[bsoriano]

As I mentioned before, this has the advantage also of showing you YouTube videos related to the movie or tv show.

When I click on the background title, I come to the search page with the movie or TV show.
Each time, I have a message asking me to install the YouTube addon but I do not want to download this addon.
Is it possible to stop having this message without installing the YouTube addon ?

By cons, I prefer that the title is displayed in the title bar and not in a frame below.

I don't know how to explain really good (and because too is a personal preference) but to me it's not look much good, like don't have an division for clock and data, you know?    

It's a story of personal preferences. I prefer that the title be in the title bar.
The ideal would be to have the choice in the settings of Amber without the parameters become too complicated. 

@Cyberdom , right now it's not possible.  I will have to re-work the custom search window in order to do this.  I understand your use case and I had not thought about not wanting to see YouTube results.  I will work on this.

I agree about it being personal preferences.  I will take a look at what it entails to have the choice.  So more to come on this.

Regards,

Bart

[bsoriano]

How would you do it for the vertical menu?

For look good have to change location. But you already did this before, right?
 

@edjalmo , thanks! I think that is a good location as well.  I will be looking further at having the choice of locations: top bar or frame underneath.  More to come on this.

Regards,

Bart

[Cyberdom]

@Cyberdom , the code to access the background title and to be able to click on it is not yet available, I am working on this today. 

As for the Kodi repo, I will most likely only submit monthly updates to Amber there.  I suggest you install the Amber repo and keep the skin updated from there.

It is done.

@edjalmo , @Cyberdom , I have made the home fanart title (when enabled) clickable.  I changed its location to the top left of the screen, in a smaller font so that it does not draw too much attention.  This is the same for both horizontal and vertical menu.

Thank you @bsoriano, I just saw that. The presentation suits me.

My suggestion is remove the "backgroud" word and follow the Amber rule of when use capital letters.
I have thought in show the background name with this frame used in previous version of Amber, in the same position but below title bar. But this will come more attention that you guys want.


So, I don't know a best position.
What you guys think about this? 

Like @edjalmo, I think it would be nice to remove the word "Background" and write the title in capital letters but keeping the same size.
By cons, I prefer that the title is displayed in the title bar and not in a frame below.      

@Cyberdom , thanks! When you say "keeping the same size", you mean the small font size that is there now, or the same size as the other elements that appear in the title bar?

Regards,

Bart     

Yes, i mean the small font size that is there now.

As I mentioned before, this has the advantage also of showing you YouTube videos related to the movie or tv show.

When I click on the background title, I come to the search page with the movie or TV show.
Each time, I have a message asking me to install the YouTube addon but I do not want to download this addon.
Is it possible to stop having this message without installing the YouTube addon ?

I don't know how to explain really good (and because too is a personal preference) but to me it's not look much good, like don't have an division for clock and data, you know?    

It's a story of personal preferences. I prefer that the title be in the title bar.
The ideal would be to have the choice in the settings of Amber without the parameters become too complicated.     

@Cyberdom , right now it's not possible.  I will have to re-work the custom search window in order to do this.  I understand your use case and I had not thought about not wanting to see YouTube results.  I will work on this.

I agree about it being personal preferences.  I will take a look at what it entails to have the choice.  So more to come on this.

Regards,

Bart    

OK, thank you.

I also use hidden shelves when they are untargeted with as wallpaper, random fanarts.
I noticed for example when switching from the movie menu (random fanarts) to the video menu (fixed background), the hidden shelf of movies is displayed for about 1/4 second.
It does it on my Nvidia Shield TV and my Raspberry Pi 3 with LibreELEC.
I do not know if I'm clear but is it possible to have a more fluid menu change without having this shelf display for 1/4 of a second ?

[bsoriano]

It is done.
Thank you @bsoriano, I just saw that. The presentation suits me.
Like @edjalmo, I think it would be nice to remove the word "Background" and write the title in capital letters but keeping the same size.
By cons, I prefer that the title is displayed in the title bar and not in a frame below.      

