ATTENTION! Changes for skin compatibility post XBMC DHARMA
#1
1) They Moved
The big one skins are no longer stored in the seperate "skins" dir they are now considered as Addons by XBMC and are located in your userdata "addons" folder.
For Sanity and easy location we would like you to name your skins folder skin.(skinname) eg: "skin.confluence" this isn't actually needed but its good practice all the stuff xbmc needs is in addon.xml

2) Changes to skin.xml
This file is actually deleted and not used anymore in its replacement is addon.xml Its pretty similar to skin.xml but with a few extra bit needed for addons.
Example https://xbmc.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot.../addon.xml
Code:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<addon
  id="skin.confluence"
  version="1.1.0"
  name="Confluence"
  provider-name="Jezz_X, Team XBMC">
  <requires>
    <import addon="xbmc.gui" version="2.11"/>
  </requires>
  <extension point="xbmc.gui.skin"
    defaultresolution="720p"
    defaultresolutionwide="720p"
    defaultthemename="textures.xbt"
    effectslowdown="0.75"
    debugging="false"/>
  <extension point="xbmc.addon.metadata">
    <summary>Confluence skin by Jezz_X. (XBMC's default skin)</summary>
    <summary lang="nl">Confluence skin door Jezz_X</summary>
    <summary lang="zh">Jezz_X开发的Confluence皮肤</summary>
    <description>Confluence is the default skin for XBMC 9.11 and above. It is a combination of concepts from many popular skins, and attempts to embrace and integrate their good ideas into a skin that should be easy for first time XBMC users to understand and use.</description>
    <description lang="nl">Confluence is de standaard skin voor XBMC 9.11 en hoger. Het combineert de concepten van andere populaire skins, waarbij het tracht hun goede ideëen te integreren in een skin die gemakkelijk in gebruik is.</description>
    <description lang="zh">在XBMC 9.11之后的版本中Confluence是默认皮肤。它集合了许多流行皮肤的创意,力求把这些优点融合到一个皮肤中,使得首次使用XBMC的用户能更容易上手。</description>
    <disclaimer>Confluence is the default skin for XBMC, removing it may cause issues</disclaimer>
    <disclaimer lang="nl">Confluence is de standaard XBMC skin, het verwijderen van Confluence kan leiden tot problemen.</disclaimer>
    <disclaimer lang="zh">Confluence是XBMC的默认皮肤,删除它可能导致故障。</disclaimer>
    <platform>all</platform>
  </extension>
</addon>
Its all pretty self explanitory if you allready make stuff for xbmc but here is a basic run down
id = This has to be a unique id that is used for your skin in the addon manager internally. In this case for simplicity and sanity its the same as the folder name.
version Is used by the update manager so it can tell if the skin has changed version and tell people there is an update possible keep this in the 0.0.0 format (MajorVersion.MinorVersion.Other)
name Is the Title displayed though XBMC for your skin it can have spaces and pretty much any valid character in it
<requires> this is needed so xbmc knows what it needs the only real thing to change here is the internal xbmc skinning engine compatibility version number of your skin
<extension point="xbmc.gui.skin" the stuff included in here is pretty much what was included in the old skin.xml
<extension point="xbmc.addon.metadata"> This is all the fluff (meta data) that XBMC will display when people see your skin in the addon manager

3) skin XML file changes

New Files Added:
AddonBrowser.xml This is the main Browser window for installing and removing addons Its pretty much like other media windows (video, music) example here https://xbmc.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot...rowser.xml
DialogAddonInfo.xml Is an information dialog for the addons that lets you view the meta data for addons and enable, disable, update, and check the change log example : https://xbmc.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot...onInfo.xml
DialogAddonSettings.xml This window is a renamed DialogPluginSettings.xml with a few extra id's to allow groups of settings new controls are 8 for a default slider control for the window, 9 for a grouplist for the catagory buttons, 13 the default button template for catagorys (works like SettingsCatagory.xml) example: https://xbmc.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot...ttings.xml
DialogTextViewer.xml pretty much a renamed DialogScriptInfo.xml and is basically a big textbox and header used for viewing stuff like change logs of addons

Old Files removed:
DialogPluginSettings.xml replaced by DialogAddonSettings.xml
DialogScriptInfo.xml replaced by DialogTextViewer.xml
MusicOSDVisSettings.xml replaced by DialogAddonSettings.xml
MyScripts.xml has been merged into the MyPrograms addons
DefaultScript.png not needed since they all use DefaultAddon.png if they have no icon of their own

