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Author Topic: Customizing Theater View  (Read 2001 times)

zimmy

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Customizing Theater View
« on: November 05, 2020, 04:55:11 pm »

Is it possible to save your customized Theater view layout?  I recently upgraded to Media Center 27.  I got my settings how I liked them, then the program installed an update and poof everything went to default.  Couple hours of work gone.  Before the update I'd saved to a zip file, but when I installed the backup it didn't restore my customizations.  For example, I removed Genre from Audio and added something to display music with more than 2 channels.  I want it to stay like that and not randomly revert to default after an update etc.

Appreciate any help.  Thanks.
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wer

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Re: Customizing Theater View
« Reply #1 on: November 05, 2020, 05:07:44 pm »

Before the update I'd saved to a zip file..
I have no idea what you mean by this.

There is no way to specifically save Theater View configurations. This has been requested, but not implemented.

However, MC can make Library Backups, and perform Library Restores.  This process backups and restores all your settings, including your Theater View configuration and views. MC also makes library backups automatically periodically, but I don't know if it made one after you made your changes but before your incident.

Read this article to learn how to make and restore library backups, and you can also use the info you learn to see if an automatic backup was made that will help you recover your work.
https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Library_Backup
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zimmy

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Re: Customizing Theater View
« Reply #2 on: November 05, 2020, 05:24:29 pm »

I have no idea what you mean by this.

What I'm talking about is in the options where you edit Theater View there is a selection to choose your Theme.  In that dialog there is an option "Create zip file of current theme..."

I assumed that would save all the customized settings but I see it does not.  I will look at the backup options you suggest.  Thanks. 
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wer

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Re: Customizing Theater View
« Reply #3 on: November 05, 2020, 06:22:58 pm »

Themes are the purely graphical elements: colors, background images, etc.

Themes have no influence on the data displayed, like removing Genre from audio.

You saved your theme.

What you had been editing, with removing Genre from Audio, etc, was the View.  So you'll need the info in that article.

Good luck.
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glynor

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Re: Customizing Theater View
« Reply #4 on: November 05, 2020, 11:54:46 pm »

What I'm talking about is in the options where you edit Theater View there is a selection to choose your Theme.  In that dialog there is an option "Create zip file of current theme..."

This option under Theater View's setup here:


Allows you to save Theater View's graphical theme. This is made up of the files on disk here:
C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center 27\Skins\Theater View\Themes\Default


That allows you to change the default art shown in Theater View on various screens, like these:




What you describe here is modifying the Views in the Library of MC:
For example, I removed Genre from Audio and added something to display music with more than 2 channels.

The Views you define, down here:


Those have nothing to do with the Themes. They are all part of the Library. When you modify them, they do persist from version to version. This is true even, generally, when you upgrade to a new major-version, such as MC26 > MC27, because the installer auto-migrates the active Library from the old version to a new Library in the new version.

Firstly, are you sure you're not trying to change this from a Client copy of MC? You can only modify the Library Views (including Theater View) on the server system itself. If you do it from a client, it will reset each time you quit and relaunch the client.

To modify the Views in MC, whether you're changing Standard View, Theater View, or the Media Network Views (for JRemote, Panel, etc) you must do it on the server system.

You can, of course, make a backup of these settings. MC does so automatically. It is included in the Library Backup. However, the Library Backup saves all settings, including those under Options > Theater View. It does not include Skins, nor any custom artwork you create and put in your Themes folder. Hence the Theme-saving ZIP option described above.

If you did, indeed, modify the Views in Theater View successfully, and somehow lost them, they might be in an old Library Backup. As I said, MC makes these automatically.

However, if you were trying to do it from a Client-copy of MC, this will not work, and you may have lost the effort. You have to do the changes from the Server, or they vanish when you close and relaunch the Client.
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zimmy

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Re: Customizing Theater View
« Reply #5 on: November 06, 2020, 01:07:54 pm »

Firstly, are you sure you're not trying to change this from a Client copy of MC?

Thanks I think this is my issue.  Didn't realize the behavior of clients.  Appreciate the tip
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