Theme change on-the-fly (variables based on date and time of the day, weather, etc.)?
#1
Question 
I think you all know the clocks/lights with colored led's that change color every now and then.
Is it, at the moment, possible to create this effect in xbmc?
I have this idea to bring skins more alive.
For example take the Zest mockups.
At noon you would see
Image

and in the evening/at night you would get
Image

So the skin changes automatically with the hour.
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#2
Probably easily done with an auto run script at the start but you would still notice it reloading
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#3
Couldn't the script just change a skin setting.

If the skin was designed right. Then it should be seemless.
For python coding questions first see http://mirrors.xbmc.org/docs/python-docs/
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#4
hmmm pretty interesting idea. What would be nice would be to have the colours fade from one to the other, instead of a quick snap change?

Possibilities for the future, perhaps?
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#5
or make time a visability condition, that'd do it, and the skin could change in realtime too.
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#6
Great Idea. You should give the option to change by night and day but also in smaller increments like OS X. Every 10 minutes or so. Kind of like a slide show. Again Great Idea. Smile
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#7
Lightbulb 
it be cool to have it based on the time-of-day, (or way cool; the weather), so it gets lighter color themes during the day and darker color skin during the evening and even darker during the night, (if it could be tied into the weather it should automaticly change to a lighter skin if it is sunny outside and a darker one if it is raining, and could have like a white theme if it was snowing, all to 'set the mood' based on the weather)

Rolleyes
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#8
this would be such a great interactive function of the skin...probably something that no-one else does.

I hope a coding brain can get round this?
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#9
if JM or someone implements something like this then hope it gets added via the Built In Functions API (xbmc/Util.cpp) and/or the HTTP API (xbmc/lib/libGoAhead/XBMChttp.cpp) so not only skinners could use it but python and web-interface scripters can use it as well
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#10
it would be especially good for skins that have total colour changes, as opposed to just elements that change colour, such as buttons, etc.

Mntz is right about looking at skins, such as Zest, clearity, etc because it is feasible to create different colour schemes easily for them which would work in conjunction with the time-fade
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#11
Lightbulb 
...just 'simple' colordefuse and fading transitions based on time-of-day and/or weather would also be nice IMHO
Always read the XBMC online-manual, FAQ and search the forum before posting.
Do not e-mail XBMC-Team members directly asking for support. Read/follow the forum rules.
For troubleshooting and bug reporting please make sure you read this first.
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#12
Im pretty sure this can be done right now with multiple images with diffferent visibility conditions (same fading animation) along with a python script that runs on a timer that manages the skin settings. Even changing font colors could be done by fading between overlapping label controls (with only one visible at a time).

Might not be the most memory efficient though... and the skin xmls would get alot bigger (mostly copy and paste). If an image control is completely faded out does it still take memory?

I'm not sure if its possible for a skin to start a script at startup... anyone know?
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#13
I think this sounds like a really interesting idea. Having XBMC change the hue/color of skin elements based on time would be really cool.. I leave my Xbox on most of the time and it'd be really neat to see some of the skin elements change throughout the day.

Other cool possibilities related to this idea:

Hard drive space color change based on amount of free space in file manager [or better yet, have files that are large be brighter than those that are smaller]
List of movies could change color (or brightness) based on rating [movies with a higher rating would be brighter than those with lower ratings]

I just thought I'd throw some ideas out, I'm really excited to see where this goes. Keep up the good work guys!

James
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#14
Actually the cleanest/easiest way to do this is to have a new visibility condition that takes a time/date range as an argument.
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#15
The PS3's Cross Media Bar changes color not only based on time of day, but also month of the year:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_Media...tion_3_XMB
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Theme change on-the-fly (variables based on date and time of the day, weather, etc.)?0