[KevinSartori]

I just started using Metropolis on Gotham and I really like it!

I noticed a couple minor issues:

• Under Settings > Videos > File lists, I like to keep Default select action set to Show Information. However, when I select any TV episode and the Information Screen opens, I see the "Image Not Available" picture where the poster should be. Posters display fine in the other areas, including the Information Screen for Movies.
  

• My second issue is super minor, but when I navigate to a sub-menu on the Home screen, page up and page down don't work (although I hear the navigation sound when I try).
  

FWIW, I also have a few requests:

• I would love to be able to change the view to Gallery Square after launching a Music Add-on. Even better would be an option to display labels under each thumb in this view!
  

• I've noticed in TV Shows, there is a view called Banner & Fanart. I'd love to see a Small Poster & Fanart view that substitutes the four columns of banners with two columns of small posters, in three rows. This would be a Metropolis take on Amber's Big Panel view, my personal favorite video view.
  

• Finally, I saw someone else already requested it, but I would like to second the request for an option to have the music visualization display on top of Artist Slideshow!
  

Thanks for all the hard work, Jingai and MacGyver! Metropolis looks great and is a pleasure to use!

[jingai]

Under Settings > Videos > File lists, I like to keep Default select action set to Show Information. However, when I select any TV episode and the Information Screen opens, I see the "Image Not Available" picture where the poster should be. Posters display fine in the other areas, including the Information Screen for Movies.

Did you go to Settings->Metropolis->Scripts/Extras and select "Download extra TV Show artwork"? It works on mine here, so I suspect that's what you need to do.

My second issue is super minor, but when I navigate to a sub-menu on the Home screen, page up and page down don't work (although I hear the navigation sound when I try).

Because there is only one page (I'm assuming).

I would love to be able to change the view to Gallery Square after launching a Music Add-on. Even better would be an option to display labels under each thumb in this view!

It should retain whatever view you'd chosen last.

I've noticed in TV Shows, there is a view called Banner & Fanart. I'd love to see a Small Poster & Fanart view that substitutes the four columns of banners with two columns of small posters, in three rows. This would be a Metropolis take on Amber's Big Panel view, my personal favorite video view.

The Gallery view satisfies this. I know it appears a little different, but all of the information in Amber's Big Panel view is there in the Gallery view in Metropolis. The primary difference is that the plot summary is displayed down below. This is a design choice made early on for Metropolis that will be retained for consistency.

Finally, I saw someone else already requested it, but I would like to second the request for an option to have the music visualization display on top of Artist Slideshow!

This is already on the to-do list.

[KevinSartori]

Thanks for the reply, Jingai!

Under Settings > Videos > File lists, I like to keep Default select action set to Show Information. However, when I select any TV episode and the Information Screen opens, I see the "Image Not Available" picture where the poster should be. Posters display fine in the other areas, including the Information Screen for Movies.

Did you go to Settings->Metropolis->Scripts/Extras and select "Download extra TV Show artwork"? It works on mine here, so I suspect that's what you need to do.

I tried this, but it didn't have an effect on the problem. I use a local folder.jpg file for each TV Show. When I browse my TV Show Library using the Poster Fixed view, I can see all of the posters for each show. If I click on a show, I can see all of the episode thumbnails. However, if I click on an episode, when the Information Screen comes up, instead of seeing the show's poster again, I see the "Image Not Available" picture instead. This problem with the Information Screen only happens with TV Shows, not Movies.

I'm probably not doing a very good job describing the problem. Hopefully these screenshots will help:

I would love to be able to change the view to Gallery Square after launching a Music Add-on. Even better would be an option to display labels under each thumb in this view!

It should retain whatever view you'd chosen last.

The problem is that when I launch any of my Music Add-ons (TuneIn Radio, Sky.fm, SomaFM or JazzRadio.com), the only View available is List. I don't have any of the Views disabled, so I think they have to be added on your end. If I browse Add-ons, I can change the View to List, Gallery Square or Panel Square, but once I launch an Add-on, only List is available.

I've noticed in TV Shows, there is a view called Banner & Fanart. I'd love to see a Small Poster & Fanart view that substitutes the four columns of banners with two columns of small posters, in three rows. This would be a Metropolis take on Amber's Big Panel view, my personal favorite video view.

The Gallery view satisfies this. I know it appears a little different, but all of the information in Amber's Big Panel view is there in the Gallery view in Metropolis. The primary difference is that the plot summary is displayed down below. This is a design choice made early on for Metropolis that will be retained for consistency.

No problem, I understand it's a design decision. I prefer to browse using a poster view and love also seeing a fanart thumbnail. I figured there was a chance you hadn't seen the Big Panel view as not too many skins use it.

