[HiroProtagonist]

It was rather disconcerting to have the Home Menu change to 'Icon' with the latest update, and lose some of the other settings, though I suppose the latter was inevitable given the switch to a different widget add-on.

One difficulty arising affects profile support. Non-master profiles were also updated, but only the Master profile is able to change the Home Menu type [selecting the field on other profiles does nothing]. Similarly only the Master profile seems to be able to change the widget settings [selecting TV shows or Movies in other profiles does nothing]. The only way I was able to get things back to some similarity of the previous settings was no make the changes in the master profile and then manually copy the settings.xml. I would be good if profiles other than the Master profile could update these items.

I have my TV Shows & Movies widgets set to 'Recent', and with TV shows at least, the result seems to be 'somewhat recent' I'm not sure exactly what criterion is being used, but certainly my most recent additions don't show up, whereas they did before the update.

Also 'Add to Home Menu' has gone from the context menu. This makes adding to the Home Menu a lot more cumbersome.

[wyrm]

It was rather disconcerting to have the Home Menu change to 'Icon' with the latest update, and lose some of the other settings, though I suppose the latter was inevitable given the switch to a different widget add-on.

@HiroProtagonist , sorry to hear upgrade experience was less than smooth, I will take a look at all of the issues you mentioned and hopefully get back to you with some solutions. I will explain the thinking behind some of the changes here before I go jump back into the code.

As you can see from this sub forum, not many people provide much in the way of feedback, so I tend to have to fly blind when making decisions on the skins direction. One of the recent decisions was what was I going to do with regard to default home screen type. Based on the small number of users I see in the forum it seemed most were using Icon home menu, thus the change. Now it would not have made much of a difference to you normally as the skin would have used your previous settings for home menu type but during the code cleanup I changed how this settings was handled. Also was not aware of profile issue as I don’t bother with profiles in my systems, so sorry about that.

As to the missing settings, really the only things that have been removed are now redundant. Because of how images are handled in Kodi there are no need for filesystem hacks to access extra fanarts as an example. Image files are now accessed via the database and so there is no performance penalty for accessing extra fanart images, so no point in giving the user option to turn them off.
 

One difficulty arising affects profile support. Non-master profiles were also updated, but only the Master profile is able to change the Home Menu type [selecting the field on other profiles does nothing]. Similarly only the Master profile seems to be able to change the widget settings [selecting TV shows or Movies in other profiles does nothing]. The only way I was able to get things back to some similarity of the previous settings was no make the changes in the master profile and then manually copy the settings.xml. I would be good if profiles other than the Master profile could update these items.

Again sorry about profiles issue but was not aware it was a problem. Really this is a Kodi issue and not a skin issue, as skin writers have no control over profiles but I believe at this point it might be solved by a settings change from your end. I will have a play from my end and advise on solutions if I find anything.
 

I have my TV Shows & Movies widgets set to 'Recent', and with TV shows at least, the result seems to be 'somewhat recent' I'm not sure exactly what criterion is being used, but certainly my most recent additions don't show up, whereas they did before the update.

Will take a look at this but from memory recent widgets are provided directly by Kodi (so really fast), maybe Kodi has changed something here.
 

Also 'Add to Home Menu' has gone from the context menu. This makes adding to the Home Menu a lot more cumbersome.

Cumbersome is counter to what the skin is all about, will see what happened here and report back. Kind of upset about this as large part of code cleanups was to make these features more discoverable, not less so. Please let me know if you find anything else of this nature as this in my opinion is a Major issue.

Will get back to you as soon as I can, 
Wyrm

[HiroProtagonist]

 

I have my TV Shows & Movies widgets set to 'Recent', and with TV shows at least, the result seems to be 'somewhat recent' I'm not sure exactly what criterion is being used, but certainly my most recent additions don't show up, whereas they did before the update.

Will take a look at this but from memory recent widgets are provided directly by Kodi (so really fast), maybe Kodi has changed something here.

My Kodi hasn't updated so I doubt it's that.

Thanks for the feedback. I look after Kodi setups for a few older people, and sudden changes like this can be quite disconcerting for them. I had a busy few days reconfiguring everyone's systems to look like they did before.

