View Full Version : Quick jump/search in movie library mode?
Hi,
is there any way of quick jumping to, for example, a specific letter while in movie library view? Coming up on 500 movies now and scrolling to the middle is taking quite some time.
I read something somewhere about a feature incorporating a "T9" type quick jump/search with the 0-9 keys. Anything new about that or anything else working in a similar way?
Cheers.
jmarshall
2008-09-02, 01:36
Yep, you can do it.
Map the actions JumpSMS2 (etc) to keymap.xml and away you go. There's also FilterSMS2 (etc) for the filtering side of things, or just highlight the filter edit control (not sure if it's there in library mode - PM3 should have it I think?) and SMS type in to it.
Cheers,
Jonathan
Yep, you can do it.
Map the actions JumpToSMS2 (etc) to keymap.xml and away you go. There's also FilterSMS2 (etc) for the filtering side of things, or just highlight the filter edit control (not sure if it's there in library mode - PM3 should have it I think?) and SMS type in to it.
Cheers,
Jonathan
Can you expand on this comment? What does the SMS2 mean? Is this part of the code base? I'd like to know more about this as well. I've also got a big collection and navigating to the middle of it takes time - even using a wall-type view. I've tried to use the filter option, but it doesn't quite work like expected (using PM3). If I select "M" - instead of going to the first title using the letter "M" it goes to the "M" in 12 Monkeys etc. If I use Search, then I get oodles of actor returns etc, when all I want is the fist title with the letter "M". If I take the time adding more letters to either filter or search, then one may as well just cycle through the view using covers.
One thing I've struggled with using the filter option (apart from the above) is that it stays on once selected. It would be nice to have an option (screen) that only uses the "letters" (as numbers come first they are the first titles displayed). You press a remote button, (controller or context menu selection). A screen pops up with only "letters". You select "M" for example and press go and the titles jump to the first title with the letter "M". All done. No deselecting the radiobutton etc.
I did wonder if this could be done using the smartplaylist editor after our discussions in another thread. Set up a playlist for each letter and map it directly to the button on the newly created "letter" menu. Perhaps there is an easier way?
jmarshall
2008-09-03, 01:53
This block in keymap.xml:
<number2>JumpSMS2</number2>
<number3>JumpSMS3</number3>
<number4>JumpSMS4</number4>
<number5>JumpSMS5</number5>
<number6>JumpSMS6</number6>
<number7>JumpSMS7</number7>
<number8>JumpSMS8</number8>
<number9>JumpSMS9</number9>
does the jumping. Press "2" once and it'll jump the first movie starting with "A", press it again, and it'll jump to "B" etc.
Also: Note that only the music search and filter is anywhere near "final". The video one I hope to work like the music one in the end. I can't recall offhand if I made the filter button an edit control in music or not - if not, just change it to an edit control in the skin.
Cheers,
Jonathan
Thx JM for the help. I'll check this out. As always, you've shown me things to investigate. Knowing where to look is more than half the battle. Always so much to know, learn and tweak :D
That is pure excellence. Thanks a lot.
Finally got the chance to play with this having setup a xbox version that is modern enough to do it.
Didn't have the success I was looking for. This portion originally got me excited "Press "2" once and it'll jump the first movie starting with "A", press it again, and it'll jump to "B" etc."
I thought one button would do this through the entire alphabet. It doesn't. "JumpSMS2" only cycles A,B,C. It would appear you require the other buttons to get the other letters.
I don't fully understand the SMS stuff (googled it but never really explained how to use it - and no...I've never sent a text message, so don't know how it works on a mobile phone).
On my remote I have the number buttons globally mapped to other aspects of xbmc, so I can't use all the number keys in this SMS manner.
A long shot - is it possible to have only one button cycle through all the letters?
Sorry I'm so ignorant about such things.
jmarshall
2008-09-15, 10:16
Not currently, no, but to be honest, the number of clicks required would be a little too much.
And no need to be sorry for ignorance about mobile phones - I don't own one either (and nor do I want to!) :)
Cheers,
Jonathan
Not currently, no Okay, not to worry. There are more important things to suss out.
It occurred to me after I posted the SMS letters are on the front of a mobile phone - checked out the wife's phone and sure enough. Made sense then. I really need a remote with more buttons :nod:
but to be honest, the number of clicks required would be a little too much. Well for me, not really. It's only the middle titles that are slow to get to and it's almost as many clicks on the scrollbar (if you're not holding it down). If I want end letters, I navigate from "z" backwards.
