Guidance on creating a BigBox Theme

[CriticalCid]

Ah, gotcha. No that's currently not possible. Maybe worth another feature request

[billyc999]

i found a problem, i can make that bluebox trasparent but then it doesnt make it possible to know which game is selected without looking at the details, unlike the main menu where its always the center item selected and it grows

is it actually possible to do the same as the main menu for selecting a game? or will that be something to request

 

 

Edited December 12, 2016 by billyc999

[CriticalCid]

Like I said, you can use a horizontal wheel view for that instead. That should behave exactly like you have it described.

For using it in Big Box you have to activate it in the theme settings first though.

Just open your “ThemeSettings.xml” in your theme folder and set <DisableHorizontalWheel1GamesView> to false.

@viking has a view like that in his BigCouch theme. So if you need help for setting up the wheel than I would suggest to check his theme out and see how he has done it.

 

 

[billyc999]

perfect, thanks for that. id looked through viking theme screenshots looks cool.

 

**edit**

seems i added the wrong code

@viking

which xaml file has the code for the box style like this image

 

**edit** ok now i have found it...lol last one in the list wheelgameview

Edited December 12, 2016 by billyc999

[billyc999]

new dilema but im getting there

i just started adding the details publisher, developer, and year , then tested and noticed  the original info is showing on top of it

also not sure if its possible to have the likes of developer scroll if the name is too long

and last but not least i cant seem to get the boxes bigger in this view

here's image & code

<UserControl xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"



             xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"



             xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"



             xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"



             xmlns:transitions="clr-namespace:Unbroken.LaunchBox.Wpf.Transitions;assembly=Unbroken.LaunchBox.Wpf"



             xmlns:coverFlow="clr-namespace:Unbroken.LaunchBox.Wpf.Controls.CoverFlow;assembly=Unbroken.LaunchBox.Wpf"



             xmlns:i="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/2010/interactivity"



             xmlns:cal="http://www.caliburnproject.org"



             mc:Ignorable="d"



             d:DesignHeight="1080" d:DesignWidth="1920" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" VerticalAlignment="Stretch" Style="{DynamicResource UserControlStyle}">



    <Canvas Name="Canvas">



        <transitions:TransitionPresenter TransitionSelector="{Binding BackgroundTransitionSelector}" Content="{Binding BackgroundView}" Height="{Binding ElementName=Canvas, Path=ActualHeight}" Width="{Binding ElementName=Canvas, Path=ActualWidth}" IsContentVideo="true" />



        <Grid Height="{Binding ElementName=Canvas, Path=ActualHeight}" Width="{Binding ElementName=Canvas, Path=ActualWidth}">



            <Grid.Background>



                <SolidColorBrush Color="Black" Opacity="{Binding BackgroundFade}" />



            </Grid.Background>







            <Grid.RowDefinitions>



                <RowDefinition Height="38*" />



                <!--TIME-->



                <RowDefinition Height="64*" />



                <!--SPACER-->



                <RowDefinition Height="17*" />



                <RowDefinition Height="36*"/>



                <RowDefinition Height="38*"/>



                <RowDefinition Height="39*"/>



                <RowDefinition Height="38*"/>



                <RowDefinition Height="38*"/>



                <RowDefinition Height="325*"/>



                <!--DETAILS & VIDEO-->



                <RowDefinition Height="21*" />



                <!--SPACER-->



                <RowDefinition Height="362*" />



                <!--WHEEL-->



                <RowDefinition Height="64*" />



                <!--SYSTEMDESCRIPTION-->



            </Grid.RowDefinitions>



            <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>



                <ColumnDefinition Width="154*" />



                <ColumnDefinition Width="38*" />



                <ColumnDefinition Width="375*" />



                <ColumnDefinition Width="10*"/>



                <ColumnDefinition Width="306*"/>



                <ColumnDefinition Width="77*" />



                <ColumnDefinition Width="768*" />



                <ColumnDefinition Width="38*" />



                <ColumnDefinition Width="154*" />



            </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>



            <Image Source="H:\LaunchBox\Themes\custom\Elements\gameviewback.png" HorizontalAlignment="Left" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="1920" Grid.RowSpan="12" Grid.ColumnSpan="9" Height="1080"/>







            <!-- STATIC TEXT-->



            <TextBlock Text="Publisher" Grid.Row="3" Grid.Column="2" Foreground="SkyBlue" FontFamily="BebasNeue" FontSize="32" Opacity="1.0" HorizontalAlignment="left" VerticalAlignment="Top" Height="38" Width="130" Grid.RowSpan="2" Margin="0,1,0,0" />



            <TextBlock Text="Developer" Grid.Row="3" Grid.Column="4" Foreground="SkyBlue" FontFamily="BebasNeue" FontSize="32" Opacity="1.0" HorizontalAlignment="left" VerticalAlignment="Top" Margin="1,0,0,0" Height="39" Width="144" Grid.RowSpan="2" />



