a helper service for Kodi skins

This is the first version of this script, currently only available as beta on Git. Once tested by a few skinners I will submit it to the official Kodi repo.

If you run into any issues , have some feedback or feature requests, feel free to ask and please report bugs !

Thanks all for testing!

Regards,

Marcel

The script is controlled by the skinner through skin settings to allow the skinner to fully integrate the settings of this script within the skin settings of the skin. This means that the skinner enables functions of the script with enabling some skin settings.

Important settings:

The script provides several window properties to provide additional info about your skin and media info. The window properties can be called in your skin like this: $INFO[Window(Home).Property(propertyname)]

Some additional window properties that can be used in the video library.

The script can provide you the full path of the studio logo found for the selected listitem. It will do that by looking up all found studio images and do a smart compare to match the correct one. If the listitem has multiple studios it will return the logo from the first studio found in the list thas has a logo. This will prevent you from having to sort out that logic yourself in your skin.

The script handles this logic to locate the fanart:

1. custom path set by you in the skin: Skin.String(SkinHelper.CustomStudioImagesPath)

2. try to locate the images in skin\extras\flags\studios (and flags\studioscolor for coloured images)

3. try to locate the images in the new image resource addons provided by the Kodi team

Note: If you also want to have the Studio logo and Duration Properties for your homescreen widgets, you need to set a Window Property "SkinHelper.WidgetContainer" with the ID of your widget container: For example in home.xml: SetProperty(SkinHelper.WidgetContainer,301)

If the selected listitem in the videolibrary is a movie set, some additional window properties are provided:

For the individual items (MovieSet.X) replace X with the number of the movie in the set. Start counting at 0 and movies are ordered by year. The ListItemStudioLogo and ListItemDuration properties will also be provided (if available) for the movie set.

Some additional window properties that can be used in the music library.

Some additional window properties that can be used in the PVR windows. Enables a live scraper for images of the selected program in the PVR. Comes with smart caching so it will be faster once used more often. You must set the following Skin Bool to true --> SkinHelper.EnablePVRThumbs for the scraper to activate.

NOTE: The images will only be scraped if you have set the following Skin Bool to true --> SkinHelper.EnablePVRThumbs

Also note that the addon-settings for this addon will allow fine-tuning of the PVR thumbs feature

All Windows properties of the script are only provided for the current selected listitem. If you have a panel container in the PVR windows and you want to show the PVR artwork, the script has a little helper-webservice to deliver the artwork:

<control type="image">
    <!--pvr thumb image-->
    <texture background="true">http://localhost:8888/getthumb&title=$VAR[ListTitlePVR]&channel=$INFO[ListItem.ChannelName]</texture>
    <visible>Skin.HasSetting(SkinHelper.EnablePVRThumbs)</visible>
</control>

The above example will return the PVR artwork, in general the landscape, fanart or thumb is returned. If you prefer a specific art-type you can specify that with type=[kodi artwork type] For example:

http://localhost:8888/getthumb&title=$VAR[ListTitlePVR]&channel=$INFO[ListItem.ChannelName]&type=poster

The script has a background scanner to provide some rotating fanart backgrounds which can be used in your skin as backgrounds. The backgrounds are available in window properties.

Note: the default interval for the backgrounds is set at 30 seconds. If you want to change this interval you can set a Skin String "SkinHelper.RandomFanartDelay" with the number of seconds as value.

The script provides several tools and actions which you can use in your skin.

RunScript(script.skin.helper.service,action=musicsearch)

This command will open the default search window for the music library. Might come in handy if you want to create a shortcut to music search from outside the music library window.

RunScript(script.skin.helper.service,action=videosearch)

This command will open the special search window in the script. It has a onscreen keyboard to quickly search for movies, tvshows and episodes. You can customize the look and feel of this search dialog. To do that include the files script-skin_helper_service-CustomSearch.xml and script-skin_helper_service-CustomInfo.xml in your skin and skin it to your needs.

RunScript(script.skin.helper.service,action=colorpicker,skinstring=XXX)

This command will open the color picker of the script. After the user selected a color, the color will be stored in the skin string. Required parameters:

• skinstring: Skin String inwhich the value of the color (ARGB) will be stored.

In your skin you can just use the skin string to color a control, example: $INFO[Skin.String(defaultLabelColor)]

Note: If you want to display the name of the selected color, add a prefix .name to your skin string. For example: Default color for labels: $INFO[Skin.String(defaultLabelColor.name)]

If you want to customize the look and feel of the color picker window, make sure to include script-skin_helper_service-ColorPicker.xml in your skin and skin it to your needs.