@Cyberdom , thanks! When you say "keeping the same size", you mean the small font size that is there now, or the same size as the other elements that appear in the title bar?

Regards,

Bart       

Yes, i mean the small font size that is there now.

When I click on the background title, I come to the search page with the movie or TV show.
Each time, I have a message asking me to install the YouTube addon but I do not want to download this addon.
Is it possible to stop having this message without installing the YouTube addon ?
It's a story of personal preferences. I prefer that the title be in the title bar.
The ideal would be to have the choice in the settings of Amber without the parameters become too complicated.     

@Cyberdom , right now it's not possible.  I will have to re-work the custom search window in order to do this.  I understand your use case and I had not thought about not wanting to see YouTube results.  I will work on this.

I agree about it being personal preferences.  I will take a look at what it entails to have the choice.  So more to come on this.

Regards,

Bart      

OK, thank you.

I also use hidden shelves when they are untargeted with as wallpaper, random fanarts.
I noticed for example when switching from the movie menu (random fanarts) to the video menu (fixed background), the hidden shelf of movies is displayed for about 1/4 second.
It does it on my Nvidia Shield TV and my Raspberry Pi 3 with LibreELEC.
I do not know if I'm clear but is it possible to have a more fluid menu change without having this shelf display for 1/4 of a second ?  

@Cyberdom , thank you.

I am not able to replicate this in my test machines (I only have Windows).  Could you please make a video of the issue, put it up in a cloud drive or file sharing site and post the link to it here or PM me the link? Thank you.

Regards,

Bart

[edjalmo]

I will be looking further at having the choice of locations: top bar or frame underneath.  More to come on this.

Thanks!

That frame image I sent is already present in media folder of Amber, I have not saw it before and for this send that link.

[Piranha2004]

One problem with this approach however, is that I cant seem to change the background to one of the defaults. There is nowhere to navigate to "//special/movies.jpg" etc on the Pi2 at least. 

Is there a way to choose the default background? 

For my part, I use Kodi on a Nvidia Shield TV and a Raspberry Pi 3. I would also like to know how to access the default backgrounds for a new menu item for example. 

@Cyberdom , @Piranha2004 , I don’t know much about Linux. I think, at least on a Raspberry Pi running something like LibreELEC, the skin should be located in storage/.kodi/addons/skin.amber, and the default backgrounds are in the backgrounds folder of the skin. I don’t know if you can browse to that folder when you try to change the background to a menu item. Perhaps you need to enable to look at hidden folders in Kodi.

For Android (nVidia Shield TV), the skin should be in Android/data/org.xbmc.kodi/files/.kodi/addons/skin.amber. Again, I think you will need to enable in Kodi to view hidden files and folders.


Regards,

Bart 

@Cyberdom  I figured out another way around this. I SSHed into the Pi and was able to navigate to the .kodi hidden folder. I then copied the backgrounds folder to another visible folder ( I think it I just used backup). I havent actually applied the backgrounds but Im assuming it would be a matter of navigating to the visible directory and select the appropriate background

[Cyberdom]

For my part, I use Kodi on a Nvidia Shield TV and a Raspberry Pi 3. I would also like to know how to access the default backgrounds for a new menu item for example. 

@Cyberdom , @Piranha2004 , I don’t know much about Linux. I think, at least on a Raspberry Pi running something like LibreELEC, the skin should be located in storage/.kodi/addons/skin.amber, and the default backgrounds are in the backgrounds folder of the skin. I don’t know if you can browse to that folder when you try to change the background to a menu item. Perhaps you need to enable to look at hidden folders in Kodi.

For Android (nVidia Shield TV), the skin should be in Android/data/org.xbmc.kodi/files/.kodi/addons/skin.amber. Again, I think you will need to enable in Kodi to view hidden files and folders.


