Kodi Community Forum

Hi folks... first post here. I'm a convert from WMC. Currently I'm stuck on applying a new skin, and editing the main menu:

I've got Frodo Beta 1 running on Windows 7 x64 Ultimate, on a reasonably overspec'd PC. (i5 750, AMD Radeon HD 4800). I'm using the default Confluence skin.

I'd done loads of reading, even before coming here (XBMC vs MediaPortal vs Jive vs WMC vs ... ) etc. The launch of PVR and TV capabilities in Frodo Beta 1 tipped the balance. So far everything has gone OK - there's lots to learn though! I've spent a couple of days perusing questions through the Wiki and the forums.

The first challenge to overcome was to make my WMC Remote (Speedlink SL-6399) to work such that the green button launched XMC. I tried http://xbmccustomregis.sourceforge.net/r...art_Button which seemed promising, but no joy. Then I circumvented the issue by hijacking the WMC executable itself: http://inchoatethoughts.com/launching-xb...ter-remote

Now I'm stuck on how to edit the main menu to reflect the grouping of my media collection. I have separate directories on my hard drive for Films, Kids Films and TV Series - in WMC (MediaBrowser) my kids know they're allowed to choose from 'Kids Films' when there's the smell of fresh popcorn

At the moment, I've got all my TV series under 'TV Shows' which is great, but all of my Films are bunched together under 'Movies'. I'd like to replace the default 'Movies' with 'Films' and 'Kids Films' (and potentially other stuff down the line)

I've read some stuff about creating Smart Playlists, which I've done - filtering based on the file path - but I've not managed to get the resulting playlist as a main menu item. If I understand things right, I might need to use a skin that has this capability built in, which brings me to my second problem...

Using [System] -> [Appearance] -> [Skin] and then pressing [Get More...] just presents an empty dialogue (with an 'up' ellipsis [..]). I tried downloading a ZIP of the Aeon Git repositary and using the Add-ons -> Install From Zip file, but that didn't work ('does not have the correct structure').

I'd like to stay as 'vanilla' as possible so that future upgrades require as little rehacking as possible, so what's the best way to arrange my main menu?

Cheers

Charlie

Welcome to the forums!

You are on the right path for getting some custom menu items on the home screen. It is indeed the realm of the skin to include this functionality. Personally, since I started to use Aeon Nox, i've not used any other skin since. However, Nox 4.0 (which is the version that supports Frodo) is in a Work-in-progress (WIP) stage, and will require the use of the git repository. Aeon Nox 3.6.1 is an official release, but is intended for xbmc Eden only.

Another caveat for Nox 4.0 - support of smart playlists on the home screen is currently not supported. The skin devs are still working on it. But, support for Custom Video Nodes is supported, and they work in the same manner as smart playlists, and are perhaps even more versatile. There's a bit of a learning curve to get them working, but it sounds like you've got no problems learning how to make things work.

Here's a bit on Custom video nodes:
http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Custom_video_nodes

I'm not sure why you were only presented with an empty directory when trying to add skins. Try going through System--> Add-ons --> Get addons--> xbmc.org repository --> Skins.

Thank you

I like the look of Aeon Nox, but I have absolutely no idea about git repositories, and therefore how to apply the skin. Is it complicated? I'm a web developer, so fiddling with XML doesn't really trouble me, nor does the concept of versioning, but 'git' is a big unexplored world for me.

The Custom Nodes functionality looks great, but would appear to be applicable only *below* the main menu items - so even if I make subchapters of Movies for 'Kids Films' and 'Scary Adult Films with Guns and Bare Boobs', clicking on the 'Movies' main menu will give a list of all the films, with Dumbledore's Dragon right next to Debbie Does Droitwich. Not ideal.

System--> Add-ons --> Get addons--> xbmc.org repository doesn't have a 'Skins' item for me. There's loads of options, but the list goes '..., Screensaver, Services, TV information, Video Add-ons, ...'

Cheers

Charlie

Skins won't show up until the skin authors have made them compatible with frodo?

Here's the thread i referenced to get started on git:

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=123465

Just follow along carefully and you'll have it setup in no time. Plus, the Nox forum is very active, and full of knowledgeable folks. The skin devs regularly contribute with answers and explanations as well.