TIP: By default the colorpicker will provide a list of available colors. If you want to provide that list yourself, create a file "colors.xml" in skin\extras\colors\colors.xml See the default colors file in the script's location, subfolder resources\colors

Additional use cases of the color picker: If you want to set a Window(home) Property instead of a skin settings: RunScript(script.skin.helper.service,action=colorpicker,winproperty=XXX)

If you want to use the color picker to store the color in a shortcut-property from the skinshortcuts script, include a button in your script-skinshortcuts.xml with this onclick-action:

RunScript(script.skin.helper.service,action=colorpicker,shortcutproperty=XXX)

The script has a feature to automatically retrieve a thumb/image for a specific search query It will first query TMDB, if that fails Google images and if that fails it will try youtube to get a thumb. This might come in handy if you want to provide a thumb for the currently selected show in the PVR channel list for example. Note 1: The script will build a cache in the background to prevent too many queries to google/youtube. Note 2: There is no way to guarantee which aspect ratio the retrieved image has, so use scale or keep as aspect ratio to display the images.

How to use ? You must use a multiimage control for this thing to work, as that accepts a plugin path as the texturepath. Use the path property to define the searchquery, the more info you supply, the more accurate the resulting image will be. Note that if you want the TMDB poster to be returned the show or movie title has to be exact. For example to display a thumb of the selected TV program in MyPVRChannels.xml:

<control type="multiimage">
	<width>300</width>
	<height>300</height>
	<imagepath>plugin://script.skin.helper.service/?action=getthumb&path=$INFO[ListItem.Title] $INFO[ListItem.ChannelName]</imagepath>
	<aspectratio>keep</aspectratio>
</control>

When the script is called it will also fill a window property with the image: SkinHelper.ListItemThumb

Shows a selectdialog with all searchresults found by the Youtube plugin, for example to search for trailers in DialogVideoInfo.xml. The benefit of that is that user stays in the same window and is not moved away from the library to the youtube plugin. You can supply a searchphrase to the script and optionally provide a label for the header in the DialogSelect.

RunScript(script.skin.helper.service,action=searchyoutube,title=[SEARCHPHRASE],header=[HEADER FOR THE DIALOGSELECT]

TIP: The results of the script displayed in DialogSelect.xml will have the label2 of the ListItem set to the description.

example 1: Search for trailers in DialogVideoInfo.xml

<control type="button">
	<label>YouTube $LOCALIZE[20410]</label>
	<onclick condition="System.HasAddon(plugin.video.youtube)">RunScript(script.skin.helper.service,action=searchyoutube,title=$INFO[ListItem.Title] Trailer,header=Search YouTube Trailers)</onclick>
	<onclick condition="!System.HasAddon(plugin.video.youtube)">ActivateWindow(Videos,plugin://plugin.video.youtube)</onclick>
	<visible>Container.Content(movies)</visible>
</control>
           

example 2: Search for artist videos in DialogAlbumInfo.xml

RunScript(script.skin.helper.service,action=searchyoutube,title=$INFO[ListItem.Artist], header=Videos for $INFO[ListItem.Artist])             

Allows the user to select a busy spinner from some predefined ones in your skin. It supports both multiimage (folder with images) and single image (.gif) spinners. The user can provide his own texture(s) or select from predefined spinners in the skin.

RunScript(script.skin.helper.service,action=busytexture)             

The script fills this Skin Strings after selection: SkinHelper.SpinnerTexture --> the name of the selected busy texture SkinHelper.SpinnerTexturePath --> The full path of the selected busy texture

#####To provide busy spinners with your skin:

• Make sure to create a directory "busy_spinners" in your skin's extras folder.
• Inside that directory you can put subdirectories for multimage spinners or just gif files in the root.

#####To use the busy texture Make sure that you use a multiimage control in DialogBusy.xml. Example code:

<control type="multiimage">
	<width>150</width>
	<height>150</height>
	<aspectratio>keep</aspectratio>
	<imagepath>$INFO[Skin.String(SkinHelper.SpinnerTexturePath)]</imagepath>
	<timeperimage>100</timeperimage>
	<colordiffuse>$INFO[Skin.String(SpinnerTextureColor)]</colordiffuse>
	<fadetime>0</fadetime>
	<visible>!Skin.String(SkinHelper.SpinnerTexturePath,None)</visible>
</control>

Allows the user to globally override the skin's background on certain date conditions. For example setup a christmas background at late december etc. By launching this script entrypoint the user will be presented with a dialog to add, delete and edit conditional overrides.

