STV Import: Dynamic Customisable Main Menu (v6.4 20/Dec/2007 for SageTV 5.0/6.0)

[JREkiwi]

The default menu.xml from http://www.sage-community.org/~nielm...config_3_3.zip is the same as the Sage Default STV menus.

The thing that is different is that the default STV no longer has borders around the menu items. I hacked Nielms import to make it look like the Default STV. Neilm's version and this hacked one don't reimport well, so it needs to be loaded into a clean STV.

I use flachbar's importer http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/down...?do=file&id=71, a great tool for reloading all your imports in one go.

Neilm, feel free to nuke this if it offends.

John

[davidk21770]

Is there any way to get a menu to go into multiple columns?
I'd like the main menu to do this (since I added the stuff that I usually dig for right up front ).

Thanks.

[sleonard]

Originally Posted by JREkiwi

The default menu.xml from http://www.sage-community.org/~nielm...config_3_3.zip is the same as the Sage Default STV menus.

...

John

The version 5 menus are not the same as in Nielm's import. V5 moved several things around and added menus as well. For example, the built in Weather menu is under Online Services in the Default and up one level in Nielm's. Also, V5 moved/added menus in the Setup menu (Help, Sage Manual, System Info, etc.)

Scott

[ToonGal]

Nielm,

Took the advice that v5/stock STV works with dynamic menus perfectly. I used to use your menu system when I used Cayars STV. Love it.

Only problem I've found so far is that the "Online Services" internal screen does not seem to be editable. Right click / ESC both bring up "Video Menu Options", and not your dynamic editor. I want to add all external online services (including the IMDB I want to test), to this menu, because Weather defaults back to it.

Is "Online Services" something that can be modified with your utility? Read some of the other posts, and it only confused me more. Especially the v5 version that someone 'hacked'. We use v5. Should we use your menu stvi or the 'hacked' one with v5?

Current status: Used your default stvi, and added menu item "Internet Services" with all the services desired, including "Weather". Just interested in knowing if I can make it 'perfect', since Weather links back to "Online Services" internal screen.

Pretty sure I did it right, and it does look slick. Saw your post in the other thread and hoped to have this all working before David wakes up. Thanks for any additional help you can give. Will test IMDB now.

Thanks, hun!

[nielm]

yeah, weather links directly back to the original 'Online Services' menu, which is not bypassed by default.

You can manually bypass this in studio -- after importing the dynamic menus, copy the 'beforeMenuLoad' child of the Schedule Recordings menu and paste as reference into the OnlineServices menu

This will be fixed in the next version (coming soon) along with a load of new features.

[jlabrue]

Originally Posted by nielm

yeah, weather links directly back to the original 'Online Services' menu, which is not bypassed by default.

You can manually bypass this in studio -- after importing the dynamic menus, copy the 'beforeMenuLoad' child of the Schedule Recordings menu and paste as reference into the OnlineServices menu

This will be fixed in the next version (coming soon) along with a load of new features.

Sweet! I like to here "Coming soon..." and new features. Can't wait!

[jimmyb]

Sorry I am reposting this here. Makes more sense.
Niel,

On your Wiki page you recommend DL'ing the Gant images for the menu icons. I never really did that (after 2 plus years LOL) and just recently installed them. I was very impressed and so I sought out his website and other (more) icons ... WOW.

Question is ... is there a way to add some more icons to the menus (especially the ones we add thru Dynamic Menu) easily, or is this a job of the Studio??? I would like to use some Icons for some of the custom links I have added.

Thanks and great job (as always)

[nielm]

Icons can be added for the dynamic menu items:
check the docs
(it involves manually editing the xml file to specify the icons for each menu item)

[blade]

Originally Posted by jimmyb

Question is ... is there a way to add some more icons to the menus (especially the ones we add thru Dynamic Menu) easily, or is this a job of the Studio??? I would like to use some Icons for some of the custom links I have added.

I've been wondering the same thing, but haven't taken the time to dig for an answer. I either want to add more icons or remove the ones I have because I've added so many menus it looks funny to have over half with and half without icons.


Edit:

Thanks, I'll have to look into that when I get a chance.

[jimmyb]

Thanks much Neil .. I shall start playing

[rsagetv99]

Originally Posted by Tomahawk51

Same thing here. Am I missing something?

I am having the same problem. Could I work around the problem by editing the menu.xml file manually? If so could you give me the syntax?

[rsagetv99]

Originally Posted by rsagetv99

I am having the same problem. Could I work around the problem by editing the menu.xml file manually? If so could you give me the syntax?

To answer my own question, yes. The syntax that worked for me was as follows. The red bold is the title of the menu item and the external program to be run.

