Skin Properties Monitor

Overview

The "Properties Monitor" is a tool that was introduced in MP release 1.39.0. The monitor is intended to provide assistance to skin authors as they develop or modify their skins, but the monitor can also be used by advanced users who have customised their favourite skin to make it better match their own preferences.

MP skin files are xml files that define the appearance and behaviour of the panels that constitute an MP skin.  Within these files there are items that are akin to variables in a programming language.  In MP, these items are called skin properties.  Many properties receive values as a result of the skin using the <define> tag, but other properties receive values from the skin engine, and are available for the skin to use.  The "Properties Monitor" allows the values of all of these properties to be monitored in real time, as their values change in response to selections made by the user when running the MP client.

If you specify the /SkinProperties option when you start the MP client, two windows are opened: one for the MP client, and one for the "Properties Monitor".  It is convenient to use windowed mode for the MP client when using the "Properties Monitor", and you can do this easily by specifying the /windowed option in addition to the /SkinProperties option.  For example, for 64-bit MediaPortal the following command could be used in a command window:

"C:\Program Files\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal\MediaPortal.exe" /SkinProperties /windowed

Note: when you type this command in a command window, you must enclose the exe filespec in quotes, due to the presence of blanks in the filespec. Also note that /SkinProperties is mixed case, whereas /windowed is entirely lower case; these options must be specified using the correct mixture of upper and lower case.

An alternative to typing the command shown above is to create a shortcut that starts MediaPortal with the "Properties Monitor" active. Copy the shortcut that the MediaPortal installer placed on your desktop, right-click the copy, and select "Properties" to display the shortcut's "Properties" panel. On the "General" tab change the name to something like "MP Properties Monitor", and on the "Shortcut" tab add the /SkinProperties and /windowed options to the command in the "Target" field. Click "OK" to save your changes and exit the "Properties" panel.

If you use more than one skin, you can create a separate shortcut for each skin. Use the /skin option to specify the name of the skin to be used when the shortcut is clicked. Follow the procedure above to create a new shortcut, and add /skin="name_of_skin" to the command in the "Target" field. This does not change the default skin defined in your MediaPortal configuration file.

Description of Panel

The monitor panel consists primarily of a table that has columns that show:

• The names of the currently-defined skin properties.
• The current value of each property.
• The time when that property was most-recently changed.
• A stack trace identifying where the change originated (if available).

The skin properties are ordered by name ignoring letter case. You can order them by value by selecting the "Value" column heading, and return to name order by selecting the "Name" column heading.

If the value is blank, it means that the skin property is either blank or the null string (that is, the zero-length string). If the value is the same as the name, it means that the skin property is used in the skin, but has not been assigned a value.

Some skins use hundreds of properties, making the table cumbersome to navigate. To circumvent this you can specify one or more filter strings to restrict the list to those skin properties with names that contain the specified string. The filtering is performed ignoring letter case. In the following screen shot, the user has restricted the list to those properties that contain current in the name (in any mixture of upper and lower case):

To specify more than one filter string, use a comma to separate the strings, with no blanks between strings.  The filters are combined logically using the OR operator, that is, properties appear in the list if they contain one or more of the specified filter strings. In the following screen shot, the user has restricted the list to those properties that contain current or #selected in the name (in any mixture of upper and lower case):

If you are switching between several different filter strings, you don't need to retype them each time. Instead, press the ENTER key to store the current filter string in memory, and use the drop-down menu to select a previously-saved filter string.

Restrictions

When the "Properties Monitor" is active, HID support for the keyboard is disabled.  This means that keyboard definitions in your HID configuration file will not be actioned.

Unfortunately there seems to be an error in Windows' handling of different text sizes in some versions of Windows. If your Windows text size is the recommended text size for your screen resolution, the "Properties Monitor" panel displays correctly. However, if you are using a different text size (for example, because you need to have larger text), you may find that the lower parts of the column headings are obscured by the first data row in the table.