hi all.... this is my first plugin of any kind .... so I'm going balls to the wall....

I haven't even started using DVD profiler, but I know that my code can handle pretty much anything that DVD Profiler throws at it. What I would like to get your opinions on are what/how you would like "media objects" to be displayed...  let me give you just a little more info on what I mean:

If you wanted to display a list of the last 5 watched items you might want a mini version of the cover, no text. If it was a list of the latest additions you might want those displayed in some other way...

So what I would like to know how you might like to see it, because why should I decide how you experience your media library.....

display formats: little square, big cover with title below the cover etc etc etc

list formats: vertical lists, tiled, flowing left, only showing XX items, hide overflow, put a "more" button at the end of the list if it has overflow? put controls at either end of the list list a pseudo scroll bar...

image sizes: what are the different sizes available currently, do you have a need for more?

any other ideas that comes to mind!

I'll go ahead a thank all of you in advance....

I hope I haven't broken the "code" of the forums

--DC

Well I obviously did a little programming before!

The simple answer is that my plugin just need the data access objects to tell to point to the place  where the collection management stores/generates it - There are too many tools on the stage as it is.... No need to re-invent when you have a garage full of wheels. Both admin tool and the library browser should be so flexible that YOU essentially decide whatever properties and meta data you want on your media files. ..... my plugin is not aimed DVD profiler specifically .... it is a fully self contained app that will perform equally well in XP MCE, Vista MCE or a web browser.

Obviously the plugin will come with the most common things, but anyone are free to modify them or make new ones from empty templates. What drove me to do so much work that might never be used, is the fact that who gave me the right to decide how you should experience the media collection you have.

And to be honest I was not really happy with any of the solutions, because I couldn't adjust the library display like I envisioned it.  A couple in their mid 20s with a 2 year old daughter might have different need than a bachelor in his early 40s. They should each have a dashboard that reflects their needs.

a dashboard consist of a title section, optional mini panel that show details of the currently highlighted/selected items, optional menu along any of the 4 sides , and then finally 1-4 widgets is splitting the remaining space like you prefer.

A widget is made up several things:

a filter that defines the subset of data that can show up in this widget.
a navigation method that specifies how the meta data will be grouped/sorted for each step/time you narrow the displayed list. Each level also has the option to  say what "view" the media object should display and what list form. On levels other than 0 you can also decide if the widget expand to use the full widget container.

Finally you have the option to define how the keys/remote navigate from widget to widget ....
These are quite clearly not something you need to define, but I'm not going to be overlord what people would like, if they don't need it, just leave the navigation section in the xml definitions.

quick example: any widget can define what widget to jump when the cursor exists in 1 of 8 directions... like the main units on a compass, you only have 4 directions to navigate with a remote/keyboard, i take current cursor into consideration as well which gives me the bearing. So that if you exit south while being in the lower left quadrant you would jump to the SOUTH-WEST exit.

  ====================================
  ==                                                                        ==
  ==                                    1                                ==
  ==                                                                        ==
  ====================================
  ==                                  ==                                ==
  ==                2                ==                3              ==
  ==                                  ==                                ==
  ====================================

List mode is simply the method with which you would the objects organized in the widget... that could for instance be thart I would like a regular list with element floating left and wrapping. That particular list could have the object views rotated a random number from -20 to 20 degrees, which would give it a bulletin board look. So we know what the list looks like, but haven't decided how the objects are rendered.... and again..... the users would have the option to decide, but doesn't have to.

I might like big square images without text/title, you might want low and wide ones with no image and more text etc etc....

Wow.... turned out to be quite the explaination.

Finally let me just say that I personally wanted a more customized experience and couldn't find any tools that allowed that...My work on this would easier if I had skipped the hard stuff, but that's no fun either..... and if people are disturbed by this way of using content management methodology for media files, they are free to choose the one they prefer.

--DC

Quoting DreamCode:

Quote:
Well I obviously did a little programming before!

The simple answer is that my plugin just need the data access objects to tell to point to the place  where the collection management stores/generates it - There are too many tools on the stage as it is.... No need to re-invent when you have a garage full of wheels. Both admin tool and the library browser should be so flexible that YOU essentially decide whatever properties and meta data you want on your media files. ..... my plugin is not aimed DVD profiler specifically .... it is a fully self contained app that will perform equally well in XP MCE, Vista MCE or a web browser.

Obviously the plugin will come with the most common things, but anyone are free to modify them or make new ones from empty templates. What drove me to do so much work that might never be used, is the fact that who gave me the right to decide how you should experience the media collection you have.

And to be honest I was not really happy with any of the solutions, because I couldn't adjust the library display like I envisioned it.  A couple in their mid 20s with a 2 year old daughter might have different need than a bachelor in his early 40s. They should each have a dashboard that reflects their needs.

a dashboard consist of a title section, optional mini panel that show details of the currently highlighted/selected items, optional menu along any of the 4 sides , and then finally 1-4 widgets is splitting the remaining space like you prefer.

A widget is made up several things:

a filter that defines the subset of data that can show up in this widget.
a navigation method that specifies how the meta data will be grouped/sorted for each step/time you narrow the displayed list. Each level also has the option to  say what "view" the media object should display and what list form. On levels other than 0 you can also decide if the widget expand to use the full widget container.

Finally you have the option to define how the keys/remote navigate from widget to widget ....
These are quite clearly not something you need to define, but I'm not going to be overlord what people would like, if they don't need it, just leave the navigation section in the xml definitions.

quick example: any widget can define what widget to jump when the cursor exists in 1 of 8 directions... like the main units on a compass, you only have 4 directions to navigate with a remote/keyboard, i take current cursor into consideration as well which gives me the bearing. So that if you exit south while being in the lower left quadrant you would jump to the SOUTH-WEST exit.

  ====================================
  ==                                                                        ==
  ==                                    1                                ==
  ==                                                                        ==
  ====================================
  ==                                  ==                                ==
  ==                2                ==                3              ==
  ==                                  ==                                ==
  ====================================

List mode is simply the method with which you would the objects organized in the widget... that could for instance be thart I would like a regular list with element floating left and wrapping. That particular list could have the object views rotated a random number from -20 to 20 degrees, which would give it a bulletin board look. So we know what the list looks like, but haven't decided how the objects are rendered.... and again..... the users would have the option to decide, but doesn't have to.

I might like big square images without text/title, you might want low and wide ones with no image and more text etc etc....

Wow.... turned out to be quite the explaination.

Finally let me just say that I personally wanted a more customized experience and couldn't find any tools that allowed that...My work on this would easier if I had skipped the hard stuff, but that's no fun either..... and if people are disturbed by this way of using content management methodology for media files, they are free to choose the one they prefer.

--DC

     

Quoting DreamCode:

Quote:
For instance, I currently have 3 specialized lists: an iTunes cover browser, the Apple zooming toolbar and the my initial test version of a bulletin board ,..

Apropos cover browser: I just wish someone would write an application for IPod touch/IPhone where I can import my Profiler collection into. Sadly the IPod Exporter plugin does not work (as IPod touch - even jailbreaked - has no disk access mode in iTunes).

On iPod Touch jailbreaked we can install apache server so we can make an HTML export and store it on the Touch.

Otherwise we can access to the iPod by SSH connection but of course it's not so easy than with previous iPod.