y2guru

For those of you itching to test out your existing Theme projects with version 2.5, here is an evaluation version. This build has all the features, but you cannot publish the Theme to BigBox and you cannot render Custom Images. To install : Download Right Click on the downloaded .ZIP file and ensure the zip file is unblocked Proceed to Unzip and place the COMMUNITY Theme Creator 2.5 Evaluation folder wherever you see fit I suggest copying your existing Theme Projects into this build so that you have a backup Changelog Feature New look and feel Feature Improved performance Feature Graphical Wheels are now displayed in all views Feature Unique wheel items can be created using the Wheel Item Template Modifier Feature New UI Element "Wrap" (WrapPanel) Feature Allow Unsupported .XAML files to be included within a Theme Creator Project Feature AspectRatio field - Displayable via Text and can be used for Visibility Conditioning Feature Ellipses and Rectangles can be used as Opacity Masks Feature SelectedItemIndex and MaxItems fields added to Views and Wheel Item Templates (Platform 1 of 32 or 1/32 etc..) Feature 2 Additional Aspect Ratios: 21:9 and 16:18 Added TextCompanioncConverter, this replaces 6 converters and simplifies the generated code as it generates less bindings Added Publish Theme (XAML Only) menu option. Generate the XAML code only without deleting/recreating the target theme folder (@undertherainbow) Added Modifier Alert to the Top Toolbar on the Main Window if Custom Image Rendering was interrupted Added "ThumbnailGameView.xaml" is copied from the Default Theme when publishing a Theme (overridden if Theme already has a version stored in the views folder) Added Playlist Specific View capability to Game Views Added New Wheel assists Changed Shadow Depth Maximum Value from 100 to 500 Changed Render Custom Images Window to be a fixed Size, the image being rendered resizes to fit the window (not the other way around) Changed Build Fake Rom List to create xml content within the .txt files (@beemanDev) Changed Application Startup - If no themes exist the Theme Manager button will indicate no Theme Selected, this replaces a blank screen and animated hand pointing to a menu Changed Source Editor - Alt + Scroll Wheel increases/decreases font size and added "Beautify" button that indents the XAML code Changed Wheel Search Index to not display when previewing a view in the Main Window Changed Wheel Properties to allow AutoSize - Useful for TextLists (@chinagreenelvis) Changed Code Generator (beautify) to eliminate any blank lines from being generated Changed the Theme Selection DropDown (Main Window) and replaced with a Theme Manager button, once clicked the Themes are displayed as Thumbnails Changed Grid and Canvas UI Elements to Allow Opacity Masks (Views, Custom Images and Wheel Item Templates) Changed Save - a .bak file is now created when saving/replacing a view/wheel item template/custom image Changed How data is a saved to a file - forced instantaneous save of data to spinning disk/ssd Changed Custom Image Renderer, uses .xml file to drive the rendering process Changed Appearance of the minimized Side Bar in the Main Window Changed Main Window (preview) to Generate XAML asynchronously allowing fast switching between Themes/Views and resizing of the window Changed Code Generator, Improved performance (preview, thumbnail generation, Custom Image Render, Publishing) Changed Launchbox Metadata lookups, now 7x faster! (Improves game list loading, selecting platforms, playlists, games, Render Custom Images and Preview and Editor performance) Changed Editor Properties Panel, now displays a Message when the Selected UI Element has been disabled/made invisible Changed Editor UIElements/Properties Panel - When clicking on the Padlock or Eyeball icons on a parent, the associated children are also affected. Changed Publish - ThumbnailGameView.xaml is copied from the BigBox Default Theme if one was not included within the Theme Project Changed Plugins - Consolidated to a single COMMUNITY Theme Creator Library 1.0 Changed UI Element/Properties Panel - Window size can be scaled by pressing Ctrl and Scroll up/down on the mouse wheel Changed Main Window Sidebar - Hiding/Showing is animated Changed Rectangle UI Element - Defined as Resource, RadiusX, RadiusY properties added Changed Ellipse UI Element - Defined as Resource property added Changed Application performance by loading Platform & Game Collection data into memory when the Application first starts Changed Editor Zoom level from 100%-500% to 10%-500% increments of 10% Changed Custom Image Canvas - Maximum Width and Height can be 9999 instead of being restricted to Desktop resolution (@Mr.Retrolust) Changed Conditioning Panel, when adding a new condition to a large list, the newly added condition will now be visible (no longer need to scroll down) Changed Editor - New Editor Menu option allows the user to specify the location of the Workspace (Diedrich Guenther) Fixed Element Properties Panel - Active Animations including Movement should prevent properties from being changed (broken in 2.3) Fixed Editor - Clicking on an Element (with Movement Animation defined) would result in a warning message being displayed without the associated Element Type Icon Fixed Element/Properties Panel - Prevent a group containing a Mandatory UI Element from being deleted. Fixed