Finally, I saw someone else already requested it, but I would like to second the request for an option to have the music visualization display on top of Artist Slideshow!

This is already on the to-do list.

Excellent! I'm looking forward to it!

[jingai]

Before I continue, I need to make sure: are you on Frodo still? Or are you using Gotham with the latest version of Metropolis? I ask because I just noticed you posted in the 2.6.3/Frodo thread.

However, if I click on an episode, when the Information Screen comes up, instead of seeing the show's poster again, I see the "Image Not Available" picture instead. This problem with the Information Screen only happens with TV Shows, not Movies.

What happens if you click Refresh in the info window for the episode? Does it get the artwork then?

For what it's worth, Metropolis doesn't directly make use of your local artwork (folder.jpg). It relies on Artwork Downloader to properly populate the database. So, make sure you've configured Artwork Downloader to utilize your local artwork.

The problem is that when I launch any of my Music Add-ons (TuneIn Radio, Sky.fm, SomaFM or JazzRadio.com), the only View available is List. I don't have any of the Views disabled, so I think they have to be added on your end. If I browse Add-ons, I can change the View to List, Gallery Square or Panel Square, but once I launch an Add-on, only List is available.

It's been a while since I looked at this.. but the problem is kind of a bit more difficult than it would seem. The Gallery Square view only makes sense if the content is Albums or Artists, basically (in the context of Music anyway). Since add ons can present many types of content, skins would need to know what kind is currently displayed to limit the view types allowed.

If I made all view types available to all addons, it would be a huge list to wade through and a ton of them wouldn't even make sense. Metropolis would need to know the kind of content the add-on is displaying to limit this. I can't remember if there's a way to get at that or not.

No problem, I understand it's a design decision. I prefer to browse using a poster view and love also seeing a fanart thumbnail. I figured there was a chance you hadn't seen the Big Panel view as not too many skins use it.

I actually didn't notice the Fanart in Big Panel because it was an optional thing. But again, the fan art is presented in the background in Metropolis. The list itself is arranged in the way that it is in Big Panel (Poster Thumbs) and all the same elements are displayed, just in different locations. I feel that making another Poster & Fanart view would just be redundant, especially considering we have so many views as it is lol

[KevinSartori]

Before I continue, I need to make sure: are you on Frodo still? Or are you using Gotham with the latest version of Metropolis? I ask because I just noticed you posted in the 2.6.3/Frodo thread.

Sorry about that, but I didn't see a Gotham thread, so I posted here. I'm using XBMC 13.0 with Metropolis 2.8.0 on an Intel NUC DC3217IYE running Windows 7 x64.

However, if I click on an episode, when the Information Screen comes up, instead of seeing the show's poster again, I see the "Image Not Available" picture instead. This problem with the Information Screen only happens with TV Shows, not Movies.

What happens if you click Refresh in the info window for the episode? Does it get the artwork then?

For what it's worth, Metropolis doesn't directly make use of your local artwork (folder.jpg). It relies on Artwork Downloader to properly populate the database. So, make sure you've configured Artwork Downloader to utilize your local artwork.

I just tried that, but it didn't work. I have Use Local Files enabled in Artwork Downloader. I think it's strange that the local folder.jpg displays properly everywhere in Movies, and almost everywhere in TV Show except for the Information Screen. Is there anything else I can try?

The problem is that when I launch any of my Music Add-ons (TuneIn Radio, Sky.fm, SomaFM or JazzRadio.com), the only View available is List. I don't have any of the Views disabled, so I think they have to be added on your end. If I browse Add-ons, I can change the View to List, Gallery Square or Panel Square, but once I launch an Add-on, only List is available.

It's been a while since I looked at this.. but the problem is kind of a bit more difficult than it would seem. The Gallery Square view only makes sense if the content is Albums or Artists, basically (in the context of Music anyway). Since add ons can present many types of content, skins would need to know what kind is currently displayed to limit the view types allowed.

If I made all view types available to all addons, it would be a huge list to wade through and a ton of them wouldn't even make sense. Metropolis would need to know the kind of content the add-on is displaying to limit this. I can't remember if there's a way to get at that or not.

That makes sense. I don't use very many Add-ons, so I'm not sure if limiting the Views to just List, Gallery Square and Panel Square would cause issues.

No problem, I understand it's a design decision. I prefer to browse using a poster view and love also seeing a fanart thumbnail. I figured there was a chance you hadn't seen the Big Panel view as not too many skins use it.

