Unofficial Secret Extra v5-6 UI Features

[nielm]

Originally Posted by brookb

Whenever the secret features of Malore are turned on, the menus start showing up in 'tranlucent layers', for lack of a better term.

You have a custom background image set, but it is missing...

With the secret features enabled, go into detailed setup/customize and select a new background image (Background.jpg is the default)
OR
edit sage.properties (or sageclient.properties) while sage is shut down and remove the line
'ui/background_image='

[brookb]

Niel apparently has seen this problem before (menus fading in translucent layers), because he was right on the money. Thanks Niel. The background image was missing, and once I selected a real background image, the problem went away.

I appreciate it!

Brook

[Opus4]

New for Version 6:

• All search screens that show immediate results (such as Search by Title) now have an option to Search using One Touch Numeric Text Input. Thanks to an idea and sample code from nielm, you can use NTE on these screens with the results list showing everything that the NTE characters could possibly match. The search field will show the text found in the first result and the NTE hint line will show the first few possible matches for the input so far.
  
  Example: To search for "The", you just have to enter '843' instead of '84433'.
  
  This can be enabled/disabled via the Options menu on the search screens where it is available. (Remember: search screens such as Search All Fields do not show immediate results & thus do not have this feature.)
  
  
  
• The Music, Photos, and Imported Videos menus have "Extra" options available via the pop-up Options menu. Among the possible choices:
  • Quick Filter with One Touch Numeric Text Input - When viewing a long list of items, start entering the name of an item via letters or numbers. The list will be filtered to show only the items containing the text entered. (Normal setting: jump to the next item that starts with the number/letter entered.)
  • Search using One Touch Numeric Text Input - As described above, searches find all items that NTE input could spell.
  
  
  
• Updated the disk space bar code with Niel's changes for more accurate space estimates for upcoming recordings. For digital recordings, there is a setting for the Mbps value to use for space estimates. It can also now display space estimates in hours, in addition to gigabytes, or automatically alternate between GB & hrs.
  
  
  
• Added views for Partial Recordings. To view all the partial recordings, click on the disk space bar at the top of a menu, then click on the text describing how many partial recordings there are (hidden hot-spot for a mouse click), or simply go to the Schedule Recordings menu to select "Extra: View Partial Recordings".
  
  Your current SageTV Recordings Style menu will be used to list the partial recordings. Make that selection in Detailed Setup -> Customize. The partial recordings can be grouped & sorted like any other set of recordings.
  
  In Detailed Setup -> Customize -> Malore Menu Options, if you enable Watched Bars, the Partial Recordings screen will use a red & green bar to indicate what section(s) of each show are recorded.
  
  
  
• Added items to the pop-up video or group options menu:
  • When viewing Partial Recordings, the pop-up video options menu includes an option to delete all eligible partials. Some partials, such as currently recording shows, are not deleted.
  • Added total file size to the video & group of videos pop-up option dialogs.

- Andy

[Opus4]

A reminder for the v6 beta testing process:

Please make sure to revert back to a completely default setup w/o the hidden extras turned on before submitting any bug reports. If the default setup works and the problem turns out to be in any type of customization (including these hidden features), please describe those issues in the forum. For the hidden features: I will check the STV code and follow up with SageTV if it happens to be a core issue rather than an STV coding mistake on my part. Thanks.

- Andy

[Opus4]

Due to an issue found when using the malore style menus that could result in 100% cpu usage, a fix was found & the updated test STV is available below:

Download: MaloreMenuTest.zip

Unzip the file & place its single content (MaloreMenuTest.xml) in the same directory as SageTV3.xml:
<install path>\SageTV\STVs\SageTV3

There is no need to close SageTV. Just go to Setup -> Detailed Setup -> Advanced & load MaloreMenuTest.xml as your STV. (Load it, don't import it.)

This fix will be in the next v6 beta release. After installing the next beta, most clients will automatically revert back to SageTV3.xml. For an MVP client, you may need to remember to manually revert back to the default STV.

