Displaying backdrop in folder without movie/music?

Hoover · December 30, 2013, 12:21am

Hi, my folder structure looks like this:

series/

Breaking Bad

Game of Thrones

Dexter

etc.

My wish: I want the SMP to display backdrops and general informations about the chosen serie on the level of the “series” folder.

I tried to give the folders of the different series the name of a file to force the SMP to use xml infos.

For example: If i name the folder “Game of Thrones.avi” and put a corresponding xml (“Game of Thrones.xml”) in the “series” folder, the SMP displays the xmls infos. But it does not display the backdrops, I wrote in the xml. Why not?

There seems to be a solution for my problem, but the link in this thread is down…

http://wdtvforum.com/main/index.php?topic=9546.0

Does anybody now, how Cylent’s trick works?

TonyPh12345 · December 30, 2013, 12:26am

What you’re doing comes down to an unexpected “feature” of XML display – it’s a hack of sorts.

There’s no way for it to do backdrops for folders.

JoeySmyth · December 30, 2013, 12:28am

Tony is correct, “Moviesheets” will not work for Folders (even with the file extension trick)

However, “Linksheets” will work for Folders

This is how Linksheets Work:

SHEETS FOR FILES: Rename the Moviesheet with a File Extension that matches your Movie File.
eg.
If you have… Watchmen.mkv then Rename your Moviesheet to Watchmen.mkv then cut and paste it into your Theme Folder.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SHEETS FOR FOLDERS: Rename the Moviesheet with NO File Extension
eg.
If you have… MYMOVIES folder then Rename your Moviesheet to MYMOVIES then cut and paste it into your Theme Folder.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The File Path to Place Moviesheets is the Root of your Theme folder (ie. where all the XML files are)
.wd_tv\theme\My Theme\ [Place Movie/LinkSheets here]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Finally the “Theme” designer includes these lines of XML code into their Theme which makes the “Linksheets” appear

For Gallery View: <image image=“@@browse_text” x=“0” y=“0” w="1280"h=“720” scale=“100” bg=“1”/>

For All Other Views: <image image=“@@focused_title” x=“0” y=“0” w=“1280” h=“720” scale=“100” bg=“1”/>

Hoover · December 30, 2013, 12:40am

Thanks, I will try it.

nobrakes2 · December 30, 2013, 3:55am

Could you add your own backdrops and code your xml to pull locally… thats what I did.

Drop the internet and everything still works.

Of course, drop the internet and everything works better… as in ‘us people’…LOL

use

.007 James Bond - A View To A Kill.backdrop/backdrop00.jpg
.007 James Bond - A View To A Kill.backdrop/backdrop01.jpg

instead of

http://cf2.imgobject.com/t/p/w1280/1N4CeQyy3kh1pqmTGvMU090sCvh.jpg
http://cf2.imgobject.com/t/p/w1280/gY5D80kK6QBgHa8c9aL3tx0aTEb.jpg

EDIT*** Hmmm I may have read that wrong. Looks like you are trying to add backdrops for a folder containing other files/folders. If thats the case, I have an idea, but I have not tested it.

JoeySmyth · December 30, 2013, 4:02am

@nobrakes2

Yes that will work fine for Files … but not for Folders (Only Linksheets will with Folders)

nobrakes2 · December 30, 2013, 4:03am

Wait a minute… can you explain this again. I think I am already doing this.

nobrakes2 · December 30, 2013, 4:13am

If you create a fake/zero byte avi file with the series name at that folder level, you can get backdrops but its still not a backdrop for the selected folder.

Its still not what you want tho… Im pretty sure that the other guys above are correct as this would only be a bandaid.

JoeySmyth · December 30, 2013, 4:14am

Explain ?

2 Methods for “Moviesheets”

1.Gravity_sheet.jpg will display a Local Moviesheet for a Movie file (i use thumbgen to automatically generate this)

It doesent work for folders even if you try the folder rename with extension trick (see here)

Linksheets work for Files and Folders (see above explanation)

P.S. The fake/zero byte file you refer to is also known as the Dummy File trick (see here)

pearl · December 30, 2013, 4:15am

nobrakes2 wrote:

Wait a minute… can you explain this again. I think I am already doing this.

nobrakes2, are you trying to understand how to make local backdrops with XML sheets, or how to make folder sheets using “Linksheets”. For folders, go back to the third post down by JoeySmyth and it explains how to make the linksheets for folders. For your SMP, you could do XML sheets for the individual movies, and a few folder sheets using the Linkhseet method. A mix of the two methods will get you the info and pictures for both.

It’s worth noting that for Linksheets if you decide to use them for some folders, they are really just JPGS of all the data, where the movie sheets pull the data from your XMLs to make the backdrop. So a change in the XML will change the info or metadata with your movie sheets. The folder sheets are static since they are a JPEG that will always stay the same unless you replace it.

Good Luck. It would be worth checking out the LiveHub Themes forum area to get some ideas and a good understanding of what you can do with each type of sheet.

-P

nobrakes2 · December 30, 2013, 5:18am

@pearl

no, I was just trying to understand better what was being asked…its getting late and I only have 1 eye left or is that I have only 1 left eye…

‘Can you get a backdrop to display when you hover over the folder’ is what it comes down to I imagine.

and for that answer, Its a no.

@JoeySmyth

ahh I understand the question better now.

animated gif changed to jpg extension??? I would imagine that would be like renaming a png to jpg. FAIL

and that still wouldnt give a backdrop… oh well I have no more on this.

JoeySmyth · December 30, 2013, 5:33am

nobrakes2 wrote:

@pearl

no, I was just trying to understand better what was being asked…its getting late and I only have 1 eye left or is that I have only 1 left eye…

‘Can you get a backdrop to display when you hover over the folder’ is what it comes down to I imagine.

and for that answer, Its a no.

The Answer is a definate “Yes” a Linksheet Backdrop will display when you hover over a Folder

@JoeySmyth

ahh I understand the question better now.

animated gif changed to jpg extension??? I would imagine that would be like renaming a png to jpg. FAIL

and that still wouldnt give a backdrop… oh well I have no more on this.

Who said anything about “animated gifs” ? that’s completely off-topic

Go to bed, come back tomorrow and re-read this thread when you’re awake

EDIT: Here’s a small Demo of Linksheets for Files and Folders (and Sub-Folders)

STEP1: Download this small Demo Movie Folder 1st (Extract and copy to USB and insert into SMP/HUB … this is to keep things as simple as possible)

http://www.mediafire.com/download/c6dcaslbxnfyvy5/MYMOVIES.zip

STEP2: Download this small edited Legacy Theme. (If you have an SMP upload the zip file … if you have a HUB extract the zip and upload the folder)

http://www.mediafire.com/download/d595asqrnarcble/LSTESTTHEME.zip

STEP3: Apply the Theme, and then browse to the MYMOVIES sample Folder to see the Linksheet Backdrops (within this folder are also sub-folders of Genres which also have Linksheet backdrops)