Slider Control to prevent accidental mouse over causing the value to change Fixed Angle Control to prevent accidental mouse over causing the value to change Fixed TextList for Game Details to ensure Font Size, Alignment, Formatting etc.. matches the Game List Fixed Windows such as ColorDialog to open in relation to where you clicked even if it was a secondary monitor Fixed Color Dialog - Dialog Window Title now changes based on the Color being edited Fixed Editor to NOT show "Animations have been disabled..." when editing custom images Fixed Build Fake Rom List - Invalid Characters in the game name (like tab) would cause the build process to stop (@beemanDev) Fixed User Defined Audio, if the editor or preview window is set to mute the element no longer plays a 1/2 second audio clip Fixed Custom Image Canvas - Do not allow Flip Horizontal/Vertical properties Fixed Intermittent crash when clicking Save or Discard Fixed Resizing UI Elements - occasionally the UI Element would snap to its pre-drag position if the mouse movement was too fast Fixed Performance Issues with MainWindow - Resizing Window,reloading view etc.. Fixed MainWindow & Editor: View Animations, Videos, Audio and Animations now stop when Window is minimized. Fixed TotalGameCount for all Platform Views, will use Selected or Active bindings (when corrected in BigBox) @retroNUC Fixed Intermittent crash when selecting a Theme Fixed Main Window - Top Toolbar would animate when restoring the Window to a non-Maximized state Fixed Opacity Mask Code Generation to be more efficient and consistent Fixed Stutter when displaying view on initial application startup Fixed Copy/Paste Size/position issue when Aspect Ratio is something other than Stretch Fixed Previews when displaying on an Ultrawide Monitor Fixed Previews, now utilizes the maximum space available Fixed Animation Editor when clicking Cancel after changes were made Fixed Animation Editor - Color values were not being retained when color animation is used Fixed Selected Item Audio Icon when in Editor, Icon was resizing when Aspect ratio was something other than Stretch Fixed User Defined Audio Icon when in Editor, Icon was resizing when Aspect ratio was something other than Stretch Fixed Enable Audio within the Editor, when manipulating UI Elements and screen is refreshed you would hear a quick audio clip Fixed Sizing of Main Window, occasionally cause a lock up and you would have to switch active applications (alt tab) to release the lock up Fixed Minimum/Maximum Width/Height for all UI Elements Fixed Main Window - Game List, tweaked performance and large lists are faster to load and no longer slows down the overall App's UI Performance Fixed Editor - Mouse Pointer would not show which direction a thumb could be moved when the element or parent was negatively rotated via an animation setting Fixed Editor - Padding Property was not being converted when Editor starts up Fixed Icons in the Main Window Menu - Inconsistent rendering Fixed XAML Source Editor - Zooming in/out using Mouse Scroll Wheel had no zoom limits and would cause app to crash Fixed Copy/Paste View - Pasting of a view is not successful unless you click the view and display the available configurations 1st Fixed Main Window Drag issue under latest build of Windows 11 - When dragging the window into a preset position, performing a subsequent drag would lockup the window Fixed Main Window - Mouse pointer would indicate the window could be resized when Window was Maximized Fixed Editor - Selected UI Element, Adorner Layer (the border drawn around the Element) was drawn incorrectly, the Top and Left position was 1 point off Fixed Publish when Platform Specific Views are defined - Published view name was based on the user's naming convention which may not match Launchbox Fixed Editor crash - No longer crashes when wheel is hidden from view (eyeball unchecked) and using the Game Pad to Navigate 146819197_COMMUNITYThemeCreator2.5Evaluation.zip

Selected item videos do not run in cover flow views. The cover flow wheel will be changed to use the newly released cover flow wheel

Since uploading the video, I made progress on the Game Wheels faster than anticipated Custom Images Custom Images for Games within a Playlist (I didnt render all games for the Game Boy Advance, hence i have 1 missing)

It didn’t come across as being critical at all 😁 it was great feedback and proved you watched the latest update. I’m my own worst critic!

Sections!

All great feedback !! i do agree with you regarding properties such as item spacing etc.. but in my defense whilst developing the code i simply wanted to make the properties available so that i can test the code generation, but with most things its a very iterative process and I do go back and clean things up.... and you know me, I love my sliders! I love the Theme Manager too! this was never in the roadmap but i hated how the dropdown response/glitch resulted in a random theme being selected so something had to be done. Just as above its iterative, I created a video literally 10 minutes after i got the thumbnail generator fully working which was not a 5 minute job. yes, the themes will be separated into their respective sections, i just wanted to get the basic mechanics down, but i still might add filters. i will be providing the ability to tag a view so that it will be used primarily for thumbs.