STV Import: Malore Menus for SageMC

[BobPhoenix]

This plugin adds the Malore Menus from the Default STV to SageMC. This plugin is ONLY for SageMC not for the Default STV. Also this will only work with flachbar's version of SageMC. This plugin was developed on SageTV V6 but should be importable in V5. But it does not contain any of the changes made to the Malore menus in the Default STV for SageTV V6. You can download it from the standard download forum.

This plugin adds all of the Malore menus including the Recordings, Archived Recordings, Recording Schedule, Guide, Guide2, Guide3, Upcoming Movies, Series Premieres & Specials and Viewing History.

The layout has been adjusted from the Default STV version to make it in fit better with SageMC. Specifically the heading is a SageMC heading and the preview window is in the lower left corner and the description is in the lower right.

The functionality remains the same as the default STV with the following exceptions. When the preview window has video playing the left pane is does not wrap. This is to allow the view windows to be selectable. Also if video is being previewed that will be what is selected when the Malore menus are first opened. Please check the graphics below for some same screen shots.

When you install this you will still have to link to the main access menu the plugin does not do this. You may use one of the Custom menus on the main menu or you can use the My Menu dynamic menu to link to it. You can also map to the individual Malore Menus if you want. To access the main access menu you need to look for "Xtra: Malore Menus" to add to the Custom menu options or to My Menu.

The following is the main selection menu for the Malore menus:


The following is the layout of the Malore menus in SageMC when there is no video preview window.


The following is the layout of the Malore menus in SageMC when there is a video preview window.


The following shows the standard configuration window it should be virtually unchanged from the Default STV.


And the following are the Malore menu options from the menu above. In the default STV these options are also available in Detailed Setup > Customize but with this plugin they are only available here.


The following image shows the ComSkip bar - similar (same exact code actually) as the Program Info screen displays. You can turn this on if you turn on the ComSkip Options in the Malore Options screen.


If you have problems/suggestions please post to this thread and I will try to answer the questions and fix the problems.

NOTE the current version will not install on top of itself. Also I don't think I need to include the df_sageutils.jar anymore but I did just in case. In any event only use the version I included if it is newer then the one on your system.

To Do List:

1. add code to install on top of itself
2. improve efficency of the menus to improve startup time - note this is the same as the default STV but I want to see if I can make it better.

2006/10/8 - Initial release of version 0.1.0
2006/10/10 - Added the ability to change the font and font style in the options menu.
2006/10/10 - added the Left As Back code that was left out and added the ComSkip bar code between the description and the tables.
2008/04/12 - replaced the download area version with the current 0.4.5 version - this version was updated to 6.3.6b+ compatibility

[Enormous]

Excellent work! Can't wait to try this out.

I do have one question: is it possible to change the font style so that it more closely matches the font in SageMC?

[domc]

So if I read this right, you can have BOTH kinds of menus. The SageMC ones and the Malore ones in SageMC since I can use dynamic menus?

I would like to try this but don't want to install it and then decide I don't like it.

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by Enormous

Excellent work! Can't wait to try this out.

I do have one question: is it possible to change the font style so that it more closely matches the font in SageMC?

I could but I was trying to merge the two styles and the fonts used in the Malore menus in the default STV seemed to match better. When I tried a SageMC font it was too big for the display. But I can try creating my own version with a smaller size however.

BobP.

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by domc

So if I read this right, you can have BOTH kinds of menus. The SageMC ones and the Malore ones in SageMC since I can use dynamic menus?

I would like to try this but don't want to install it and then decide I don't like it.

If you don't link to the main or subordinate menus with My Menu or one of the Custom ones you would never even know you have it installed. If you don't like it then just unlink it and go back to just the regular. Also you should note this does not replace the SageMC menus these are just an addition to the regular menus.

BobP.

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by Enormous

Excellent work! Can't wait to try this out.

I do have one question: is it possible to change the font style so that it more closely matches the font in SageMC?

Actually you can change the font right now if you want. Just change the following properties in the property file:

multimenu_menu_font_face=Verdana
multimenu_menu_font_style=Bold

I will work on making them changable in the options menu. Note when you change these it would change in the Default STV as well since the code was just copied.

BobP.

[BobPhoenix]

Have a bad problem with this plugin. Don't select View Additional Airings or View Historical Airings they either don't work or they lock up the GUI session. I'm trying to find out now what is different between the STV version I developed and the import I created from that version. Sorry about that.

BobP.

Edit: I must be tired. I just reimported this again and found it was the changes I was trying above that were causing it not anything in the current release.

[Enormous]

Originally Posted by BobPhoenix

Just change the following properties in the property file:

multimenu_menu_font_face=Verdana
multimenu_menu_font_style=Bold

I will work on making them changable in the options menu. Note when you change these it would change in the Default STV as well since the code was just copied.

Thanks! I'll check it out.

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by Enormous

Thanks! I'll check it out.

Actually if you download the new version I just uploaded (V0.2.0) it will allow you to change the font name directly from the options menu. You will need to be able to enter text so can't change this on an MVP currently. Next version will include NTE (Numeric Text Entry). But this should work until I can get to it. Also the default is now Arial which I believe is the SageMC default font. If you have enabled the Secret Extras with the Default STV at any time however you will have to change the font from Verdana.

BobP.

Edit: also in the next version - the ability to import on top of itself.

[ellweber]

I'm really embarrassed but I just don't see the link for this download!

Can someone point out the obvious to me, please?

Lynn

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by ellweber

I'm really embarrassed but I just don't see the link for this download!

Can someone point out the obvious to me, please?