- Andy

[Deadbolt]

Originally Posted by Opus4

Due to an issue found when using the malore style menus that could result in 100% cpu usage, a fix was found & the updated test STV is available below:

Download: MaloreMenuTest.zip

Unzip the file & place its single content (MaloreMenuTest.xml) in the same directory as SageTV3.xml:
<install path>\SageTV\STVs\SageTV3

There is no need to close SageTV. Just go to Setup -> Detailed Setup -> Advanced & load MaloreMenuTest.xml as your STV. (Load it, don't import it.)

This fix will be in the next v6 beta release. After installing the next beta, most clients will automatically revert back to SageTV3.xml. For an MVP client, you may need to remember to manually revert back to the default STV.

- Andy

Will this fix also help with CPU issue with v5 and Malore menus or is this only a fix for v6?

Thanks,

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by Deadbolt

Will this fix also help with CPU issue with v5 and Malore menus or is this only a fix for v6?

I wasn't aware there was a cpu issue with v5. But, the STV I posted above is only for v6 & won't work for v5.

- Andy

[Opus4]

V6.0.16 has updated code for the Disk Space Bar at the top of the screen such that the data is updated in the background, so it should cause less interference with any screen redraws or menu transitions, especially when the recording directories are network locations.

In addition, the Disk Space Bar Options now contains a new option to set the Average Recordings bitrate. You can choose to enter a custom bitrate to be used for upcoming recordings, use the bitrate of the default recording quality, use the average bitrate of the existing recordings, or use the average expected bitrate for the upcoming recordings. The custom setting can be useful when you have digital capture sources. This setting will affect the estimated number of hours of recording space remaining.

Thanks to nielm for doing most of these changes.

- Andy

[nielm]

(Forwarded from 6.0.16RC1 thread)

Originally Posted by mayamaniac

- The top disk space status bar shows zero hours when in SageTV Recordings or Guide. To fix it, I had to disable it and re-enable it. This goes for the MVP, SageTV Client and Placeshifter.

Zero hrs free, or zero hrs required? Which sage recordings menu (default/malore/etc) Were the yellow/green bars correct? Any imports?

Can you also attach your logfile when this happens

[Opus4]

Important:

Until some more debugging is done, I suggest that no one use the disk space bar while using an MVP or the Placeshifter client. The disk space update code doesn't seem to shut itself off properly when a remote client disconnects (or else I just had a wierd fluke), so until that is resolved, just turn the disk space bar off for all remote clients. If running in service mode, you would have to restart the service to clear out any left over background updater code.

If you have noticed extra cpu cycles getting eaten for no good reason & you've recently used an MPV or PS client with the disk space bar turned on, this could be causing the problem.

- Andy

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by Opus4

Until some more debugging is done, I suggest that no one use the disk space bar while using an MVP or the Placeshifter client.

OK, this should be fixed for the next release, but I still suggest that the disk space bar not be used on a PS or MVP client until the next update comes out.

I'll post a coding suggestion for other STV developers using forked looping threads when I have more info & am sure of the best solution.

Edit: The updated STV is part of the v6 release (v6.0.18) and can also be found in the downloads section.

- Andy

[Opus4]

There haven't been many changes to the hidden features for v6.2. So far, the only changes are:

1. The custom background image property has been changed to ui/BackgroundImage. If that property is blank, it won't be used. Also, at Detailed Setup -> Customize -> Set Background Image, you can choose to clear the custom BG image after selecting any image file. (Or, better yet, just create a theme that has the BG you want & leave this property blank.)
   
   
2. One Touch NTE searching/filtering now only shows results in lower case, so it doesn't list "the" and "The" separately.

That's it... wasn't that exciting?

- Andy

[Opus4]

There hasn't been a lot of changes to any of the hidden features lately, other than using a graphic as the selection highlight & non-selected BG in the malore menus.

I'm curious about one thing I've been debating doing: For the malore menus, I've been considering leaving the left side as-is (I like seeing 12-15 items), but changing the right side to use half the number of rows so that each row is double height & can thus have more room to show details about the airing/recording. Is this something anyone else would like?

And, even if there is interest beyond just me, note that I don't know when I would do it as my official to-do list is still fairly long.

- Andy

[rickgillyon]

I'd like to see the feature (please!), but configurable in the options so it can be switched on and off. In 6.2.6?