Regarding the profile issue - I've just recently started using profiles, so hadn't tried to change these sorts of things before, but as each profile keeps its own .kodi/userdata directory, I would expect that each user should be able to individually edit their skin settings. I note that it's the settings that pop up a sub-menu that don't seem to work on non-master profiles.

I could resolve this on my setup by just making the non-master profiles skin settings.xml links to the master one, but that's obviously not a solution for everyone.

[wyrm]

 

I have my TV Shows & Movies widgets set to 'Recent', and with TV shows at least, the result seems to be 'somewhat recent' I'm not sure exactly what criterion is being used, but certainly my most recent additions don't show up, whereas they did before the update.

Will take a look at this but from memory recent widgets are provided directly by Kodi (so really fast), maybe Kodi has changed something here.

My Kodi hasn't updated so I doubt it's that.

Thanks for the feedback. I look after Kodi setups for a few older people, and sudden changes like this can be quite disconcerting for them. I had a busy few days reconfiguring everyone's systems to look like they did before.

Regarding the profile issue - I've just recently started using profiles, so hadn't tried to change these sorts of things before, but as each profile keeps its own .kodi/userdata directory, I would expect that each user should be able to individually edit their skin settings. I note that it's the settings that pop up a sub-menu that don't seem to work on non-master profiles.

I could resolve this on my setup by just making the non-master profiles skin settings.xml links to the master one, but that's obviously not a solution for everyone.

@HiroProtagonist ,

have had a preliminary look at your issues. Context menu issue was a typo on my part. Hopefully you are up for editing a .xml file in the skin directory? In the skins xml directory find the file called DialogContextMenu.xml and open in a text editor. Near the bottom of the file is a line that reads


<visible>[$EXP[isContentMovies] | $EXP[isContentEpisodes] | $EXP[isContentMusicvideos] | $EXP[isContentSongs] | $EXP[isContentPlaylists] | $EXP[isContentAddons] | Window.IsVisible(videos) | Window.IsVisible(music) | Window.IsVisible(programs)] + $EXP[isParentFolder]</visible>

last part needs to change from $EXP[isParentFolder] to $EXP[isnotParentFolder] , everything else stays the same.

Sorry about that, part of the reason I am constantly asking for testers. Simple typo that would not make it past testers, but sadly easy to slip past the skin writer.

And the other part of your original post, has been looked at briefly. Not sure how you manage to get profiles even working as it just locked up when I tried to change to the other test profile I set up. Will keep looking at it when I get some time.

Will wait for any other problems to surface before begging the repo guardians to accept another update request so soon after the last one. Will keep you advised.

Wyrm

[HiroProtagonist]

have had a preliminary look at your issues. Context menu issue was a typo on my part. Hopefully you are up for editing a .xml file in the skin directory? In the skins xml directory find the file called DialogContextMenu.xml and open in a text editor. Near the bottom of the file is a line that reads


<visible>[$EXP[isContentMovies] | $EXP[isContentEpisodes] | $EXP[isContentMusicvideos] | $EXP[isContentSongs] | $EXP[isContentPlaylists] | $EXP[isContentAddons] | Window.IsVisible(videos) | Window.IsVisible(music) | Window.IsVisible(programs)] + $EXP[isParentFolder]</visible>

last part needs to change from $EXP[isParentFolder] to $EXP[isnotParentFolder] , everything else stays the same.

Sorry about that, part of the reason I am constantly asking for testers. Simple typo that would not make it past testers, but sadly easy to slip past the skin writer.

And the other part of your original post, has been looked at briefly. Not sure how you manage to get profiles even working as it just locked up when I tried to change to the other test profile I set up. Will keep looking at it when I get some time.

Will wait for any other problems to surface before begging the repo guardians to accept another update request so soon after the last one. Will keep you advised.

Wyrm

Thanks, I'll try that edit.

I did find profiles a bit of a problem first time around. One of the things that don't tell you is that a newly created profile has all add-ons disabled, that includes the skin - so first time in you'll be back at the default skin and will have to switch back to the one you want, and enable all add-on you want in that profile.

Some more observations:

The Idle widget delay also can't be changed except in the master profile.
If you go to a menu that dims the main screen [e.g. Quit menu] and then go back, the main screen stays dimmed until you go into another menu.

