Custom menus without playlists
#1
*** I'm not sure if this should be posted under Skins or under another thread. ***

I am looking for direction and advice on how to add custom menus to the main home screen and have them function as

WEATHER | MOVIES | TV SHOWS | ANIME | CARTOONS | FAMILY VIDEOS | MUSIC | PROGRAMS | SYSTEM

adding ANIME, CARTOONS, and FAMILY VIDEOS. I would like these 3 menus to have the same functions and features as VIDEOS and MOVIES already have. The ability to Add Source and choose a scraper and so on.

I have found threads on how to add the custom menu, but the tutorial only covers adding a playlist or profile.

Thanks for your help in advance.
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#2
You can most likely scrape both anime and cartoons using builtin scrapers and you can use smartplaylists after that. If your anime and cartoons are in their own directories use directory path as a playlist operator. Otherwise use genre.

For the family videos you have to use some trickery, most likely you want to generate .nfo files and make them appear as episodes. How to do this is explained somewhere here in the forums or in the wiki.
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#3
Could you point me toward adding the custom menus? I have a collection of video clips that don't really belong in Movies, all in their own directory.
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#4
(2013-02-21, 10:18)emueyes Wrote: Could you point me toward adding the custom menus? I have a collection of video clips that don't really belong in Movies, all in their own directory.

Add it as source but dont set content. Then you add it to Favorites and create a custom menu and select it via favorites.They will appear in File view because they dont have nfo ffiles so library view wont work. What skin are you using?



(2013-02-21, 06:38)airborne Wrote: *** I'm not sure if this should be posted under Skins or under another thread. ***

I am looking for direction and advice on how to add custom menus to the main home screen and have them function as

WEATHER | MOVIES | TV SHOWS | ANIME | CARTOONS | FAMILY VIDEOS | MUSIC | PROGRAMS | SYSTEM

adding ANIME, CARTOONS, and FAMILY VIDEOS. I would like these 3 menus to have the same functions and features as VIDEOS and MOVIES already have. The ability to Add Source and choose a scraper and so on.

I have found threads on how to add the custom menu, but the tutorial only covers adding a playlist or profile.

Thanks for your help in advance.

Depending on how those categories are setup in your PC, if your Anime/Cartoon/Family are already in its separate folders then all you have to do is Add them as sources and set the content to TVshow. Then create a new smarplaylist. Like so:

Code:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes" ?>
<smartplaylist type="tvshows">
    <name>TV SHOWS</name>
    <match>all</match>
    <rule field="path" operator="contains">
        <value>smb://SRV-SAITOH/Videos/TV/</value>
    </rule>
</smartplaylist>

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes" ?>
<smartplaylist type="tvshows">
    <name>ANIME</name>
    <match>all</match>
    <rule field="path" operator="contains">
        <value>smb://SRV-SAITOH/Videos/Anime/</value>
    </rule>
</smartplaylist>


Then you add those playlist to your menu. If they are all under the same folder, then you add the entire folder as source and set content . Then make a smartplaylist with operators to filter out the videos.. If family Videos refer to home movies or videos thats wont be found in TVDB then those files will have to be added the way i referred above and be placed in there own folder if you want to simply things. Also what skin are you using?
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#5
(2013-02-21, 16:52)saitoh183 Wrote:
(2013-02-21, 10:18)emueyes Wrote: Could you point me toward adding the custom menus? I have a collection of video clips that don't really belong in Movies, all in their own directory.

Add it as source but dont set content. Then you add it to Favorites and create a custom menu and select it via favorites.They will appear in File view because they dont have nfo ffiles so library view wont work. What skin are you using?

I'm using stock Confluence from Frodo. I'd been accessing the clips through the Files selection, and even gone as far as making icons for the folders - I have Clips and Documentaries as distinct entities. Now I've added them to Favourites and get the icons, too, though it's still a list.

Reading the Q&A from airborne and from observation, it seems that controlling XBMC is done with XML. I'll look into where and what smart playlists are, but do they result in a new menu under, say. TV shows in airborne's case?
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#6
In stock confluence, im not sure because i use Aeon Nox (confluence just doesnt have enough customization for my taste) Basically smartplaylist are list that have conditions filter so that you can show the content you want for the given path. I dont know if you will be able to achieve what your looking for with stock confluence...maybe with skins like Confluence Mod or Hybrid (if you like the look of confluence) else i would check out Aeon Nox. Once you make a playlist or add it to favorite in Aeon Nox you can make a favorite become a Main Menu item.
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#7
This might help you

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=151612
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#8
Ah, thanks. Like I said, I'm just starting out, am happy so far - this is much nicer than picking files out of explorer Smile and am starting to want more. I've realised that rather than have items on the main menu, I'd rather have them in the 'Videos' section where Movies and TV Shows, and also the Recently Added items appear. As Movies and TV shows are main menu items I imagine it's much the same thing, hopefully smart playlists show up there too, as that seems like a good starting screen. I'll have a look at Nox, too.
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