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by Opus4

There hasn't been a lot of changes to any of the hidden features lately, other than using a graphic as the selection highlight & non-selected BG in the malore menus.

I'm curious about one thing I've been debating doing: For the malore menus, I've been considering leaving the left side as-is (I like seeing 12-15 items), but changing the right side to use half the number of rows so that each row is double height & can thus have more room to show details about the airing/recording. Is this something anyone else would like?

And, even if there is interest beyond just me, note that I don't know when I would do it as my official to-do list is still fairly long.

- Andy

I vote for this feature also. I'm currently using the Malore Multi-Pane Enhancements STVi (003a) to provide this. The other enhancement that would be nice (unless I'm missing something) would be able to sort the list on the left side also. For example I would like to have it sorted by newest instead of alphabetical. Just a thought.

Gerry

[srothwell]

Originally Posted by Opus4

There hasn't been a lot of changes to any of the hidden features lately, other than using a graphic as the selection highlight & non-selected BG in the malore menus.

I'm curious about one thing I've been debating doing: For the malore menus, I've been considering leaving the left side as-is (I like seeing 12-15 items), but changing the right side to use half the number of rows so that each row is double height & can thus have more room to show details about the airing/recording. Is this something anyone else would like?

And, even if there is interest beyond just me, note that I don't know when I would do it as my official to-do list is still fairly long.

- Andy

Andy,

I agree with the others. That would be nice, but please make it configurable. My wife and I are really used to (and like) the malore stuff the way it is.

Thanks!

Stacy

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by srothwell

Andy,

I agree with the others. That would be nice, but please make it configurable. My wife and I are really used to (and like) the malore stuff the way it is.

Thanks!

Stacy

I totally agree with you any changes should be configurable. I use the malore menus all the time. I cannot get used to or like the default menus.

[sainswor99]

I'd be more interested in making the default UI have some of the features that I like about the malore menus, ie.:

--Groups that are sorted alphabetically, shows that are sorted by some other method.
--Grouping of movies into one solid group, so I don't have to scroll through individual films; another option would be to move the movies out of the recordings view on the default UI altogether.

What other options make the malore menus palatable? I do like the split view, but I could live without it.

[Opus4]

If I were to make this change, it would probably be an option.

Originally Posted by gplasky

The other enhancement that would be nice (unless I'm missing something) would be able to sort the list on the left side also. For example I would like to have it sorted by newest instead of alphabetical. Just a thought.

The left pane is sorted by the type of grouping & I'm not sure that any other sorting options for that side would make much sense when the list is viewed, other than perhaps a new option to use ascending or descending order.

If you group by date, it will list the left side in the order of when things were recorded. The right side could then be sorted however you wish for each day.

I keep bringing this one up recently because I think it is a little-used feature on the malore menus: look into the Custom4 command to create alternate views within each malore custom menu. The next version will have a UI option to set the number of alternate views available. You can quickly toggle between differently grouped/sorted/filtered views of the same data. I'm also debating using FF2/REW2 to more easily switch forward/back between these alternate views.

- Andy

[srothwell]

Originally Posted by Opus4

If I were to make this change, it would probably be an option.

The left pane is sorted by the type of grouping & I'm not sure that any other sorting options for that side would make much sense when the list is viewed, other than perhaps a new option to use ascending or descending order.

If you group by date, it will list the left side in the order of when things were recorded. The right side could then be sorted however you wish for each day.

I keep bringing this one up recently because I think it is a little-used feature on the malore menus: look into the Custom4 command to create alternate views within each malore custom menu. The next version will have a UI option to set the number of alternate views available. You can quickly toggle between differently grouped/sorted/filtered views of the same data. I'm also debating using FF2/REW2 to more easily switch forward/back between these alternate views.

- Andy

Hey Andy,

Here's how I use malore menus now:

For SageTV recordings I have the left side sorted by Title and the right side sorted by Original Air Date.

For Upcoming recordings, I have the left side sorted by Date and the right side sorted by date. That way I can see everything grouped by the day then sorted by when it will record.

I also use the customs as well. I have one that is grouped on the left by channel and on the right by Title. The other is grouped by title and sorted by Date. I use these about once a week to quickly scan through my favorite channels to see if something's on I want to watch.

Stacy