RunScript(script.skin.helper.service,action=conditionalbackgrounds)             

#####To use the conditional background in your skin If a background is active the window property "Window(home).Property(SkinHelper.ConditionalBackground)" will be filled by the service.

Can be used to set/unset a specific Kodi system setting (boolean).

RunScript(script.skin.helper.service,action=togglekodisetting,setting=[NAME OF THE SETTING IN GUISETTINGS])             

You must supply the name of the setting as can be found in guisettings.xml or the Json API

#####Example: Toggle the RSS feed

<!--toggle rss feed-->
<control type="radiobutton" id="123456">
    <label>Show RSS Feed</label>
    <onclick>XBMC.RunScript(script.skin.helper.service,action=togglekodisetting,setting=lookandfeel.enablerssfeeds)</onclick>
    <selected>system.getbool(lookandfeel.enablerssfeeds)</selected>
</control>

RunScript(script.skin.helper.service,action=setview)               

This feature shows the user a select dialog with all the views that are available. This replaces the default "toggle" button in the MyXXNav.xml windows. Note that you must create a views.xml file in your skin's extras folder. The selection dialog is built from that views.xml file and auto checks the visibility conditions so a view will only be shown if it's suitable for the current media content.

example content of the views.xml file (to be placed in extras folder of your skin):

<views>
    <view id="List" value="50" languageid="31443" type="all"/>
	  <view id="Thumbs details" value="512" languageid="31439" type="movies,setmovies,tvshows,musicvideos,seasons,sets,episodes,artists,albums,songs,tvchannels,tvrecordings,programs,pictures" />
	  <view id="Poster Shift" value="514" languageid="31441" type="movies,setmovies,tvshows,musicvideos,seasons,sets" />
</views>

id = the unlocalized version of the views name. value = the skin view ID. languageid = localized label ID. type = the type of content the view is suitable for, use "all" to support all types.

Supported types are currently: movies,setmovies,tvshows,musicvideos,seasons,sets,episodes,artists,albums,songs,tvchannels,tvrecordings,programs,pictures

Note: If you want a thumbnail of the view displayed in the select dialog, you need to create some small screenshots of your views and place them in your skin's extras folder:

• in your skin\extras folder, create a subfolder "viewthumbs"
• inside that viewthumbs folder save a .JPG file (screenshot) for all your views. Save them as [VIEWID].jpg where [VIEWID] is the numeric ID of the view.

RunScript(script.skin.helper.service,action=enableviews)             

This will present a selection dialog to the user to enable (or disable) views. It uses the views.xml file to display the available views (see above). When a view is disabled it will be hidden from the view selection dialog. Also, a Skin String will be set so you can check in your skin if the view has been disabled (and not include it or set a visiblity condition). The name of the Skin String that will be set by the script is: SkinHelper.View.Disabled.[VIEWID] where [VIEWID] is the numerical ID of the view.

Example: View_55_BannerList

RunScript(script.skin.helper.service,action=setforcedview,contenttype=[TYPE])             

The script can help you to set a forced view for a specific contenttype in your skin. For example if the user wants to set the list view for all tvshow content etc. For [TYPE] you must fill in one of the content types, see above at "Views selector". When a button is pressed with the above command, a select dialog appears and the user can choose on of the available views. Disabled views and views that aren't suitable for the specified type are hidden from the list. When the user made a choice from the list a Skin String will be filled by the script: SkinHelper.ForcedViews.[TYPE] The value of that skin string is the numeric ID of the selected view.

Note: It is recommended that you create a Skin toggle to enable/disable the forced views feature.

Note 2: When the user select another view in the normal viewselector, the forcedview setting will also be set to the newly chosen view.

