move special treatment to a user specific file

[nico1080]

The kodi_panel_display.py script contain various "special treatment" eg: artist, codec, acodec, full_codec etc
In My case I have changed some of them to get different behaviour (eg: different concatenation on full_codec)
Having a separate user file to define theses treatment will allow to update main script without loosing the treatments.

[mattblovell]

Capturing some notes on possible implementation:

• Special treatments could all be consolidated to a dictionary, with each dictionary key corresponding to the "special" name for a text field, and the entry value a function to invoke to obtain the string to display. This convention would require a uniform signature for all those callback functions.

• An invoking script would then be free to modify either the function for already-existing entries or to add new entries. Overriding the existing functions would be much like what occurs in for the screen_on() and screen_off() overrides for PWM within the current kodi_panel_fb.py.

• The list of keys in this "special treatment" dictionary could permit for the additional string interpolation proposed in Idea make format_str to work with special treatement for info label #17.

[mattblovell]

Opened enhancement issue #21 for the above.

[mattblovell]

Should be possible with v1.22

[mattblovell]

Should be possible with v1.22

Expanding on the above, whatever script the user actually invokes (e.g., kodi_panel_fb.py) has the ability, prior to invoking kodi_panel_display.main(), to modify the two lookup tables -- ELEMENT_CB and STRING_CB.

New entries can be added to either dictionary, existing entries can be modified (pointing to a user-specific function), and existing entries can be deleted.

The user's setup.toml file can specify layout elements / fields that make use of those new "special treatments" by using the same string as gets specified for the dictionary entries.

[nico1080]

To be sure to understand:

If I modify in my kodi_panel_fb.py:

define a function in my kodi_panel_fb.py

def strcb_vcodec(info, screen_mode, layout_name):
    if 'VideoPlayer.AudioCodec' in info:
        if info['VideoPlayer.VideoCodec'] in codec_name.keys():
            return codec_name[info['VideoPlayer.VideoCodec']]
        else:
            return info['VideoPlayer.VideoCodec']
    return ""

And then add it to the STRING_CB lookup table?
kodi_panel_display.STRING_CB["vcodec"] = strcb_vcodec
(I am not sure this syntax would add it? )

I could then invoke a vcodec field in any of my layouts?

Alternatively I could use any heuristic with screen_mode and/or layout_name to change the returned value

[mattblovell]

I could then invoke a vcodec field in any of my layouts?

Yes, that's the idea.

Your syntax for adding the new entry to the STRING_CB table looks to be correct. The proposed strcb_vcodec() function just has to be defined in your kodi_panel_fb.py file someplace ahead of the line where you make that assignment. (Python does not have what are termed "forward references".)

The only other caveat regards the codec_name[] table lookup. Since that table is defined within kodi_panel_display.py, I think the namespace has to be explicitly specified. The lookup in the return statement would thus be

return kodi_panel_display.codec_name[info['VideoPlayer.VideoCodec']]

That somewhat lengthy statement can be shortened, I believe, if one changes the import statement earlier within kodi_panel_fb.py. Using something like

import kodi_panel_display as kp

The as effectively lets you rename the module as you import it. The return statement could then be shortened to:

return kp.codec_name[info['VideoPlayer.VideoCodec']]

Python documentation on import is available online:

https://docs.python.org/3/reference/simple_stmts.html#import

Similar namespace-qualification is likely needed anywhere you need to refer to global variables or types that are defined within the kodi_panel_display.py file. I think that's really the primary hurdle for augmenting kodi_panel functionality via "external" code.

(Python also has an from <module> import * mechanism that could serve to eliminate the need for namespace qualification. To take advantage of that mechanism, I think I need to define an __all__ variable that specifies what all the public names are for kodi_panel_display.)

[nico1080]

Very clear on that, I think I will create a new branch on my fork that will just copy kodi_panel_display.py from your master and make all my special treatment in the starting script.

One other though, would it not be better to move the codec_name[] table in the start script and / or setup.toml (after all it is user value)
In my case, I think I will use custom_codec_name table[] for all my personnal script

[mattblovell]

One other though, would it not be better to move the codec_name[] table in the start script and / or setup.toml

If the table / dictionary resided in the startup script, then code within kodi_panel_display.py wouldn't have any access to it. (As kodi_panel_display is what gets imported, it doesn't get to "know" the name of the importing module.)

Giving setup.toml the ability to augment the table (with the freedom to overwrite existing entries) is certainly possible. I can look into that.

[mattblovell]

The to-be-released v1.30 permits the codec_name dictionary to be updated from the setup.toml file.

[nico1080]

I confirm every thing work

I have added a lookup for video codec as mentionned: see the commit in my fork nico1080@0ec9fda

And also a lookup for channel number that will send back 5.1 instead 6 nico1080@bc6e2e4