On my install (Frodo b1, nox 4.0), i have video nodes assigned to main menu items - in nearly the same way you wish to accomplish: Movies, TV shows, Kids Vids. They're all main menu items, but I've also added custom nodes to the submenus as well. Movies filters out all the "parents appropriate" material (same with tv shows), while Kids Vids filters out kids-friendly media. Works great!

As far as the xbmc repository. Try this: While highlighting the xbmc repo, press the 'c' button on your keyboard to bring up the context menu, and choose "refresh repository" - or something to that effect. It will take a few seconds, and then try to locate the skins addons again in the repo.

---

(2012-11-17, 11:19)toiva Wrote: [ -> ]Skins won't show up until the skin authors have made them compatible with frodo?

You're probably spot-on there. Frodo repository just came online with the release of Beta 1. Many skins are compatible, but might not be current for the repo yet.

---

In the meantime, while waiting for the Frodo repo to include skins, you can try skins from the Eden repo here:

http://mirrors.xbmc.org/addons/eden/

I have git bubbling away on pulling down Aeon Nox in the background over there --->

I'll let you know how I git on. Oh, I crack myself up!

Refreshing the xbmc repository did seem to do a refresh, but still no Skins... I guess its too early for Frodo related ones to be marked as such, as toiva suggested.

I'll go read the Aeon Nox forum while my git update is doing its thing, and I'll report back here later...

Thanks again!

Charlie

OK, I'm back...

I've been reading and experimenting and I'm stuck. The main thing is I'm stuck on a much more profound level than I was stuck before.

I've installed Aeon Nox from the git repositories... very smooth!

I've followed some lovely tutorials on YouTube about configuring it as I would like it to look... so far so good.

Now I'm trying to customise my main menu so that I have main-level items for "Films", "Childrens Films" and "TV Series"... I'm not having much luck.

I've been following the info at http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Custom_video_nodes - which seems clear enough, but is missing some key elements.

First off, it's a bit vague about paths: I'm on a Windows 7 install, and so when it said that I could look at the default nodes under "/xbmc/system/library/video/movies/", I'd assumed that they were referring to the /xbmc tree under %appdata%, but in fact it was under c:/Program Files (x86)/

OK, so then I create a Smart Playlist to act as the template for the rule that I want to create and (when I eventually find the file that it created) combined it with the example custom node XML to arrive at:


OK. It'd be nice to know where 'DefaultCars.png' comes from, and where I might reference the actual Aeon Nox icons that I want, but that's no biggie.

The guide says that 'path' can be 'any valid XBMC path', but I've not found a definition of what that means. I suspect that's important.

The rule I copied from my Smart Playlist, so I think that's OK

So then the guide says it should be placed under '/userdata/library/video/' but again, it's not clear if it means under c:/Program Files(x86)/XBMC/... or under.../AppData/Roaming/XBMC/... I would have thought that %appdata% would be the best place, as it is far more likely to be a backup target, and the programme files directories ought to be left 'as is', but anyway...

In any case, I tried both, and my custom node didn't appear on restarting XBMC

The problem is further compounded to other threads that talk about putting my XML file in 'userdata/Database' (again, which one?), and I'm not clear if I need to keep the video/ and video_flat/ structure.

In short, for my custom video node, exactly what do I put where?

I can't help feeling I'm close, but for some minor detail somewhere

Then, having achieved all of that, how do I filter the existing 'movies' main menu item? Do I create a custom one, as above, that will then automagically override the default one (I'm a CSS guy, so that would seem like good practise to me), or do I edit the existing one to add a 'path does not start foo/baa' type rule?

Thanks again

Charlie


p.s. all this aside, xbmc looks pretty *@#ing awesome, and has managed to play anything I've thrown at it. It did slow down a tad with my 250Gb music collection, but that's a problem for another time - I'm not really after a jukebox app yet. Might be nice to kick itunes into touch one day, though....