Example code to use in your skin settings:

<control type="radiobutton" id="6009">
	<label>Enable forced views</label>
	<onclick>Skin.ToggleSetting(SkinHelper.ForcedViews.Enabled)</onclick>
	<selected>Skin.HasSetting(SkinHelper.ForcedViews.Enabled)</selected>
</control>
<control type="button" id="6010">
	<onclick>RunScript(script.skin.helper.service,action=setforcedview,contenttype=movies)</onclick>
	<visible>Skin.HasSetting(SkinHelper.ForcedViews.Enabled)</visible>
	<label>Forced view for movies: $INFO[Skin.String(SkinHelper.ForcedViews.movies)]</label>
</control>
<control type="button" id="6011">
	<onclick>RunScript(script.skin.helper.service,action=setforcedview,contenttype=tvshows)</onclick>
	<visible>Skin.HasSetting(SkinHelper.ForcedViews.Enabled)</visible>
	<label>Forced view for tv shows:  $INFO[Skin.String(SkinHelper.ForcedViews.tvshows)]</label>
</control>
<control type="button" id="6012">
	<onclick>RunScript(script.skin.helper.service,action=setforcedview,contenttype=seasons)</onclick>
	<visible>Skin.HasSetting(SkinHelper.ForcedViews.Enabled)</visible>
	<label>Forced view for seasons:  $INFO[Skin.String(SkinHelper.ForcedViews.seasons)]</label>
</control>
<control type="button" id="6013">
	<onclick>RunScript(script.skin.helper.service,action=setforcedview,contenttype=episodes)</onclick>
	<visible>Skin.HasSetting(SkinHelper.ForcedViews.Enabled)</visible>
	<label>Forced view for episodes: $INFO[Skin.String(SkinHelper.ForcedViews.episodes)]</label>
	<font>Reg28</font>
</control>
<control type="button" id="6014">
	<onclick>RunScript(script.skin.helper.service,action=setforcedview,contenttype=sets)</onclick>
	<visible>Skin.HasSetting(SkinHelper.ForcedViews.Enabled)</visible>
	<label>Forced view for movie sets: $INFO[Skin.String(SkinHelper.ForcedViews.sets)]</label>
</control>
<control type="button" id="6015">
	<onclick>RunScript(script.skin.helper.service,action=setforcedview,contenttype=setmovies)</onclick>
	<visible>Skin.HasSetting(SkinHelper.ForcedViews.Enabled)</visible>
	<label>Forced view for movies inside set: $INFO[Skin.String(SkinHelper.ForcedViews.setmovies)]</label>
</control>

the above example can off course be extended with other view types, such as pvr channels etc.

Example code to use for your views visibility conditions:

<control type="panel" id="51">
	<visible>StringCompare(Window(Home).Property(SkinHelper.ForcedView),53) | IsEmpty(Window(Home).Property(SkinHelper.ForcedView))</visible>
</control>

Note: The forced view visibility condition has to be added to all view controls in order to work properly. The ForcedView window property will only be set if you have set this bool to true in your skin: SkinHelper.ForcedViews.Enabled

The script comes with a color theme feature. Basically it's just a simplified version of the skin backup/restore feature but it only backs up the colorsettings. Color Themes has the following features:

• Present a list of skin provided color themes including screenshots.
• Let's the user save his custom settings to a color theme.
• Let's the user export his custom color theme to file.
• Let's the user import a custom color theme from file.

#####To present the dialog with all available color themes:

<control type="button">
	<onclick>RunScript(script.skin.helper.service,action=colorthemes)</onclick>
	<label>$ADDON[script.skin.helper.service 32085]</label>
    <description>Manage Color Themes</description>
</control>
RunScript(script.skin.helper.service,action=colorthemes)             

#####Provide color themes with your skin It is possible to deliver skin provided color themes. Those colorthemes should be stored in the skin's extras\skinthemes folder. If you want to create one or more skinprovided color themes (for example the defaults):

• Create a folder "skinthemes" in your skin's "extras" folder.
• Make all color modifications in your skin to represent the colortheme
• Hit the button to save your colortheme (createcolortheme command)
• Name it and select the correct screenshot
• On the filesystem navigate to Kodi userdata\addon_data[YOURSKIN]\themes
• Copy both the themename.theme and the themename.jpg file to your above created skinthemes directory
• Do this action for every theme you want to include in your skin.
• It is possible to change the description of the theme, just open the .themes file in a texteditor. You can change both the THEMENAME and the DESCRIPTION values to your needs.

#####What settings are stored in the theme file ? All Skin Settings settings that contain one of these words: color, opacity, texture. Also the skin's theme will be saved (if any). So, to make sure the skin themes feature works properly you must be sure that all of your color-settings contain the word color. If any more words should be supported, please ask.

#####Automatically set a color theme at day/night You can have the script set a specified theme during day or night. This will allow the user to have some more relaxing colors at night time and more fluid/bright during day time.

