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[BenJeremy]

July 26 2003

Media X Menu 0.9n.4


Tutorials located at:  http://www.writersgallery.com/MXM/TUT

Beta 0.9n

Fixed problem with "Bounce" modifier that caused the size to be screwed up for
 dynamic strings when they changed.

Implimented <SkinsPath> for <Main> node. Defaults to MXM path, but this will override the value and
 search will occur in the path specified in this element.

Implimented FTP SITE commands:
 SITE reboot
 SITE shutdown

Added <DuplicateOK> property to item entries. If True, it overrides check for duplicates. False has no effect.

Fixed some issues with the FTP Server, works with AceFTP 2

Fixed XML "cooking" - use of escaped symbols ampersand, greater and less than. Tested with Toejam & Earl

Added "FlashID" Text String (smell anything burning?)

Added Screenshot capability!!!! RIGHT-TRIGGER and "X" will capture screen captures to Z:

Added X:, Y:, and Z: to the FTP Served drives.

Added internal images: ::ICO_ACTION, ::ICO_DIR, ::ICO_DVD, ::ICO_EMU, ::ICO_FILE, ::ICO_HD,
 ::ICO_LOCK, ::ICO_MEDIA, ::ICO_MUSIC, ::ICO_WAVE, ::ICO_XBE

Internalized a master XML script that will hold internal skins, infoscreens and various other things.

Added masahiko's "Simplicity" skin to the internal skin list.

Skin Selection... not terribly stable, due to a number of factors, I am forcing a reboot after you select
 anything but "Random" - The changes go into MXM's "User" directory (U:Pref.xml or E:UDATA0004321Pref.xml)

Some Newsfeed capability...
 Add a Newsfeed node into the Config node of MXM.xml:
 <Config>
   :   :
  <Newsfeed name="user">
   <Global>True</Global>
   <RotateChannels>False</RotateChannels>
   <URL>http://www.xbox-scene.com/xbox1data/xbox-scene.xml</URL>
   <UpdateIntervalMin>28</UpdateIntervalMin>
   <RotateItemInterval>10</RotateItemInterval>
  </Newsfeed>
   :   :
 </Config>
 Access it with a text source of "newsfeed"
 The user MUST have a proper DNS defined, otherwise, they have to use the dotted 'numeric' IP for the server.

Added status indicator to MatrixEffect screen (also entailed new, more complete font; as a consequence,
 the internal Matrix Font is usable now... lowercase alphas OK, uppercase are Matrix Symbols)

Added Oswald's "Uyenbox3" skin to the internal skin list.

Changed "Reboot" to full Power Cycle

Added "PowerCycle" to menu options (SITE command)

Added new attributes to AutoDir:
 "NoDemo" - If "True" will prevent AutoDir from including any searches into directories with 'demo' in name
 "DefaultOnly" - Prevents AutoDir from seeing anything but "default.xbe" files when searching for xbe files
                 (This does not affect directories with MXM_Entry.xml files)            

Corrected filetimes in FTP Server to LOCAL TIME!!!!

Fixed DateFormat bug. Added new formats for Time and Date:
 Time - 0=24 hour clock HH:MM:SS
        1=12 hour clock HH:MM:SSxm with AM/PM indicator
        2=24 hour clock HH:MM
        3=12 hour clock HH:MMxm with AM/PM indicator
 Date - 0=American, MM/DD/YY
        1=Euro1, YY/MM/DD
        2=Euro2, DD/MM YY
        3=Euro3, DD/MM/YY
 TimeSepChar and DateSepChar will replace the ":" and "/" respectively.

FINALLY! Fixed the issue with no-audio WMVs. It seems it WAS my fault after all. Well, not entirely... M$ is a
 bit lame on how the routine I was using worked; so after a bit of re-working, videos should work both with and
 without audio.

Fixed problem with Pref.xml not being saved, if you never ran MXM as an app (only dash) - the UDATA and TDATA
 directories were never created. This is now checked on startup and these directories are created.