            <TextBlock Text="Year" Grid.Row="5" Grid.Column="2" Foreground="SkyBlue" FontFamily="BebasNeue" FontSize="32" Opacity="1.0" HorizontalAlignment="left" VerticalAlignment="Top" Height="38" Width="59" />



            <TextBlock Text="Players" Grid.Row="5" Grid.Column="4" Foreground="SkyBlue" FontFamily="BebasNeue" FontSize="32" Opacity="1.0" HorizontalAlignment="left" VerticalAlignment="Top" Margin="1,0,0,0" Height="38" Width="99" />



            <TextBlock Text="Rating" Grid.Row="7" Grid.Column="2" Foreground="SkyBlue" FontFamily="BebasNeue" FontSize="32" Opacity="1.0" HorizontalAlignment="left" VerticalAlignment="Top" Height="39" Width="91" Grid.RowSpan="2" />



            <TextBlock Text="Score" Grid.Row="7" Grid.Column="4" Foreground="SkyBlue" FontFamily="BebasNeue" FontSize="32" Opacity="1.0" HorizontalAlignment="left" VerticalAlignment="Top" Margin="1,0,0,0" Height="39" Width="78" Grid.RowSpan="2" />



            <transitions:TransitionPresenter Grid.Row="3" Grid.Column="6" TransitionSelector="{Binding ImageVideoTransitionSelector}" Content="{Binding ImageVideoView}" IsContentVideo="true" Margin="43,13,37,43" Grid.RowSpan="6" />



            <transitions:TransitionPresenter Grid.Row="2" Grid.Column="2" TransitionSelector="{Binding GameDetailsTransitionSelector}" Content="{Binding GameDetailsView}" Margin="0,0,10,30" Grid.RowSpan="7" Grid.ColumnSpan="3" />







            <!-- GAME INFO -->



            <TextBlock Text="{Binding Path=SelectedGame.ReleaseDate, StringFormat=d}" Grid.Row="6" Grid.RowSpan="1" Grid.Column="2" Grid.ColumnSpan="1" Foreground="White" FontFamily="BebasNeue" FontSize="30" Opacity="0.5" HorizontalAlignment="left" />



            <TextBlock Text="{Binding Path=SelectedGame.Publisher}" Grid.Row="4" Grid.RowSpan="1" Grid.Column="2" Grid.ColumnSpan="1" Foreground="White" FontFamily="BebasNeue" FontSize="30" Opacity="0.5" HorizontalAlignment="Left" />



            <TextBlock Text="{Binding Path=SelectedGame.Developer}" Grid.Row="4" Grid.RowSpan="1" Grid.Column="3" Grid.ColumnSpan="2" Foreground="Black" FontFamily="BebasNeue" FontSize="30" Opacity="0.5" HorizontalAlignment="Left" />



            <!-- CLEAR LOGO FLOW -->



            <coverFlow:FlowControl x:Name="FlowControl" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" VerticalAlignment="Stretch" Grid.Row="10" Grid.RowSpan="2" Grid.Column="0" Grid.ColumnSpan="9" ImageType="Boxes" CurveAmount="0" CameraZPosition="7.5" VisibleCount="11" PageSize="10" ItemZPosition="1.0" SelectedItemZPosition="1.2" Spacing="2.3">



                <coverFlow:FlowControl.CoverFactory>



                    <coverFlow:HorizontalWheelCoverFactory />



                </coverFlow:FlowControl.CoverFactory>



            </coverFlow:FlowControl>



        </Grid>



    </Canvas>



</UserControl>

 

 

Edited December 13, 2016 by billyc999

[CriticalCid]

Use for the Notes/Description

<TextBlock Text="{Binding Path=SelectedGame.Notes}"

instead of binding the GameDetailsView. If you haven’t removed everything else except the Notes in your “GameDetailsView.xaml” than it’s no wonder that the details will show up twice

For modifying FlowControl (the wheel) look at page 10 in the documentation.pdf. Everything should be explained there. Same thing for scrolling text on page 13, it also works for single lines of text like developers, etc. But you'll have to try it out if that looks any good. Because it currently can only scroll up and down.

[billyc999]

thank you i will check out the pdfregarding  the box sizes, i see jason fixed the issue :-)

sorry reagrding the first part, im not sure i follow what you mean, do i edit GameDetailsView.xaml and remove the refrences

Quote

instead of binding the GameDetailsView. If you haven’t removed everything else except the Notes in your “GameDetailsView.xaml” than it’s no wonder that the details will show up twice

 

[CriticalCid]

No, only change the GameDetailsView.xaml if you are sure that you want the same style for multiple views because it is used for nearly every other Games view as well.

