Add-on:Artist Slideshow
| Artist Slideshow | |||
| |||
| Author: | ronie/kyleejohnson (pkscuot) | ||
| Type: | Program | ||
| Version: | 1.5.0 | ||
| Repo: | XBMC.org (v11) XBMC.org (v12)
| ||
| Summary: | Download images and additional info of the currently playing artist | ||
Addon to download images and additional information from Last.FM and htbackdrops.com of the currently playing artist. The images, along with local artists' images, and info can be used by the skin to create a slideshow for the artist being listened to.
Contents |
1 Installing
To install this add-on you must do so from the Add-on Manager from within XBMC by going to:
- Settings
- Add-ons
- Get add-ons
- XBMC.org Add-ons
- Program Add-ons
- Artist Slideshow
- Install
2 Features
- displays slideshow as background for music visualization (must use a compatible skin or update skin using the instructions below)
- option to have artist images downloaded and/or use a local directory of artist images
- option for a fallback slideshow if no local or remote images are found
- option to have a single slideshow displayed regardless of artist playing
- downloads artwork from htbackdrops.com and/or last.fm to display as background for music visualization
- option to download artist bio and other additional information (skin must support display of this information)
- support for overriding the artist bio, discography, and similar artists list with local information
- option to download only images larger than a given length and width
- option to download only images with 16:9 aspect ratio
- option to limit size of download cache
- option to display notification during download of first image for an artist with option to provide a local image (or images) to use instead of default XBMC notification
- option to display notification when downloads are complete (or no images found for download)
- option to download artist bio and other additional information (skin must support display of this information)
- support for multiple artists for a single song
- follows XBMC standard for artist 1/artist 2, artist 1 ft. artist 2, or artist 1 feat. artist 2 in artist MP3 tag
- also supports iTunes/Amazon standard of song name (feat. artist 2) in title MP3 tag
- support for internet streams that put the artist name in the XBMC title field
- support for other addons using Artist Slideshow to provide the background
- support for an alternate name for the folder containing the images (i.e. something instead of extrafanart)
If you are using the default Confluence skin (or Confluence Vertical), you can download the modified files for Eden or Frodo
3 Limitations
- local artist images must be on a local drive (mapping a local drive letter or mount point in your OS may allow you to get around this)
- Artist Slideshow shows images behind any running visualization. If you choose to use a visualization, please select one with a significant amount of transparent area or you may not see much of anything.
- On AppleTV the PAPlayer sometimes stops after each song and restarts at the beginning of a new one. That, by default, causes Artist Slideshow to stop. Once that happens, artist background images no longer update. Please see Changes to MusicVisualisation.xml below for a workaround.
4 How to use this addon in your skin
4.1 Using Artist Slideshow with the default Confluence Skin
If you are using the default Confluence skin, you can download modified skin files for Eden (XBMC 11) or Frodo (XBMC 12). You have two choices when installing these files.
Overwrite Default Skin Files
This is probably the easiest way, but anytime you upgrade or reinstall XBMC you will have to reinstall these modifications. Go to the XBMC installation root folder (see this wiki page under special://xbmc for the path for your operating system). Then go to addons --> skin.confluence. Use the files from the zip to overwrite the ones in this directory. Read the README file for the correct location of the files.
Create Custom Skin
This is a bit more complicated but will keep your modifications intact across upgrades. Go to the directory above, enter the addon directory and find the skin.confluence folder. Make a copy of it and move it to your user settings directory.
| Operating system | settings folder paths |
|---|---|
| Android | Android/data/org.xbmc.xbmc/files/.xbmc/ |
| iOS - Varied | /private/var/mobile/Library/Preferences/XBMC/ |
| Linux | $HOME/.xbmc/userdata/ |
| Mac OS X | /Users/<your_user_name>/Library/Application Support/XBMC/ |
| Windows 7 | Users\%userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\XBMC\ |
| Windows XP | Documents and Settings\%userprofile%\Application Data\XBMC\ |
Rename the directory to skin.confluence.mod. In that directory open the file called addon.xml. Change the third line to read id="skin.confluence.mod" and then launch (or relaunch XBMC). Go to SYSTEM --> APPEARANCE --> SKIN and switch to the modified skin. When you do that you will lose all your current skin settings, so you might want to write them down before changing. Quit XBMC again, use the zip file to overwrite the appropriate files and then startup XBMC again.
