[wimpy]

Hi,

Just wondering if any experienced skinner wants to have a look at creating skin(s) for RCB (http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=70115

Would be cool to see Skin-specific mods (Xperience, Shade, Night, Rapier etc), but also fresh new ideas are welcomed.

I'll be looking into this myself, but first I need to have a deeper look at the skinning engine and learn abit of the xml.

wimp.

[mcborzu]

I definitely will, or definitely will look into it...Man, that thread has grown I remember just 2-3 months ago it was on page 3 now it's up to 21. Gotta read up on what you got going on...

[wimpy]

I definitely will, or definitely will look into it...Man, that thread has grown I remember just 2-3 months ago it was on page 3 now it's up to 21. Gotta read up on what you got going on...

Cool! and yea, Malte is doing a heck of a job on this script!

[malte]

Thanks for this request, wimpy. Would be really nice to get some support by skilled skinners.

If you would like to look into this: Please don't use the "stable" V0.5. It is quite old now and I have added alot of skinning related stuff to the newer versions. Have a look at V0.6h instead (http://romcollectionbrowser.googlecode.c...0V0.6h.zip). It is not ready for release but quite stable now and should be good enough to have a look at the current skin xml.

I always wanted to start writing a short guide on how new skins can be added to this script. But until now I did not have the time for it.

So as a quick start:
Most things should be self explanating to a skinner. There are two skin xml files: "script-Rom_Collection_Browser-main.xml" and "script-Rom_Collection_Browser-gameinfo.xml". The second one (gameinfo) is not completely supported for skinning in the current version. So concentrate on the main xml file first.

One thing that could be special in my script is the "dynamic image placing" (sounds like marketing). As this script does not scrape information from web sites but uses locally stored media files (atm) I can't rely on a defined set of media files. The user may have small collections with only one image per game or others may have complete sets with 6 or more images and maybe video files per game. I want the user to decide where to show which type of image. The skinner should decide how it is presented. I am afraid this approach is not really XBMCish...

Thats why you find several code lines like this in the skin xml:

Code:

<texture>$INFO[ListItem.Property(mainviewbackground)]</texture>

The user decides per config what image he wants to use as background image. The skinner can get this file with the above code.

Here is a list of all available media controls:

images

Code:

mainviewbackground
gamelist
gamelistselected
mainviewgameinfobig
mainviewgameinfoupperleft
mainviewgameinfoupperright
mainviewgameinfolowerleft
mainviewgameinfolowerright
mainview1
mainview2
mainview3

videos

Code:

mainviewvideowindowbig
mainviewvideowindowsmall

Here you can see how this is done in the current skin: http://code.google.com/p/romcollectionbr...ge_placing


It should also be possible to access all text properties in the skin.

The title of a game is available as ListItem.Label:

Code:

<label>$INFO[ListItem.Label]</label>

All other properties can be accessed like this:

Code:

<label>$INFO[ListItem.Property(console)]</label>

All available tags:

Code:

romcollection
console
year
plot
publisher
developer
reviewer
genre
maxplayers
rating
votes
url
region
media
perspective
controllertype
isfavorite
playcount
originaltitle
alternatetitle
translatedby
version

If you don't have a working version of RCB you could try to get a first impression by downloading the testdata file (http://code.google.com/p/romcollectionbr...t_scenario). But to be honest I did not test it with the newer versions anymore. I will update it in the next days if necessary. (Edit: Just tested and it works with minor issues).

All this is not carved in stone. I am new to XBMC, scripting and skinning. If you have good ideas or hints how to improve skinning support please let me know. I am willing to learn;-)

Regards,
malte

[wimpy]

Another thing that would be helpful if skin-authors don't want to put too much time into this is to create a quick "template" with their skin setup (fonts+textures) for a specific view they feel is appropriate for viewing games and submit it; and then me or someone else can further work on them as we have working RCB setups already

[malte]

Just wanted to push this request once more.

The 0.6 version that I mentioned above is "stable" now and all properties and images in all views should be accessible via skin xml.

I also added a short skinning guide to the wiki.

As wimpy said: If you don't want to build a complete skin for the script, any input would be really helpful. If you have mockups that show how games could look in your skins or some template files or anything else, please share.

If you are not a skilled skinner but just want to play around with some skin files, please do it. And share;-)

[XBMCG33K]

I sent you a pm about adding this to Xperience since the skin it's self is based off of gaming.

[Arcanthur]

Just wanted to push this request once more.

The 0.6 version that I mentioned above is "stable" now and all properties and images in all views should be accessible via skin xml.

I also added a short skinning guide to the wiki.

As wimpy said: If you don't want to build a complete skin for the script, any input would be really helpful. If you have mockups that show how games could look in your skins or some template files or anything else, please share.

If you are not a skilled skinner but just want to play around with some skin files, please do it. And share;-)

I'd be willing to help with this once I've released Fusion.

[wimpy]

I'd be willing to help with this once I've released Fusion.

abit late reply.. but cool!