[ronie]

Hi.
There is an option to show the filename or parent folder name when displaying the images for the screensaver. As the fanart is stored within a FANART folder within the individual movies folders and the actual filenames are just keys etc, it is not possible to actually show the name of the movie they represent. I often see screenshots/fanart of a movie when the screensaver is active but do not know what film it is etc and no way of finding out. Is it possible to have the name of the parents parent directory name instead to allow the movie folder name to display etc? (would that be a 'grandparent' folder? ;-))
Thanks.

it will work like that if you set 'source of slideshow images' to 'video fanart'
and set 'display image name' to 'use filename'.
but that will only show the default fanart image for each movie.

i assume your FANART folder is some kind of extrafanart thingy?
if the name of that folder is actually 'extrafanart', i might be able to add some support for it.

[DrJogalog]

Yeah, its Extrafanart. I think I used a plugin at some point to download them automatically.
The folder is named 'Extrafanart' and they are found in most individual movie directories. They contain .jpg files with what seems like some form of Guid filename.
Thanks!

[DrJogalog]

Ok, thanks ronie but I don't think this going to work. I had a further look at the way the screensaver works and as you suggested, using the FANART option and the source and SHOW FILENAME, it does indeed show the movie name of the image displayed (not sure how but it must cross reference some table or something). I believe these images come from a single directory inthe USERDATA folder. This all works fine and thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

However, the EXTRAFANART plugin downloads and stores fanart in individual EXTRAFANART directories within the individual movie folders of the source paths. Unless the screensaver plugin could have multiple folders selected as a source for images AND have them work the filenames out in a different method for each, this is not going to be possible. It seems that the EXTRAFANART that the plugin downloads doesn't get used for anything then unless I suppose you manually view them via another option etc. I suppose thats the thing with opensource software. Everyone can code what they like and it doesn't necessarily have to interact with everything else.

Thanks for all the effort put into this software already!

[DrJogalog]

Forget all that $*** i've wrote above. I think it is all working, showing both FANART and EXTRAFANART as well as showing the titles now too. Thanks again ronie!

[keencookie]

guess i don't understand.. why don't you just select the xbmc folder then?

What I mean is that because I am unable to exclude directories, I am forced to maintain 2 picture folders. I sort all my personal photos by event and locations, etc. Some events (like that crazy new years party? ) I don't want showing up in my slideshow screensaver. So I have to pull it out and move it to another photo folder, but then I have my photos spread apart instead of together. It'd be easier/smart IMHO to be able to do it how I do using advancedsettings.xml:

<pictureexcludes>
<regexp>#recycle</regexp>
<regexp>crazy new years</regexp>
<regexp>my stupid exgirlfriend</regexp>
</pictureexcludes>

It works perfectly with the photo slideshow function of XBMC, but does not work with the slideshow screensaver for some reason. This way I can keep my files how I like them, but not have everyone see everything.
I have been trying to figure this out for a really long time, and have come across numerous requests for people asking how to do this same thing. I'm just persistent!

Ronie, if this can be implemented somehow... you get mega

If there is some way I could help, I would be glad to. I'm very new to this XBMC thing though.

Also, a way to possibly pause/go back? Sometimes we see a photo come up and we want to see it again. This happens when we let the TV sit too long and get mesmerized on the screensaver.
it's a screensaver... and screensavers usually exit as soon as you press a key or move your mouse. ;-)

Sure, and I totally get your point. Simply saying if one were able to hit PGDN to scroll back or something, it would be a nice addition. As I said, we see one of our thousands of photos and want to look at it again briefly.

[ronie]

Ronie, if this can be implemented somehow...

i'm not sure to be honest.

if there's a wide demand for it from a large group of users, sure then i'll add it.
if not, then i'll prefer not to clutter the code with yet another option/setting/feature that hardly anybody uses.

[DrJogalog]

Mr Ronie.
Why do I tend to see the same fanart over and over yet other pictures are shown very rarely or even not at all (although this would be hard to determine)? If the screensaver is on (set to use fanart), I tend to see the x amount of screenshots I have seen many times before. I probably have in excess of 4000 fanart jpegs yet I will the same image 3x in the space of 30mins as an example. Slideshow timer set to 3 seconds.

Is there a potential issue with algorithm used for randomising the sequence or do you have any suggestion how to debug?

Thanks again!

[J_K_M_A_N]

I had always hoped for some kind of database that would keep track of images displayed and only display each one once until all items have been displayed. Probably not the easiest to program though. I only know of one plugin that keeps a database of images. Not sure how hard it would be to use or maybe copy part of that. I still wait in hopes of someone smarter than myself to want the same thing and program it.