OK, found the bug preventing Command Lines from working. Try again...

Finally! Alpha  sorting! Current WIP is defaults to alpha sorting, it should cascade to all submenu levels.
 <Sortfield> tag in an item begins the sorting (you cannot next these) which continues until the end of the entries or an <EndSort> tag
 is encountered.

Alpha Sorting has been expanded to support up to three sort fields - just use additional <SortField> tags

Preferences menu has been beefed up.

Additional AutoConfig type added... "Apps & Games" set by the Preferences menu.

Fixed IR Remote operation in system menus

Fixed Random Soundtrack using a randomized index table (Shuffle play).

Fixed "pam" in time (She didn't need to be in there anyway...)

Fixed Video Standard String

Added <PasscodeMD5> tag to item entries... used INSTEAD OF <passcode>  if additional security is desired.
 It's the MD5 hash of the 5 character alphanumeric uppercase passcode

Added ability to select video standard from preferences/local menu

"SAFE MODE" - if initialization fails on startup, rebooting should result in a safe mode menu. This is pretty straightforward from there.
 You can initiate "Safe Mode" by pressing "START" during initialization.

<videomode> tag in entry allows you to set NTSC or PAL, IF you set "Multi Standard" in TV Type Preference setting.

Added "SITE VIDEO PAL" and "SITE VIDEO NTSC" as recovery commands available using the FTP Server.
 These will set the video and reboot the Xbox. Use these if your display gets hosed completely (then heed the warnings!).

Added "No Music" option to safe mode choices

Reworked a couple things on the soundtrack manager

Work done on FTP Server. XBRenamer now works (Found bug in RETR code)

Fixed issue with FTP Server when moronic client attempts to create an existing directory (succeeds now)

Added "CGEntryValueDWORD" string source, to report values as 10 character, 8 digit, C-Style hex values (0x00000000)

Added "CGEntryMode" to report the desired video mode

Added <WordWrapEnable> and <WordWrapWidth> to Text Elements - scaling is based on this width (implied), and fonts are displayed proportionally.

Fixed "bug" that caused seeming random selection in the root menu (legacy from DVD Menu days)

Better "Game Info" screen.

Added "Simple Init" screen (See MXM_Patcher)

Added Color Selection, good for Matrix and Simple Init Screens (See MXM_Patcher)

DVD Compilations have several options to alter the behavior of the skins loader:
 Main::UsePrefSkin (Defaults to FALSE) If TRUE, uses setting in Preferences menu
 Main::RandomSkins (Defaults to FALSE) If TRUE, and in XDI/MenuX compatibility, allows randomizer to pick skin
 Main::DVDSkinsOnly (Defaults to TRUE) If TRUE, prevents usage of internal skins, forces skin searching to D:

NOTE: Renaming failures in FTP are due to open files in those directories!! I'll need to come up with something
 to work around this limitation. It is an unfortunate side affect of having a feature-rich skinning system

The User's guide needs some work... expect updates soon on the MXM tutorials page

Beta 0.9n.1 (Bug Fixes)

Extremely bad situation with PAL/NTSC mode switching affecting people's systems. Now disabled until further notice.


NEW July 24 2003

Beta 0.9n.2 (Bug Fixes)

Fixed FTP reconnection issue (non-random ports generated for PASV - "rand()" wasn't working)

Fixed Xbox Version not showing up for some people.

Dunno... newsfeeds weren't cycling. I suspect a bug in the compiler optimizations - it suddenly started working.

Hmmm... changed some of the newsfeed stuff. Should  work on more feeds?

Added a bit more game information (Content Size)

Added Music Volume to preferences

Moved DVD menu option

Added the ability to screenshot in menus and messageboxes (Right-Trigger + "X")

Added a few more Preferences options (Saver delay, "Remove" menu options)

Re-arranged the skin loading a bit to fix a couple minor issues (seems to be faster now, too)

Fixed bug in AppMenu (which drives the "Y" System Menus) that sometimes prevented a submenu from working.