(2012-11-19, 22:38)charliek Wrote: [ -> ]First off, it's a bit vague about paths: I'm on a Windows 7 install, and so when it said that I could look at the default nodes under "/xbmc/system/library/video/movies/", I'd assumed that they were referring to the /xbmc tree under %appdata%, but in fact it was under c:/Program Files (x86)/

Right. The necessary default nodes are in ../xbmc/system/library. If you're using a very recent nightly build, copy the whole /library folder to your userdata folder. If you were using an older build (beta1 and older) you copy the whole folder to /userdata/database.

(2012-11-19, 22:38)charliek Wrote: [ -> ]OK. It'd be nice to know where 'DefaultCars.png' comes from, and where I might reference the actual Aeon Nox icons that I want, but that's no biggie.

I asked this same question. Here's a short thread about it...

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=142821

(2012-11-19, 22:38)charliek Wrote: [ -> ]The guide says that 'path' can be 'any valid XBMC path', but I've not found a definition of what that means. I suspect that's important.

As far as I can tell, these are the "valid xbmc paths".

http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Ope...nd_Dialogs

(2012-11-19, 22:38)charliek Wrote: [ -> ]So then the guide says it should be placed under '/userdata/library/video/' but again, it's not clear if it means under c:/Program Files(x86)/XBMC/... or under.../AppData/Roaming/XBMC/... I would have thought that %appdata% would be the best place, as it is far more likely to be a backup target, and the programme files directories ought to be left 'as is', but anyway...

In any case, I tried both, and my custom node didn't appear on restarting XBMC

If you've created a valid .xml file, and placed in the right directory - which will always be the /userdata folder (beta1 and older /userdata/database/video and /userdata/database/video_flat, newer than beta1 - userdata/library/video and userdata/library/video_flat), then a restart is not even required. The node will show up right away. I think you're running into problems with selecting the wrong path, so the .xml is not valid.

(2012-11-19, 22:38)charliek Wrote: [ -> ]The problem is further compounded to other threads that talk about putting my XML file in 'userdata/Database' (again, which one?), and I'm not clear if I need to keep the video/ and video_flat/ structure.

In short, for my custom video node, exactly what do I put where?

Keep the structure intact. Just copy the whole bit directory over to the userdata folder. Use a new nightly build, and copy it all into /userdata/library. This is a recent change. It used to be /userdata/database.

(2012-11-19, 22:38)charliek Wrote: [ -> ]Then, having achieved all of that, how do I filter the existing 'movies' main menu item? Do I create a custom one, as above, that will then automagically override the default one (I'm a CSS guy, so that would seem like good practise to me), or do I edit the existing one to add a 'path does not start foo/baa' type rule?

In Nox, you can "choose type" for any of the main menu items, and then change it to lots of different things, custom nodes included. Or you can use one of the Custom main slots, and disable the Movies menu. Or.... lots of ways to go about it....

You're almost there! Soon as you get that first node working, you'll be golden.

<rule field="path" operator="startswith">D:\films\kids films\</rule>

(2012-11-20, 00:49)jmarshall Wrote: [ -> ]<rule field="path" operator="startswith">D:\films\kids films\</rule>

Good catch.

<value></value>
is not needed.

Just for example, here's a simple one i created for kids tv:

hmmm maybe I'm being daft. Nothing I've done so far has had the slightest sign of creating a new main menu item (or any item, come to that).

My latest attempt consisted of entirely uninstalling XBMC, including the %appdata%/xbmc/ tree.

Then I reinstalled the XBMC nightly from the 18th (last nights had a problem with importing my files, it seemed to be missing sources.xml, and gave an error when I tried to import stuff).

Then I imported my movies, they appear and play OK.

Then I copied C:\Program Files (x86)\XBMC\system\library to C:\Program Files (x86)\XBMC\userdata\library (this is a two day old nightly, so I assume it's the newer filestructure)

Then I created a childrensmovies.xml with the following contents:


And placed one copy in
C:\Program Files (x86)\XBMC\userdata\library\video_flat\childrensmovies.xml
and another identical copy in
C:\Program Files (x86)\XBMC\userdata\library\video\childrensmovies.xml

Restarted XBMC. The custom video node doesn't appear in the main menu, nor in the submenus of Movies or Video, nor in the playlists.

Then I installed Aeon Nox theme from git. Restarted XBMC. Still no sign of my custom node anywhere.

