image.

    Any way to work around this?

    Thanks

    Chuck

    For a bit, I thought maybe it fixed itself.... at exactly 8:00 (Central) this morning one of the artist's pics displayed properly on the screen (cycled with album cover art) ... but then the next CD started and it never happened again.

    I think it wants to. I don't know what conditions are keeping it from displaying the artist pic.

    Fan Art is working fine, and the small CD cover displays when it is supposed to. So I'm happy with that, at least.

    Chuck
     

    Helios61

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    Hi Chuck!

    Any news with your TrueView skin. Will this skin support the new My Films?

    Best Regards
    Helios
     

    2BitSculptor

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    • #4
    Hi Helios,

    Still changing my mind on design elements..... and making sure I don't miss anything (There is a lot I don't use)

    So far i just have main basic areas that I use working. TV, Recorded TV, Music, Video, Weather. I have screens for MediaSlayer (I haven't used it for a while) and basic support for Moving Pictures (It plays movies - still deciding on what to do with the function buttons)... And I've barely scratched the surface on overlays and dialogs.

    I don't use much else myself, so it will be some time before other plugin support creeps in.

    I'm not fast. :sorry:

    But I would still like to know what's up with the #Play.Curren.Thumb issue. :D

    Chuck
     

    2BitSculptor

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    • #5
    Wonder of wonders!

    The issue seems to have fixed itself. I went into MP config to the Music/Playing Now section ... did nothing ... and hit OK to exit. I started MP and ran a music playlist... waited... the Thumb cycled thru correctly... everything is WORKING!....

    um.. except.

    This is still an issue with multiple instances. I duplicated the Now Playing text and the Playing Next text, and set a conditional visibility for the text to be displayed at different locations depending on if Fan Art is displayed.

    The text displays properly in the no Fan Art condition without error. With Fan Art displayed, the text is relocated correctly, but at random times the text "Playing Next" will also display at the 'no Fan Art' location as well. It seems to begin hick-upping after the 2nd or 3rd screen change ... seems to display first at the same Fan Art image each time I restart he playlist.... then will display on Fan Art for a few songs, then be okay for some, then show up again.

    Just frustrating.

    Chuck

    edit:

    I moved the "Fan Art' group of controls above the "no Fan Art" group and the ghost appeared in the opposite display... so it seems to be the first instance of the control that is displayed under the wrong condition, although it displays correctly under the correct condition. And seems to appear, as I said, randomly.

    odd

    Chuck
     

    2BitSculptor

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    • #6
    I don't understand why only the "Playing next" label is affected. It doesn't matter whether I use the actual text or the numeric code.

    Here's the bit of code from MyMusicPlayingNow.xml that I'm using. I hope someone can sort this out.

    regards

    Chuck

    <!--**** Playing Next No Fan Art *****-->

    <control>
    <type>label</type>
    <description>up next label</description>
    <id>20</id>
    <posX>680</posX>
    <posY>80</posY>
    <!--<label>4541</label>-->
    <label>Playing next</label>
    <font>font14</font>
    <align>right</align>
    <textcolor>90ffffff</textcolor>
    <visible>!control.hasthumb(1000)</visible>
    </control>
    <control>
    <type>fadelabel</type>
    <description>next track name label</description>
    <id>121</id>
    <posX>680</posX>
    <posY>107</posY>
    <width>200</width>
    <label>#Play.Next.Title</label>
    <font>font14</font>
    <align>right</align>
    <textcolor>90ffffff</textcolor>
    <visible>!control.hasthumb(1000)</visible>
    </control>
    <control>
    <type>fadelabel</type>
    <description>next artist label</description>
    <id>123</id>
    <posX>680</posX>
    <posY>130</posY>
    <width>200</width>
    <label>#Play.Next.Artist</label>
    <align>right</align>
    <font>font12</font>
    <textcolor>90ffffff</textcolor>
    <visible>!control.hasthumb(1000)</visible>
    </control>
    <control>
    <description>music logo</description>
    <type>image</type>
    <id>0</id>
    <posX>704</posX>
    <posY>80</posY>
    <width>70</width>
    <height>70</height>
    <centered>yes</centered>
    <texture>#Play.Next.Thumb</texture>
    <visible>!control.hasthumb(1000)</visible>
    </control>
    <control>
    <id>1</id>
    <type>image</type>
    <posX>695</posX>
    <posY>77</posY>
    <width>85</width>
    <height>77</height>
    <texture>cdcover.png</texture>
    <visible>!control.hasthumb(1000)</visible>
    </control>

