Skin plugin and wishlist

[kayak4ever]

I really like the community skin and have just got it working again after a hiatus for the PVRX2 upgrade!

One installation note for others, like me, who don't read as carefully as we should. If you don't quit gb-pvr before installing the skin plugin (needed if you want to change the community skin look), the config default will be set to nothing and you won't be able to see GB-pvr on your screen until you reselect a default skin the config panel.

It took a while but I found the instruction in the skin plugin for where to put your own pictures if you want to use them as the background, (and now that I found it, it seems like the most logical place to put it!). gbpvr\Plugins\SkinPlugin\Resources\Backgrounds\My Backgrounds\

I also tried to be adventurous and modify a menu type. I like the "off left side" look (because I am using a background picture) but I really like the text in Sassari that says "Welcome to GB-PVR". I opened the Sassari xml file and copied the text that looked like to created the welcome message and then copied it into the off left side menu and then saved it in a new subfolder of menu called "my custom design". I also copied the thumbs.db over from off left side menu because I didn't know how to create a thumbs.db file. The modification didn't work. Is there something obvious I didn't do? yes, I fogot to save the file!


Suggestions:
1. For some of the skin items, such as background, there are a lot of choices and as you scroll through them, you may find that you really like one but want to see the other choices before making a decision. It would be nice if you could go directly to a choice by pressing its number with the keypad. i.e., if you are at image 94 and decide you want to go back to 23, press 23 on the key pad and enter and then you will be at image 23. It isn't that hard to scroll through the images but if it is easy to do, it would be a nice feature.

2. In the skin plugin, the instruction tells you how to save your selections but not how to cancel them. I suggest that the instruction "Press play...restart GB-PVR" be modified to add "or press Back\Exit to cancel changes". While I did figure it out on my own, it would make the instruction complete.

[kayak4ever]

I have been able to add the text I want "welcome to GB-pvr", but the text is in white which is hard to see. I will work on finding out where to find the named colours and where the submenu is to create your own font colours.

[Hairy]

Try the attached xml below. I think your edit is just missing the specified <textstyles>, but I'm no expert by any means so back up what you have . Make sure to re-select the menu style in the skin plugin to copy it over into the community skin skin folder.

Good luck

[Hairy]

My apologies, my Internet connection has been acting up all day and I didn't see that you had sorted it before I posted :o.

I will work on finding out where to find the named colours and where the submenu is to create your own font colours.

You could try looking in which ever basekin.xml you are using (in the same resource folder) and alter the "<NamedColor name="ScreenName" color="White" />" I think.

[Fatman_do]

The baseskin.xml file of each theme has a named colors section which defines the colors the theme uses.

[Fatman_do]

I really should redo one of my tutorials to be related to the community skin.

This PDF file explains things mostly related to the Old GUI version., the main concepts and explainations still apply.

[kayak4ever]

When I said I had fixed my problem, I still hadn't changed the font size or moved the text and what you did was perfect. I realize that this isn't a forum to learn how to program in xml and I felt a bit guilty for asking for help since I have never programmed in xml before. On the other hand, I have learned so much about computers in my desire to have the best pvr ever!

To Fatman_do, I don't think it is expected that the tutorial needs to be written for me, the lowest common denominator. That being said, the community skin and skin plugin have allowed me to develop my computer knowledge in ways that I didn't think possible. For that alone, I thank you (as well as for a nice looking screen).

To explore the baseline skin font concept further, based on the above, it seems that the initial theme will set the available colours. Thus if the there is a colour that is only available in one theme, say Sassari, but you like most of another, say Reflect it seems like you should choose Sassari and then modify it to look like Reflect. As it is, the only colour I still want to change is the title of each recording listed in the submenu "recordings". It is currently a pale green and I would like it to be bright yellow so I can read it more easily. However based on the previous postings, I think I will be able to do it myself.

[Fatman_do]

The tutorial wouldn't be just for you, and it would explain skinning 101.

That said, you could in any plugin or menu skin.xml create a new textstyle like:

Code:

    <TextStyles>
<TextStyle name="Welcome1" color="Yellow" typeFace="Arial" size="13" style="bold"/>
<TextStyle name="Welcome2" color="Yellow" typeFace="Arial" size="15" style="bold"/>
    </TextStyles>

and then when you draw the text, use those styles

Code:

<DrawText text="Welcome" loc="0,10" size="100,63" textStyle="Welcome1" align="right" />
<DrawText text="To GB-PVR" loc="0,65" size="90,35" textStyle="Welcome2" align="right" />

You can use the same concept in the recordings screen.

Most of the time, the accent color is the NamedColor called "Header". You change that in the baseskin.xml and it will effect most screens.

[Hairy]

I realize that this isn't a forum to learn how to program in xml and I felt a bit guilty for asking for help since I have never programmed in xml before.

I'm in the same situation, I have ZERO programming experience. I'm just trying to help out when I think I can, but you know what they say " A little knowledge is a dangerous thing" so I'm trying to be careful.

I few things I learned:

Download Notepad++ it's really useful (and free).
Make a copy of the file you're gonna edit, so you can alway start fresh (just in case).
As far as I know the formatting used isn't actually standard XML, it's specific to GBPVR (so as it turns out this is the perfect forum to learn ).
Get stuck in, it's one of the many fantastic things about GBPVR you can really put your own stamp on it .

Thus if the there is a colour that is only available in one theme, say Sassari, but you like most of another, say Reflect it seems like you should choose Sassari and then modify it to look like Reflect.

I'd try it the other way around, if there is an over all look that you like but prefer elements of another then load both xml's and see what's different, then try changing the relevant areas in the one that you prefer.

Best of luck and stick with it.

[Hairy]

" A little knowledge is a dangerous thing"

Ha ha see what I mean , just go here http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php?t=33070. Fatman_do can explain it way better than I could dream of.