Lynn

Sorry if it was in the first post I must have edited it out . Go Here. Am fixing the first post now.

[ellweber]

Originally Posted by BobPhoenix

Sorry if it was in the first post I must have edited it out . Go Here. Am fixing the first post now.

Thanks Bob.

[ellweber]

I really like what you have done Bob. Three things I miss are:

1) not having the bar that shows the SA/Comskip markers on the detailed view of a recording (bottom pane of the recordings view in this case)

2) Left as back doen't seem to work on the Malore "Sage TV Recordings" view

3) Doesn't seem to get along with evilpenguin's DVD burning plug-in to show an option to "Send To... -> Burn to DVD"

Is there a chance of looking at these?

Thanks,

Lynn

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by ellweber

I really like what you have done Bob. Three things I miss are:

1) not having the bar that shows the SA/Comskip markers on the detailed view of a recording (bottom pane of the recordings view in this case)

Is this something in SageMC or was it from the Malore Menus? I tried not to change any code I didn't have to in them I just changed placement and appearence so in theory it should work just like the default STV but maybe I missed something.

2) Left as back doen't seem to work on the Malore "Sage TV Recordings" view

I'll see what is happening here.

3) Doesn't seem to get along with evilpenguin's DVD burning plug-in to show an option to "Send To... -> Burn to DVD"

Never used it as of yet will try it out and see what I can do.

BobP.

[ellweber]

I believe it is a component of SageMC that Dirk has added. It is really nice to see that the commercials are reasonably accurate, at a glance, so you can disable or enable automatic commercial skipping as needed.

See attachment for an example.

Lynn

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by ellweber

I believe it is a component of SageMC that Dirk has added. It is really nice to see that the commercials are reasonably accurate, at a glance, so you can disable or enable automatic commercial skipping as needed.

See attachment for an example.

Lynn

If I add that it will reduce the program info displayed but how about this as an option. It already displays shading that shows the watched progress on each entry how about if I do something similar for the comskip bar. Then you will be able to see the comskip display for each entry in the right hand pane. Not saying I will actually be able to do it but I'm going to try that rather than adding it to the program info area.

Note #2 was easy and I will be uploading a new version for that later tonight. #3 is harder only because I haven't installed or used the DVD burner plugin yet - may as well learn since I was thinking about it anyway.

BobP.

[ellweber]

Thanks Bob, pronto response!

Using the watched bar mechanism sounds great to me but then it would (possibly) show on multiple episodes at once. That would be good but might be more difficult to implement. I would gladly give up a little space at the bottom (or next to the title or just under the title) if necessary, it wouldn't have to be very tall really, to serve the purpose.

The DVD burn menu might be an issue with that import rather than your's. Of course, if your import were brought into SageMC as native then it would be easier to add others.

Lynn

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by ellweber

Thanks Bob, pronto response!

Using the watched bar mechanism sounds great to me but then it would (possibly) show on multiple episodes at once. That would be good but might be more difficult to implement. I would gladly give up a little space at the bottom (or next to the title or just under the title) if necessary, it wouldn't have to be very tall really, to serve the purpose.

The DVD burn menu might be an issue with that import rather than your's. Of course, if your import were brought into SageMC as native then it would be easier to add others.

Lynn

Well went ahead and added the ComSkip bar (see first post for screen shot) between the tables and the description. It just didn't look right on the listings themselves. If anyone is interested in this let me know. Since I copied the code I may be able to lighten the color and improve the look. Then you would be able to see all the airings that are displayed on the right pane with their ComSkip values.

Did not get to the compatibilty problem with the DVD burner yet will have to be the weekend most likely. One thing that I found out. If you do a LeftAsBack from the Program Info screen and it would take you back to one of these Malore menus you may not get it to respond. You should be able to recover with a regular back command. The problem is that the Menus do take a while to display and I think that is messing up the animations and that causes the GUI to appear locked. The safest thing to do if this happens would be to turn off the animations until I can figure out how to improve the response of these menus.

BobP.

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by ellweber

The DVD burn menu might be an issue with that import rather than your's. Of course, if your import were brought into SageMC as native then it would be easier to add others.

Lynn

There is an incompatibility with the DVD burner. Flachbar's import utility in the DVD burner is an older version than the one with this pluging and I found that you need to shut down the SageTV GUI and then extract this plugin and make sure the Jar file: 'df_sageutils.jar' from this plugin replaces the one from the DVD burner. Then start the SageTV GUI again and import it but make sure this plugin hasn't already been imported since it will not import on top of itself. In other words roll back to a previous version that just has the DVD burner in it. If you do that it will import fine - it did for me anyway. Mine will look like it imports correctly - it will even display the Malore menus - but none of the links defined in the import code work if you don't use the latest of flachbar's JAR files. If you follow the procedure above it should work. If you still have problems then zip up your STV and post it in this thread.

BobP.

[ellweber]

I'm a little confused but I think I did the original install in the sequence that you recommended. I had installed evilpenguin's plugin first and then your's. I double checked and the df_sageutils.jar was the version you included in your install package.

To be sure, I went back to the stv that had only the DVD burn plugin and then installed your's again. I may not be looking in the right place for the button, I can get to it by selecting "View Recording Detail" which sends me back to the "Program Info" screen but, I had been expecting it to be on the "Options for..." screen. If this is as you intended then I am sorry for the false alarm! I am attaching my stv and hte copy of df-sageutils.jar that I am using in case you want to take a look.

Thanks for fixing the left-as-back behavior and adding the comskip/SA bar. I am no expert on graphics but I think it might look a little better if it wasn't the full window width. Perhaps just under the right pane or???

Lynn