noob questions about skin editting

[buffotoad]

I apolgize for these questions. I have read and re-read the documentation and done searches, but there is so much that I don't understand about skin editting. Please bear with me:

1) I am in skin edit. I am looking at a screen for playing music. There are control buttons across the top (play, visualization, search, etc). From my limited understanding, it appears that the area is named 'controls_music' I would like to move or copy some of those controls to the control area of another screen. How do I do that?

2) Same music screen. There are pictures of the covers for the albums in my music database. When I rollover them, the songs on the album are displayed. To me, it appears that this area is named 'bc_photos.png'. I would like the artist's name or the album name to be displayed under or above the cover. I hghlight the area, go into the 'category - layout' tab, and try the different settings (menu scroll right, nocover default, etc). The display of the covers changes from setting to setting, but none of the settings displays the artist name or album name above or below the cover art. What is missing?

Thanks for any help.

[P3rv3rt B3ar]

Did u notice the display field? there u specifie textual database fields as variables which are shown with cover art if any.

[buffotoad]

P3rv3rt B3ar - thank you very much for the help. That is exactly what I was looking for. I went into the display tab before, but it is cryptic to a beginner like me and I didn't have any idea that was what it controlled.

Thanks, that took care of question #2.

[buffotoad]

Anybody have any help for question #1?

[P3rv3rt B3ar]

mayby this thread is helpful to u:

http://www.xlobby.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4803

[buffotoad]

How do I select only one of the icons from a control group?

For example, the main screen of the skins has a row of icons across the top which controls 'watch movies', 'play music', 'look at photos', 'shutdown', etc.

Is there a way to choose only one of those icons so that I can delete it, or copy/paste it?

[rembetis]

umm, open the skin editor and click on the icon. you will see a white selection marquee are the item/button if it is selected. then copy and paste (use the goto tab to go to the new screen. make sure caps lock isn't on).

perhaps you are in setup (F2) instead of the skin editor (pause/break)?

or perhaps you are trying to edit one of the few skins that use category style menus instead of standard buttons? what skin is it?

[buffotoad]

I am modifying the Elements skin. I think it uses the category style menu because I cannot select a single icon.

I tried again, making sure that I was in skin editor, but still the same results.

How would I move or copy a single icon if it is part of a category style menu?

[rembetis]

hmm... /i have no experience with that skin or category style menus. easiest way i think would be to copy and paste the portion of the menu database you want duplicated into the database of the second screen. Open the xml file for "controls_music" in the databases folder within element, try to locate the entry that corresponds to "button" you want, then copy & paste into whatever xml represents the control menu database of your other screen.

or you could edit the databases via setup--adding the new entry by hand, after checking its values in the "controls_music" database.

make sure to save a copy of the skin before you go mucking about.

[Colby]

or you could edit the databases via setup--adding the new entry by hand, after checking its values in the "controls_music" database..

Yep if the menu is a category it will have a database. Edit the refered database manually in the setup menu. You can add/sort/remove entries and attributes here. The advanced tab lets you set commands for the entries.

[buffotoad]

Yes, editting in setup was the way that worked.

I had tried to do it that way before asking for help. I had done it correctley but I forgot to add columns to the category display so my additions didn't show up. Since I wasn't sure that what I was doing was the correct way, I fiddled with it for a while and then figured it wasn't the correct way to add items. So I asked for help.

But when you told me that was how it should be done, I kept fiddling with it until I discovered I had to add the columns.

Thank you all very much for the help.