20 replies to this topic

[barend]

Hi

 

I'm a bit, er, visually challenged: all the skins for Openpli seem to have whites-on-black which as in my perception are quite overblown.

So I'm looking for a greyish (or other lower contrast) skin for Openpli in combination with my new Vu+ Duo2.

On my previous Dream DM8000 I had Brushed Aluminium but I don't know if that's installable on Openpli; can't find much info for it on the web either...

 

Anybody willing to help out here?

 

Thanks

Barend

(NL)

 

[WanWizard]

If you find a skin you like, colors are easily changed. Only if the skin uses a lot of graphical elements takes a bit more effort.

 

I use this skin, which used some odd blue-ish color, which I changed to a soft-yellow in under 10 minutes... Shouldn't be to difficult to change it (and the default white text) to a darker tone...

Attached Files

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•  screenshot.jpg   44.14KB   367 downloads

[sjlouis]

Hi WanWizard,

 

How do you do to modify a skin? I tried to download "skin editor" a few years ago but I can't reach how to use it (I don't remember what was the problem).

 

I've little problems with kerni-hd1r2 but I like it very much. I don't like black colour of other skins, I've some difficulties to read text in this colour.

 

Thank you .

[WanWizard]

It's an XML file, so any text editor will do. Most editors out there are useless, as the OpenPLi skin renderer has features not present in the DMM code (for which most editors are designed).

 

You need to be able to visualize the "2D playing field", but if you have any experience in frontend web development, it shouldn't be too hard, as it is basically the same process as positioning div's...

 

Changing colours is every simple, at the top of the skin.xml there's an alias list of colour names to colour codes (same hex system as used in HTML), so find the widget definition you want to change, check the colour name used, look at up at the top and change it. Note that colour names are often re-used a lot, so if you only want to change one element, it's better to add a new colour name, and use that.

[sjlouis]

Ok, thank you. I'm going to look at these files but I've never seen a XML file. Thus I think it will not be easy to discover that. I shall see if I can't do anything, if I can modify the colour of another skin or if I can modify kerni-hd1r2 where the field of the movie titles delete the beginning of the date for the previous years. Information about the OpenPli version are also missing.

 

There are several screens in a skin (screens of the menu, screen EPG, screen MoviePlayer...). Is it easy to find every screen? Have they titles?

 

What is the interest of the plugin skin editor?

 

Do I do these modifications on a PC? Is there a good text editor to do that? Notepad++?

 

Thank you ?

[WanWizard]

I haven't seen Windows in years, so I either use vi on the box, or Geany on my PC (which runs Linux).

 

I made major changes, so I changed the skin.xml myself, But it is also possible to override parts of the skin.xml with a custom file that is outside the skin folder, but I've never used it, so you'll have to search for it.

 

Every screen has a name, and although some are not that obvious, with the name and the items defined in the skin it's usually not so difficult to figure out what it does. What I usually do if I want to change colours globally, is change it so something very obvious first, like bright green or so. And then use it for a few days, so I can see exactly where that colour is used. Then you know where to look, and what the side effects are of changing a colour...

[sjlouis]

Ok. Is vi a plugin? Do you connect a keyboard to the box to do modifications?

 

When you write skin.xml, is it a generic file which allows users to modify it or it's a generic word for every skin (the skin can be kerni-hd1r2 for example).

 

I hope I could find some informations and ideas about this subject on the forum .

[WanWizard]

No, it's a linux editor (http://en.wikipedia....m_(text_editor)).

 

The skin.xml defines the entire skin. It contains the colour definitions, fonts used, image mappings, and definitions for all screens and widgets. The overrides go in skin_user.xml, a search might give more info.

 

There is a little bit of info about skins here: https://sites.google...gma2-skins-info

[sjlouis]

Waouaw! The dark clouds are rising up in my brain .

 

Sorry for my ignorance .

 

The link you wrote give informations and an editor which allows to modify a skin on the PC, That's right?

 

How can I use Vim? Do I have to install it on the box? How? I only know the command "opkg install file". Do I have to open a telnet session from the PC to execute Vim?

 

As I said, in kerni-hd1r2, the movie titles delete the beginning of their creation date. Are there informations about the fields in the screen : width, height, police size...?

 

Thank you WanWizard .