Added "Emulators" to the Apps and Games style auto-config

Clarified options specific to "AutoCfg" menus

Added No Demos and Default.xbe options

Fixed (I hope) issues when global soundtracks were uninitialized on the Xbox

Added "Use Internal Skins" Option while re-arranging some preference menus.

Added <MusicEnable> tag to Layout nodes in skins (to disable music in a layout)

Beta 0.9n.3 (Bug Fixes)

Changed a little bit about the way the menu cache works.

Removed "B"/Back to activate the System Menu (Use only "Y" now)

Fixed issue with SortFields being used with AutoDir (not propogated to cache menu)

Newsfeed "sticking" issue seems to have been fixed, finally (didn't happen in Debug).

Fixed problem with newsfeed updates retried almost continuously when they fail.


Beta 0.9n.4 (Bug Fixes)

Added <FadeIn> tag to layouts, which prevent the fade in if set to FALSE

Fixed issue with Alpha-masked PNG files not displaying properly

Fixed another issue with Alpha on Fonts not being displayed correctly!

xISO xFER now works with MXM (tested on 2.02) - xFER didn't like my MKD response code.

New SITE commands:
 SITE ResetMenuCache
    FTP Client apps could refresh the menu selections
 SITE trayopen
    Opens Drive Tray
 SITE trayclose
    Closes Drive Tray

Oh, just for kicks, I added a "System..." submenu and implemented the "Action" tag for menu items.
 This is pretty simple, at the moment, but I'll build this up as time progresses.
 The test menu features "Tray Eject" and "Tray Close" as well as reboot options.

Added conditional "itemaction"

Fixed small problem with the Time Synch not being disabled when the network was disabled by SAFE MODE

Tweaked the menu loading again.


Beta 0.9n.5 (Bug Fixes)

 Fixed Music Enable

Checked Enable Global Music - works on my test machine

Added "Enable Network" to configutration menus.

Explaination of the <Action> tag to add your own "Systme" commands to the 'regular' menus:
 Instead of defining an "Exe" You define an Action for the item:
 <Item>
 <Action>trayopen</Action>
 <Title>Open DVD Tray</Title>
 <Thumbnail>::ICO_ACTION</Thumbnail>
 <Media>::ICO_ACTION</Media>
 </Item>
 Actions currently available:
 - ResetMenuCache
 - trayopen
 - trayclose
 - reboot
 - shutdown
 - PowerCycle
 More will follow

Totally new FTP server code. Should be no more hangups... you can now ABOR during transfers.

Recognizes "G:" drive

Toggle for "Action..." menu (Formarly "System..." but confusing name with "Y" menu)

Hard drive Formatting!
 - SITE commands:
    FORMAT C:
    FORMAT E:
    FORMAT F:
    FORMAT G:
    FORMAT X:
    FORMAT Y:
    FORMAT Z:
  Of course, use these at your own risk!!
  As usual, these SITE commands can also be used in ACTION menu items
  Requires a toggle of the configuration menu (Misc settings) before first usage.

Drive-related Strings have "G" equivalents now.

Conditionals: cdrivepresent, edrivepresent, fdrivepresent, gdrivepresent

Added "not" attribute to conditionals, for testing OPPOSITE condition. To use, set not="true"
   i.e.: <condition not="true">GDrivePresent</condition>

Added "fanspeed" gadget string.