I think I figured out what's up with the recent TV shows/Movie display. The previous version showed recent by date, this one does that also, but doesn't show stuff with a watched status. Also the TV shows would previously show 1 poster per show, no matter if you added 1 or 10 episodes, the new version shows 1 poster per episode, so if you add an entire season, it fills up the screen area. I think the previous way was better.

Happy to help with testing if you like. I have a Kodi setup I use for development that I can load stuff onto without scaring the rest of the household.

[wyrm]

Thanks, I'll try that edit.

I did find profiles a bit of a problem first time around. One of the things that don't tell you is that a newly created profile has all add-ons disabled, that includes the skin - so first time in you'll be back at the default skin and will have to switch back to the one you want, and enable all add-on you want in that profile.

Some more observations:

The Idle widget delay also can't be changed except in the master profile.

This relates to the above comments of yours re profiles and addons. The skin makes extensive use of Emburary Skin helper script for option selection dialogs, if that is not running you will not be able to change a LOT of skin options. Still trying to get a test profile up and running without much success, what platform are you using as on my Windows 10 system it just fails to initialise Kodi and locks up?

If you go to a menu that dims the main screen [e.g. Quit menu] and then go back, the main screen stays dimmed until you go into another menu.

OK will add that to my list of things to sort out.

I think I figured out what's up with the recent TV shows/Movie display. The previous version showed recent by date, this one does that also, but doesn't show stuff with a watched status. Also the TV shows would previously show 1 poster per show, no matter if you added 1 or 10 episodes, the new version shows 1 poster per episode, so if you add an entire season, it fills up the screen area. I think the previous way was better.

Yep figured it out from my end as well. I did and still do use the filesystem calls instead of plugins for these widgets, just that I changed how I did things slightly. Before I sorted the Title list by desending date order, now I am sorting the RecentlyAdded... list randomly. In my case where I add blocks of episodes for a particular show at a time, the random RecentlyAddedEpisodes list gives me a better result. Now there are a few ways you could fix this to your liking (don't think I will change the skin on this one).
 

• Edit the EpisodesRecent include in the Includes_Shelf.xml file to read '<content target="video" sortby="dateadded" sortorder="descending" limit="12">videodb://tvshows/titles/</content>' which is the old way this was done. This is right towards the top of the Includes file so you should have no problems finding it.
  
• Use the NewTVShows widget instead. This uses the Emburary helper script, so will not be as quick as above and probably will not be quite the same.
  
• Make a favourite of how EXACTLY you want to see the listings by using sorting and filtering of one of the Kodi filesystem nodes. Then choose Favourites from the widget selection dialog from Skin settings menu and select your new favourite.
  
• Or finally, make a smart playlist that gives you a list you are after and choose Playlist from the widget selection dialog from Skin settings menu and select your new playlist.
  

The last two options are probably your best bet as widget selection has greatly expanded in this version of the skin. Now the only real limit on widget selction is your own imagination and skill.
 

Happy to help with testing if you like. I have a Kodi setup I use for development that I can load stuff onto without scaring the rest of the household.

Keep doing what you are doing here for the moment. Good to have posts in this sub forum as it show skin has not been abandoned. If I decide there are some new features I want to keep as a surprise for users, might organise alternative arrangments for you. Thanks for helping.

Wyrm

[HiroProtagonist]

More observations:

Previously the Library episode display would show the title and on the line below, the duration. Now the line below shows a decimal number - I'm not sure what this number is, but can I get the duration back somehow?

Previously, long titles would scroll horizontally, now they scroll vertically. I'm not sure this is an improvement. However this doesn't work properly in the File display. If you have a long filename without spaces in it, the name isn't wrapped, so you get a long name [truncated at the edge of the screen], a blank line underneath, and below that the file size [hidden]. Then the line scrolls vertically, so the filename becomes hidden, and you get a blank line with the file size below.

This could be fixed by allowing wrapping of filenames on something other than spaces.

[wyrm]

More observations:

Previously the Library episode display would show the title and on the line below, the duration. Now the line below shows a decimal number - I'm not sure what this number is, but can I get the duration back somehow?