            <actionMenuItem
              title="Delete DVD Queue">
              <actionList>
                <sageCommand command="Power Off"/>
                <extCommand
                   window="normal"
                   command="C:\Batch\Del_DVD_Que.bat"
                   arguments=""
                   waitforexit="0"
                   />
                <sageCommand command="Power On"/>
              </actionList>
            </actionMenuItem>

[owilsky]

Originally Posted by rsagetv99

To answer my own question, yes. The syntax that worked for me was as follows. The red bold is the title of the menu item and the external program to be run.

That's all in the docs at the sage-community page.

[rsagetv99]

Originally Posted by owilsky

That's all in the docs at the sage-community page.

I couldn't find it, but thanks for pointing that out after the fact.

[jbarr]

I would like to duplicate the "Upcoming Movies" menu item, but apply a different sorting method and different name to the new menu item. For example, I would like one menu entry to read "Upcoming Movies by Title" and one to read "Upcoming Movies by Date". I would apply the appropriate sorting in each. The problem is that when I use the "Copy" selection and "Paste" selection in the menu editor, I get duplicate entries, and whatever I do to one affects the other. So how can I create a "unique" menu entry that duplicates the function of another yet is separately renamable and separately modifiable?

Thanks!

[nielm]

answer 1: change the options of one of guide1/2/3 in the custom schedule views to do the sorting/filtering you want, then rename the menu item

or answer 2: edit the STV to add a new top level menu which which does what you want, then add it as a new Internal Screen menu item

[nielm]

v 5.1 6/Oct/2006 for sageTV 5.0/6.0
Bug fixes:

• fix file browser when adding external program
• bypass Online Services and Help internal screens
• use 5.0/6.0 menu style (no borders)

New Features

• Better options menu screens for menu editing
• Search/Library/Setup shortcut keys now work properly
• Other shortcut keys can now be defined for menu items (but only work inside the menu system
• Copy menu items as text to windows clipboard for easier editing.
• Uses sage's fading animation between menu pages
• Ability to paste menu items as text from windows clipboard
• Confirmation prompts for menu items
• Pin codes for menu items (protect that 'setup' menu)
• block all menu edits and protect with a pin code
• NTE for text prompts (no need for a keyboard any more!)
• improved disk space bar--used record quality for favorite and tuner when calculating disk space required
• Disk space bar now aware of HDTV recordings -- use options to set estimated HDTV bitrate
• Now includes Default menu files for SageTV 4.0/5.0/6.0 (default_menu_vxx.xml), and auto-loads the correct file based on version.
• Ability to load/save as other filenames (makes it easier for extenders to have different menu files)
• better XML handling: should now handle non-Latin characters with no problem.
• Better handling of FSE mode when launching external apps (options to cancel and restore Fullscreen mode)
• Advanced: ability to execute studio code before launching a menu... This allows some cool features -- watch this space!

(why 5.1? Why not!)

[Mike]

Thanks Nielm!

I appreciate the work you've put into this. It definitely makes sage nicer to use.

MBrew

Edit: corrected typos

[nielm]

The copy/pasting allows MenuItemLets to be published -- here are some examples (for SageTV v5.0)

Both use studio code to setup variables before launching menus:

Copy all the text in the box below, then do Options/New../paste
and you should have a new menu item that will always go to the root video library folder (instead of the previously selected one)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="no"?>
<!DOCTYPE sageMenu PUBLIC "-//NIELM//DTD SAGEMENU XML 1.3//EN" "http://www.sage-community.org/~nielm/nielm_modules/dynamic_menu/sagemenu_1_3.dtd">
<sageMenu version="1.3">
    <internalScreenMenuItem icon="STVs\dynamic_menu_icons\mm_video.png"
        screen="Video Library Folder View"
        title="Imported Videos -- Root">
        <evalExpression>AddGlobalContext("CurrentVideoFolder", null)</evalExpression>
    </internalScreenMenuItem>
</sageMenu>

A variation on this is a menu item that always goes to a specific folder, in the example below, it is the "kids/" subfolder of the video import folder. Note that this path has to match exactly that shown in the V5 video library browser.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="no"?>
<!DOCTYPE sageMenu PUBLIC "-//NIELM//DTD SAGEMENU XML 1.3//EN" "http://www.sage-community.org/~nielm/nielm_modules/dynamic_menu/sagemenu_1_3.dtd">
<sageMenu version="1.3">
    <internalScreenMenuItem
        icon="STVs\dynamic_menu_icons\mm_video.png"
        screen="Video Library Folder View"
        title="Kid's Videos">
        <evalExpression>AddGlobalContext("CurrentVideoFolder", "kids/")</evalExpression>
    </internalScreenMenuItem>
</sageMenu>

Note for V6 beta users, these menuitemlets will use the V5 style imported video browsers, which some users may prefer, but which may no longer be supported

(there are some V6-specific menuitemlets on the wiki page)

[dagar]

Awesome Nielm! Pin codes!