Added
   ATTR <FileOrDir> ro|rw
   CHMOD 777 <FileOrDir>   (This command is compatible with FlashFXP's "Attributes" action)
   LaunchDVD
   EEPROMBackup [Filename] (Backs up EEPROM contents, encrypted, to a file, file defaults to "eeprom.bin" in current directory)
   EEPROMRestore [Filename] (Restores EEPROM contents, encrypted, from a file, file defaults to "eeprom.bin" in current directory)
   MKDIR <PATH>
   RMDIR <PATH> <CASCADE>
   CD <PATH> (GUI only, sets default directory, which starts as MXM's path)
   COPY <Path/File/Wildcard> <Path/File>
   RENAME <FileOrPath> <FileOrPath>
   DELETE <File>
   :<Label>
   GOTO <Label>
   SYSTEMMENU <Activate|Hide|Unhide|ActivateFull>
   MESSAGEBOX <message> (Displays a message box AFTER script is done executing, or if used between BeginDraw and EndDraw, renders a message box)
   SET <VarName> <Value>  
   ADD <VarName> <Value>
   SUB <VarName> <Value>
   DIV <VarName> <Value>
   MULT <VarName> <Value>
   IF <arg1> <op> <arg2> goto <label>
   -<op>:
    - =
    - >
    - <
    - >=
    - <=
    - != or <>
    - ##   (True if LValue contains RValue)
    - #^   (Same as ##, but case insensitive)
    - !##   (True if LValue doesn't contain RValue)
    - !#^   (Same as !##, but case insensitive)
    IF# (Used to evaluate numerically)
   SETFANSPEED <Manual|Default> <speed>
   SETFUNC <VarName> <Function> <Function Arguments>
    -Functions:
    - XBETITLE <FileName>
    - XBEID <FileName>
    - FILESIZE <FileOrPath>
    - FILEEXIST <FileOrPath>
    - PATHEMPTY <Path>
    - LEFT <Count> <Text>
    - RIGHT <Count> <Text>
    - MID <Count> <Length> <Text>
    - SPACE <Count>
    - REPEAT <Count> <Text>
    - LENGTH <Text>
    - TRIM <Text>
    - TRIMLEFT <Text>
    - TRIMRIGHT <Text>
    - LOWER <Text>
    - UPPER <Text>
    - CONDITION or COND <conditional>    (Sets value to 1 or 0, depending on state of skin conditional)
    - !CONDITION of !COND <conditional>
   EXEC <xbe> [<args>]
   BEGINDRAW [USeCurrent]    (Starts rendering a screen, "UseCurrent" grabs the previously rendered screen to display)
   ENDDRAW   (Displays screen)
   INPUT    (See ActionScript ReadMe for details on return variables set)
   CALLFILE <file> <Args...>
   CALLSCRIPT <name> <Args...>
   BOX <X> <Y> <Width> <Height> [<Color>] [<BorderColor>]
   TEXT <X> <YTOP> <CENTER|LEFT|RIGHT> <Text> [<Color>]
   ALLOWFORMAT <1|0>
   MOUNT <Drive:> [<DevicePartitionPath>]

Add "CherryPatch" - Yes, Thank you Cherry for your PAL/NTSC code. It's EEPROM safe, so you should be OK with a simple reboot.
   With this patch, the PAL/PAL60/NTSC switching code is reimplemented!! It's improved, though, as there is now support for PAL60
   and USA/JAP/EUR region coding as well.

ActionScripts can be loaded internally from the MXM.xml file - define them in a <ActionScript name=somename">
...script here...
</ActionScript>
and
<ActionScriptLoad name=somename">loadable.xas</ActionScriptLoad>
Loads form the disk, relative to the MXM.xml file

MXM will execute "AutoExec" scripts -
1) First, it runs an internally defined script, _AutoExec
2) It runs a user-defined script, AutoExec, as defined in the MXM.xml
3) If it exists, it will run "AutoExec.xas" from the MXM directory.

Colors can either be the named versions, or ARGB values (0xFF001122, for example)

Special ActionScript symbols, $eol$, $lt$ and $gt$

Fixed passcode usage with SubMenus and ActionScripts. Also cleaned up rendering
so the passcode is not revealed once passed by the fade-in.

Cleaned up the way the Dashboards menu option works. Much nicer now

Added "DVD Player Preference" to select a preferred player (Default, X2, or M$)

Users can add "Context menus" for games. These are actionscripts defined in a <Context> node in MXM.xml -
The scripts have some awareness of the currently selected game, and can act on them.