Correct me if I am wrong, but you are talking about List view type here? Will take a look and see what I find.

Previously, long titles would scroll horizontally, now they scroll vertically. I'm not sure this is an improvement. However this doesn't work properly in the File display. If you have a long filename without spaces in it, the name isn't wrapped, so you get a long name [truncated at the edge of the screen], a blank line underneath, and below that the file size [hidden]. Then the line scrolls vertically, so the filename becomes hidden, and you get a blank line with the file size below.

Sorry hate scrolling text with a passion, so had not noticed this. Did change some labels into textboxes thus the different scroll direction. Will probably have to change them back and take slight performance hit on this.

This could be fixed by allowing wrapping of filenames on something other than spaces.

Once again sorry but this is controlled by Kodi, skin writers have NO contol over this at all. Given how slow anything to do with text is now, would not like to see anything else thrown into the mix.

Maybe you Could post a couple of pictures of some of the things you are seeing To give me an idea on what needs fixing.

Wyrm

[wyrm]

@HiroProtagonist ,

further to your problems with profiles, see here for background on the Kodi bug.

Wyrm

[HiroProtagonist]

@HiroProtagonist ,

further to your problems with profiles, see here for background on the Kodi bug.

OK, will just hard-link all the files together for now so that editing the master profile updates the others. Not ideal, but keeps things simple.

[HiroProtagonist]

Correct me if I am wrong, but you are talking about List view type here? Will take a look and see what I find.ry hate scrolling text with a passion, so had not noticed this. Did change some labels into textboxes thus the different scroll direction. Will probably have to change them back and take slight performance hit on this.
Once again sorry but this is controlled by Kodi, skin writers have NO contol over this at all. Given how slow anything to do with text is now, would not like to see anything else thrown into the mix.

Maybe you Could post a couple of pictures of some of the things you are seeing To give me an idea on what needs fixing.

Wyrm

Yes this is list view.

In File view a file with spaces will look like:

very long filename with spaces wraps like
this
79.9MB

Without spaces looks like:

 very-long-filename-without-spaces-wraps    <--- Truncated at edge of screen
                                                                       <--- Blank line
79.9MB

When it scrolls vertically you just see the blank line followed by the file size.
Looks weird & you never get to see the text that's truncated.

Scrolling horizontally would fix this [I hate it too, but still necessary I guess].

Will see if I can get some photos.

[wyrm]

@HiroProtagonist,

have fixed your scrolling issue. If you are conversant with Github the changes required are now available on my Github (details either in readme.md file in skins root directory or first post on stickied announcement post in this sub forum). The two files you will need to change are Includes_Variables.xml and View=Video.xml. If you are not up for that, send me a PM with your e=mail address and I will send the files to you.

Wyrm

[HiroProtagonist]

@HiroProtagonist,

have fixed your scrolling issue. If you are conversant with Github the changes required are now available on my Github (details either in readme.md file in skins root directory or first post on stickied announcement post in this sub forum). The two files you will need to change are Includes_Variables.xml and View=Video.xml. If you are not up for that, send me a PM with your e=mail address and I will send the files to you.

OK, have done that. Will have a Captain Cook when I get home.

[wyrm]

@HiroProtagonist 

Interesting turn of phrase there sport, where do you hail from?

Will take a look at the screen dimming from shutdown menu issue later tonight, that about covers everything that you have found thus far, correct?

Wyrm

[HiroProtagonist]

@HiroProtagonist 

Interesting turn of phrase there sport, where do you hail from?

Kiwi here, living the dream at level 1.

Editing DialogContextMenu.xml does the trick with "Add to Home Menu". Good to have that back.

The changes to Includes_Variables.xml and View-Video.xml were a bust though. I noticed 1) The recent movies display just shows icons rather than the usual poster display, & selecting 'TV Shows' [normally takes me to Library Titles] did nothing. Had to back out at that point due to shortage of time so didn't explore more. I can try again if you need more info [in the process of house renovation at present so my dev system isn't always accessible].

Regarding the recent display issue "Or finally, make a smart playlist that gives you a list you are after" I have no clue how to do this - never bothered with playlists before.

One other nice-to-have - is there any way to show the currently loaded profile?

BTW I'm running OSMC on a raspberry pi.