New tools for Studio users

[GKusnick]

Yep, that's a bug. Version 0.3.2 coming up, I guess (but probably not until tomorrow).

By the way, whenever you manually edit the STVI in Studio to correct issues like this, be sure to delete the spurious Main Menu that Studio inserts when you open the file. Your posted STVI still has an extra Main Menu in it.

Edit: To clarify, this bug happens when you export a menu that has just one reference to it. So as a workaround you could create a second, dummy ref under an "If false" so that the menu exports correctly and you don't have to fix it up manually later.

[GKusnick]

OK, version 0.3.2 is up. The only change is the fix for Stanger's single-reference menu export bug above.

[Opus4]

I finally had time to install the update & focus now stays in place now after using the delete key. Thanks.

- Andy

[dflachbart]

Just a few suggestions in case you are still working on expanding your plugin:

• I use the 'Select Safe Subtree' all the time to identify referenced nodes in a menu (those which will not get selected). It would be great to have a functionality which actually highlights the referenced nodes instead of the 'safe' nodes, which would make them easier to identify
• paste reference before/after
• Menu search scope (currently I first select the 'whole subtree' and then do a "search selection", but it would be nice to have a shortcut)

Dirk

[GKusnick]

These are all good ideas. I've wanted the paste ref and search in menu functions a few times myself recently. Next time I release an update (not sure when that will be) I'll try to include these.

[GKusnick]

Version 0.4 of these Tools is now available. The biggest changes this time round are in reference list windows, which have been completely revamped with a new look, new controls, smart tiling of multiple list windows, and several new list types including variable references and search results. I've also abstracted the list machinery to separate the generation of the list data from the mechanics of presentation and selection, so it's now easy to add new list types.

Other changes include:

* Several new STVI features and functions, including the ability to set properties on pre-existing widgets at import time given a widget path, and to add custom STVImported code to your STVI before exporting it.

* New Search & Replace options, including whole-word matching, a new selection-and-descendents search scope, and the ability to display search results in a list window.

* A bunch of new editing and selection commands such as Paste Ref Before/After, Paste Above (between parent and selected child), Delete & Promote Children, and Select Shared Descendents.

* API wrapper functions for new V6.1 APIs.

I believe this covers all the outstanding wishlist items and then some. See the change log in the Javadocs for further details.

Click here for the download page.

[MeInMaui]

Please hold on a second while I pick my jaw up off the floor....

Ok that's better.

Wow, I can't wait to play with this. Thank you!

Aloha,
Mike

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by GKusnick

The biggest changes this time round are in reference list windows, which have been completely revamped with a new look, new controls, smart tiling of multiple list windows, and several new list types including variable references and search results.

While there are several nice changes, I'll have to say that I really like what can be done with the lists. Thanks again!

Edit: I thought of one thing after posting... is it posible to be able to assign hot keys for often used commands?

- Andy

[GKusnick]

Hotkeys would be handy. I'll think about how that might be done. (I assume you're talking about user-configurable hotkeys, not me hard-coding hotkeys for my favorite commands.)

[Opus4]

If they are user configurable, I suppose that would be nice, but if they have to be predefined for some reason, I'm sure that would be workable too.

I tend to use the right click pop-up menu as a last resort, so just being able to get to the commands quickly via the keyboard would be great. But, I have no idea what is involved, or even if you can add hotkeys...

Oh -- and I made good use of the new search lists & replace ability today. They make some work so much easier.

- Andy

[beelzerob]

*sigh*

I'm just re-introducing myself to Java again after a several month hiatus (and only barely knowing it then).

I'm trying to use these tools and the API, but I keep getting "Package gkusnick.sagetv does not exist" error.

At the top of my .java file, I have import gkusnick.sagetv.api;

And I set the classpath to point directly at the gkusnick.sagetv.jar file.

I'm sure I'm just missing it, but several java tutorial pages haven't shown me what I'm doing wrong here. Thanks for the help.

[GKusnick]

Originally Posted by beelzerob

At the top of my .java file, I have import gkusnick.sagetv.api;

You don't import packages, you import classes, like so:

import gkusnick.sagetv.api.API;

Or to import all the classes in a given package:

import gkusnick.sagetv.api.*;

[beelzerob]

Dang, I was only an ".API" short....

Thanks! I'll give it another try tonight.

[beelzerob]

Ok, I've managed to get it to compile, and I'm slowly converting all of my home-made API calls to yours. However, I have a feeling I'm not quite taking full advantage of the convenience of this stuff....for example:

returnVal = API.apiLocalUI.configuration.GetProperty("sageCQCserver/debugLevel", "1");

I'm guessing there's probably a much cleaner way to make this happen?

[GKusnick]

Well, you don't need to do that much qualification on every call, if that's what you're getting at. If you're going to be doing a lot of GetProperty calls, for instance, you could save a reference to API.apiLocalUI.configuration in a variable and use that instead. Typically I declare an api variable at the top of each class and then use it throughout the class:

private final API api = API.apiLocalUI;

...
api.configuration.GetProperty(...);
...
api.widgetAPI.GetAllWidgets(...);
...

But that's just an application of the general programming rule of using local variables to avoid repeating the same expression over and over.

[beelzerob]

Yep, that's what I was looking for.

I know once I get back into it, Java will become familiar again and I'll figure these things out, but I just got too rusty.

Thanks for the help, these API calls should make it a lot easier to add functionality to the CQC interface.

[GKusnick]

Heads up on a couple of issues that have reported to me by PM:

1. As of version 0.4, Export As STVI requires SageTV V6.1, not "V6 or better" as stated in the Javadocs. (It's expecting to be able to export the new ZOffset widget property, and will choke on earlier versions of Sage that don't support that property.)

2. The STVIs created by Export As STVI don't import properly on a Placeshifter or Extender client. The workaround is to do the import in the server UI or in SageTVClient, and then just load the resulting STV into your Placeshifter or Extender UI.

[beelzerob]

How does one go from Airing to Show? I can go from Media File to Airing via the Media File ID, but the Show class references an "external" ID to find the show. Is that the same ID? You can also set the "external" ID, which I don't recall you being able to do with the media file ID.

When using the Sage API directly, you can just use the same object as a media file, an airing, and a show. But I don't know how to do it via the tools.

[GKusnick]

Have you tried Airing.GetShow()? Similarly, you can get the Airing for a MediaFile directly using MediaFile.GetMediaFileAiring(), or go the other way with Airing.GetMediaFileForAiring(). These functions aren't specific to my tools; they're in the native SageTV API. All the implicit type conversions have corresponding explicit conversion functions.

MedaFileID is not the same as ShowID, which is not the same as AiringID. Each object type has its own ID space.

[beelzerob]

Oh, ok...that's much easier than what I was doing. I stopped looking at the Sage API docs, and was just looking from within your docs.

Great, those are a handy way to go from the media file to all it's pertinent data.