To enable this feature you must set the skin Bool SkinHelper.EnableDayNightThemes to true.

To setup the theme (and time) to use at day time: XBMC.RunScript(script.skin.helper.service,action=ColorThemes,daynight=day) To setup the theme (and time) to use at night time: XBMC.RunScript(script.skin.helper.service,action=ColorThemes,daynight=night)

The script will auto set the correct theme at the specified times and fill these Skin Settings: Skin.String(SkinHelper.ColorTheme.[day/night] --> A formatted string of the selected theme and the time it will apply for day or night Skin.String(SkinHelper.ColorTheme.[day/night].theme --> Only the name of the chosen theme Skin.String(SkinHelper.ColorTheme.[day/night].time --> Only the time of the chosen theme Skin.String(SkinHelper.ColorTheme.[day/night].file --> Only the filename of the chosen theme SkinHelper.LastColorTheme --> This will always hold the name of the last chosen theme (also if this day/night mode is disabled)

Some example code to use:

<control type="radiobutton" id="15033">
    <label>Enable day/night color themes</label>
    <onclick>Skin.ToggleSetting(SkinHelper.EnableDayNightThemes)</onclick>
    <selected>Skin.HasSetting(SkinHelper.EnableDayNightThemes)</selected>
</control>

<control type="button" id="15034">
    <label>Theme to use at day time: $INFO[Skin.String(SkinHelper.ColorTheme.Day)]</label>
    <onclick>XBMC.RunScript(script.skin.helper.service,action=ColorThemes,daynight=day)</onclick>
    <visible>Skin.HasSetting(SkinHelper.EnableDayNightThemes)</visible>
</control>
<control type="button" id="15035">
    <label>Theme to use at night time: $INFO[Skin.String(SkinHelper.ColorTheme.Night)]</label>
    <onclick>XBMC.RunScript(script.skin.helper.service,action=ColorThemes,daynight=night)</onclick>
    <visible>Skin.HasSetting(SkinHelper.EnableDayNightThemes)</visible>
</control>

The script comes with a backup/restore feature. It supports backup of ALL skin settings including skin shortcuts (when script.skinshortcuts is also used).

• Backup all settings to file
• Restore all settings from file
• Reset the skin to default settings (wipe all settings)

#####To backup the skin settings (including preferences for skinshortcuts):

RunScript(script.skin.helper.service,action=backup)             

It is possible to apply a filter to the backup. In that case only skin settings containing a specific phrase will be back upped. Can be usefull if you want to use the backup function for something else in your skin. To use the filter you have to add the filter= argument and supply one or more phrases (separated by |) For example: RunScript(script.skin.helper.service,action=backup,filter=color|view|font)
The filter is not case sensitive

If you want to prompt the user for the filename (instead of auto generating one), you can supply the promptfilename=true parameter to the script.

If you want to silently perform a backup, you can supply the silent= parameter with the full path to the zipfile that has to be created. RunScript(script.skin.helper.service,action=backup,silent=mypath\backup.zip)

#####To restore the skin settings:

RunScript(script.skin.helper.service,action=restore)             

If you want to silently restore a backup, you can supply the silent= parameter with the full path to the zipfile that has to be restored. RunScript(script.skin.helper.service,action=restore,silent=mypath\backup.zip)

#####To reset the skin to defaults:

RunScript(script.skin.helper.service,action=reset)             

This will reset ALL skin settings

The script also has a plugin entrypoint to provide some dynamic content that can be used for example in widgets. use the parameter [LIMIT] to define the number of items to show in the list. defaults to 25 if the parameter is not supplied.

Important Note: If you want to use these commands in the skinshortcuts overrides.xml,
you have to replace & with &

#####Next Episodes

plugin://script.skin.helper.service/?action=nextepisodes&limit=[LIMIT]&reload=$INFO[Window(Home).Property(widgetreload)]

Provides a list of the nextup episodes. This can be the first episode in progress from a tv show or the next unwatched from a in progress show. Note: the reload parameter is needed to auto refresh the widget when the content has changed.

#####Recommended Movies

plugin://script.skin.helper.service/?action=recommendedmovies&limit=[LIMIT]&reload=$INFO[Window(Home).Property(widgetreload)]

Provides a list of the in progress movies AND recommended movies based on rating. Note: the reload parameter is needed to auto refresh the widget when the content has changed.

