[skin update] "theatre" simple to use and nice to view (3 Viewers)

[kyleh0000]

I think before I attempt to make menu width adjust we need to figure out whether you can have buttons that will set focus to another control. Also need to figure out why menu disappears when you hover the mouse over.

the problem with the mouse is that when you move the mouse no item has focus, and that is the way the buttons are displayed (ie when item x has focus item x is visible) so if nothing has focus nothing is visible

the way i over came this was to create one big button with no label and make it the entire size of the skin, that way when the mouse move this button will have focus which means you can then display and item based on this button.

but you need to make sure that this button is at the top of you basichome.xml file otherwise when you move the mouse over an actual button the dummy button will still have focus

also i think but i havent tested it if you use <visible>Control.HasFocus(0)</visible> on the button this will be visible when no button has focus, like i said havent tested this properly but i think it works

 

[ammmze]

I figured it was something like that but didn't do much testing on it. Makes sense though.

 

[PussyWagon]

@pussywagon

Here is the last revision of the skin files that i created using 1.02, they are heavily commented and modular as well, they contain defined variables that can modify the way the skin looks.

Just unzip the files into the skin directory and check out the basichome.xml to edit the variables

just keep in mind the code for the new mod has changed HEEPS and im sure there are still many bugs in this version however it will show you which variables to modify, it also includes the skin width setting

also with the touch screen shot that you have the problem that i have been having is i cant find a away if you highligh or press a button to give another button focus, so there is no way to get the arrows on the left and right to work, however if you could get this to work you wouldnt need the arrows you could just slide your finger accross the menu and it would slide the items like you do with touch phones, which would be very cool

my idea to get around the touch screen problem is to just have no menu items at all then when you touch the screen a row of 3 X3 menu items fade in and you can select it that way, doesnt look much like the current skin but i know that can be done very easily

oh and also to add some more to what ammmze has said about the menu item being on top of each other, what ever control you place last in the file thats the one that will be selected when you hover over that part of the skin


cheers

I will take a look at those skin files later today.. sounds promising!
I see your problem, maybe its better to look at other ways to use the main screen with touch. About that fading row function, perhaps that could be a solution. What i do want is as less buttons as possible on the main page. But also a way to easy access all pages like, Weather, Movies, Tv-Series, Music, Radio, Pictures, Tv.
Maybe another way to do this is something like this if possible?:

Main

When pressing Listen this list slides to the right and showing more options. Also the other menus fades out. Pressing Listen again will slide it back.

Of course I could do this with better graphics, icons or whatever... just trying to illustrate my ideas.

Want to say a BIG THANK YOU to everybody trying to help me!

 

[ammmze]

I kind of like that menu design...I haven't every made my own menu I've only done little mods here and there, maybe one of these days I will try to make something like that. Well will see!

 

[kyleh0000]

the design that you have there is very similar to my idea for a sub menu menu system

what i was planing to do is have a vertical menu on the bottom left that scrolls up and down then when you press right the associated sub menu items slide out

I have managed to get most of this working, i was just having some problems with the visibility and animations but with 1.1 and allowhiddenfocus option this solved the issues but i think it will still have some issue with touch screens

plus the menu system didnt look that great, however im not a designer so with a designers touch im sure it would look much better

But my idea for touch screen support and it wont look anything like the skin at the moment would be a completly blank screen no buttons at all, then when you tap the screen a grid of 3 X 3 menu items pop up then when you tap away they fade out.

you could also do a system where if you tap the a place on the screen a certian set of menu items appear

however this is imposible to test with just a mouse, as with a mouse you have to move the coursor and as soon as you do this the controls lose focus, as apposed to simply tapping the corret menu item (hopefully you understand what i mean)

An option similar to this will be avalibe when i finish the menu editor, however beaucse of the recoding i have had to do to allow for this line and also that fact that very few people will be using 1.1 Alapha + the latest svn on a production system I have decied rather than rush a release of this mod i would spend a bit more time on developing these options to make sure i have it right.

however if you want to try the editor, I can post a version tomorrow that is a very very early build but will allow you to edit the menu items (via a text file) and also move the postions of the menu to the middle or bottom and if i get time it should allow for weather and rss services

other than that wait for a week or so and I should have a version that has a lot more features and has a gui.

but ill try and dig out a screen shot of the sub menu system for you to look at....