Regards,

Bart      

@Cyberdom  I figured out another way around this. I SSHed into the Pi and was able to navigate to the .kodi hidden folder. I then copied the backgrounds folder to another visible folder ( I think it I just used backup). I havent actually applied the backgrounds but Im assuming it would be a matter of navigating to the visible directory and select the appropriate background     

Thank you for your answer @Piranha2004.

From what I understand, you accessed into the Raspberry Pi with SSH ?
From a Windows PC ?

@Cyberdom , thanks! When you say "keeping the same size", you mean the small font size that is there now, or the same size as the other elements that appear in the title bar?

Regards,

Bart       

Yes, i mean the small font size that is there now.

@Cyberdom , right now it's not possible.  I will have to re-work the custom search window in order to do this.  I understand your use case and I had not thought about not wanting to see YouTube results.  I will work on this.

I agree about it being personal preferences.  I will take a look at what it entails to have the choice.  So more to come on this.

Regards,

Bart      

OK, thank you.

I also use hidden shelves when they are untargeted with as wallpaper, random fanarts.
I noticed for example when switching from the movie menu (random fanarts) to the video menu (fixed background), the hidden shelf of movies is displayed for about 1/4 second.
It does it on my Nvidia Shield TV and my Raspberry Pi 3 with LibreELEC.
I do not know if I'm clear but is it possible to have a more fluid menu change without having this shelf display for 1/4 of a second ?     

@Cyberdom , thank you.

I am not able to replicate this in my test machines (I only have Windows).  Could you please make a video of the issue, put it up in a cloud drive or file sharing site and post the link to it here or PM me the link? Thank you.

Regards,

Bart   

It is done. I sent you the video in PM.

[bsoriano]

@Cyberdom , @Piranha2004 , I don’t know much about Linux. I think, at least on a Raspberry Pi running something like LibreELEC, the skin should be located in storage/.kodi/addons/skin.amber, and the default backgrounds are in the backgrounds folder of the skin. I don’t know if you can browse to that folder when you try to change the background to a menu item. Perhaps you need to enable to look at hidden folders in Kodi.

For Android (nVidia Shield TV), the skin should be in Android/data/org.xbmc.kodi/files/.kodi/addons/skin.amber. Again, I think you will need to enable in Kodi to view hidden files and folders.


Regards,

Bart      

@Cyberdom  I figured out another way around this. I SSHed into the Pi and was able to navigate to the .kodi hidden folder. I then copied the backgrounds folder to another visible folder ( I think it I just used backup). I havent actually applied the backgrounds but Im assuming it would be a matter of navigating to the visible directory and select the appropriate background      

Thank you for your answer @Piranha2004.

From what I understand, you accessed into the Raspberry Pi with SSH ?
From a Windows PC ?

Yes, i mean the small font size that is there now.
OK, thank you.

I also use hidden shelves when they are untargeted with as wallpaper, random fanarts.
I noticed for example when switching from the movie menu (random fanarts) to the video menu (fixed background), the hidden shelf of movies is displayed for about 1/4 second.
It does it on my Nvidia Shield TV and my Raspberry Pi 3 with LibreELEC.
I do not know if I'm clear but is it possible to have a more fluid menu change without having this shelf display for 1/4 of a second ?     

@Cyberdom , thank you.

I am not able to replicate this in my test machines (I only have Windows).  Could you please make a video of the issue, put it up in a cloud drive or file sharing site and post the link to it here or PM me the link? Thank you.

Regards,

Bart    

It is done. I sent you the video in PM. 

@Cyberdom , thanks for the video.  I can see the issue, but I have no idea as to why this is happening.  I will research more.

Regards,

Bart

[Cyberdom]

Thank you @bsoriano.

[edjalmo]

Just a little problem I noticed in background name in top bar position. When something is playing in background the name of movie/music is in the same position, messing up with.

