Problems with advancedsettings.xml
#1
This question has been started within another post so I thought I would gives it its own thread in hopes of an answer.

jmarshall has been helping me last night with it, but I still can't get it to work and I assuming the man needs to sleep every once in a while.

All my VIDEO_TS Folders have Preview.jpg as the cover art sitting in the folder. By default, I guess XBMC looks for folder.jpg. Supposedly, when creating an advancedsettings.xml and placing it in user data, one can change this field to have XBMC recognize Preview.jpg. This would sure be nice so that I don't have to manually change, yet again, the names of 400+ covers. After reading the manual on advancedsettings.xml, I created an xml with the following commands:

<advancedsettings>
<dvdthumbs>
<remove>folder.jpg</remove>
<add>preview.jpg</add>
</dvdthumbs>
</advancedsettings>

I then placed the xml in the userdata folder.

It didn't do the trick. Am I missing something?

I have verified this on XBMC on my OSX iMac as well as the Apple TV.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.
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#2
preview.jpg != Preview.jpg
Always read the XBMC online-manual, FAQ and search the forum before posting.
Do not e-mail XBMC-Team members directly asking for support. Read/follow the forum rules.
For troubleshooting and bug reporting please make sure you read this first.


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#3
jmarshall Wrote:preview.jpg != Preview.jpg

Sorry for my ingnorance, but what are you saying?
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#4
It is probably case-sensitive.
Always read the XBMC online-manual, FAQ and search the forum before posting.
Do not e-mail XBMC-Team members directly asking for support. Read/follow the forum rules.
For troubleshooting and bug reporting please make sure you read this first.


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#5
This is dev speak for preview.jpg does not equal Preview.jpg Wink
Always read the XBMC online-manual, FAQ and search the forum before posting.
Do not e-mail XBMC-Team members directly asking for support. Read/follow the forum rules.
For troubleshooting and bug reporting please make sure you read this first.
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#6
sho Wrote:This is dev speak for preview.jpg does not equal Preview.jpg Wink

High guys, I will try it when I get home. However, I do know that XBMC understands both folder.jpg & Folder.jpg. I have tried it both ways with success.

However, because I have named my cover as Preview.jpg, does that mean it won't see them because of the 1 upper case "P"?

Here is a line from the manual:
NOTE: This file is CaSe SeNsItIvE and must contain the <advancedsettings> tag (see the layout section below), so make sure you use all lower-case tags or they will not be read properly by XBMC.
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#7
Still nothing works. I have tried the following with "preview.jpg" & "Preview.jpg".

Here is how my advancedsettings.xml is setup:

<advancedsettings>
<dvdthumbs>
<remove>folder.jpg</remove>
<add>preview.jpg</add>
</dvdthumbs>
</advancedsettings>

I have got the xml sitting in my userdata file.

As well, sho said:
This is dev speak for preview.jpg does not equal Preview.jpg

If that is true, why do both "folder.jpg" & "Folder.jpg" get seen in XBMC if only "folder.jpg" is the default?
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#8
Because folder/Folder is handled in the code, the advancedsetting is an exception to that and has to be handled differently. And apparently it's case sensitive.

You can always add:
<add>Preview.jpg|preview.jpg</add>
if needed

I have never played with this setting and cannot comment on how well it works, but the xml looks ok.

To determine that your advancedsettings file is being loaded at all you could insert something that is known to work, such as some of the <videolibrary> allitems options.
The correct location for it is here:
http://wiki.xbmc.org/?title=HOW-TO_Submi..._debug_log

Also a debug log *should* show if it's being loaded (a dev will have to confirm that).
Always read the XBMC online-manual, FAQ and search the forum before posting.
Do not e-mail XBMC-Team members directly asking for support. Read/follow the forum rules.
For troubleshooting and bug reporting please make sure you read this first.
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#9
I don't thing adding both "preview.jpg" & "Preview.jpg" will make any difference as I have went in and modified different cover art within my library to have either or and none of them show up.

What is strange, is that this does not work on either platform (Apple TV or Mac OS).

Is it possible that there is an error in the XBMC software itself?
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#10
sho Wrote:Because folder/Folder is handled in the code, the advancedsetting is an exception to that and has to be handled differently. And apparently it's case sensitive.

You can always add:
<add>Preview.jpg|preview.jpg</add>
if needed

I have never played with this setting and cannot comment on how well it works, but the xml looks ok.

