[DurhamDev]

Hi Hitcher,

I got to thinking. Considering that you have themes in the "Media" folder, labeled with the ".XBT" extension, could this folder do 'double-duty' and act as a Mod directory as well? Here's what I was thinking... If you 'extend' the focus of the theme to encompass the entire add-on directory, you could, in theory, use it to replace other items within the skin itself.

Consider this. You build a theme that includes the subdirectories called "extras/homeicons" and inside this, you have replacement home icons. Users could now build their themes using different icon sets. Expand this thought, and if you have a theme that includes the "720" subdirectory, then someone who has modded the "Includes.XML" so that they have their custom home menu items (for me, who uses "Icon View" and presently, does not have access to add submenus through your skin) on there, and you have essentially built a "mod within a theme" functionality.

The best part of this (I think) is the fact that people would be able to build their mods to be included in the themes, and when Alaska Revisited is modified, the mods are automatically built-in, and would not need the user to reapply them. We could police mods that 'break' when the skin is updated, and they could be removed from the 'official' release at your discretion.

I'm just thinking out loud here, but I think the possibility shows a lot of promise. I, for one, always enjoy having the latest version of a skin, and the ability to include icons, views, and different configurations inside the skin theme functionality itself would be a huge boon.

What do you think?

[Hitcher]

Unfortunately 'themes' can only be a texture.xbt which in itself can only be made from textures found in the media folder.
What you're describing is classed as a mod and can only work as a standalone skin.

I did consider moving the icons used to the media folder but then that would stop people simply changing them whenever they wanted.

[DurhamDev]

Unfortunately 'themes' are can only can a texture.xbt which in itself can only be made from textures found in the media folder. What you're describing is classed as a mod and can only work as a standalone skin.

Ok, back to the drawing board, then. My other idea was to build a program to scan a 'mod' directory inside of XBMC, and apply any user changes inside the skin directories themselves. It doesn't sound all too difficult to manage... Simply build a program to back up the existing files (i.e. "720/includes.xml") and replace it with files found in the 'mod' directory. I'm sure I could extend it to replace the home icons as well. (As it sounds here, since I have a finite number of files I personally want to change, I'm sure a simple batch file would even work.)

I did consider moving the icons used to the media folder but then that would stop people simply changing them whenever they wanted.

I can see how that could be an issue. What about a new selectable option for users to select their own home icon directory and feed from that?

[Hitcher]

I did consider moving the icons used to the media folder but then that would stop people simply changing them whenever they wanted.

I can see how that could be an issue. What about a new selectable option for users to select their own home icon directory and feed from that?

Thought about it some more last and came up with a solution that will allow theme makers to use their own Icons to fit the theme but also let users override them, or the default ones, with their own Custom Icons.

[DurhamDev]

Thought about it some more last and came up with a solution that will allow theme makers to use their own Icons to fit the theme but also let users override them, or the default ones, with their own Custom Icons.

When creating an XBT file, can I now submit the custom icons in there? Is the directory structure "extras/customicons" for the custom icon PNG files?

[Hitcher]

For themes use media/homeicons or media/homelist depending on which layout you want to use. This way they'll get added to the theme XBT but the user can still use their own by using the extras/customicons folder.

[DurhamDev]

For themes use media/homeicons or media/homelist depending on which layout you want to use. This way they'll get added to the theme XBT but the user can still use their own by using the extras/customicons folder.

...and they use the new naming convention? "movies.png" instead of "moviesicon.png"?

Thanks!

[Hitcher]

Yes, I thought I'd try and make it as simple as possible for them.