Gah!

(2012-11-20, 18:24)charliek Wrote: [ -> ]hmmm maybe I'm being daft. Nothing I've done so far has had the slightest sign of creating a new main menu item (or any item, come to that).

My latest attempt consisted of entirely uninstalling XBMC, including the %appdata%/xbmc/ tree.

Then I reinstalled the XBMC nightly from the 18th (last nights had a problem with importing my files, it seemed to be missing sources.xml, and gave an error when I tried to import stuff).

Then I imported my movies, they appear and play OK.

Then I copied C:\Program Files (x86)\XBMC\system\library to C:\Program Files (x86)\XBMC\userdata\library (this is a two day old nightly, so I assume it's the newer filestructure)

Then I created a childrensmovies.xml with the following contents:

Code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes" ?>
<node order="8" type="filter">
  <label>Childrens Films</label>
  <path>videodb://2/</path>
  <content>movies</content>
  <match>all</match>
  <icon>DefaultTVShowTitle.png</icon>
  <rule field="path" operator="startswith">D:\films\kids films\</rule>
</node>

And placed one copy in
C:\Program Files (x86)\XBMC\userdata\library\video_flat\childrensmovies.xml
and another identical copy in
C:\Program Files (x86)\XBMC\userdata\library\video\childrensmovies.xml

Restarted XBMC. The custom video node doesn't appear in the main menu, nor in the submenus of Movies or Video, nor in the playlists.

Then I installed Aeon Nox theme from git. Restarted XBMC. Still no sign of my custom node anywhere.

Gah!

you still have to assign them to the main menu after setting them up.
in nox: Skin Settings --> main menu customizer --> any main menu item --> set type --> video library node

(2012-11-20, 21:34)phil65 Wrote: [ -> ]you still have to assign them to the main menu after setting them up.
in nox: Skin Settings --> main menu customizer --> any main menu item --> set type --> video library node

Ok, cool - that sounds promising.

Following the main menu customiser, I chose 'Custom1' (http://www.ck-conception.com/foo/1.PNG) set type to 'Video Library Node' (http://www.ck-conception.com/foo/2.PNG), and then it asks me to 'Browse for the image folder' (http://www.ck-conception.com/foo/3.PNG)... er... what does that mean?

Cheers

Charlie

(2012-11-20, 21:34)phil65 Wrote: [ -> ]

(2012-11-20, 18:24)charliek Wrote: [ -> ]And placed one copy in
C:\Program Files (x86)\XBMC\userdata\library\video_flat\childrensmovies.xml
and another identical copy in
C:\Program Files (x86)\XBMC\userdata\library\video\childrensmovies.xml

Restarted XBMC. The custom video node doesn't appear in the main menu, nor in the submenus of Movies or Video, nor in the playlists.

you still have to assign them to the main menu after setting them up.
in nox: Skin Settings --> main menu customizer --> any main menu item --> set type --> video library node

You also only need one copy of the node.xml. Only put it in your userdata\library\video\movies\ folder, and not in video_flat\.

---

(2012-11-20, 21:58)charliek Wrote: [ -> ]Ok, cool - that sounds promising.

Following the main menu customiser, I chose 'Custom1' (http://www.ck-conception.com/foo/1.PNG) set type to 'Video Library Node' (http://www.ck-conception.com/foo/2.PNG), and then it asks me to 'Browse for the image folder' (http://www.ck-conception.com/foo/3.PNG)... er... what does that mean?

Cheers

Charlie

Just browse for your node. If it's a valid node.xml, it will be under the content type you chose, movies, tv, or mixed. I think the chooser dialog has just not been updated to say "browser for video node". It'll still work the intended way.

OK, so now I have moved
C:\Program Files (x86)\XBMC\userdata\library\video\childrensmovies.xml
to
C:\Program Files (x86)\XBMC\userdata\library\video\movies\childrensmovies.xml
and deleted
C:\Program Files (x86)\XBMC\userdata\library\video_flat\childrensmovies.xml

Still, choosing a 'type' of 'Video Library Node' asks me to 'Browse For Image Folder', and nothing corresponding to my custom video node appears in the list....

Cheers

Charlie