In your situation it’s way better to just replace the GameDetails Binding with

<TextBlock Text="{Binding Path=SelectedGame.Notes}"

The other stuff was just the explanation why it doesn’t work for you this way at the moment

[billyc999]

well i removed this line

            <transitions:TransitionPresenter Grid.Row="3" Grid.Column="3" TransitionSelector="{Binding GameDetailsTransitionSelector}" Content="{Binding GameDetailsView}" Margin="0,0,10,30" Grid.RowSpan="7" Grid.ColumnSpan="3" />

and boom , it works awsome thank you very much

 

[billyc999]

well im getting further now thanks to you cid , im not sure if i can have snes horizontal boxes though because at present my vertical boxes seem about right but snes boxes overlap so i may need to use a modified set of boxes for that , this is the coverflow code im using although i think it wants tweaking

            <coverFlow:FlowControl x:Name="FlowControl" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" VerticalAlignment="Stretch" Grid.Row="11" Grid.RowSpan="4" Grid.Column="0" Grid.ColumnSpan="12" ImageType="Boxes" CurveAmount="0" CameraZPosition="5.5" VisibleCount="5" PageSize="10" ItemZPosition="1.0" SelectedItemZPosition="1.2" Spacing="1.6">

it would look better with time,date and weather at the upper right though so may have to see if @jason carr  can do anything regarding this

still needs the background blade editing for the line seperators and a few icons to add, then ill create a set of covers with reflection as im not sure reflection is possible to add

 

[CriticalCid]

Looking great so far!

Reflections should be possible because the CoverFlow views are using them as well. It may need some tweaking on @Jason Carr's end though for adding it as a property to a wheel. So that may be another theming request though.

I hope you keep track of all your requests because this list is getting longer and longer

[Rincewind]

Looks very nice @billyc999

[billyc999]

ah it would be cool to have the reflections in launchbox, it takes forever with photoshop even using a script

thank you for the comments guys, much apreciated.

while i was looking at the code i was wondering if camerazpostion can be used on the main menu to make them boxes bigger, i noticed it wasnt it the platformview as a default

[CriticalCid]

You could try it but I doubt that it will work because they are 2 completely different XAML elements with their own backcode and valid properties. The recent/favorite games in the platform views are ListBox elements and the Wheel is a FlowControl element.

[billyc999]

ok just got sat down, what images like rating , favourite, broken ect can be used in wheelgamesview.xaml

i also cant find any refrences to the reflection, i've seen an image on the forum but that about it

i tried the rating one but was unable to get it to work, ive already planed 2nd view and should be simple to adapt (hopefully)

i tried scrolling text, but like you said it only allows up & down so that was a no go for now

i dont know about keeping track of requests i think we should have a dear santa thread, lol

 

ignore deatils in the image i need to reamke the ps2 xml

 

Edited December 14, 2016 by billyc999

[CriticalCid]

The reflection is part of the CoverFlow views. The opacity is completely handled through the BigBox options which can be changed by the user, so there aren’t any additional properties for handling them in your XAML files. That’s why you don’t find any references because it doesn’t need any. Like I said, Jason has to add support for it for the normal wheel first.

Support for the rating image outside of the "GameDetailsView.xaml" was just recently added by Jason in LB 7.0 Beta-2 or so and he hasn’t come to update the documentation.pdf file as far as I know. But here’s the code you need for it:

<Image Name="RatingImage" Source="{Binding Path=SelectedGame.RatingImage, Converter={StaticResource ImageToSourceConverter}}" RenderOptions.BitmapScalingMode="HighQuality" />

You also need to add this code at the top yof your view between UserControl and Canvas:

<UserControl.Resources>

    <bigBox:ImageToSourceConverter x:Key="ImageToSourceConverter" x:Name="ImageToSourceConverter"/>

</UserControl.Resources>

 

With keep track I mean to write tickets for all the single theming features you eventually need

[billyc999]

thank you , im beging to see how each view as it's limits, i was going to paste my code into coverflowwithdetails as the second view but i assume that one doesnt allow scrolling text as it gives me an error, the reason being is having a view with the coverflow type images aswell

thank you for the code above ill try it now

[billyc999]

am i right in thinking the code above needs,

xmlns:coverFlow="clr-namespace:BigBox.Controls.CoverFlow;assembly=BigBox"

which isnt supported in wheelsgamesview

if i add the second part of the code it gives me an error , the namespace "bigbox" is not defined

[CriticalCid]

ahhh, sorry. Just checked it and it seems you have to also add            

xmlns:bigBox="clr-namespace:Unbroken.LaunchBox.Wpf;assembly=Unbroken.LaunchBox.Wpf"

to the UserControl as well.

It also only works if you are on the latest Beta because it was just recently added and the final version of 7.0 hasn't come out yet.

[billyc999]

well i think it works but im thinking my ratings need changing as i cant see any rating images

is there a list as to what lauchbox accepts to show the images, i assume they are harcoded as i cant find any in the launchbox folder

Edited December 14, 2016 by billyc999