 

[PussyWagon]

the design that you have there is very similar to my idea for a sub menu menu system

what i was planing to do is have a vertical menu on the bottom left that scrolls up and down then when you press right the associated sub menu items slide out

I have managed to get most of this working, i was just having some problems with the visibility and animations but with 1.1 and allowhiddenfocus option this solved the issues but i think it will still have some issue with touch screens

plus the menu system didnt look that great, however im not a designer so with a designers touch im sure it would look much better

But my idea for touch screen support and it wont look anything like the skin at the moment would be a completly blank screen no buttons at all, then when you tap the screen a grid of 3 X 3 menu items pop up then when you tap away they fade out.

you could also do a system where if you tap the a place on the screen a certian set of menu items appear

however this is imposible to test with just a mouse, as with a mouse you have to move the coursor and as soon as you do this the controls lose focus, as apposed to simply tapping the corret menu item (hopefully you understand what i mean)

An option similar to this will be avalibe when i finish the menu editor, however beaucse of the recoding i have had to do to allow for this line and also that fact that very few people will be using 1.1 Alapha + the latest svn on a production system I have decied rather than rush a release of this mod i would spend a bit more time on developing these options to make sure i have it right.

however if you want to try the editor, I can post a version tomorrow that is a very very early build but will allow you to edit the menu items (via a text file) and also move the postions of the menu to the middle or bottom and if i get time it should allow for weather and rss services

other than that wait for a week or so and I should have a version that has a lot more features and has a gui.

but ill try and dig out a screen shot of the sub menu system for you to look at....

Yea i noticed that, i tried your mod yesterday. Unfortunately thats not going to work with touch either as it will be the same problem as before. It would needed up and down arrows and that will not work as you said. But great work!! In that way you can have very much information on small space!

Your idea about the 3x3 row menu i dont think is good for me. This because i want it to be very easy to navigate and understand how to do it. If there is no menu, people is going to stand in front of it thinking: Uhm... and what should i do now?

I think i will do a mod being as above but with graphical icons instead of text. Also it will be in the bottom instead of the left side. I will try to have some animations to make it look a little cooler. I will show you later what i mean...

 

[ThaClown]

I just started using this skin, I LOVE IT!
Thanks so mutch...

Will there be support for the:
- Uitzending Gemist plugin
- My Trailers
- Maybe an RSS feed support?

 

[PussyWagon]

is there any control condition that refers to button press, or button down or similar? I only find control.hasthumb, control.hasfocus, control.isvisible... i want a button to change visibility when another button is pressed.

 

[kyleh0000]

ok this is the very first alpha release of my mod for this skin

im sure its still got plenty of bugs but your welcome to play with it an let me know what you think

keep in mind this will ONLY work with MP 1.1 ALPHA PLUS the latest SVN, nothing else

I also recommend updating MPInfoService to the latest build

https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/mediaportal-plugins-47/mpinfoservice-v0-99-3-5-day-weather-multiple-feeds-rss-atom-twitter-basic-home-60206/

at the moment the editor has no GUI, the options are set using .ini files, which are all commented so hopefully you will be able to understand them

make sure you backup all your original skin files, before you use this mod.

currently im testing in 1366 x 768 however the skin allows you to change the skin res and will scale the button accordingly

to install just copy and replace the files from the SKINFILES folder to into the skin folder in MP

place your poster files in /MEDIA/ANIMATIONS, these will cycle in the background while a certain items is selected

currently you can choose between a Horizontal menu in the middle or bottom, you can have as many menu items as you want in the menu

This will also allow you to enable weather and RSS services

I have attached some screen shots as well as the mod in a zip file

some things im still working on are....

- vertical menu with a sub menu
- support for more plugins
- Moving Pictures and MP TV Series views
- touch screen support

if you have any comment or suggests please let me know

im particularly interested to make sure the skin scales well to full HD, it should but i dont have machine to test it with.

 

[ammmze]

I'm liking the screen shots! Sometime this week maybe I will update my main HTPC with 1.1 Alpha with latest SVN and test it out on 1920x1080. I could also test it on my laptop with it's 1680x1020. I will let you know when I test it. Thanks for all your hard work, it's awesome. This is definitely the best skin out there for MP.