4.2 Changes to MusicVisualisation.xml
To run the script:
<onload>RunScript(script.artistslideshow)</onload>
On AppleTV if ArtistSlideshow isn't updating after the first artist, use this instead:
<onload>RunScript(script.artistslideshow, daemon=True)</onload>
To add a multiimage conrol:
<control type="multiimage">
<posx>0</posx>
<posy>0</posy>
<width>1280</width>
<height>720</height>
<imagepath background="true">$INFO[Window(Visualisation).Property(ArtistSlideshow)]</imagepath>
<aspectratio>keep</aspectratio>
<timeperimage>10000</timeperimage>
<fadetime>2000</fadetime>
<randomize>true</randomize>
</control>
5 Addon settings
There are three groupings of settings: Download, Slideshow, and Advanced.
5.1 Download
Download images from last.fm: (default true)
(self explanatory)
Download images from htbackdrops.com: (default false)
(self explanatory)
Minimal image width and height: (default 0,0)
any images smaller than the set dimensions will not be downloaded.
Download only 16:9 images: (default false)
will discard any images that aren't really, really close to a 16:9 aspect ratio.
Download additional artist info: (default false)
includes information like the artist's bio and artists similar to the one to which you are listening. includes option to select download language. skin must support this extra information, or nothing will be displayed.
5.2 Slideshow
Local artist folder: (default none)
path to a directory that has artist images. Images must be organized in artist/extrafanart/ unless you set a different local fanart folder name in the advanced settings.
Fallback slideshow folder: (default none)
path to a directory of images that should be used if no local or remote images can be found.
Priority: (default remote first)
three options: remote first, local first, both
remote first will try and download images from remote sites. if none found will use local images. if none found will use fallback slideshow
local first will use local images. if none found will try and download remote images. if none found will use fallback slideshow
both will check for local images first. if they exist the downloaded images will be placed in the same directory as the local images. if not remote images will be stored in normal cache dir.
Override slideshow folder: (default none)
path to a directory of images that should be used intead of artist artwork. With this set no artwork will ever be downloaded.
5.3 Advanced
Limit size of download cache: (default false)
if enabled, the download cache will be trimmed (oldest first) to keep the size below the specified minimum
Maximum cache size (in megabytes): (default 1024)
if Limit size of download cache is set to true, this allows the user to specify the maximum size of the cache
Download notification type: (default none)
three options: none, text notifications, custom images
none will surpress all notifications
text notifications will use the built in XBMC notification pop-up to let you know about images being downloaded for the first time and the completion status (either nothing downloaded or download complete)
custom images let's you show an image or directory of images when artwork for an artist is being downloaded for the first time. This won't display if there are local images available to display. If you select this option you must provide the path to the directory that has the custom image or images in it (stored in custom notification images folder)
Progress images folder: (default empty)
Must be set to a valid local path with one or more images to be displayed while first image for an artist is being downloaded
Alternate name for local fanart folder: (default empty)
This is a text field where you can provide an alternate name for the add-on to use to find local images. If this has text in it, the add-on will look in artist/customfolder instead of artist/extrafanart for local images.
6 Overriding Artist Info with Local Information
6.1 Directory Structure
To override the information downloaded from last.FM, you need to create another directory in the folder you defined in the settings as the Local artist folder. Your folder structure will look something like this:
<artistname>
extrafanart
override
albums (folder with artist album art)
albumname.jpg (any XBMC image type supported)
anotheralbumname.jpg
artistbio.nfo (see below for format)
artistsalbum.nfo (see below for format)
artistsimilar.nfo (see below for format)
similar
artistimage.jpg
anotherartistimage.jpg
6.2 Override nfo file formats
All .nfo files are xml files (pretty simple ones) patterned after the XML files downloaded from last.FM.
Example artistbio.nfo
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<artist>
<content>This is the artist's bio.</content>
</artist>
Example artistsalbum.nfo
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<topalbums>
<album>
<name>Some Album</name>
<image>albumname.jpg</image>
</album>
<album>
<name>Another Album</name>
<image>anotheralbumname.jpg</image>
</album>
</topalbums>
Example artistsimilar.nfo
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<similarartists>
<artist>
<name>Some Similar Artist</name>
<image>artistimage.jpg</image>
</artist>
<artist>
<name>Another Similar Artist</name>
<image>anotherartistimage.jpg</image>
</artist>
</similarartists>
6.3 Accessing Script from Other Screens
You might want to use Artist Slideshow to display images somewhere other than on the music visualization. To do that you need to start Artist Slideshow when XBMC starts using DAEMON mode. To do that use:
RunScript(script.artistslideshow, daemon=True)
6.4 New skin properties
Window(Visualisation).Property(ArtistSlideshow)
This is the path to the directory containing the downloaded images for the currently playing artist
Window(Visualisation).Property(ArtistSlideshowRunning)
This one is used internally by the script to check if it is already running. There's no need to use this property in your skin.