#####Recommended Media

plugin://script.skin.helper.service/?action=recommendedmedia&limit=[LIMIT]

Provides a list of recommended media (movies, tv shows, music) Note: You can optionally provide the reload= parameter if you want to refresh the widget on library changes.

#####Recent Media

plugin://script.skin.helper.service/?action=recentmedia&limit=[LIMIT]

Provides a list of recently added media (movies, tv shows, music, tv recordings, musicvideos) Note: You can optionally provide the reload= parameter if you want to refresh the widget on library changes.

#####Similar Movies (because you watched...)

plugin://script.skin.helper.service/?action=similarmovies&limit=[LIMIT]

This will provide a list with movies that are similar to a random watched movie from the library. TIP: The listitem provided by this list will have a property "similartitle" which contains the movie from which this list is generated. That way you can create a "Because you watched $INFO[Container.ListItem.Property(originaltitle)]" label.... Note: You can optionally provide the reload= parameter if you want to refresh the widget on library changes. If you want to refresh the widget on other circumstances just provide any changing info with the reload parameter, such as the window title or some window Property which you change on X interval.

#####In progress Media

plugin://script.skin.helper.service/?action=inprogressmedia&limit=[LIMIT]&reload=$INFO[Window(Home).Property(widgetreload)]

Provides a list of all in progress media (movies, tv shows, music, musicvideos) Note: the reload parameter is needed to auto refresh the widget when the content has changed.

#####In progress and Recommended Media

plugin://script.skin.helper.service/?action=inprogressandrecommendedmedia&limit=[LIMIT]&reload=$INFO[Window(Home).Property(widgetreload)]

This combines in progress media and recommended media, usefull to prevent an empty widget when no items are in progress. Note: the reload parameter is needed to auto refresh the widget when the content has changed.

#####Favourite Media

plugin://script.skin.helper.service/?action=favouritemedia&limit=[LIMIT]&reload=$INFO[Window(Home).Property(widgetreload2)]

Provides a list of all media items that are added as favourite (movies, tv shows, songs, musicvideos) Note: By providing the reload-parameter set to the widgetreload2 property, the widget will be updated every 10 minutes.

#####My TV Shows Airing today

plugin://script.skin.helper.service/?action=nextairedtvshows&reload=$INFO[Window(Home).Property(widgetreload2)]

Provides a list of the shows from the library that are airing today - requires script.tv.show.next.aired The listitems will have the properties as described here: http://kodi.wiki/view/Add-on:TV_Show_-_Next_Aired#Airing_today For example: ListItem.Property(NextTitle) Note: By providing the reload-parameter set to the widgetreload2 property, the widget will be updated every 10 minutes.

#####PVR TV Channels widget

plugin://script.skin.helper.service/?action=pvrchannels&limit=[LIMIT]&reload=$INFO[Window(Home).Property(widgetreload2)]

Provides the Kodi TV channels as list content, enriched with thumbs, poster, channelicon and fanart (where possible). Note: By providing the reload-parameter set to the widgetreload2 property, the widget will be updated every 10 minutes.

#####PVR TV Recordings widget

plugin://script.skin.helper.service/?action=pvrrecordings&limit=[LIMIT]&reload=$INFO[Window(Home).Property(widgetreload2)]

Provides the Kodi TV Recordings as list content, enriched with thumbs, poster, channelicon and fanart (where possible). Note: By providing the reload-parameter set to the widgetreload2 property, the widget will be updated every 10 minutes.

#####Favourites

plugin://script.skin.helper.service/?action=favourites&limit=[LIMIT]&reload=$INFO[Window(Home).Property(widgetreload2)]

Provides the Kodi favourites as list content. Note: By providing the reload-parameter set to the widgetreload2 property, the widget will be updated every 10 minutes.

#####Cast Details

plugin://script.skin.helper.service/?action=getcast&movie=[MOVIENAME OR DBID]
plugin://script.skin.helper.service/?action=getcast&tvshow=[TVSHOW NAME OR DBID]
plugin://script.skin.helper.service/?action=getcast&movieset=[MOVIESET NAME OR DBID]

Provides the Cast list for the specified media type as a listing. Label = Name of the actor Label2 = Role Icon = Thumb of the actor

You can use the name of the Movie or the DBID to perform the lookup.

