XAML Tips and Tricks

[BMovieBen]

50 minutes ago, y2guru said:

If you use the COMMUNITY Theme creator then you can achieve exactly what you are requesting

I figured you'd say that ? - I finished my first cut of the theme juuust before you released the tool.  I am afraid that I'd have to start over from scratch though if I switch now... ? so it's a last resort for me with this theme.  I'll definitely start with it if I make another theme though.

Edited April 27, 2020 by BMovieBen

[y2guru]

I think you could re-do your theme in a few hours using the creator 

[BMovieBen]

1 minute ago, y2guru said:

I think you could re-do your theme in a few hours using the creator 

Me: takes deep breath

OK I will try it when I have some time!

[BMovieBen]

12 hours ago, y2guru said:

If you use the COMMUNITY Theme creator then you can achieve exactly what you are requesting

So I've rebuilt most of the theme in the community theme creator (which is, incidentally, pretty sweet).  That said...it's not working for this situation.  I imported a game to my library that has no cart image.  I specified the below in my theme, where you can see the placeholder image for this specific game in the editor...

And yet when I look at this game in BigBox, it's still being overridden by the fallback settings in LaunchBox:

12 hours ago, neil9000 said:

I think we already have this  dont we? Try dropping these folders into Launchbox/Images/Platforms/Nintendo 64 and see if it works.

This doesn't seem to work when you put these images in a theme folder.

[BMovieBen]

11 hours ago, faeran said:

Try something like this.

<Image Source="{Binding Path=SelectedGame.CartFrontImagePath, FallbackValue='pack://siteoforigin:,,,/Themes/[theme]/Images/Default/Nintendo 64.png', TargetNullValue='pack://siteoforigin:,,,/Themes/[theme]/Images/Default/Nintendo 64.png'}" />

However, like y2guru suggests, this is built into the COMMUNITY Theme Creator, along with a ton of other functions that are not currently possible with just xaml.

So for a brief portion of a second you can see the fallback image there, before the LaunchBox settings take over and load the fallback there (box art in my case)

[y2guru]

5 hours ago, BMovieBen said:

So for a brief portion of a second you can see the fallback image there, before the LaunchBox settings take over and load the fallback there (box art in my case)

Take a look at your bigbox settings, options then images 

[y2guru]

9 hours ago, BMovieBen said:

So for a brief portion of a second you can see the fallback image there, before the LaunchBox settings take over and load the fallback there (box art in my case)

My bad...   @Rincewind did some testing as I’m not in front of launchbox/bigbox 
 

Go to launchbox , disable all priority images associated with cart front.  Then the fallback image you specified via the creator will be displayed

 

[BMovieBen]

@y2guru Yeah I was hoping to avoid telling theme users to have to do that.  This is why I am asking to have the option within the theme creation to override the LaunchBox user settings for fallback images.

[ReenigneArcher]

3 hours ago, BMovieBen said:

@y2guru Yeah I was hoping to avoid telling theme users to have to do that.  This is why I am asking to have the option within the theme creation to override the LaunchBox user settings for fallback images.

I know this is not ideal and may be a lot of work, but you could include all the cartridge images with your theme and use a custom image. The BannerBox theme does something like this which was created using the community theme creator as well. I haven't messed around with the theme creator much but I believe it can create the images in a somewhat automated way.

[ReenigneArcher]

I have a couple of question about wheels.

1. Is it possible to have a wheel that has a start and end, instead of automatically looping? Similar to how the default theme handles favorites and recent on the PlatformWheel1FiltersView.
2. Imagine the default theme PlatformWheel1FiltersView... Is it possible to hide the wheel when you highlight a favorite or recent item? By hide, I mean the whole screen would slide left until the wheel is off the screen.
3. Is it possible to have a wheel that combines text and an image? For example the xaml could generate the system name next to a custom clear logo?

And about transition presenters... Do the following always return favorites, and recent? Are there other filters that can be used similarly? I noticed the recent list always starts with recently played, and then shows other games that have never been played (I assume recently added).

<transitions:TransitionPresenter Grid.Row="3" TransitionSelector="{Binding TopBoxesTransitionSelector}" Content="{Binding TopBoxesView}" />
<transitions:TransitionPresenter Grid.Row="5" TransitionSelector="{Binding BottomBoxesTransitionSelector}" Content="{Binding BottomBoxesView}" />

It would be nice if you could show more filters like separated recently played and recently added. Maybe top rated (by community) games. Maybe recently released games.

