2011-09-15, 20:40
Yea, the Rules window is a pain in the ass. It's a giant product of limitations to scripting in XBMC.
A list control for each individual set (150 and 160, 151 and 161, etc)? Can you give me an example of what that would look like?
I completely agree...I'm not a big fan of my solution. XBMC doesn't give the script the ability to add content to a spin control, though...scripts have access to only a subset of the controls available to a skin. When a skin uses those controls, it's always XBMC C++ code that populates them.
I'm not sure what you mean by this. You mean that you have to press escape to bring up the save dialog instead of having buttons? I didn't put in buttons to simplify both the look of the window as well as the coding required. The biggest issue was that I wanted to be able to have more than 4 options for a rule, meaning the rules had to scroll, and if I did that then it would seem weird to have to scroll through all of the rules or options to get to the buttons just to close the window.
They are meant to represent individual days. Sunday was a tough one since there isn't a single unique letter that is ever used to represent it, so I picked 'u'. If a user types any of those letters, or presses enter to bring up the keyboard and types those letters, they will populate the box. In terms of the scheduling rule, it means that a show will only be scheduled on those days of the week.
You're right, it's neither user friendly nor intuitive. I struggled with this since there isn't a simple control that would really do the trick, and I need people that only have access to a couple of keys (enter, escape, arrows) to be able to fill it in, meaning the on screen keyboard. If you have a suggestion, I'd love to have another opinion how to do it.
Not sure what you mean.
Certainly true. One of the big reasons to put in the rules was that, in order to add a new rule, I would just have to write the code. A user would be able to use it without any changes to any skins. Since there are several XBMC skins that include PseudoTV skins as well, I really have to avoid modifying existing files since I would be preventing existing users from using new features. This is the reason there is a new window for rules, so that an existing skin has to change only once. From there I can add rules all I want and don't have to worry about whether existing skins will work or not.
Another reason that these are rules and not just options is because if I start adding random options to each channel type, then it will get cluttered very quickly. One of the biggest complaints I have against TV Time is that it clutters the options and makes even a simple setup seem complicated. I didn't want to do that. Even the rules window itself was designed to allow for flexibility while not overwhelming the user with options all at once.
I'm certainly willing to work with you to improve this window, though...I'd love any suggestions, just know that this thing has a large set of restrictions in order for it to do what I need for it to do.
Quote:I would have loved a list control for Controls(150-164) so that I could have put both labels on the same line and still use the focustexture.
A list control for each individual set (150 and 160, 151 and 161, etc)? Can you give me an example of what that would look like?
Quote:Control 102 was another problem control. I think a spin control would have been a better fit for this instead of a button.
I completely agree...I'm not a big fan of my solution. XBMC doesn't give the script the ability to add content to a spin control, though...scripts have access to only a subset of the controls available to a skin. When a skin uses those controls, it's always XBMC C++ code that populates them.
Quote:Having to go back to Control(130) and click to exit the window
I'm not sure what you mean by this. You mean that you have to press escape to bring up the save dialog instead of having buttons? I didn't put in buttons to simplify both the look of the window as well as the coding required. The biggest issue was that I wanted to be able to have more than 4 options for a rule, meaning the rules had to scroll, and if I did that then it would seem weird to have to scroll through all of the rules or options to get to the buttons just to close the window.
Quote: Days of the week (umtwhfs) doesn't seem to do anything
They are meant to represent individual days. Sunday was a tough one since there isn't a single unique letter that is ever used to represent it, so I picked 'u'. If a user types any of those letters, or presses enter to bring up the keyboard and types those letters, they will populate the box. In terms of the scheduling rule, it means that a show will only be scheduled on those days of the week.
You're right, it's neither user friendly nor intuitive. I struggled with this since there isn't a simple control that would really do the trick, and I need people that only have access to a couple of keys (enter, escape, arrows) to be able to fill it in, meaning the on screen keyboard. If you have a suggestion, I'd love to have another opinion how to do it.
Quote:What is the reasoning behind having a separate rule and window for each available option?
Not sure what you mean.
Quote:Three options could easily be radio button / toggle controls
Certainly true. One of the big reasons to put in the rules was that, in order to add a new rule, I would just have to write the code. A user would be able to use it without any changes to any skins. Since there are several XBMC skins that include PseudoTV skins as well, I really have to avoid modifying existing files since I would be preventing existing users from using new features. This is the reason there is a new window for rules, so that an existing skin has to change only once. From there I can add rules all I want and don't have to worry about whether existing skins will work or not.
Another reason that these are rules and not just options is because if I start adding random options to each channel type, then it will get cluttered very quickly. One of the biggest complaints I have against TV Time is that it clutters the options and makes even a simple setup seem complicated. I didn't want to do that. Even the rules window itself was designed to allow for flexibility while not overwhelming the user with options all at once.
I'm certainly willing to work with you to improve this window, though...I'd love any suggestions, just know that this thing has a large set of restrictions in order for it to do what I need for it to do.