[Cyberdom]

Indeed, I also noticed that.
It would be nice when something is playing in the background, for example while listening to a song, that the title of the song replaces the title of the background image.

something else, with the Tvheaend HTSP Client add-on, I use 2 shelves. One for the latest TV channels watched and another for TV recordings. I noticed that when I erase a TV recording from the TV recordings shelf, the shelf of the most recently viewed TV channels no longer appears. I have to restart Kodi so that this shelf is displayed again.
By displaying 2 shelves together, this problem seems to be solved.

[bsoriano]

Just a little problem I noticed in background name in top bar position. When something is playing in background the name of movie/music is in the same position, messing up with.

@edjalmo , thanks for the info.  I will ensure that the fanart title does not display if something is playing.

Regards,

Bart

[bsoriano]

Indeed, I also noticed that.
It would be nice when something is playing in the background, for example while listening to a song, that the title of the song replaces the title of the background image.

something else, with the Tvheaend HTSP Client add-on, I use 2 shelves. One for the latest TV channels watched and another for TV recordings. I noticed that when I erase a TV recording from the TV recordings shelf, the shelf of the most recently viewed TV channels no longer appears. I have to restart Kodi so that this shelf is displayed again.
By displaying 2 shelves together, this problem seems to be solved.

@Cyberdom , thanks for the feedback.  Unfortunately, I have no way of replicating the issue you mention, as I do not have a PVR client that can do recordings.  Could you please post the link here to a debug log of when the issue happens? You can follow the instructions here: https://kodi.wiki/view/Log_file/Easy.  That way I can check to see if there is anything particular or if there is any error when the issue happens.  Thanks!

Regards,

Bart

[bsoriano]

@edjalmo , @Cyberdom , I have added the option to display the fanart title in the Top Bar or in a frame below.  In Amber Settings, Backgrounds there is a new option "Place Background Name in Top Bar".  Set this to Yes for the title to appear in the Top Bar.  The changes are only in the Leia branch of the skin's GitHub repo.  I will not put in the Amber repo until the feature is finalized.  Please download from Git, test, and provide me with your feedback.  Thanks.

@edjalmo , I tried a lot to get the button to have the background image be dynamic according to the width of the title, but I could not get this to look all right; longer names would always stretch beyond the background image.  Thus, I used a fixed width background image, that I know does not look the best.  The color of the image and of the text might not be what you had envisioned, and the size and position either.  All of those can be changed, feel free to provide your suggestions (if possible, send me specific colors in Kodi format, sizes and positions). 

Just so that you are aware, I did not find how to change make the font bold if the button is focused vs. not focused, or how to change the font size when the button is focused vs. not focused.  My compromise was to make the button label color the highlight color when the button is focused.

Regards,

Bart

[bsoriano]

Well done on all the work you have done Bart. You really have done an excellent job on this skin. Kudos!

I see they just recently merged your PR into leia too. Hopefully it shows up in the official repo today.
 

Jump to letter in media views (useful for large collections)

This would be a real lifesaver. With over 3k movies, it's a pain when I'm looking at the entire list to get from G to S. A skiplist of letters (perhaps to the right of the current skiplist) would be fantastic.

Eg. movie highlighted -> press right -> skiplist highlighted -> press right -> letter skiplist highlighted on the current letter.

It could also work on the left of the movie list so I can go right to page up/page down quickly or left to jump by letter.

I'm thinking particularly of list/lowlist views but I guess it works for all views.

Thanks very much!
Adam.   

@spudstuff , I am working on this It might not be exactly as you have described, but pretty close.  Thanks for your response.

Regards,

Bart  

@spudstuff , could you please try the latest from Git (not in the Amber repo or Kodi repo yet)?.  It is only working right now for videos, for the list views (List, Low List, Big List and Tall List).  When the sort order is appropriate (Title, Name), and you press Right from a list item, you will see the alphabet strip.  If you press Right from the alphabet strip, you go to the scrollbar.  I can change the order (first scrollbar, then alphabet), but it seemed more intuitive to me like I have it now.  There is no option to enable/disable the alphabet strip right now.

Please test and let me know what you think.  Thanks.

Regards,

Bart