There will also a Window Property be set when you use the above query to the script: SkinHelper.ListItemCast --> It will return the cast list seperated by [CR]

This feature is introduced to be able to provide quick-access shortcuts to specific sections of Kodi, such as user created playlists and favourites and entry points of some 3th party addons such as Emby and Plex. What it does is provide some Window properties about the shortcut. It is most convenient used with the skin shortcuts script but can offcourse be used in any part of your skin. The most important behaviour of the smart shortcuts feature is that is pulls images from the library path so you can have content based backgrounds.

Will only be available if this Skin Bool is true --> SmartShortcuts.playlists

Will only be available if this Skin Bool is true --> SmartShortcuts.favorites

Note that only favourites will be processed that actually contain video/audio content.

Will only be available if this Skin Bool is true --> SmartShortcuts.plex

Note that the plexbmc addon must be present on the system for this to function.

Will only be available if this Skin Bool is true --> SmartShortcuts.emby

Note that the Emby addon must be present on the system for this to function.

Will only be available if this Skin Bool is true --> SmartShortcuts.netflix

Note that the Netflixbmc addon must be present on the system for this to function.

This addon is designed to fully work together with the skinshortcuts script, so it will save you a lot of time because the script provides skinshortcuts with all the info to display contents. No need to manually skin all those window properties in your skin, just a few lines in your overrides file is enough.

When the smart shortcuts are used together with skinshortcuts it will auto assign the icon and background with rotating fanart and both the widget and submenu (if needed) are assigned by default. The user just adds the shortcut and is all set.

To display the complete listing of Smart Shortcuts in your skin, place the following line in your overrides file, in the groupings section:

<shortcut label="Smart Shortcuts" type="32010">||BROWSE||script.skin.helper.service/?action=smartshortcuts</shortcut>

full example:

<overrides>
	<groupings>
		<shortcut label="$ADDON[script.skin.helper.service 32062]" type="32010">||BROWSE||script.skin.helper.service/?action=smartshortcuts</shortcut>
	</groupings>
</overrides>	

Offcourse you can use a condition parameter to only show the smart shortcuts entry if it's enabled in your skin. You can also choose to use display the smart shortcuts to be used as widgets, in that case include this line in your overrides.xml file:

<widget label="Smart Shortcuts" type="32010">||BROWSE||script.skin.helper.service/?action=smartshortcuts</widget>

You can choose to show all backgrounds (including those for smart shortcuts) that are provided by this addon in the skinshortcuts backgrounds selector.

To display all backgrounds automatically in skinshorts you only have to include the line below in your overrides file:

<background label="smartshortcuts">||BROWSE||plugin://script.skin.helper.service/?action=backgrounds</background>

Note: You can still use the default skinshortcuts method to assign a default background to a item by labelID or defaultID. In that case use the full $INFO path of the background. For example, to assign the "all movies" background to the Movies shortcut:

<backgrounddefault defaultID="movies">$INFO[Window(Home).Property(SkinHelper.AllMoviesBackground)]</backgrounddefault>

For more info, see skinshortcut's documentation.

Coding all widgets in your skin can be a pain, especially to keep up with all the fancy scripts like extendedinfo and library data provider. This addon, combined with skinshortcuts can make things a little easier for you... By including just one line of code in your skinshortcuts override.xml you can display a whole bunch of widgets, ready to be selected by the user:

<widget label="Widgets" type="32010">||BROWSE||script.skin.helper.service/?action=widgets&amp;path=skinplaylists,librarydataprovider,scriptwidgets,extendedinfo,smartshortcuts,pvr,smartishwidgets</widget>

This will display a complete list of widgets available to select if the user presses the select widget button in skinshortcuts. In the path parameter you can specify which widgettypes should be listed. The widgets will be displayed in the order of which you type them as parameters (comma separated). You can also leave out the whole path parameterm in that case all available widgets will be displayed.

Currently available widgets (more to be added soon):

skinplaylist --> all playlists that are stored in "yourskin\extras\widgetplaylists" or "yourskin\playlists" or "yourskin\extras\playlists"

librarydataprovider --> all widgets that are provided by the Library Data Provider script

scriptwidgets --> the special widgets that are provided by this addon, like favourites and favourite media etc.

extendedinfo --> All widgets that are provided by the Extended info script

smartshortcuts --> all smartshortcuts

pvr --> pvr widgets provided by the script

smartishwidgets --> widget supplied by the smartish widgets addon

favourites --> any browsable nodes in the user's favourites that can be used as widget

Note: the script will auto check the existence of the addons on the system so no need for complex visibility conditions in your skin.