Current Files with Changes:
DialogSelect.xml Has had a new container added with an id="6" This is used for selecting the new addons in parts of the skin and contains a little extra meta data than the old dialogselect view. You now get ListItem.(icon, label, label2) where Icon = addons icon, Label = addons name, label2 = addon summary
MusicOSD.xml <control type="selectbutton" id="503"> is no longer needed and has been replaced by DialogSelect to select vizualizations

4) New Command to use
Skin.SetAddon(setting_title,addon_extention_point) This is used Instead of Skin.SetFile() to set links to addons like scripts example "Skin.SetAddon(VideoScript_Path,xbmc.python.script)" will open up DialogSelect.xml with a list of all addons with the script extention point and set it into the "VideoScript_Path" skin string

Addon.Default.OpenSettings(xbmc.player.musicviz) this is used to replace the old "<onclick>ActivateWindow(121)</onclick>" or "<onclick>ActivateWindow(VisualisatioSettings)</onclick>" commands from MusicOSD.xml file to open up the Settings for Visualizations

5) changelog.txt (not needed but desired)
This is basically a text file to place in the root of your skins dir (next to addon.xml) that will be read and shown when users click the button in Addon Information. Its probably best to keep this in nice plain text easy for end users to understand and doesn't really need to contain every detail of changes you have made

6) Extra Images (not needed but desired)
You can now add these image in your skins root folder (next to addon.xml)
icon.png is the thumbnail that will show for your skin in all things addon related (try not to make it huge because it will effect where it is hosted 512x512 is plenty big)
fanart.jpg Is a fanart image for your skin (don't feel you "need" to have one because heaps of 1080p will slow down repo browsing as it downloads them for every single addon)

7) Extra Icons
DefaultAddon.png Default icon used for addons before their proper icon has downloaded
DefaultAddonNone.png Icon used for the "None" value when selecting addons in DialogSelect.xml (eg: picking a screensaver)

8) Player.SeekOffset
New string added. Can be used to indicate the seek offset after a seek press (eg user presses BigStepForward, player.seekoffset returns +10:00, user presses StepBackward, player.seekoffset returns -0:30)

9) Scripts window can be removed
Replace with Programs window, linked via ActivateWindow(Programs,Addons,return). Note that Addons works as a quick path in all windows that can have addons (music,videos,pictures,programs) and the return parameter works everywhere now.
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#2
The selectbutton that used to be used to choose the visualisation during fullscreen vis is no longer required.
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.


Image
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#3
Lol, I wondered why the MusicOSDVisSettings.xml I was working on wasn't working yesterday.
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#4
Thank u jezz.
But I miss the <licence> in addon.xml and licence.txt
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#5
Waffa Wrote:Thank u jezz.
But I miss the <licence> in addon.xml and licence.txt

You can just pack a file with your add-on I would say end users don't really care about the licence its just people who mod it or host it or distribute it that would probably care and they would have access to that anyway
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#6
Jezz_X Wrote:You can just pack a file with your add-on I would say end users don't really care about the licence its just people who mod it or host it or distribute it that would probably care and they would have access to that anyway

You're right, Jezz_X !

I would use it for nightly build check, but this file is not updated by skinners...
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#7
Will the old commands no longer work now?
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#8
Hitcher Wrote:Will the old commands no longer work now?

The set file ones would work but you won't see the addons unless you nav to the folders manually.
The music viz ones will not work no
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#9
Jezz_X Wrote:You can just pack a file with your add-on I would say end users don't really care about the licence its just people who mod it or host it or distribute it that would probably care and they would have access to that anyway
Big Grin Yeah I don't care, users don't but team XBMC do if you want to upload your skin...
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?p=5...post537350
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#10
Waffa Wrote:Big Grin Yeah I don't care, users don't but team XBMC do if you want to upload your skin...
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?p=5...post537350

heh true but this post is more about making your skin work with the new versions not about getting it hosted Smile
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#11
The thread is in Development > Skin Development Smile

I presume that new xbox build still uses the old xml files ?
Like:
DialogScriptInfo.xml replaced by DialogTextViewer.xml
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#12
Where do we place our skin icon and how is it meant to be labelled for it to show up in the DialogSelect?
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#13
Skin folder "icon.png"
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#14
Waffa Wrote:The thread is in Development > Skin Development Smile

I presume that new xbox build still uses the old xml files ?
Like:
DialogScriptInfo.xml replaced by DialogTextViewer.xml

XBOX whats that ? didn't you read the main news there will be no 10.5 xbox version so its irrelevant :p
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#15
Hitcher Wrote:Where do we place our skin icon and how is it meant to be labelled for it to show up in the DialogSelect?

Thanks added point 6 and added music osd to "Current Files with Changes:" for jmarshalls bit
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ATTENTION! Changes for skin compatibility post XBMC DHARMA0