Quesitons on Information/Picture Displays for the skins...

[katleeh]

Hello all,

I'm trying to either modify one of the other skins that are already there or make my own to help catalog my anime collection. In trying to make the changes I wanted things don't seem to be going correctly so I have some questions on just what can be done with the skins and information display for the movies/series.

1) I want to display a banner for the entire series/movie at the top of the information section as well as displaying posters and screenshots/fanart in another tab, but so far I haven't been able to get a banner to display properly as it keeps shrinking in size whenever I try and use the cdscan item. So what can I do here? If i use the screenshot section, it displays a list and I want to be able to have other fanart/screenshots that won't display with the banner.

2) Is there anyway to display information about the various episodes in the main information page? Information such as file size, length, etc?

3) What properties can be set/changed in the skins for display purposes? I know its based on XML but how limiting is what can be done there?

Thanks to anyone who can provide input here.

- KatLeeH

[nostra]

A Skins manual can be found here: http://www.videodb.info/help/hlp_skins.html

Unfortunately you can't really do what you are asking for at the current skin engine stage, but it will certainly be possible in later versions (at least the fan art thing).

[katleeh]

I've looked at the skins help... its somewhat helpful but not completely. For instance, what is the relationship for the TV Series episodes between the main skin page and the episode skin pages? What data can be called there and how? I'm trying to determine how the database works in relation to the skinz and the way they display information from the database.

- KatLeeH

[rick.ca]

A skin is a skin. There is no "main" skin and "episode" skin. The same skin determines what appears in the information pane, whether the selected record is a movie, series or episode. So to answer your original questions...

• To display an image, it has to be placed in one of the existing image containers. The best choice for that is probably cdcover. That could be placed in an appropriate location—like at the top in a full-width column. The image can the be set at an appropriate fixed width, or to resize to fit the width available (autosize=true and stretch=true).
  
  
• No. It can only display information about the item selected in the list. Furthermore, you have to be creative in designing a skin that will work for any type of record (movie, series or episode). It's not so difficult considering fields can be set to not appear at all if empty. It's more challenging if you want to do something like display a poster for movies, but a banner for series and episodes.
  
  
• The only answer to such a general question is "read the manual." For practical purposes, it's probably better to try sample skins, see how they're coded, and then look to the manual for explanations of specific coding.

[rick.ca]

The image can the be set at an appropriate fixed width, or to resize to fit the width available (autosize=true and stretch=true).

It seems these parameters only work for posters. Come to think of it, this must be why I gave up on including banners in my skin. If cdcover worked the same as poster, it would be possible to have a section at the top of the skin that would show a full-width banner—but only if one existed in cdcover.

[katleeh]

Well that would explain why the damn banner shows up shrunk. That doesn't work at all... Okay is there any way to display different posters, screenshots, etc in different locations then? For instance, set Poster #01 as being a banner, Poster #02 is the display poster, etc...

Also, I'm still trying to figure out just what can be changed here? Am I only limited to XML or can I use javascript or HTML in these files?

Also, a suggestion, a skin editor would make it easier to make skins as it would provide a visual method for doing the editing. Otherwise, I'm stuck with trial and error here and I'm not even sure what works half the time since I have to close the program before I can reload PVD.

Oh, and if it makes a difference, I'm running Vista x64.

- KatLeeH

[katleeh]

Oh, and I have looked at some of the other skins. That didn't help at all as that only shows what I already figured out as far as basic displays and stuff go. I'm trying to figure out how I can change the way the data is displayed here to be more customizable. For instance, the DB design holds multiple images for different things, how do I tell the program to display the images in different locations... that kind of thing.

- KatLeeH

[mgpw4me@yahoo.com]

The covers can be scaled:

         <row>
          <column valign="top" halign="center" width="310" space="0">
           <section space="0">
            <border shape="none"/>
            <row>
             <column space="0" width="140"><spacer width="10"/><froncover autosize="true"/></column>
             <column space="0" width="150"><cdcover autosize="true"/></column>
            </row>

           </section>
          </column>
         </row>

Images that are part of an image list (posters / screen shots / people galleries) are treated as a single entity.  You can't position them individually.

HTML and JAVASCRIPT cannot be used in a skin.  You could write or change an export template that would accomplish this, but then you'd have to export the entire database every time you updated your database.  Direct database access via script is possible, but the creation of a whole new display system would be non-trivial.

I know custom image fields are on "the list" for some future PVD version, so it might be better to wait several months for version 1 to come out and see what's available.

[mgpw4me@yahoo.com]

Also, a suggestion, a skin editor would make it easier to make skins as it would provide a visual method for doing the editing. Otherwise, I'm stuck with trial and error here and I'm not even sure what works half the time since I have to close the program before I can reload PVD.
- KatLeeH

There is a "skin refresh" button (not on the standard toolbar, I think).  Tools -> preferences -> appearance -> toolbar.

[katleeh]

Thanks for the input. Using refresh doesn't work. Changes made to the XML of the skin have to be saved in the editor and then PVD needs to be restarted before you can see those changes work. I already tried using refresh before. :/.

As far as your suggestion, the banner is still being shrunk. Its weird. The banners are 758x140 and the display is reducing it to like 300x80. That's no matter what I do. Talk about annoying.

- KatLeeH

[rick.ca]

The covers can be scaled...

I don't think so. The following...

    <section>
      <row>
        <column valign="top" halign="center" width="1200" space="0">
          <section space="0">
            <border shape="none" />
            <row height="220">
              <column space="0" width="1200">
                <cdcover autosize="true" stretch="true" />
              </column>
            </row>
          </section>
        </column>
      </row>
    </section>

...results in the first attached image, rather than the expected second. The banner size is 1200 x 220.

Using refresh doesn't work.

You're using Refresh rather than Skin refresh. It's only available if you add it to your toolbar or configure it as a hotkey. See Preferences>Appearance.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[mgpw4me@yahoo.com]

Yes, I seem to remember hitting a "finite limit" on the display size of covers.  "stretch" doesn't appear to work, but autosize does, up to about 320px.

I suspect the limit is by design, as compared to a size limit in the database.  The database fields that store movie / people images are the same size, and changing the image quality setting has no effect (which should result in a larger image if the database were the road block).

[rick.ca]

I suspect the limit is by design, as compared to a size limit in the database.

Correct. The database always saves the original image, as can be seen if any image type is opened in the viewer. I think the limit is more by exception than design. Originally, posters and photos could not be resized as they can now. It seems some abilities were added to those types and not the others—because that's what was requested. Note posters and photos (and their imagelists) are handled one way, screen shot, front cover and CD cover containers another. So it's understandable the change made to one type wouldn't be implemented for the other.

Maybe nostra will make the same change (enabling stretch, it seems) for froncover and cdcover. That might be easier than modifying the skin manual to make it clear the parameter doesn't work for these images.