I actually didn't notice the Fanart in Big Panel because it was an optional thing. But again, the fan art is presented in the background in Metropolis. The list itself is arranged in the way that it is in Big Panel (Poster Thumbs) and all the same elements are displayed, just in different locations. I feel that making another Poster & Fanart view would just be redundant, especially considering we have so many views as it is lol

Big Panel with Fanart is a pretty cool View, but I can understand wanting to draw the line somewhere!

[KevinSartori]

Okay, I figured out what was happening with the missing artwork. The Information Screen for TV Episodes is actually looking for a Season poster, not the main TV Show poster. I discovered this by looking through the DialogVideoInfo.xml file, hoping I might get lucky and run across the section pertaining to the missing poster. I found this section:

Code:

                <!-- Poster Image for TV Show Seasons and Episodes -->
                <control type="image">
                    <posx>35</posx>
                    <posy>115</posy>
                    <width>275</width>
                    <height>404</height>
                    <texture background="true" fallback="DefaultThumb.png">$INFO[ListItem.Art(season.poster)]</texture>
                    <aspectratio scalediffuse="false">stretch</aspectratio>
                    <animation effect="zoom" center="auto" start="40" end="100" time="400" tween="cubic" easing="inout">WindowOpen</animation>
                    <animation effect="fade" start="0" end="0" time="0">WindowClose</animation>
                    <visible>Container.Content(seasons) | Container.Content(episodes)</visible>
                </control>

I did a quick Google search for "$INFO[ListItem.Art" and found the XBMC Wiki page pertaining to InfoLabels. For TV Shows, it's looking for a Season poster, which I don't use and, incidentally, Artwork Downloader has disabled by default. This explains why I was still getting the "Image Not Available" picture even after running Artwork Downloader!

Changing $INFO[ListItem.Art(season.poster)] to $INFO[ListItem.Art(tvshow.poster)] causes it to look for and properly display the TV Show's poster, rather than the Season poster. After the edit, the section now looks like this:

Code:

                <!-- Poster Image for TV Show Seasons and Episodes -->
                <control type="image">
                    <posx>35</posx>
                    <posy>115</posy>
                    <width>275</width>
                    <height>404</height>
                    <texture background="true" fallback="DefaultThumb.png">$INFO[ListItem.Art(tvshow.poster)]</texture>
                    <aspectratio scalediffuse="false">stretch</aspectratio>
                    <animation effect="zoom" center="auto" start="40" end="100" time="400" tween="cubic" easing="inout">WindowOpen</animation>
                    <animation effect="fade" start="0" end="0" time="0">WindowClose</animation>
                    <visible>Container.Content(seasons) | Container.Content(episodes)</visible>
                </control>

[KevinSartori]

This is pretty minor, but I noticed another issue in DialogVideoInfo.xml. In the Episodes screen, the episode thumbnail is always displayed in a 16:9 box. If the original thumbnail is 4:3, it is displayed centered by cropping the top and the bottom equally. I noticed for one of my shows with 4:3 thumbnails that the image was shifting downward on the Episode Information Screen, because it was only being cropped on the bottom. I found where this was specified:

Code:

                <!-- TV Show Episode Fanart Image -->
                <control type="image">
                    <posx>918</posx>
                    <posy>79</posy>
                    <width>324</width>
                    <height>182</height>
                    <texture>$INFO[ListItem.Thumb]</texture>
                    <aspectratio aligny="top" scalediffuse="false">scale</aspectratio>
                    <visible>Container.Content(episodes)</visible>
                </control>

To make the two screens match, aspectratio aligny="top" needs to be changed to aspectratio aligny="center"

Here's what the fixed section would look like:

Code:

                <!-- TV Show Episode Fanart Image -->
                <control type="image">
                    <posx>918</posx>
                    <posy>79</posy>
                    <width>324</width>
                    <height>182</height>
                    <texture>$INFO[ListItem.Thumb]</texture>
                    <aspectratio aligny="center" scalediffuse="false">scale</aspectratio>
                    <visible>Container.Content(episodes)</visible>
                </control>

I'm not sure if it's bad form to post fixes for little bugs like this in the forum. If it is, I'm sorry! I understand very little coding but want to contribute in any way I can!

[jingai]

I did a quick Google search for "$INFO[ListItem.Art" and found the XBMC Wiki page pertaining to InfoLabels. For TV Shows, it's looking for a Season poster, which I don't use and, incidentally, Artwork Downloader has disabled by default. This explains why I was still getting the "Image Not Available" picture even after running Artwork Downloader!

Sorry that wasn't clear -- yes, Metropolis uses the season posters in a couple places. Maybe it's changed, but I thought the link in Scripts/Extras would download them even if they were disabled in the add-on, because I specify them directly there. Or did you run Artwork Downloader by hand instead of using the link provided in the skin?

