HOW-TO customize the home menu with custom categories

DaMizZa · 2012-03-27 20:47

Great tutorial. It's very straightforward and easy to follow. I was going to get this done tonight, but upon reading through everything a couple times, I have a couple questions I'm hoping someone can help me out with:

I have all my media spanned over several seperate hard drives (luckily I've managed to keep similar media on a single drive - so TV Shows are all on one drive in a single folder, same with Movies, etc...), and the part that I'm a little unsure of is the use of the 'Backdrops' folders. What exactly are these Backdrops used for (is it just on the home menu when you highlight the menu item - or is it for the fanart of your media)? And if it's used just on the home menu when you highlight the menu item, is there a place I need to identify where these files are located, or does it just look for a Backdrops folder by default??

Thanks in advance! I can't wait to try implementing this as it would take my XBMC experience to the next level for sure!

Plutotype · 2012-03-29 00:35

Hi Myth,
Installed EDEN 11 official and succesfully added my smart playlist to the home menu. Im using PM3 skin. Before 11 official, to each menu entry I could assign customized background image. Now, I dont see my custom menu entry when Im in the Skin settings / backgrounds tab. How I can change the code to be able to assign custom backgrounds to my smart playlists again?
Thanks for help

EDIT: Managed to edit home.xml by using any of the unwanted home menu entry ( for example "videos" ) and link it to the smart playlist file. Then enable it. XBMC now displays the entry in the Skin settings / backgrounds tab ( previously videos ), so I can assign my own picture to it. But if you will know how to leave the original code untouched and add only new home menu entry with custom background image as you provided in your guide, I would appreciate it
The "videos" entry code for "HD only" smart playlist has been edited like this ( videos.jpg has been substituted with my own image ):

<content>
<item id="6">
<label>HD only</label>
<onclick>ActivateWindow(10025,"special://profile/playlists/video/HD only.xsp", return)</onclick>
<icon>special://skin/backgrounds/videos.jpg</icon>
<thumb>$INFO[Skin.String(Home_Custom_Back_Video_Folder)]</thumb>
<visible>!Skin.HasSetting(homepageVideoButtonAlwaysFilemode)</visible>
<visible>!Skin.HasSetting(homepageHideVideoButton)</visible>
</item>

DaMizZa · 2012-04-04 00:11

So I was just working on getting this working, and ran into a bit of a problem. What I'm trying to do is get all my Documentaries together. The problem I'm having is that some of them are TV Series while others are Movies (DVDs I've Ripped)...

I tried to tackle this on my own by creating 2 separate playlists, one for TV-Based documentaries, and another for Movie-Based documentaries. Then I created a 3rd playlist to combine the 2 together. Where I'm needing help is trying to figure out what to use for the Playlist type, as it will technically be both tvshows and movies. Is it possible to do this without having to have the tv-based and movie-based documentaries linked off a submenu of a documentaries category separately? I'd really like to be able to just have a Documentaries button and go to all Documentaries, instead of having to switch between tv and movie based documentaries...

I assume there has to be a way, as the Wiki shows a "mixed" category under the available fields for the playlist rules, but it doesn't list mixed as a valid playlist type... By ruling out all other options between the 2, my guess is Video, but it doesn't seem to be working properly... Any ideas?

Thanks!

zosky · 2012-05-01 00:00

i brewed up a similar solution, but this is sick & very well written. i also created a separate anime folder, scraping from aniDB. this provides anime relevant genres - like vampire, martial arts, mechs... then a daily BASH script also adds the anime genre for anything new in the /anime/ folder... playlists look at genre.

i like how you use the path for your playlist. this way new anime will display in the right playlist ( before my script adds the anime genre @ midnight )

for documentaries, they are tagged as such in theTVdb... so they can also be separated by genres with no extra effort i think this is easier then separating them in your file tree (adding a new source). our TV folder is 2TB & 40% doc's

PS. RAPIER is top shelf ... it has skin-settings for adding menus & sub-menu. it takes time, but much faster then hacking at the xml (for peeps like me Big Grin

)

MeMeMe · 2012-05-22 11:53

This is a very helpful tutorial.

I have added a few items to the Transparency home menu. Is it possible to move the list up?

I am not sure what to edit in the xml file so that the first menu item is moved a bit further up on the screen.

sifuleeroy · 2012-07-10 06:08

Help anyone!?!

I'm hoping to resurrect this thread as I'm having the same problem a few others have mentioned with no resolution.

I'm also having problems getting my files to show up for anything on my D: drive. Please note that files on my network drive show up and work fine.

I have 3 files: “3D Movies.xsp”, "HD Movies.xsp” and “DVD Movies.xsp”

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes" ?>
<smartplaylist type="movies">
<name>3D Movies</name>
<match>one</match>
<rule field="path" operator="startswith">smb://MEDIAPC/3D Movies/</rule>
<order direction="ascending">title</order>
</smartplaylist>

works fine ^^^^

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes" ?>
<smartplaylist type="movies">
<name>HD Movies</name>
<match>one</match>
<rule field="path" operator="startswith">smb://MEDIAPC/HD Movies/</rule>
<order direction="ascending">title</order>
</smartplaylist>

works fine ^^^^

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes" ?>
<smartplaylist type="movies">
<name>DVD Movies</name>
<match>one</match>
<rule field="path" operator="startswith">d:/DVD Movies/</rule>
<order direction="ascending">title</order>
</smartplaylist>

doesn't work ^^^*

All have been added to my XBMC sources. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

donglobal · 2012-08-16 18:59

I have a similar issues but with TV Shows, i would like to do the following;