To determine that your advancedsettings file is being loaded at all you could insert something that is known to work, such as some of the <videolibrary> allitems options.
The correct location for it is here:
http://wiki.xbmc.org/?title=HOW-TO_Submi..._debug_log

Also a debug log *should* show if it's being loaded (a dev will have to confirm that).

Being an absolute noob, could you suggest an xml for me to create that is super small and simple to test to see if it is loading?
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#11
<advancedsettings>
<videolibrary>
<allitemsonbottom>true</allitemsonbottom>
</videolibrary>
</advancedsettings>

Will put the all seasons etc item at the bottum of the listing instead of the default top.

Or if you prefer the same for music:
<advancedsettings>
<musiclibrary>
<allitemsonbottom>true</allitemsonbottom>
</musiclibrary>
</advancedsettings>
Always read the XBMC online-manual, FAQ and search the forum before posting.
Do not e-mail XBMC-Team members directly asking for support. Read/follow the forum rules.
For troubleshooting and bug reporting please make sure you read this first.
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#12
Hi sho,

I will not be able to use either of those as I only have movies.

Is there another simple one that pertains to movies that you know for a fact to work?

Thanks.
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#13
Add a CD or dummy TV show to your XBMC installation...
Please at least pretend you are trying to help yourself.

DEVS for the love of the mother of god.... please create an empty advancedsettings file in the appropriate userdata directory during install!
Always read the XBMC online-manual, FAQ and search the forum before posting.
Do not e-mail XBMC-Team members directly asking for support. Read/follow the forum rules.
For troubleshooting and bug reporting please make sure you read this first.
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#14
Thanks sho,

I just decided to rename all of my cover art. This is so most efficient way for me. I have tried to get help, and although many have tried, I am slowly getting frustrated and I would rather spend 4 hours renaming my files than feeling like an idiot asking yet another question about this topic. A lot of people on this forum think spending weeks on a supposedly simple task is efficient, I do not. I cannot tell you how many hours I have spent on some of this stuff, because, whether or not we want to be honest, a lot of the wiki documents have been created with the advanced user in mind. A lot of the documents are very uninformative to new users. I know help is the intention, but to a new user, it is simply not the case.

I do NOT understand the whole "XML" thing, so when I ask how to do something, I am asking because I truly don't get it. I am truly not wanting to waste anybody's time as I do appreciate the attempted help.

You made a comment "Please at least pretend you are trying to help yourself". I am sorry, but I take that as an insult, because, I DON'T GET THE XML THING. I am sorry for being so dense on this topic, I cannot help that. I can not create another test xml, because I do not know what the heck I would type.

Here is what I can tell you. I am using an Apple TV with the "latest" version, yes, the "latest" version of XBMC. When I try the advancedsettings.xml, it does not work. I cannot try another one, because I DON"T KNOW WHAT THE HECK TO TYPE!!! So I am sorry, I am trying to help myself, I just don't know how to proceed.

IMHO, If one of the XBMC tech guys wants to find out what is wrong with this XML (as I feel it is a fairly useful one) when using an Apple TV or a Leopard based Mac, I would urge them to try it on their machine and see for themselves. Then, they would be able to post an actual solution. For me, I am done with this issue as I wouldn't know how to proceed If I tried. However, the next user may benefit from a resolution.

I need to move on and continue hashing through this software, and try to get my system setup to my liking. Hopefully, through time and help from this forum, I will be able to sit back and actually enjoy XBMC.

Thanks for listening.
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#15
Hi tmternes,

I have to agree that finding out how to do some of the stuff is harder that we'd like it to be. I think the XML stuff only makes sense if one has a much more complete understanding of how XBMC works. I don't. But maybe one day. Just managed to change a couple of key assignments on the remote after half an hour of wrestling with it.

In the meantime - to save you 3 hours and 50 minutes...

If you run Windows, get hold of ZtreeWin - a nice little file manager application.

Use it to look across the multiple drives or folders that contain your Preview.jpg files (Atl-L, D for drive or Alt-L, B for branch). Use the S (Show-All) command to see all of the files in a single view (or G - global) if on multiple drives. Use the F (File) command to show only the Preview.jpg. Use the Ctl-T (Tag-All) command to mark all the files still visible. Then Rename Tagged files (Ctl-R) to rename all at once - type in folder.jpg - press return and wait about 10 seconds or so. Job done.

(I am sure you don't want to learn yet another application - who does - but as a fast and versatile file manager I find it an invaluable tool.)

Regards,

Les.
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