A single smart button made be nice - perhaps one that knew which end of the alphabet you're navigating from so it knows to move either forward or backwards. I'd use it :laugh:
On another note, you mentioned in another thread about fast scrolling. Has the scrolling speed been elevated? The DVD icons view (wall view which I use) on the xbox isn't particularly fast. Can this be speeded up with an xml tweak? Or...are the hardware limitations of the xbox to blame? (I guess it takes some grunt to render and list a lot of items).
jmarshall
2008-09-15, 11:31
By far the fastest method of scrolling is with the controller. This is because you get analog control, so when holding the thing down we can push it as fast as we like (give or take).
All views should scroll at pretty much the same speed, and it's not really skinnable in that regard.
Cheers,
Jonathan
I've tried to create an onscreen button that uses the JumpSMS? action to navigate through the titles. I haven't had a of of success. First, I created a button that pops up with a remote button press, but that steals focus, so I used the setfocus option (56)ID. That seemed to keep the focus on the video covers. However, nothing happened with the onclick action. I tried the same with a button directly in the myvidoenav.xml window. Still nothing.
Guess I need to ask if this is possible first.
I wonder if I've got the focus setup properly. And, I'm not sure of the action code. I've tried lots - (#=number) JumpSMS#, action.JumpSMS#, xbmc.JumpSMS#, activate.JumpSMS# + others. It's probably the fact I don't have something focused properly. More than likely, it doesn't work! Any suggestions? Thx.
jmarshall
2008-09-23, 03:55
So you want a button list that pops up when you press a button on the remote?
You could perhaps try the following:
1. Create a new dialog window.
2. Add a bunch of buttons, or a list with some static items in it.
3. The actions for each item should be something like this:
<onclick>Close</onclick>
<onclick>JumpSMS2</onclick>
Cheers,
Jonathan
1. Create a new dialog window.
2. Add a bunch of buttons, or a list with some static items in it.
3. The actions for each item should be something like this:
<onclick>Close</onclick>
<onclick>JumpSMS2</onclick>
Yep...that's (almost) exactly what I tried, Created a custom dialog. Popped it up using a remote button. Added one button to it for testing. (This seemed the easy part). From here I had problems. (using win32 for skin testing - a keybd key mapped to SMS7 to make sure the function was working. It was).
I do wonder if the problem is the focus. When the SMS dialog isn't present, the keydb SMS button works as it should. But when I pop up the dialog the focus seems to shift to it (now the keybd button doesn't work). I added a setfocus(56) to the button and the video cover stayed highlighted (Actually flashed to show it had focus). Still never worked.
I'll persevere. Guarantee it's user error once more :)
Why two "onclick" functions? (Double button action?)
Will the button keep cycling the SMS2 call each time it's clicked?
Hope I can get this working as it'll mean I can activate it with one button and use the cursor for navigating it. Cool.
jmarshall
2008-09-23, 04:58
As you've found, the action will only work if the window has focus. Thus the Close call in the first onclick. You might try a <onclick>Close(true)</onclick> to ensure it shuts immediately.
Okay...I've kind of got this working - hope to post some screenshots once I get it done
Had some good ideas while creating it that I need some clarification on before I can proceed.
1 - Can you move the remote cursor twice with one button press? (eg left then up). Or...is there a topright, topleft, bottomright, buttomleft movement possible? There is nothing in the wiki.
2. Is it possible to popup the custom dialog, change focus (eg videolibary from 60(Scrollbar) to 50 (Covers)), then focus the first button on my new dialog which is ID=5.
Thx.
jmarshall
2008-09-24, 08:09
1. Nope - at least not without throwing a python script in to the mix.
2. Possibly via <onfocus> actions in the dialog (i.e. have a button that the default focus is set to, then run some <onfocus> actions from that). Note that you won't be able to focus a control in another window though.
Cheers,
Jonathan
I wouldn't even know where to start with python. Gee...my brain is hurting after this escapade. :)
...Note that you won't be able to focus a control in another window though.
I had a sneaky suspicion you were going to say that.
Okay...here is one from left field. Is it possible to have a dialog popup that keeps the focus on the other window (Vlib50) so that you can use remote keymaps for the new dialog that control the other window focus. I can hear a "Nope" coming :sad:
I don't think I'll be able to get it working like I had hoped. The ability to move diagonally would be great. That way I could map the four white buttons around the remote cursor buttons to create an 8way controller - then use the onfocus action instead of onclick.
jmarshall
2008-09-24, 09:33
Popping up a dialog should have no effect whatsoever on the focus of the underlying window.