    <!--**** Playing Next Fan Art *****-->

    <control>
    <description>up next label</description>
    <type>label</type>
    <id>20</id>
    <posX>680</posX>
    <posY>330</posY>
    <!--<label>4541</label>-->
    <label>Playing next</label>
    <font>font14</font>
    <align>right</align>
    <textcolor>90ffffff</textcolor>
    <visible>control.hasthumb(1000)</visible>
    </control>
    <control>
    <description>next track name label</description>
    <type>fadelabel</type>
    <id>121</id>
    <posX>680</posX>
    <posY>367</posY>
    <width>200</width>
    <label>#Play.Next.Title</label>
    <font>font14</font>
    <align>right</align>
    <textcolor>90ffffff</textcolor>
    <visible>control.hasthumb(1000)</visible>
    </control>
    <control>
    <description>next artist label</description>
    <type>fadelabel</type>
    <id>123</id>
    <posX>680</posX>
    <posY>390</posY>
    <width>200</width>
    <label>#Play.Next.Artist</label>
    <align>right</align>
    <font>font12</font>
    <textcolor>90ffffff</textcolor>
    <visible>control.hasthumb(1000)</visible>
    </control>
    <control>
    <description>music logo</description>
    <type>image</type>
    <id>0</id>
    <posX>704</posX>
    <posY>337</posY>
    <width>70</width>
    <height>70</height>
    <centered>yes</centered>
    <texture>#Play.Next.Thumb</texture>
    <visible>control.hasthumb(1000)</visible>
    </control>
    <control>
    <id>1</id>
    <type>image</type>
    <posX>695</posX>
    <posY>334</posY>
    <width>85</width>
    <height>77</height>
    <texture>cdcover.png</texture>
    <visible>control.hasthumb(1000)</visible>
    </control>
     

    2BitSculptor

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    • #7
    Here's a couple screen shots
     

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    • Playing Next Fan Art.jpg
      Playing Next Fan Art.jpg
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    • Playing Next No Fan Art.jpg
      Playing Next No Fan Art.jpg
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    rtv

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    Could you please explain the remaining problem in short?

    Display properties are "one-way" only so I cannot (yet) imagine that it is not possible to use
    "#Play.Current.Thumb" twice.
     

    2BitSculptor

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    • #9
    Hi rtv,

    The #play.current.thumb seemed to have resolved itself. With it, when it was an issue, the 'lastFM' data also did not display, so the two issues were connected. Like I said, I don't know how, but going back into config and exiting, even though I changed nothing, appears to have fixed it. Both 'lastFM' data and image cycling resumed.
    ---

    The latest issue persists.....

    The 'MyMusicPlayingNow' screen has two conditional layouts, depending on the presence of Fan Art. The 'Playing next' label is randomly displayed on both the <visible>!control.hasthumb(1000)</visible> and <visible>control.hasthumb(1000)</visible> conditions simultaneously, when it is supposed to be displaying only one instance depending on Fan Art Display. Depending on the placement order of the 2 controls, it will double-display in one or the other condition... (did that make sense?)

    The 'Fan Art' image above shows the duplicate label displayed in the upper right when the control for that position is ordered first. The second conditional layout of the screen, 'No Fan Art', shows the correct placement of the errant label in the correct layout. When the control is ordered second, it will display the duplicate label in the lower right position of this layout, overlapping the text displayed there.

    can I be any more confusing?

    Chuck
     

    rtv

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    Sorry - this doesn't brighten me up any further...

    One thing however you might have stumbled upon:
    The following control IDs are set invisible from MP itself if their text property is empty:
    LBL_UP_NEXT = 20,
    LBL_NEXT_TRACK_NAME = 121,
    LBL_NEXT_ALBUM_NAME = 122,
    LBL_NEXT_ARTIST_NAME = 123,
    Controls which explicitly have an ID assigned (many skinners behave wrong here) are often "used" by MP's code and mustn't have any duplicates.
    Therefore "Label 20" is _always_ unique.

    If you simply rely on the "#" properties like #Play.Next.Artist or #duration then please use ID "0". You can have as much controls displaying the same property as you like (until at some point the CPU might be exhausted if there are many animated / scrolling controls).
     

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