Some ideas to improve the Graphical EPG screen

[duoduo]

Once ive created and finished this new skin it should work with or without the mods, but ill be putting the mods on my box's from now on as it suits me.

What skin is it Marcus? I think the efforts you guys have put in is admirable and would love to see them implemented at image level.

 

[matt007]

I'll be more than happy to continue working on it but its just a bit hard to know what goes on in discussions behind the scenes amongst the members of the image team.

 

[bbbuk]

I'll be more than happy to continue working on it but its just a bit hard to know what goes on in discussions behind the scenes amongst the members of the image team.

To the best of my knowledge, I believe it was decided not to go ahead and include it in any image so i'm using it as a mod and will continue to do so. I know Markus is as well and i've seen some threads elsewhere to indicate a few others have.

What I would like to see is those G-EPG features for the number button options that no longer work, respond to 'long' number presses instead. That, I believe, would still maintain all the existing number options and your great new features all in one.

Thanks

 

[matt007]

To the best of my knowledge, I believe it was decided not to go ahead and include it in any image so i'm using it as a mod and will continue to do so. I know Markus is as well and i've seen some threads elsewhere to indicate a few others have.

The voting thread you created indicated that people wanted it but it was decided to not go ahead with it - which is fine as I am fully aware that sometimes there are many reasons that mean certain features cannot be implemented (which is why people make mods), but some sort of dialogue from the team would be helpful as it would give everyone a better understanding.

 

[markus625]

In my opinion i was hoping that we could still work on the ideas and improve the implementation and other positioning issues with the pop up menu or make some of it skinable and then hopfully get it into a Dev build.

 

[rossi2000]

The voting thread you created indicated that people wanted it but it was decided to not go ahead with it - which is fine as I am fully aware that sometimes there are many reasons that mean certain features cannot be implemented (which is why people make mods), but some sort of dialogue from the team would be helpful as it would give everyone a better understanding.

the code isnt consistent throughout all the epg screens.
the buttons atm are hardcoded, not much point to change them for different hardcoded buttons. the best way to deal with this is to make the buttons configurable, and also making the pop-up menu configurable, so a user can choose to use this if they want.

the extra widgets and things imo arent that much a problem.

any chance you can break it down to exactly what has been done, i cant see any reason why some extra widgets and things cant be used in the main image.



i closed the other thread, dont get me wrong, id like these mods in the main image too, but not everyone wants change.

 

[matt007]

That's completely understandable mate. We make mods as we want to improve our user experience. If that helps other forum users without making it to the main image then thats still a good thing.

 

[rossi2000]

buttons and pop up menus aside, wasnt there some cosmetic tweaks you done with some extra widgets?

 

[bbbuk]

buttons and pop up menus aside, wasnt there some cosmetic tweaks you done with some extra widgets?

Matt mod's did the following:-

Changed coloured buttons options
Introduced multi-options pop-up via Red button
Ability to enter a channel number from GEPG and jump to it
Added ability to easily see the different bouquets within GEPG but also quickly change to them by using the < or > keys


Attached is screenshot of G-EPG which I use on BlueHD skin.

 

[Huevos]

Changed coloured buttons options

It just changes one hard code option for another. The way forward is to make it configurable so the user can decide what the button does via the GUI. And the configurable options need to make the same changes in all EPG screens.

 

[bbbuk]

It just changes one hard code option for another. The way forward is to make it configurable so the user can decide what the button does via the GUI.

I agree that would be nice to allow a little more options to choose from (for those that would like it differently than how Matt has it now but, for me anyhow, I think this is a step in the right direction as it improves user experience by having options people may use more as a coloured option. Personally for me, I never use imdb and although some obviously do it's probably not that often used. Of course everyone has their own taste.

If I had the python programming skills then I would attempt to possibly read the settings file for a users' preferred option for each coloured button and users could choose what they wish for each coloured button from either the epg menu or maybe new menu within 'User Interface' (similar to the options of 'button setup' etc).

Unfortunately, my programming skills are VB although structure is nearly the same between both programming languages. Then of course, python is mixed in with options for E2.

