Login at Kodi Home

larrycook99 · (This post was last modified: 2021-11-30, 00:02 by larrycook99.)

I am setting up a new Synology file server to use Kodi 19.1 with the Amber skin. I have ISO files exclusively, so I am mainly using the File View and there is a behavior that is perplexing to me.

I have a directory of Movies set up with a general structure of:

Movies
Movie 1
Movie 1.iso
Movie 1.nfo
Movie 1-poster.jpg
Movie 2
Movie 2.iso
Movie 2.nfo
Movie 2-poster.jpg
Trilogy 1
Trilogy 1 Movie 1
Trilogy 1 Movie 1.iso
Trilogy 1 Movie 1.nfo
Trilogy 1 Movie 1-poster.jpg
Trilogy 1 Movie 2
Trilogy 1 Movie 2.iso
Trilogy 1 Movie 2.nfo
Trilogy 1 Movie 2-poster.jpg
Trilogy 1 Movie 3
Trilogy 1 Movie 3.iso
Trilogy 1 Movie 3.nfo
Trilogy 1 Movie 3-poster.jpg
Trilogy 2
Trilogy 2 Movie 1
Trilogy 2 Movie 1.iso
Trilogy 2 Movie 1.nfo
Trilogy 2 Movie 1-poster.jpg
Trilogy 2 Movie 2
Trilogy 2 Movie 2.iso
Trilogy 2 Movie 2.nfo
Trilogy 2 Movie 2-poster.jpg
Trilogy 2 Movie 3
Trilogy 2 Movie 3.iso
Trilogy 2 Movie 3.nfo
Trilogy 2 Movie 3-poster.jpg

The behavior that perplexes me is that in the File View some of the directories like Trilogy 1 and Trilogy 2 above when selected, will show like file list indented to the right and the text "No information available" in the right where the movie plot info usually is and I will have other directories that the file list is on the left side and no text is shown.

From what I can see there is nothing different about the directories.

These two photos show the differences I am trying to describe. In the photos "Jack Ryan Movies" and "Jurassic Park" are directories that contain several movies. Each movie is in it's own directory. What I don't understand is why these two screens are behaving differently.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/tpaA3rbGcM3ecY5R6
https://photos.app.goo.gl/vh96rBzz3cdzkNBt7

larrycook99 · 2021-11-30, 00:14

As an FYI, I am asking about this for two reasons:

1. I want to understand why the behavior is occurring so that I can control it, if possible.
2. If I can control it, I like the behavior that shows "information" about the directory because the information is available AND the file list does not switch from the right side to the left side as you move down the file list and over directories, which is annoying.

**bsoriano** · 2021-12-08, 21:18

(2021-11-30, 00:14)larrycook99 Wrote: As an FYI, I am asking about this for two reasons:

1. I want to understand why the behavior is occurring so that I can control it, if possible.
2. If I can control it, I like the behavior that shows "information" about the directory because the information is available AND the file list does not switch from the right side to the left side as you move down the file list and over directories, which is annoying.

@larrycook99 , first of all, my apologies for the delayed response.

Amber tries to determine if the information panel should show or not. It does this by checking if there is a duration, plot or genre for the current item, or if there is one of those for up to three of the following items. Given what you would like to happen, I added a setting to always show the information panel for lists. You can find the new setting here:

The changes are already on GitHub (Matrix only). Please test and let me know if this is what you were looking for. Thanks.

Regards,

Bart

larrycook99 · 2021-12-10, 03:04

No problem. In the meantime it made me investigate the different views and I have completely changed the views I am now using. Before I was only using List views. Now I am using Icon and Big Panel 2 views exclusively. These give me a better visual effect for my Autistic son. He should now be able to select everything he wants visually and I can still get the information that I would like to have in the text.

I will go back and check the change you made, which regardless of its usage to me, is greatly appreciated.

The more I use Amber the more I like it. Thanks for all that you do with it.