Either way, you can also fix this by simply enabling season posters in AD, so you won't have to make your change every time the skin is updated.

---

This is pretty minor, but I noticed another issue in DialogVideoInfo.xml. In the Episodes screen, the episode thumbnail is always displayed in a 16:9 box. If the original thumbnail is 4:3, it is displayed centered by cropping the top and the bottom equally. I noticed for one of my shows with 4:3 thumbnails that the image was shifting downward on the Episode Information Screen, because it was only being cropped on the bottom.

I'm not sure if it's bad form to post fixes for little bugs like this in the forum. If it is, I'm sorry! I understand very little coding but want to contribute in any way I can!

It's completely fine to post patches/reports here, but I don't really see the problem with this. The frame containing the image is 16:9 and centering/cropping a 4:3 image is exactly what I wanted it to do. Maybe you could provide a screenshot showing the problem episode? None of mine are exhibiting any undesired effects.

[KevinSartori]

I did a quick Google search for "$INFO[ListItem.Art" and found the XBMC Wiki page pertaining to InfoLabels. For TV Shows, it's looking for a Season poster, which I don't use and, incidentally, Artwork Downloader has disabled by default. This explains why I was still getting the "Image Not Available" picture even after running Artwork Downloader!

Sorry that wasn't clear -- yes, Metropolis uses the season posters in a couple places. Maybe it's changed, but I thought the link in Scripts/Extras would download them even if they were disabled in the add-on, because I specify them directly there. Or did you run Artwork Downloader by hand instead of using the link provided in the skin?

Either way, you can also fix this by simply enabling season posters in AD, so you won't have to make your change every time the skin is updated.

I ran it both ways, but it never grabbed the season artwork. Honestly, it's not a big deal, I just couldn't figure out why I wasn't getting artwork there. I don't use season specific artwork, but maybe the majority of other XBMC users do, so maybe changing this doesn't make sense for most users. FWIW, many TV shows don't have season specific artwork available. Is there a way to have it fallback to using the (tvshow.poster) if (season.poster) isn't available?

This is pretty minor, but I noticed another issue in DialogVideoInfo.xml. In the Episodes screen, the episode thumbnail is always displayed in a 16:9 box. If the original thumbnail is 4:3, it is displayed centered by cropping the top and the bottom equally. I noticed for one of my shows with 4:3 thumbnails that the image was shifting downward on the Episode Information Screen, because it was only being cropped on the bottom.

I'm not sure if it's bad form to post fixes for little bugs like this in the forum. If it is, I'm sorry! I understand very little coding but want to contribute in any way I can!

It's completely fine to post patches/reports here, but I don't really see the problem with this. The frame containing the image is 16:9 and centering/cropping a 4:3 image is exactly what I wanted it to do. Maybe you could provide a screenshot showing the problem episode? None of mine are exhibiting any undesired effects.

This is such a minor issue, I'm almost embarrassed to point it out. Here's what the original thumb for the episode looks like:



The thumb is correctly cropped on the top and bottom in the Episodes screen (aligny="center"):



The thumb is incorrectly cropped only on the bottom in the Episode Information screen (aligny="top"):



Again, really really minor, but it's an inconsistency in the skin that I thought you might want to correct.

[jingai]

Ahh, sorry, I had read what you'd said originally the wrong way -- I thought you were saying it was centering it but it should be top-aligned. Gotcha now though. Fixed in git for the next release

I'll see what I can do about the season poster.

[KevinSartori]

Thanks, looking forward to it!

[VelvetKevorkian]

"Stop scanning" is apparently missing when updating the music library - i know its position
changed in Gotham's version of Confluence, so it might be elsewhere now but i cannot find it.

[VelvetKevorkian]

Just a tiny issue:


The compile date in the top right corner in System info
could be moved a little more to the left, so that it can be read in full.

[MacGyver]

In Includes.xml
change

Code:

    <include name="Global_HeadingDetailVars">
        <posx>1220</posx>
        <width>450</width>
        <height>30</height>
        <font>METF_Heading</font>
        <textcolor>GlobalHeading</textcolor>
        <align>right</align>
        <aligny>center</aligny>
        <include>Animation_HiddenByInfo</include>
    </include>

to

Code:

    <include name="Global_HeadingDetailVars">
        <posx>1220</posx>
        <width>720</width>
        <height>30</height>
        <font>METF_Heading</font>
        <textcolor>GlobalHeading</textcolor>
        <align>right</align>
        <aligny>center</aligny>
        <include>Animation_HiddenByInfo</include>
    </include>

all fixed.

[jingai]

I need to make sure it won't cover anything else first. There is on occasion some information displayed in the center and I forget off-hand what those occasions are.