ShowTimes Plugin Suite V2 (2009/12/30) (2 Viewers)

[joz]

Nephilim, didn't mean to rush you.

 

[catavolt]

Working all fine here! (Windows 7 64Bit, MP 1.1.0 ALPHA with SVN 23361 and SAF last Beta). Never had problems with this plugin. Nephilim!

 

[Dadeo]

Nephilim. I am just beginning to use the plugin and I'd like to congratulate you on a top notch job. It is right up there with TVSeries and MovingPictures in overall quality. It supports all the features necessary for making nice skins. It has an easy to use conifiguration interface and excellent documentation.

My only problem was that the documentation is not up to date with the additons you have made (and I understand it always takes time to get to the documentation). There are several more Config options now. It took me a while to figure out that I had to set a Poster quality if I wanted them to download. When I didn't and I opened Showtimes in MP, it would just sit there frozen for 2-3 minutes and I was scratching my head wondering wtf I had done wrong!

It also took a while to figure out that if you change any config options you have to perform a Manual download again. Even though I had downloaded all the fanart, I had turned it off while testing and couldn't figure out where it had gone when it was all still there in the backgrounds folder!

I do have a few questions/suggestions/requests for you while you are working on things:
1. Is it possible to have an option to select the default view? I'm not a huge fan of icons cuz I like to see the fanart/backdrops, so I prefer List View which is a bit zippier anyway and has bigger posters as well.
2. I set my posters to low quality and some are still 1417x1943, is that right? (I have English Posters on)
3. Is it easy to add an option for the name of the plugin? I really hate the "My" and always turn it off. The other option is to use a string with the optional prefix "My" which is the standard way most MP features work.
4. It would be nice if there was one button that was always visible to enable sliding menus to work easily without having to do a workaround. As it is, if you are in Movie View and press a left or right arrow key, MP crashes (in some skins) because the left/right arrow keys are set to go to the facade and there isn't one in Movie View.
5. When I press Esc or Back on Movie View it goes to the Main menu regardless what the previous screen was. For example, if I am viewing showtimes, and want to go back to the list of theatres and select another theatre, Back/Esc takes me back to the main menu and I have to start over again.
6. Finally, your Blue3 (4:3) skin file is a bit of a mess with overlapping text in a lot of places.

Theses comments are not criticisms, just suggestions how to make a great plugin even better. Thanks again for such high quality work!

 

[Nephilim]

First of all, what version are you using?

Second, let's go to the questions...

I do have a few questions/suggestions/requests for you while you are working on things:
1. Is it possible to have an option to select the default view? I'm not a huge fan of icons cuz I like to see the fanart/backdrops, so I prefer List View which is a bit zippier anyway and has bigger posters as well.

Good point. I'll do that.

2. I set my posters to low quality and some are still 1417x1943, is that right? (I have English Posters on)

English=Impaposter=Highquality

3. Is it easy to add an option for the name of the plugin? I really hate the "My" and always turn it off. The other option is to use a string with the optional prefix "My" which is the standard way most MP features work.

I don't understand, an option for the name is already there...

4. It would be nice if there was one button that was always visible to enable sliding menus to work easily without having to do a workaround. As it is, if you are in Movie View and press a left or right arrow key, MP crashes (in some skins) because the left/right arrow keys are set to go to the facade and there isn't one in Movie View.

I think skins should be build to work with the plugin not the opposite... I'll take look... What are the skins that doesn't work?

5. When I press Esc or Back on Movie View it goes to the Main menu regardless what the previous screen was. For example, if I am viewing showtimes, and want to go back to the list of theatres and select another theatre, Back/Esc takes me back to the main menu and I have to start over again.

Are you sure? It doesn't happen to me...

6. Finally, your Blue3 (4:3) skin file is a bit of a mess with overlapping text in a lot of places.

My Blue3 skin file: is not mine. Has been done by a willing user...
Anyway, can you be more precise?

Theses comments are not criticisms, just suggestions how to make a great plugin even better. Thanks again for such high quality work!

You are welcome...

Bye,
Nephilim

 

[Dadeo]

Thanks for the great response to all my suggestions/questions. I found where to change the plugin name, I just missed that, sorry!

I am using version 2.3.6.

I found the problem with crashing in aMPed and Purevision 2.5 (4:3). Both skins had onleft/onright=2 in the facade views. Since button 2 (ChangeView) is disabled in MovieView, MP Crashed. I had to remove the onright tag from both listcontrol and thumbnail facade, EDIT: (but not from filmstrip as it doesn't use onleft/right tags). Your default Blue3 skin does not contain any onleft/right codes for listcontrol and thumbnail facades. It relies on the button being the nearest control, which is what MP defaults to when there is not onleft/right tags.

