Thanks to some very helpful and generous guidance by Angelinas I have my double lists view working though there are still a few kinks to iron out. I'll post his helpful information here for others to use as well.
To pull information from the first list for the second list when the first list is populated with smart playlist files worked perfect.
Code:
<content>$INFO[ListItem.FolderPath]</content>
His info for finding variables from the second list for a variables.xml
Code:
<value condition="Control.HasFocus(XX)">$INFO[Container(XX).ListItem.Art(poster)]</value>
And this also leads to pulling info directly from the main view by using
Code:
Container(XX).ListItem.
With this info and some more tinkering I have most things working as I'd like. I am now looking at 3 issues I'd like to resolve.
First, I have the following visible from my previous cloned view that provides additional on screen info based on the playlist that was selected in that view. I'd like the same information provided in my new view, pulled from the focused playlist in my first list which shows the results in the second list.
Code:
<visible>stringcompare(Container.folderpath,special://skin/playlists/video/XXXX.xsp)</visible>
I have tried <visible>stringcompare(Container(XX).folderpath,special://skin/playlists/video/XXXX.xsp)</visible> but to no avail. I'm a bit stuck here. Once I figure this visible out a ton of things fall into line, much like when I figured out my first variable above.
Second has to do with how information in the second list is sorted. Many playlists are simple, I'd like them sorted by year in descending order. Others would not work well with that specific ordering. Each smart playlist has rules for order with the direction noted but that information doesn't appear to be pulled properly. order by sorttitle and top250 works but order by year does not. This could be the wrong place to ask about smart playlists but hoping someone has some advice in this area.
**Figured this part out. Just needed to add the onright controls for the other categories.** I'm also having trouble with built in categorizes like Director and Genre. These double lists populate but I am only able to control the left list and can't move over to the right list to scroll through the results of each category. I'm sure this is something silly I've missed.
Last item is the left list, specifically when it's made up of playlists, is still clickable. Angelinas offered a suggestion to deactivate the onclick on the left list (only) but it didn't take. It's not the end of the world but would be great to fix as well.