I have TV series which are scraped with TVDB
I have Documentaries which are scraped as TV Shows (TVDB)
I have other Documentaries which are like mini series/ movies and are not found on TVDB but are on scraped with either IMDB or MOVIEDB
I want to put all Documentaries under one heading and listed together regardless of them being scraped as TV Shows or as Movies,
How can i do this?
Can it be done with Smart lists, if so what criteria would i use to ensure that they were all listed under the same menu (Documentaries)

I also have some items which want to make categories for such as Comedy and Sport.
I also want these to have their own listing, none of these are found with with TVDB or MOVIEDB/IMDB ( I want to create my own NFO files for these)
Under sport i would like separate categories i.e.; Athletics, football, Formula 1, etc..
how would this be done?

I would like to end up with the following menus overall in XBMC menu;
TV Shows
Sports
Documentaries
Comedy
Movies

Each of these I want to have sub-menus

Any help would be greatly appreciated,
Thanks in advance

I've added some screenshots of how I would like my XBMC folder structure to be organised, is this possible?
[Image: Main_menu.png]

jopie · 2012-11-23 18:03

I too would be interested in how tv and movie contents can be combined. The more I use XBMC the more I become frustrated by its rigid division between film and tv material. Documentaries are one example where the whole thing just plainly sucks, and so is Music.

NB. Why can't we assign different types of scrapers to one and the same directory. As long as series can be clearly marked there should not be a problem. Single episodes can then be checked against TV or Movie dbs or both?

dante1 · 2012-11-24 21:01

Can you post some screen shot's please?
Also, how would you setup the share if you have multiple drives?

mavvv · 2012-12-07 14:50

Hi all,

Sorry for my english but french guy are not well known for their perfect english.
I'm currently running an openelec version on my raspberry-pi with the "transparency!" skin installed.

This tuto is clearly the best i found concerning my problem which is : "customizing the home view"
But i have some difficulties to locate the exact place where to put the adds presented in page 1

In my "includes_Home.xml",I'm able to find the following entry :

Code:

<include name="HomeCustom3Button">

        <item id="16">

            <label>$INFO[Skin.String(Menu_Custom3.Label)]</label>

            <onclick>$INFO[Skin.String(Menu_Custom3.Path)]</onclick>

            <icon>special://skin/backgrounds/settings.jpg</icon>

            <thumb>$INFO[Skin.String(Home_Custom_Back_Custom3_Folder)]</thumb>

        </item>

    </include>

And, i have another entry wich is :

Code:

<include name="HorizontalSubMenuLayout">

        <orientation>horizontal</orientation>

        <posx>144</posx>

        <posy>578</posy>

        <width>993</width>

        <height>20</height>

        <hitrect x="144" y="540" w="992" h="60"/>

        <itemgap>-2</itemgap>

        <onup>5050</onup>

        <ondown>5040</ondown>

        <onleft>8001</onleft>

        <onright>8001</onright>

        <focusposition>2</focusposition>

        <movement>2</movement>

        <animation effect="fade" start="0" end="100" time="200" condition="ControlGroup(8000).HasFocus">Conditional</animation>

        <animation effect="zoom" start="144,598,992,5" end="144,578,992,20" time="200" condition="ControlGroup(8000).HasFocus">Conditional</animation>

        <itemlayout width="198" height="20">

        (...)

    </include>

As said in the first page of this thread, i have to find the item 16 which is inside the horizontal menu, right ? But in my configuration, it not seem possible to do that.

Do i have to create new includes with specific name for creating this part such as

Code:

<include name="HomeCustomAnimeButton">

    <item id="17">

        <label>Anime</label>

        <onclick>ActivateWindow(10025,"special://profile/playlists/video/Anime.xsp", return)</onclick>

        <icon>/share/backdrops/Anime/</icon>

    </item>

/include>

<include name="HomeCustomAnimeMovieButton">

    <item id="18">

        <label>Anime Movies</label>

        <onclick>ActivateWindow(10025,"special://profile/playlists/video/Anime Movies.xsp", return)</onclick>

        <icon>/share/backdrops/Anime Movies/</icon>

    </item>

/include>

<include name="HomeCustomComedyButton">

    <item id="19">

        <label>Comedy</label>

        <onclick>ActivateWindow(10025,"special://profile/playlists/video/Comedy.xsp", return)</onclick>

        <icon>/share/backdrops/Comedy/</icon>

    </item>

/include>

<include name="HomeCustomDocumentariesButton">

    <item id="20">

        <label>Documentaries</label>

        <onclick>ActivateWindow(10025,"special://profile/playlists/video/Documentaries.xsp", return)</onclick>

        <icon>/share/backdrops/Documentaries/</icon>

    </item>

/include>

(...)

Not sure that my explanation is well explained but i hope that any one of you will be able to help me.

MeMeMe Junior Member Posts: 37 Joined: Sep 2011 Reputation: 0	2012-05-22 11:53 Post: #85 This is a very helpful tutorial. I have added a few items to the Transparency home menu. Is it possible to move the list up? I am not sure what to edit in the xml file so that the first menu item is moved a bit further up on the screen.
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dante1 Junior Member Posts: 10 Joined: Jan 2012 Reputation: 0 Location: Montreal, Quebec	2012-11-24 21:01 Post: #89 Can you post some screen shot's please? Also, how would you setup the share if you have multiple drives?
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