Normally plugins that provide a Details or alternate view:

1. Have a button that is always visible if there is a menu (i.e. TV Series)
2. Do not have a menu in Details view (i.e MovingPictures)
3. Use a separate xml for the Details View (i.e MyFilms, OnlineVideos and many others)

So, while I agree skins should be designed for the plugin, your plugin is unusual and I think needs some more documentation for skinners to avoid the problem I ran into.

It is 'normal' practice these days to put menu buttons in a group using stacklayout to position them correctly so you don't have to define x,y positions for each button, but putting them in a group seems to break the code you have used to nicely display some buttons on some views (e.g. only Change View and Theatres on the Main View). I can likely find a way to use sliding menus, but it is much more difficult. If I use the 'normal' method, then all the buttons show on all views (which is what we did in aMPed 2.0)
EDIT: Just checked PureVision again and Catavolt has it working in a group, so that's not the problem. Must be me! If not, I'll let you know!

I double checked the navigation problem in both Blue3 and PureVision and yes I am sure:

1. Select Show Theatres from Main View
2. Select a Theatre
3. Select a Date (plugin displays the list of movies at that date in that theatre)
4. Press Esc/Back (goes to Main View not Theatres View)

Finally, I attached a screenshot of the Blue3 skin for you. The xml references Trailers_logo.png, but none is provided in the zip or MPI or at least it did not copy to my skin\media folder. Also, it seems if you do not define any tags for MovieBorder (id 23) as in the Blue3 xml provided, then imported files (like common.window) have no effect. Don't really understand that one as there was nothing about it in the doc file. I threw in a screenshot of what I have managed so far for aMPed (font is set to 18pt for my smaller screen!)

 

[Dadeo]

Hey Nephilim - my problem with using a sliding menu (all buttons become visibile) occurs when I try to use conditional visiblility (!Control.hasfocus(50)) on the menu group, not when I put it in a group. That makes sense since I am basically telling them all to appear when the facade is not in focus! Also, I was testing Purevision 2.5 in MP 1.0.2 and Catavolt clearly states it is supported in MP 1.1.0 so it is possible the error does not occur then.

EDIT: I got the menus to work, sort of, they don't slide, but become invisible (dimcolor 00ffffff) when not in focus. Sorry for all the bother!

So Here's how my MainView looks now. 2nd screenshot is when you press left key to access menu and you get all the details)

 

[Nephilim]

Hi Dadeo,

thank you for your work...

About the "Esc/Back" behaviour. How it works:

MainView : Exit
MainView -> Details: MainView
MainView -> TheaterView : MainView
MainView -> TheaterView -> Details: TheaterView

I'll try to fix the Blue3 skin.

Bye,
Nephilim

 

[Dadeo]

What skin are you using? I have tried in my own, Blue3, PureVision and Monochrome and I get:
MainView : Exit
MainView -> Details: MainView
MainView -> TheaterView : MainView
MainView -> TheaterView -> Details: MAINVIEW

 

[Nephilim]

What skin are you using? I have tried in my own, Blue3, PureVision and Monochrome and I get:
MainView : Exit
MainView -> Details: MainView
MainView -> TheaterView : MainView
MainView -> TheaterView -> Details: MAINVIEW

Are you downloaded the plugin in the first post (2.3.8)?

x Joz

Try the new MTSA in the first post.

Bye,
Nephilim

 

[Dadeo]

Yes I had downloaded that version from the first post, although it says 2.3.6 during install and in config. I redownloaded, uninstalled and reinstalled. Now I can get from Details View to Theaters View, so thanks a lot, you have been so patient and helpful!

However, I cannot get back to the list of Theaters to select another Theater, which is what I usually want to do - mostly because I cannot see the showtimes on the view that lists the theaters where the movie is playing. I have to go to the Details screen to see that. So, my standard process is:

1. Select a movie,
2. Press enter/OK to go to the Details View
3. Select Showtimes button (to view the theaters it is playing at)
4. Select a Theater
5. Select a Date
6. View Movie Details and showtimes at that one theater

When I press the back/Esc key from there, it goes back to the main menu, not to the list of theaters where the movie is showing. So, to check out the times at the next theater where the movie is playing, I have to repeat the above 6 steps.

Have I missed the obvious (again)?