[ronie]

hi skilled skinners,

i'm currently working on reducing the amount of xml files skinners have to code.

the (obvious) goal is to reduce the amount of work you have to do when creating a skin,
while still allowing you to customize each dialog/window should you wish to do so.

at this point these PR's have been submitted to kodi:


https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/pull/8856
merges all these xml files into DialogSettings.xml:

• DialogAudioDSPSettings.xml
  
• DialogContentSettings.xml
  
• DialogPeripheralSettings.xml
  
• DialogPVRTimerSettings.xml
  
• LockSettings.xml
  
• ProfileSettings.xml
  
• VideoOSDSettings.xml
  

https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/pull/8865
merges these xml files into DialogConfirm.xml:

• DialogOK.xml
  
• DialogProgress.xml
  
• DialogYesNo.xml
  

https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/pull/8875
merges these xml files into DialogVolumeBar.xml:

• DialogMuteBug.xml
  
• DialogVolumeBar.xml
  

https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/pull/8892
merges these xml files into DialogMusicInfo.xml:

• DialogAlbumInfo.xml
  
• DialogSongInfo.xml
  

https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/pull/8910
merges these xml files into MyPlaylist.xml:

• MyMusicPlaylist.xml
  
• MyVideoPlaylist.xml
  

while all the xml files would be removed, their window names are not (with the exception of mutebug).
this will still give you the opportunity the define multiple layouts per xml based on a Window.IsVisible() condition, in case you want to.
(as for the mutebug exception, you can use Player.Muted as a condition)


i'm interested in your feedback... if you have any thoughts to share, have questions, see any problems, please let me know.
of course, i also like to hear if you have any suggestions for other xml files that could be merged.

[braz]

Just read through the PR comments, sounds like a great idea to me!

Is it possible for audio DSP addons to use the built-in Kodi dialogs for their settings? See my post in the audio DSP thread: http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=...pid2209987

[butchabay]

This would be fantastic. We all know how annoying dialogs can be

Thanx

[Rantanplan-1]

I would like to keep "DialogSongInfo.xml" as a separate Dialog for the following Reasons:

- There are Much less Infos available for Songs than for Albums (Album description for example to name one.) wich often results in a smaler Dialog merge these two together would need more Skinning effort if a Skinner would like to keep the size different.

- 2nd but i guess more Important:
Im affright it wont be possible animore to switch from the SongInfoDialog to the AlbumInfoDialog if these two get merged. So i guess it would result in a loss of Functionality, which, if it is the case, would be a to high price imho.


(just my 2cnts)

Regards.

[Hitcher]

There are Much less Infos available for Songs than for Albums (Album description for example to name one.) wich often results in a smaler Dialog merge these two together would need more Skinning effort if a Skinner would like to keep the size different.

As of Krypton there will be a whole lot more info available for songs (see #8015) and it's not really any more work as you can simply have both layouts inside separate groups with visible conditions based on the old window name, or use conditional includes to load them.

2nd but i guess more Important:
Im affright it wont be possible animore to switch from the SongInfoDialog to the AlbumInfoDialog if these two get merged. So i guess it would result in a loss of Functionality, which, if it is the case, would be a to high price imho.

I haven't tested this yet but I'm pretty sure you'll be able open the album dialog from the song one - in the same way you can currently open the same DialogAlbumInfo when using it for artist info, then select an album from the Discography which will then open the same DialogAlbumInfo but for the album.

[Hitcher]

14 dialogs down to 4 is pretty awesome work ronie.

Much appreciated.

[Rantanplan-1]

I haven't tested this yet but I'm pretty sure you'll be able open the album dialog from the song one - in the same way you can currently open the same DialogAlbumInfo when using it for artist info, then select an album from the Discography which will then open the same DialogAlbumInfo but for the album.

O.K. then all is fine..

(-> never mentioned!)

[Hitcher]

There should be some Windows test builds available here in a few hours for these PRs.

For now here's DialogSettings.xml.

[Jayz2K]

Excellent Ronie ! This is really going to save coding time.

In the same logic but not sure that's possible in all cases, maybe MyXXXNav.xml's could also be merged using a special <content> attribute and coding Container.Content conditions ? Ex :

<content type="library">Movies</content>

<visible>Container.Content(Movies)</content>

Just an idea

[ronie]

I haven't tested this yet but I'm pretty sure you'll be able open the album dialog from the song one - in the same way you can currently open the same DialogAlbumInfo when using it for artist info, then select an album from the Discography which will then open the same DialogAlbumInfo but for the album.

O.K. then all is fine..

(-> never mentioned!)

yup, nothing has changed in this regard.
everything will still function like it used to.

[ronie]

Excellent Ronie ! This is really going to save coding time.

In the same logic but not sure that's possible in all cases, maybe MyXXXNav.xml's could also be merged using a special <content> attribute and coding Container.Content conditions ? Ex :

<content type="library">Movies</content>

<visible>Container.Content(Movies)</content>

Just an idea

yeah it's something worth exploring.
perhaps is should start with checking if it's possible to merge all the MyPVR**.xml files.

[ronie]

Is it possible for audio DSP addons to use the built-in Kodi dialogs for their settings? See my post in the audio DSP thread: http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=...pid2209987

i'm afraid i have no idea if that would be possible.

[sualfred]

yeah it's something worth exploring.
perhaps is should start with checking if it's possible to merge all the MyPVR**.xml files.

iirc, does this mean to return to pre-Helix? Where it was just a MyPVR.xml with different view types? (I hope I got it wrong).
I welcome merging similar dialogs such as YesNo or OK dialog, but to keep a code clean and readable I def. prefer single xml's for that kind of windows.

[thedeadman]

14 dialogs down to 4 is pretty awesome work ronie. Big Grin

Much appreciated.

I second that.

In a similar vein, there are several notification dialogs ATM (dialogKaiToast, DialogExtendedProgressBar, DialogProgress). Might they also be collapsed into a single xml, e.g. dialogUserNotification.xml?

[Gade]

I welcome merging similar dialogs such as YesNo or OK dialog, but to keep a code clean and readable I def. prefer single xml's for that kind of windows.

I very much agree with this.

In a similar vein, there are several notification dialogs ATM (dialogKaiToast, DialogExtendedProgressBar, DialogProgress). Might they also be collapsed into a single xml, e.g. dialogUserNotification.xml?

It's not a good idea to merge DialogProgress into this, as it has a Cancel button.

In Rapier, DialogKaiToast and DialogExtendedProgressBar is in the top bar of the screen as notifications, but DialogProgress is a regular centered dialog.