Window(Visualisation).Property(ArtistSlideshow.ArtistBiography)
Artist biography from last.fm
Window(Visualisation).Property(ArtistSlideshow.%d.SimilarName) Window(Visualisation).Property(ArtistSlideshow.%d.SimilarThumb)
Similar artists
Window(Visualisation).Property(ArtistSlideshow.%d.AlbumName) Window(Visualisation).Property(ArtistSlideshow.%d.AlbumThumb)
Albums by the artist
7 How to call this addon from another addon
To use this addon to provide the background for another addon, the calling addon must create a window that uses a multimage control:
<control type="multiimage">
<posx>0</posx>
<posy>0</posy>
<width>1280</width>
<height>720</height>
<imagepath background="true">$INFO[Window.Property(ArtistSlideshow)]</imagepath>
<aspectratio>keep</aspectratio>
<timeperimage>10000</timeperimage>
<fadetime>2000</fadetime>
<randomize>true</randomize>
<animation effect="fade" start="0" end="100" time="300">Visible</animation>
<animation effect="fade" start="100" end="0" time="300">Hidden</animation>
</control>
That window must have an infolabel in which the currently playing artist is stored (suggested name is CURRENTARTIST) as well as one for the song title (suggested name is CURRENTTILE). It is the responsibility of the calling addon to change those infolabels when the artist/song changes.
7.1 Additional script/skin properties available
Window.Property(ArtistSlideshow)
This is the path to the directory containing the downloaded images for the currently playing artist.
Window.Property(ArtistSlideshow.ArtistBiography)
Artist biography from last.fm
Window.Property(ArtistSlideshow.%d.SimilarName) Window.Property(ArtistSlideshow.%d.SimilarThumb)
Similar artists
Window.Property(ArtistSlideshow.%d.AlbumName) Window.Property(ArtistSlideshow.%d.AlbumThumb)
Albums by the artist
Window.Property(ArtistSlideshowRunning)
This one is used internally by Artist Slideshow to check if it is already running. There's no need to use this property in the calling addon's skin.
Window.Property(ArtistSlideshow.ExternalCall)
An external addon needs to set this to True so that Artist Slideshow will run properly when called by an external script. This property should be cleared to tell ArtistSlideshow to stop running.
Window.Property(ArtistSlideshow.CleanupComplete)
This one is used internally by Artist Slideshow to tell an external script that ArtistSlideshow is done running and is exiting.
7.2 Calling the addon
Artist Slideshow does not exit after being called. It continues to run to check for changes in the artist infolabel. Becasue of that, the calling addon will have to create another thread for Artist Slideshow. The calling addon needs to import the python theading module for this to work.
def runArtistSlideshow(self):
#startup artistslideshow
xbmcgui.Window(xbmcgui.getCurrentWindowId()).setProperty("ArtistSlideshow.ExternalCall", "True")
#assumes addon is using suggested infolabel name of CURRENTARTIST and CURRENTTITLE
artistslideshow = "RunScript(script.artistslideshow,windowid=%s&artistfield=%s&titlefield=%s)"
% (xbmcgui.getCurrentWindowId(), "CURRENTARTIST", "CURRENTTITLE")
xbmc.executebuiltin(artistslideshow)
self.thread = threading.Thread(target=self.runArtistSlideshow)
self.thread.setDaemon(True)
self.thread.start()
Note that the line wrap in artistslideshow = is there just for presentation purposes. If you copy and paste the code exactly as is you will get a python error. The suggestion is for the addon to spawn this thread right after it spawns the window.
7.3 Exiting the addon
When the calling addon is preparing to exit, it must tell Artist Slideshow to stop and wait until it has. This logic should be added *before* the addon's window is destroyed. Failure to include this step will likely cause XBMC to crash.
#tell ArtistSlideshow to exit
xbmcgui.Window(xbmcgui.getCurrentWindowId()).clearProperty("ArtistSlideshow.ExternalCall")
#wait until ArtistSlideshow exits
while (not xbmcgui.Window(xbmcgui.getCurrentWindowId()).getProperty("ArtistSlideshow.CleanupComplete") == "True"):
time.sleep(1)
8 Getting help
If you need assistance using Artist Slideshow, integrating it a skin, or calling it using another addon, please see the support thread on the XBMC forums.