And the configurable options need to make the same changes in all EPG screens.

I know Matt specifically did this so it's only for GEPG screen but that can easily be solved by removing the if conditional statement that checks if GEPG is being used I'd have thought.

 

[Huevos]

If I had the python programming skills then I would attempt [... ] it's only for GEPG screen but that can easily be solved by removing the if conditional statement that checks if GEPG is being used I'd have thought.

Everything is easy when someone else is doing it.

Which conditional statement is that?

 

[rossi2000]

If graph_epg use these buttons, if not use original buttons
From memory the last time I checked it.

Also bbuk your screenwriter shows a bouquetlist across the top, what is this?

 

[bbbuk]

Everything is easy when someone else is doing it.

It is, but i'm trying to pick it up. Just wish I had more time and didn't work so I could really get into it. May need to win the lottery though first

Which conditional statement is that?

The conditional statements (they're several depending on obviously which function is being called), I've noticed are like (line 1479+ in attached file, which may differ slightly from Matt's upload as I'm playing with it trying to learn):

def keyNumberGlobal(self, number):
if self.type == EPG_TYPE_GRAPH:

First line is function and in this case is the one that monitors the key input as Matt (in this example) uses this function to allow users to enter a channel number and jumps to it. The second line of code is the actual conditional if statement. If a person uses another type of EPG view (mentioned in line 1495) then it defaults back to normal number options (ie timeline/timeperiod) (rather than allow user to jump to channel number as with GEPG).

View attachment EpgSelection.rar

 

[bbbuk]

Also bbuk your screenwriter shows a bouquetlist across the top, what is this?

This is what Matt also done as part of his mod. In my list of his mod's I described it as "Added ability to easily see the different bouquets within GEPG but also quickly change to them by using the < or > keys".

Whilst viewing the GEPG, I can use < or > keys to display the different bouquets setup. So to quickly go to movies, I can enter 301 or use ">" key to display the movies bouquet.

It's really a great mod and makes GEPG more user-friendly imho.

imho, I think Matt should be on your dev team.

 

[Huevos]

allow users to enter a channel number and jumps to it. The second line of code is the actual conditional if statement. If a person uses another type of EPG view (mentioned in line 1495) then it defaults back to normal number options (ie timeline/timeperiod) (rather than allow user to jump to channel number as with GEPG).

The number buttons were already allocated. So it is just a case of robbing Peter of useful functions to pay Paul for less useful ones.

 

[Larry-G]

imho, I think Matt should be on your dev team.

We are always looking for talented coders to join the team, those who are interested should PM Sicilian for further details.


Sent from my iPad Air using Tapatalk

 

[bbbuk]

The number buttons were already allocated. So it is just a case of robbing Peter of useful functions to pay Paul for less useful ones.

Depends on your preference. The default "useful" functions as you call it I didn't make much use of and some I didn't know were there tbh but the ability to easily jump to channel is much more useful as it saves having to come out of GEPG back to normal TV and then enter channel number to jump to it. Either that or call up bouquet list and manually find channel you want.

It has improved my viewer experience and from the thread I started, majority of users thought it would be a good idea as well (obviously with the other features Matt had modded as well).

I am surprised that Matt's introduction of listing all bouquets from GEPG and allowing easily switching between different bouquets hasn't been put forward for possible introduction within GEPG. However, I guess the problem you may have would be to ensure all boxes you support have a < or > key which is used to switch between all your bouquets from within GEPG.

 

[matt007]

The number buttons were already allocated. So it is just a case of robbing Peter of useful functions to pay Paul for less useful ones.

This is it really - it is good for some and not for others. Not everyone can be pleased. Which is why as mentioned above, the only way to include the new features in the main image will be to give the end user an option to enable the new button layout.

To be honest I'm not too fussed. As long as we as a community are helping eachother out to make our experiences better, then to me it does not matter if it is not released in the main image.

 

[judge]

However, I guess the problem you may have would be to ensure all boxes you support have a < or > key which is used to switch between all your bouquets from within GEPG.

This is already a feature of the image. Having the bouquets listed like that is a good idea though & would probably make this feature more obvious to those that don't know about it.