[WanWizard]

vi is installed by default.

 

But if you have never used it, read up on it first, since it has a character interface, not unlike WordStar in the 80's (if you are that old). So I don't think you should go that route. And if you're that old, you can also install mc, which is a Norton Commander clone which has a pretty decent editor.

 

But for most people I think it' s a lot easier to use the samba share from your PC, connect to the box, and open the file in any editor that supports utf-8 and unix-style line-ends, like Notepad++ or UltraEdit.

 

I haven't seen any proper documentation about the possibilities of the skin renderer. I just try and see that the effect of my change is...

[sjlouis]

Yes I'm old but I still try .

 

I use Notepad++ with Windows 7. Do I have to use a Linux version and to install it on the box? Thus I think it's not graphic.

 

Thank you for your help .

[WanWizard]

From Windows, you can just go to \\<ip-of-your-box>\Enigma. If you need other shares, just edit /etc/samba/smb.conf on the box.

 

From there you can just access the files on the box, using your favorite Windows tools...

[littlesat]

For windows and editing python, cpp, xml, perl files etc... I recommend komodo free edit.

[sjlouis]

Ok, thank you .

 

This night, I quickly looked at this. I have sought the skin files on the demo. First, I got kerni-hd1r2.xml. I copied it on my PC (I don't know if it's a wrong solution, I haven't found how to do otherwise) and opened it with Notepad++ but there are only 15~20 lines . I have sought skin.xml file, I found 3 files which haven't the same size. I took one and I've seen how it is constructed . I have to discover what are all these instructions. After, I've seen a lot of skinfiles.xml, in fact all the skins we can install. I don't know why because I haven't downloaded them.

 

Some questions : skin.xml is the parent of the other skins or is there a skin.xml for every skin? kerni-hd1r2.xml (for example) is a children of skin.file or I haven't taken the good file?

 

You said it's better to use Komodo, Is there a problem with Notepad++? All the plugins are made with Python?

 

I don't know if I'll have enough time this week-end to continue because I want to install Oscam to use the 39 Canal+ card + other jobs in the house .

 

Thank you for your help .

[WanWizard]

The skin.xml defines the skin elements, so there is one per skin. There is one in "/usr/share/enigma2/", which is the default or fallback skin. And there is one in every "/usr/share/enigma2/<skinname>/".

 

Any editor with utf-8 and unix line-ends will do (afaik Notepad++ is fine).

 

Plugins are indeed written in Python. You have to be a bit careful with skin related Python code. A lot of skins aren't designed for OpenPLi, and overwrite existing Python code, making your box instable or simply not boot at all.

[sjlouis]

Thank you WanWizard. What is the word "afaik"? Notepad++ is not so perfect. A user told me to use DosEdit to correct something, line-ends perhaps, because my script.sh file didn't work.

 

On this matter is it possible to execute a script.sh from the box without using a session from the PC? This script allows me to backup weekly the records to another hard disk and it would be more convenient to execute it directly from the box (the PC and the box are not on the same level of my house).

 

The only skins I use is the standard skin (Pli-HD I think) and kerni-hd1r2. They work fine. I don't like the colour of Pli-HD and I prefer to have the video on the right. And kerni-hd1r2 is fine, just a little problem to see the previous years dates in the Movie Player and an update information in the menu. I'm going to see if I can find more informations or example on skins (in supplement of your link) and if I can do something.

 

Thank you WanWizard .

[theparasol]

afaik means "As far as I know"

Using notepad++ myself all the time here, the not working issues must have another cause.

[WanWizard]

afaik = "as far as I know" 

 

As for Notepad++, that works fine, as long as it's setup properly: see http://stackoverflow...cter-in-notepad

 

If you want to automate a process on the box, look into "cron". It allows you to schedule execution of scripts.

[sjlouis]

Waouaw! I'm not very easy in English, if you use complex terms ...

 

Ok for Cron but I have to connect the backup disk. After the backup I disconnect it. And if it isn't connected... That's why I wanted to have the possibility to execute a script file .

 

Thank you for NotePad++, I shall see it even if I use it also for Windows.

 

[WanWizard]

Then you'll have to telnet to the box and start the script. Technically you could start something automatically when you plug in the backup disk, but if you're not into Linux, I would not go that route...