[jjd-uk]

Someone didn't fully read Post #37 ha...ha

Not a problem, I fully get it might initially be overwhelming as I've only taught myself this skin stuff in the last couple of years.

The efort is worthwhile so try and stick at it, and I'm always happy to guide, as the reward is that it opens up so many more possibilities of tailoring Kodi to exactly how you want it.

[PeterD.]

Thanks, black_eagle, for your response. I've found what I was looking for and I'm now playing around with the different preset fonts ... (with the original zip file safe and sound; don't worry, jjd-uk !!)
Thanks also, jjd-uk, the problem is, I did read your post #37 fully, I "just" didn't comprehend all the information contained in every detail ("sensory overload" is highly individual ...).

[PeterD.]

Hi jjd-uk, having started to modify your beautiful codes, I'm stumbling across two hurdles, for which I know you have the "shortcuts" (apparently I really don't get it where you place your commas, full stops, square brackets etc. ...):
i) how would your code line look like for the following (i.e. line 4, bottom line, last code block):

Next: Artist Album title [year] track title

with the following formats (everything the same size):
Next: green, regular
Artist blue, regular
Album title white, regular
[ ] white, regular
year blue, regular
track title white, Italics

ii) re the fonts the lay person can see the following in font.xml:
<name>font14</name>
<filename>NotoSans-Regular.ttf</filename>
<size>33</size>
<style>lighten</style>

and further down the lines:
<name>font14</name>
<filename>arial.ttf</filename>
<size>30</size>

if I change the fonts in your musicvisualisation.xml file, I only enter "font14", the question, hence, would be how the system distinguishes between Arial and NotoSans? Has this something to do with the line
<fontset id="Arial" idloc="31053"> and the respective one for NotoSans?

Short: how can I swap/chose between these two font styles as "font14" alone is not good enough?

Your kind help with that is, as always, greatly appreciated !!

[jjd-uk]

The font used is governed by this setting https://kodi.wiki/view/Settings/Interface/Skin#Fonts

So Skin Default is NotoSans and Arial is an alternative. Note also that only one font can be active at any one time, so if Skin Default is selected only the NotoSans entries in the font.xml are used, so it not possible to have a mix e.g. Artist in NotoSans and Album in Arial.

[jjd-uk]

how would your code line look like for the following (i.e. line 4, bottom line, last code block):

Next: Artist Album title [year] track title

with the following formats (everything the same size):
Next: green, regular
Artist blue, regular
Album title white, regular
[ ] white, regular
year blue, regular
track title white, Italics

My line would be https://gist.github.com/jjd-uk/32fe08dde...28e33754b2

Had to put it there as forum tries to use the formatting included.

That breaks down to

[PeterD.]

To add to the one question above (code for this particular "Next: ..." line) I have three more quick questions for you:
i) how would this code look like, if I wanted to add one more format on top of another, say i.e. the artist in blue (as above) plus in bold; all the remaining line stays the same

ii) the "now playing" screen (with the modified four lines) fades away after about 10 seconds (default). Where would be the code line in MusicVisualisation.xml to alter the duration?

iii) and an even more trivial one: on your screen shots there are artist images displayed. Where within Kodi would be the setting for that? What would be the terminus for that? Where are these images retrieved from?

Your answers to my 4 questions (these three plus the previous one) would be immensely appreciated.

[PeterD.]

Thanks for your recent ("overlapping"), very detailed post. This sort of precise break down is really very helpful. If I still don't get it, I can rest assured that I'm just too stupid for that ...

[PeterD.]

Hi jjd- uk, I've just checked your kind link (see below) with the most recent code line, and unfortunately (for me especially painful) it's missing the Italics for the track title at the end of the line (that's precisely the part that I have yet to understand ...)
Also, please add one more example to help me comprehend the codes, how would you change this line, if you wanted to remove the "[year]" completely?

https://gist.github.com/jjd-uk/32fe08dde...28e33754b2

[jjd-uk]

Must been an error in copy and paste.

Should be as

at the end.

[PeterD.]

Thanks for your recent post. The explanatory break down really helps, but I still haven't quite found the "entrance" to your world of codes ...
Hence, I'm eagerly waiting for your answers to my three questions in post #51 and the one remaining question in post #53, as these would for sure be helpful as well.

[black_eagle]

Also, please add one more example to help me comprehend the codes, how would you change this line, if you wanted to remove the "[year]" completely?

<label>$INFO[MusicPlayer.offset(1).Artist,[COLOR green]$LOCALIZE[19031]:[/COLOR][COLOR blue],[/COLOR]]$INFO[MusicPlayer.offset(1).Album, ]$INFO[MusicPlayer.offset(1).Year, [[COLOR blue],[/COLOR]]]$INFO[MusicPlayer.offset(1).Title, ,]</label> would become

<label>$INFO[MusicPlayer.offset(1).Artist,[COLOR green]$LOCALIZE[19031]:[/COLOR][COLOR blue],[/COLOR]]$INFO[MusicPlayer.offset(1).Album, ]$INFO[MusicPlayer.offset(1).Title, ,]</label>

...I think.

ii) the "now playing" screen (with the modified four lines) fades away after about 10 seconds (default). Where would be the code line in MusicVisualisation.xml to alter the duration?

This is controlled by core.  You can change it by adding a setting to advancedsettings.xml (wiki), specifically this one.

iii) and an even more trivial one: on your screen shots there are artist images displayed. Where within Kodi would be the setting for that? What would be the terminus for that? Where are these images retrieved from?

Thats an addon. Artist.Slideshow which you will find in the repository under "program add-ons".

[PeterD.]

Thanks, black_eagle, for your kind response to three of my open questions.
Why am I not getting rid of the feeling that the answers to my (presumably) simple questions are always more complicated than I expected  ...
In this context, could you please prepare an advancedsettings.xml file for me containing the line that controls the "now playing screen" to fade away after say 30 seconds rather than the default ten. This file together with some informations re its implementation on my device would be very helpful, if you have some spare time ...

Also, maybe this one goes out to jjd-uk: could I please ask you for your kind help with the code line for question i) in post #51 (two different formats for one and the same label).

[black_eagle]

xml:
<advancedsettings version="1.0">

    <songinfoduration>30</songinfoduration>

</advancedsettings> 

Copy/paste this into a text file named advancedsettings.xml  You need to copy it into your userdata directory, which if you used jjd-uk's directions for copying within Kodi is special://userdata.  You will need to restart Kodi for it to load the file.

[jjd-uk]

The background art in my screenshots is just normal Artist fanart that is fetched by the Artist scraper when doing a Query All Artists, I do not use any addon for that. To display the fanart in the Music Viz window then it's a setting on the OSD (under the cog).

I'll get to the remaining questions sometime tomorrow.

[PeterD.]

The background art in my screenshots is just normal Artist fanart that is fetched by the Artist scraper when doing a Query All Artists, I do not use any addon for that. To display the fanart in the Music Viz window then it's a setting on the OSD (under the cog).

I'll get to the remaining questions sometime tomorrow.

Thanks (to both of you) for all your kind help with my trivial questions. I'm really looking forward to your answers later on in the day.
Unfortunately, for the first time in all this thread I do have to confess that I just don't understand the following "... then it's a setting on the OSD (under the cog)". Could I ask you for an explanation/translation, please?