This thread has produced some really great and innovative work, and has provided a much-needed improvement to the appearance to Theater View. Kudos especially to Lepa and Moe for leading the way on this.
I'd like to propose that we try and adopt some standards, to facilitate portability of these improvements. Right now, for example there is considerable variance amongst file names and field names. This makes it very difficult to move templates from one system to another. This inhibits adoption by new users, and makes it less likely JRiver will incorporate any of this into the app.
For example, I downloaded one of the templates available on this thread the other day, and literally NOTHING worked in terms of images or fields. All the fields names were custom, expected image names used by expressions did not match anything on Moe's site, and it didn't use the data populated by MCRatings. It might have worked perfectly on the original user's system, but a new user would have had to change practically everything to get it to work. So I think we should do something. I mentioned this to Lepa, and he felt it was a conversation that should be had.
To get the conversation started, I'll propose some default standards I think would be helpful:
Custom Tooltip and Theater View Template Proposed StandardsField Names: 1. All Field Names referenced should be stock field names, or when new fields are introduced for extended metadata, those field names as used by MCRatings, when possible. The app is actively developed, and is the easiest way for users to get started. MCRatings uses stock field names, except for the new fields it adds for extended metadata.
2. If a custom field name only exists in MCutils, it should be added to MCRatings if possible, but if it is outside the scope of what MCRatings can do, then templates should use the field name from MCUtils.
File Locations:1. All General Purpose tooltips, like format logos, should reside in the tooltip folder, so they can be accessed with tooltip: on every system. Hard-coded paths outside the tooltip folder should not be used.
2. Large sets of non-general purpose images can be grouped in subfolders of the tooltip folder. For example "Studios-" files could go in the tooltip\Studios directory.
3. Cast and Crew Images should go in the tooltip:\Images directory. e.g. <img src="tooltip:Images\Humphrey Bogart">
File Names:1. File Names should start with an appropriate prefix, to group files of similar use.
2. File Name Prefixes should match the Field Name they are used with followed by a dash, to facilitate ease of use in expressions.
For example: <img src="tooltip:studios-[Studios]"> (or <img src="tooltip:Studios\studios-[Studios]"> if using subdirectories)
3. The suffix on filenames (the part after the dash) should match the field contents it is used with.
So a good well-named file would look like:
channels-6.png and not
speakers-51.png in order that it can be accessed with <img src="tooltip:channels-[channels]">
4. If you upload image files to Moe's site, make sure the filename fits the accepted standards.
Fonts:1. If you specify font faces in your template, either use fonts that are included by default on Windows (and Mac?) or provide a link where the font can be downloaded.
2. Perhaps it is better that alternate font faces not be used, so that everything follows the font specified in MC preferences? Size, bold, italic, underline, alpha, and color of course present no issue.
Images vs Fonts:1. It is preferable to use individual image files rather than font characters to display special images like logos, for the following reasons:
a. Although the use of fonts for this is extremely clever and helps portability, it requires extensive expression language logic to implement and select the correct font character every time one is used. By contrast, properly named images can be accessed very simply and directly from the expression language, now that the "tooltip:" extension is present.
b. Image files can be easily added to or edited by the end user to allow additional customization. Fonts cannot, without obtaining and using special font editing software, and even then the process is considerably more labor intensive.
c. Expressions written using tooltip images are much more readable and easier to debug than expressions selecting individual font characters.
If I've left anything out of the above draft, or you think things need to be different, please chime in!
-Will
Author
Topic: Create Custom Tooltips/TheaterView Screens Using Dolby etc. Logos (Read 140543 times)