[viking]

Hi everyone !
Quick question:

In GamesViews, to call the game "Genre", here is the piece of code given by @Jason Carr :

<TextBlock Text="{Binding Path=ActiveGame.GenresString}" Foreground="White" />

It works very well, but when a game has multiple genres, they are separated by a semicolon.
Is there a way in the XAML to replace the semicolon? I would like to move from :
     Action; Adventure
To :
     Action / Adventure
Yes, with the space to ?

Thx guys !

[y2guru]

13 minutes ago, viking said:

Hi everyone !
Quick question:

In GamesViews, to call the game "Genre", here is the piece of code given by @Jason Carr :

<TextBlock Text="{Binding Path=ActiveGame.GenresString}" Foreground="White" />

It works very well, but when a game has multiple genres, they are separated by a semicolon.
Is there a way in the XAML to replace the semicolon? I would like to move from :
     Action; Adventure
To :
     Action / Adventure
Yes, with the space to ?

Thx guys !

Not without a plugin/converter 

[viking]

4 minutes ago, y2guru said:

Not without a plugin/converter 

Damn ! Thx Y2guru
@eatkinola Are your super plugin from the Swiss army able to do that? ? ?

[y2guru]

58 minutes ago, viking said:

Damn ! Thx Y2guru
@eatkinola Are your super plugin from the Swiss army able to do that? ? ?

Download theme plain n simple carbon 3.0 (Pasc 3.0) it contains a lightweight plugin that I built that has some converters you are looking for, the views utilize these converters so you have something to copy/paste

Edited May 27, 2020 by y2guru

[eatkinola]

On 5/27/2020 at 7:49 AM, viking said:

Damn ! Thx Y2guru
@eatkinola Are your super plugin from the Swiss army able to do that? ? ?

Hey viking. I don't have a plugin that currently does that, but it sounds like there is already one in the Pasc theme that would work. If not, let me know and I can put something together; would be pretty easy.

[syncy]

Hey all, I've started to further @faeran's startup and shutdown theme (StageBox) with disc animations and platform specific cover spines, but I've hit a snag with triggering animations on the game shutdown / game over screen.

On the Game Startup screen, animations are fairly easily triggered via `NowLoadingText`:

<TextBlock Grid.Row="0" Grid.RowSpan="3" Grid.Column="0" Grid.ColumnSpan="2" Text="{Binding Path=NowLoadingText, NotifyOnTargetUpdated=True}"
Foreground="Black" HorizontalAlignment="Center" VerticalAlignment="Center" FontSize="1" Typography.Capitals="AllSmallCaps">
  <TextBlock.Triggers>
    <EventTrigger RoutedEvent="Binding.TargetUpdated">
      <BeginStoryboard Storyboard="{StaticResource Load}"/>
    </EventTrigger>
  </TextBlock.Triggers>
</TextBlock>

For the Game shutdown / game over screen, `GameOverText` would be ideal but I don't think that's available. Are there other routes available in the current build? I'm a XAML noob so maybe something I'm not thinking of?

I tried Image.Loaded but that happens on Game Startup and stays loaded to memory, which means the game over animations are finished within seconds of launching the game (or however long the animation lasts, which can be repeated forever at slow speed, but I can't set keyframes or eases this way). I also tried triggering with MouseEnter on the canvas, but looks like that starts right away as well.

Here's a vid of the startup screen working at least. A nice little disc popping out of the case and spinning up... 

[syncy]

Update. I went a little nuts with the N64 startup :P. Been charging ahead on this all day!

So far I have startups for all CD based games (PS1, PS2, PS3, DC, GC, Xbox, etc.), top loading systems (so far just N64 but will be SNES, Genesis, and more once I find decent front images of the consoles), and a custom jobby for PSP (as seen in the vid below).

Still no idea how to get the little guys back in their boxes on game shutdown due to trigger issue. Hopefully someone can help. 

[BMovieBen]

1 hour ago, syncy said:

more once I find decent front images of the consoles

Let me know if you need any. I've got a bunch. 

[syncy]

@BMovieBen definitely take what I can get. Thanks. Are they direct front views?

[Rincewind]

@syncy these are really looking cool. Do you use a default Cart or CD image if non are found?