You could do a setfocus from keymap.xml to do your diagonals (and <onfocus> to do the action and then setfocus back to the middle control or whatever)
Cheers,
Jonathan
Thx a lot for your help here my good man. Really appreciate your infinite patience. As always, your comments direct me to other things I haven't thought of. Cheers!
I've finally managed to get this working to my liking. The artwork is a little rough, but for the brief moment it's onscreen, its passable.
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t127/Grooving_Kiwi/JumpSMS_Shot.jpg
The remote has been configured to work like such. Press button two and the SMS Window pops up. The center "focused" button is for initial focus (click "Select" to Close). Use any of the buttons in the 8-way cursor (for diagonal control) to fire a button. The buttons are auto-action (no need to click). Eg. The "back" button (wxyz) will jump the selection to the first movie starting with "W". Pressing the same sequence again (2 + back) will cause the title to jump to "X"...again to "y" etc.
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t127/Grooving_Kiwi/Dvdremote.jpg
When the buttons fire, they automatically set the default focus to the cover. This was helpful as I have myvideonav.xml file default as (60) - the scrollbar. I've given it some conditional visibility so it is only active in the video section (could be used for music, programs, pics I guess but not tested).
I'm happy I can now do this with one button (2), as my other number buttons are mapped to other functions. I still have some nagging questions about certain parts of the code, but want to play with it some more so I can be clear about what's going on. Really appreciate the help - David.
althekiller
2008-09-25, 07:09
Any reason to forgo the more obvious SMS keymap of 2-9 on the keypad? This would make it much more teenage girl friendly :p
Any reason to forgo the more obvious SMS keymap of 2-9 on the keypad? This would make it much more teenage girl friendly :p
Yeah, I know, but I've mapped all the number buttons to global functions. I had one button to play with, so I gave myself a mission :grin:
rwparris2
2008-09-25, 08:38
Plus 3,6, & 9 control volume since the original remote doesn't have any dedicated volume buttons
althekiller
2008-09-25, 10:11
You should be able to remap them specifically for the sms dialog.
You should be able to remap them specifically for the sms dialog.
I have remapped the buttons for the SMS dialog (So they only work in that window), but you can't have focus on the cover view (which you need for the JumpSMS to work) while the SMS dialog is open, and when it closes the remote buttons return back to that windows keymap.
The best thing really would be a remote with more buttons - nothing easier than pressing the 2-9 buttons several times to make it jump. Currently though, I only have the xbox one. I'll get one of those multi-remote thingees one day. As it is, this works surprisingly well.
TeknoJnky
2008-09-26, 01:13
Nicely done KidKiwi, I like it alot.
Could you perhaps put up some instructions and/or the files necessary to use for this?
...perhaps put up some instructions and/or the files necessary to use for this?
Hope to at some point. Still have a few things I"d like to sort out first.
Does anybody know if this is possible (the JumpSMS events) on Windows with EventGhost?
I am using the XBMC plugin for EG, but it doesn't seem to include the JumpSMS events, only the regular number events :/
Lol, I really hate when people post questions before having exhausted their options and now did it myself :p
After a little thinking, I went into the __init__.py file in EventGhost\plugins\XBMC and changed the number 2-9 events from number2-9 to JumpSMS2-9 respectively.
Basically, under ACTIONS = ( replace the number 2-9 actions with:
("Number0", "Number 0", "Remote number 0.", "Number0"),
("Number1", "Number 1", "Remote number 1.", "Number1"),
("Number2", "Number 2", "Remote number 2.", "JumpSMS2"),
("Number3", "Number 3", "Remote number 3.", "JumpSMS3"),
("Number4", "Number 4", "Remote number 4.", "JumpSMS4"),
("Number5", "Number 5", "Remote number 5.", "JumpSMS5"),
("Number6", "Number 6", "Remote number 6.", "JumpSMS6"),
("Number7", "Number 7", "Remote number 7.", "JumpSMS7"),
("Number8", "Number 8", "Remote number 8.", "JumpSMS8"),
("Number9", "Number 9", "Remote number 9.", "JumpSMS9"),
Works like a charm :)
sipontino
2009-02-08, 20:29
hey many thanks for that tip :nod:
Great big thank you! See the search does work. :laugh: