Beyond TV 4 Display Upcoming Recordings In XLobby

[buymeapc]

Let me preempt this by saying this is not a true plugin for XLobby.

This is an external application I scripted to simply display the upcoming recordings that I have for Beyond TV on an XLobby screen.
The prerequisites for it are simply to have Beyond TV 4 installed...it will not work with any lower version.



How it works:

The first time it is run, it will create an ini file in the same folder as the application is in with default settings:
- btv4uprecpath - This is the location of the upcoming recordings file that BTV creates. The application reads from this file to get all the info of your upcoming recordings for BTV. ***This setting should not be changed since this is the default location BTV creates it in.

- xldbpath - This is the location of the XLobby upcoming recordings xml database. This is generated by the application and any location can be entered in. Note: If the path entered does not exist, the application will prompt the user to create it.

- gmtoffset - This is how many hours behind/ahead of GMT you are. I live in Connecticut (USA), therefore my GMT offset is -5 (since we are observing daylight savings time, but normally -4.)

- duration - default setting - should remain 0 at all times.

Note: After the ini file is generated for the first time, the application will quit - no changes, settings, or anything has been done except for the ini file being generated.
The second time (and the rest of the time) it is run, it will create (or modify) the database in the location set in xldbpath in the ini file.




The way I have this set up currently is as follows:

I created a "dummy" category on my TV screen, named it "recordings" and made it hidden.
The database file (xldbpath in the ini file) was attached to the category.
Then, I created several text boxes showing certain info from the xml database such as: category>recordings>showname which will display the show's title.

Here's a screenshot of what my TV screen looks like with all the generated info at the top of the screen: screenie


That's about it....

Well, here it is: download

Please let me know how this works...

***UPDATE!

Now, ampersands (&) can be used in show names and descriptions
Download link has also been updated

[zap]

Awesome!
This is just what I needed. Since I spend more time using Xlobby than the BTV viewscape these days, it's very handy to see all my upcoming recordings at a glance. Nicely done!

I spent a little time setting this up via your post instructions, and it works perfectly.

I created a separate screen for my upcoming BTV recordings: Screencap

I linked the refresh button to run your application.

I left the recordings category visible on this page so I can mouse over the entries to see each upcoming recording listed in full. (I'm a total noob when it comes to tinkering with xlobby so don't know how to set up a more intuitive way to do that- any help on how to do so would be greatly appreciated. I'd love to have a list of the show names, or a numbered list rather than just the date/times if at all possible.)

Once again, nice work and thanks for a very helpful add-on.

[buymeapc]

Thanks for the reply!

To be able to show shownames instead of the dates, open the skin editor (Pause/Break button), select your category item from the default tab. Then, click on the category tab. From here, choose the general tab and you can choose to show text from the category. If there is no info in this area, then click the add button and you should see something like %display% -1 appear.

In the display text box, simply enter %showname% and in the width textbox, enter in 100%

Here's a screenshot of what I mean: screenie

If better clarification is needed, please let me know.

[zap]

Thanks, that did the trick!

[zap]

buymeapc,
I've noticed one minor problem, possibly a fault of xlobby iteself. When a show name contains an &, xlobby crashes when trying to load the database. I've merely opened the database in PSPad (since it adds line numbers) and changed the & to 'n'. Not a huge problem, since & in the name is probably not very common, but do you know if there a way to do this automatically or prevent xlobby from crashing when it encounters &?

[buymeapc]

I have fixed the ampersand issue so that XLobby can now read them properly. Please re-download the application using the link provided in the first post.

[zap]

quite simply, you rock!

Thanks again!

[zap]

Buymeapc,
Any chance you can repost a download link again? I re-installed my main xlobby system without backing up the UpcomingJobs application. Incidentally, this plugin has been working great for me- very reliable.

From time to time, I've had the same problem as the & with other characters, most notably extended latin characters like: ãõň, etc. No biggie, though.

[buymeapc]

I've edited the link on the original post

Enjoy and thanks for the support!

[zap]

Thanks again!