Next Recording Panel disappearance

[groover km]

I've been playing with the Media Experience skin (which I love; good job Reven, and I hope you don't mind), adjusting colours to make it easier to read on my mvp, etc, and I added the 'next recording' panel in the bottom left corner of the screen in a slightly smaller font.

Everything worked fine for a couple of weeks, until I added a sub-menu "My TV" (containing live tv, tv guide, recordings, etc), and now the 'next recording' panel no longer appears.

The 'clock' panel still appears, I've checked (and rechecked) that the special element in the main menu skin.xml is set to display, and I've even checked I have recordings scheduled in case it doesn't show if nothing is in the list. I can't figure it out...

Anyone got any tips or ideas?

[groover km]

A little more info -

3/26/2005 5:55:52 AM.203 ERROR [2] Unable to find node: /settings/SpecialElements/SpecialElement[@name="MenuType"]
3/26/2005 5:55:52 AM.203 VERBOSE [2] Loading main menu
3/26/2005 5:55:52 AM.203 VERBOSE [2] - Adding sub menu: My TV
3/26/2005 5:55:52 AM.203 ERROR [2] Unable to find node: /settings/SpecialElements/SpecialElement[@name="MenuType"]
3/26/2005 5:55:52 AM.203 VERBOSE [2] - Loading menu: My TV
3/26/2005 5:55:52 AM.203 VERBOSE [2] - Adding task: Live TV
3/26/2005 5:55:52 AM.203 VERBOSE [2] - Adding task: TV Guide
3/26/2005 5:55:52 AM.203 VERBOSE [2] - Adding task: Recordings
3/26/2005 5:55:52 AM.203 VERBOSE [2] - Adding task: Search Guide
3/26/2005 5:55:52 AM.203 VERBOSE [2] - Adding task: Fast Find
3/26/2005 5:55:52 AM.203 VERBOSE [2] ReturnToMainMenuTask created
3/26/2005 5:55:52 AM.203 VERBOSE [2] - Adding task: My Videos
3/26/2005 5:55:52 AM.203 VERBOSE [2] - Adding task: My Pictures
3/26/2005 5:55:52 AM.203 VERBOSE [2] - Adding task: My Music
3/26/2005 5:55:52 AM.203 VERBOSE [2] - Adding task: Weather
3/26/2005 5:55:52 AM.203 VERBOSE [2] - Adding task: Jukebox


I see the two errors, but don't know how to fix them...

[groover km]

Hate to post again, but I removed the submenu and now the special elements are back as they should be; so it's something to do with the submenu...

Any ideas? Anyone?

[reboot]

Is one component overlapping another? Check your sizes and placements.

[groover km]

They aren't overlapping as I moved them and they function fine when not in submenus - however, playing around last night I tried adding a submenu ('Stuff') that contained news feeds, comics, theater, and that worked fine with the special elements displayed on the main menu. My thought (which I will try tonight) is that the 'My Music' and *possibly* 'Recordings' can't be nested in relation to the mainmenu. I'll post here what I find out.

[groover km]

Don't you just hate it when that happens..?

I've fixed the problem - but I'm not sure how. I've now got the special elements for nextrecording and musicpanel displaying on the main menu using the Media Experience skin, with a "My TV" submenu how I wanted.

(I think it was to do with the mvpsvc running but that's for another post :p )

Incidentally, if you want to display the album art with the Musicpanel, there is a correction necessary to the panel skin.xml:

<settings>
<!-- text style -->
<TextStyles>
<TextStyle name="Display" color="White" typeFace="Tahoma" size="12" style="bold"/>
</TextStyles>
<!-- Composite Images -->
<CompositeImages>
<CompositeImage name="Playing" size="597,90">
<DrawImage filename="music-play.png" loc="200,0" size="397,42" />
<DrawText text="@ArtistSong" loc="211,10" size="280,24" textStyle="Display" align="left"/>
<!--<DrawText text="@Artist" loc="10,8" size="280,24" textStyle="Display" align="left"/>-->
<!--<DrawText text="@Song" loc="10,8" size="280,24" textStyle="Display" align="left"/>-->
<!--<DrawText text="@Album" loc="10,8" size="280,24" textStyle="Display" align="left"/>-->
<DrawImage filename="@AlbumArt" loc="0,0" size="90,90" />
<DrawText text="@Time" loc="530,8" size="55,24" textStyle="Display" align="center"/>
</CompositeImage>

<CompositeImage name="Paused" size="597,90">
<DrawImage filename="music-pause.png" loc="200,0" size="397,42" />
<DrawText text="@ArtistSong" loc="211,10" size="280,24" textStyle="Display" align="left"/>
<DrawImage filename="@AlbumArt" loc="0,0" size="90,90" />
<DrawText text="@Time" loc="530,8" size="55,24" textStyle="Display" align="center"/>
</CompositeImage>

<!-- Used when there is no album art image found, just place the default album image in the same dir as this musicpanel.xml file-->
<CompositeImage name="DefaultAlbumArt" size="90,90">
<DrawImage filename="music.png" loc="0,0" size="90,90" />
</CompositeImage>

<!-- Empty is used when there is no music playback -->
<CompositeImage name="Empty" size="597,90">
<DrawRoundedRect loc="0,0" size="20,20" radius="5" borderWidth="0" borderColor="Transparent" fillColor="Transparent"/>
</CompositeImage>
</CompositeImages>
<!-- special elements -->
<SpecialElements>
<SpecialElement name="MusicPanel" size="597,90"/>
</SpecialElements>
</settings>



... and to the mainmenu skin.xml -

<SpecialElement name="Panel" panelName="MusicPanel" visible="true" transparency="1" loc="50,20" size="597,90"/>


This will leave the music panel in the original position, but show the album art in the top left (as shown in attached screenshot); I also moved and resized the nextrecording panel so they no longer overlapped.

Thanks to Reven for a skin that I like so much I want to tinker with it.