Added "TimeSynch Offset" in hours for those using non-local time servers.


Important note on arguments for actions... if it's quoted, then the BACKSLASH is an escape character, meaning you'll need to "double up" to see a single BACKSLASH in any quoted arguments. This is not an issue on arguments that are NOT quoted. You only need to quote arguments that contain spaces.

This post has been edited by BenJeremy: Sep 25 2003, 04:54 AM

[thetruethugg]

BJ, this is by far the most impressive release of any software I can think of.  So many things added, so many things fixed, it's fantastic!  Congrats..  This should win-over many evox fans (the ones not already won-over)..

[BenJeremy]

QUOTE (thetruethugg @ Jul 15 2003, 12:37 AM)

BJ, this is by far the most impressive release of any software I can think of.  So many things added, so many things fixed, it's fantastic!  Congrats..  This should win-over many evox fans (the ones not already won-over)..

Yeah, I had to get it out.... most of the DVD-R issues have been worked out, but there are some wrinkles introduced as a result of the addition of internal skins and preferences.

There **WILL** be a "0.9n.1" release, as ugly as that is, just to fix anything that crops up upon rleease, as well as the nagging little things I want to fix myself.

At the moment, though, it's more stable and much better than 0.9m - Safe Mode, preferences... good stuff.

As usual, found in "The Usual Places"

[doubtful]

YAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!              

[yackob04]

do you mean screenshots of the menu? or in-game screenshots like what is possible with the xdk? if it's the latter i'm won over

[simbot82]

Cheers BJ

Another quality release and one more letter down the alphabet towards version 1.0  

[ray12944]

!--QuoteBegin-yackob04+Jul 15 2003, 05:10 AM-->

QUOTE (yackob04 @ Jul 15 2003, 05:10 AM)

do you mean screenshots of the menu? or in-game screenshots like what is possible with the xdk? if it's the latter i'm won over

Yeah , its screenshot of the Menu...
Screenshot of the Game would Rule tho  

[Luke]

Short of MXM functioning as a TSR, I'd imagine that it would be impossible for a menu system to allow for game screenshots....
If it did stay resident, it would reduce memory, and cause instability....
correct me if I'm wrong ;-)

[X-eQteR]

once again thanks!...will provide feedbak as soon as i start using it intensively again!  

[TCB]

Congratulations on this release BenJeremi  

You really did a hell of a job. The list of improvements from 9m to 9n is stunning!  I will download and install it rightaway  


Cheers    

[aj1]

Looks Great

Cannot load old skin.

I had a skin I liked in c:\mxmskin, and put <skinpath>c:\mxmskin</skinpath> into c:MXM.xml.

What else do I need to do to enable the old skin (worked fine with version 0.9m)

This post has been edited by aj1: Jul 15 2003, 07:46 AM

[TCB]

Example:


location of mxm:
c:evoxdash.xbe   (but it's mxm though)
c:mxm.xml

location of skinmaps:
c:skins

location of various skins:
c:skinsdevoid
c:skinsadvantage
c:skinssimplicity
....

Than the mxm.xml should have this

QUOTE

<main> <SkinsPath>c:skins<skinspath> <Main>

Now you can select the various skins by simply press the yellow button on your controller to access the MXM menu. There you can select between the skins that you have in your skins folder....  

[deltron zer0]

can someone tell me what needs to be done in order to upgrade from 0.9m (if anything)? sorry if this has been asked/answered elsewhere...

[aj1]

QUOTE (TCB @ Jul 15 2003, 10:05 AM)

Example: <snip>

suweet

that works a charm


thanks for the BEST dash out.

[jizzlobber]

I don't understand (also trying to get skins to show)

I have it's about choice skin on C, what do I need to do here?
what's the skinmap?

Do I creat a skins folder on C and chuck my skins in there?

i'm bloody lost