J_K_M_A_N

[ronie]

Why do I tend to see the same fanart over and over yet other pictures are shown very rarely or even not at all (although this would be hard to determine)? If the screensaver is on (set to use fanart), I tend to see the x amount of screenshots I have seen many times before. I probably have in excess of 4000 fanart jpegs yet I will the same image 3x in the space of 30mins as an example. Slideshow timer set to 3 seconds.

Is there a potential issue with algorithm used for randomising the sequence or do you have any suggestion how to debug?

Thanks again!

I had always hoped for some kind of database that would keep track of images displayed and only display each one once until all items have been displayed.

that's odd...
the screensaver should display every image once before it loops to the first image again.

please provide a Debug Log and i'll have a look.
(just enable debug logging in xbmc and let the screensaver run for a few seconds)

[J_K_M_A_N]

Sorry. I'm sure it does if you don't stop it. I meant, if you stop and come back later, we end up seeing the same ones from time to time. I would love to have the list updated with the ones that have been displayed when you exit and then when it starts up again, have it randomize only the the items it has not displayed yet (maybe using a "displayed" flag). Then when you exit, it updates the list of the ones it displayed THAT session and that keeps going until you run out. Then clear the "displayed" flag of all photos and start all over with a new random list.

I don't recall seeing duplicates in the same session. I should have been more clear.

J_K_M_A_N

[CaptainKen]

guess i don't understand.. why don't you just select the xbmc folder then?

What I mean is that because I am unable to exclude directories, I am forced to maintain 2 picture folders. I sort all my personal photos by event and locations, etc. Some events (like that crazy new years party? ) I don't want showing up in my slideshow screensaver. So I have to pull it out and move it to another photo folder, but then I have my photos spread apart instead of together. It'd be easier/smart IMHO to be able to do it how I do using advancedsettings.xml:

<pictureexcludes>
<regexp>#recycle</regexp>
<regexp>crazy new years</regexp>
<regexp>my stupid exgirlfriend</regexp>
</pictureexcludes>

+1

[ajerazzor]

im still getting some photos not showing up the right way - like the EXIF data isnt being read on some- these are from an iphone - most are right....

[lewxmbc]

also,

it would be great to use an images folder within my local dropbox folder (and be able to add images once the screensaver has kicked in):

is there any way of making this screensaver slideshow check for new images during a slideshow?

reason i ask is because i want to set up my dads xbmc screensaver to use his local dropbox folder. that way i can send any photo up to dropbox at anytime, and it will sync with his computers local dropbox folder and therefore the new photo will be included in his screensaver!

only problem is the last step. the screensaver doesnt check for new images whilst is running, it seems to only check for new images after its been stopped and started again.

i think being able to add photo's to yours or your relatives xbmc screensaver would be a really popular feature. i could be at the zoo and snap a great picture of my kids and it would appear on their grandparents tv screen. perhaps the simplest way would be to add a tick box in the settings that makes the screensaver restart itself every 5 minutes or so?

Here's the fix or update to the code that will do what you are asking for:

For those looking for an auto-refresh or auto-update solution for the slideshow there is a very easy (although I'm sure it will make programmers cringe) solution.

My wife wanted to have a photo booth at a house party with the new pictures automatically added to the slideshow as they were taken. Photos taken with the DSLR get saved via wifi directly to the computer running xbmc in the folder the slideshow is using.

In the gui.py file, at the end of the for loop in the _start_show function I added items = self._get_items()

So after each slideshow run it will create the list of images again, adding in any new photos that may have been taken.

I then realized lots of pictures may get taken so it could take a while for the new ones to show up in the slideshow. So I added a bit before the for loop to only use the last 10 items in the image list:

Code:

if len(items) > 10:
     newitems = items[-10:]
else:
     newitems = items
for img in newitems:.....

Dirty hack but it got the job done. Make sure cache and random are off.

the qui.py script is in /storage/.xbmc/addons/screensaver.xbmc.slideshow/resources/lib

look for the For loop as suggested and put the code right after the "break"

[DrJogalog]

that's odd...
the screensaver should display every image once before it loops to the first image again.

please provide a debug log and i'll have a look.
(just enable debug logging in xbmc and let the screensaver run for a few seconds)

I don't recall seeing duplicates in the same session. I should have been more clear.

J_K_M_A_N

Maybe thats it. I may not see them in the same session but when it does start the screensaver seems to show the same jpegs it has shown on sessions run just prior etc.

I'll try a post a debug log with this issue (somehow I missed these updates to the thread).

[newphreak]

Any idea why this takes over a good minute to initiate in the current mainline?
http://xbmclogs.com/show.php?id=109163
Sorry for the messy log, i can try to recreate the hang later without updating library etc hehe
Edit: seems like a hickup under stress.