Premise Premise Browser in 1024 x 768.

[123]

Premise Browser's native resolution is 800x600 and Internet Explorer magnifies everything to fit larger screens. This magnification effect is handy but not the same as basing everything upon a native resolution of 1024x768 (or higher).

Here's what you need to change in order to set Premise Browser's native resolution to 1024x768. Before proceeding, make a complete backup of your Premise installation!

1. HTML Modifications

• Make a copy of C:\Program Files\Premise\SYS\web\Platforms\Desktop\default.htm.
• Open it with a text editor (Notepad++) and make the following changes:
• Line 43: Change 800px to 1024px and 600px to 768px
• Line 53, 78: Change 800 to 1024.
• Line 54, 79: Change 600 to 768.

2. Theme Modifications
Using Premise Builder, make the following changes for each Theme you use. This example covers the WindowsXP Theme. If a theme, like Space, has a RoomList Height property, set it to 100%.

• Plugins > Themes > WindowsXP > RoomList > Width = 100%
• Plugins > Themes > WindowsXP > ControlPanels > Width = 100%
• Plugins > Themes > WindowsXP > ControlPanels > Height = 100% 650px

• Make a copy of C:\Program Files\Premise\SYS\web\Images\TexturedWindowsXP.jpg. This file is the background image used by the WindowsXP Theme (stretched image attached below).
• Remove the file's read-only flag.
• Open it with a paint program (Paint.NET) and stretch its size from 800x600 to 1024x768.

3. Plugin Modifications

• Plugins > Selectors > ClasslessSelector > RoomLighting > RoomLighting > Columns = 6
• Plugins > Components > ContentWindow > Width = 800px
• Plugins > Components > ContentWindow > Height = 650px
• Plugins > Components > DialogManager > Width = 1024px
• Plugins > Components > DialogManager > Height = 768px
• Plugins > Components > BrandingPanel > Width = 750px
• Plugins > Components > Watermark > Width = 750px

At this point, Premise Browser will display objects in 1024x768 mode. For completeness, perform the following changes:

• Plugins > Components > ControlPanel > Columns = 7
• Plugins > Components > ControlPanel > ListModeColumns = 3
• Plugins > Components > ControlPanel > Width = 100%
• Plugins > Components > RoomList > Columns = 7
• Plugins > Components > RoomList > ListModeColumns = 3
• Plugins > Components > RoomList > Width = 100%

There may be other Components and Selectors that need tweaking (i.e. for MediaZones) but the listed changes are a good start. Enjoy the added real-estate!

ADDENDUM
NOTE: Old values are shown in parentheses.

To expand the MediaZone area:

• Plugins/Themes/WindowsXP/MediaZoneGrid/Width = 100% (557px)
• Plugins/Selectors/ClasslessSelector/MediaZoneMainPanel/Panel/Width = 560px (560px) Leave as is or tweak; your choice.
• Plugins/Selectors/Media/MediaZone/MediaZoneMainPanel/Width = 750px (565px)
• Plugins/Selectors/Media/MediaZone/MediaZoneMainPanel/Height = 640px (540px)

To display more media items in grid and list modes:

• Plugins/Selectors/ClasslessSelector/MediaZoneNavigationPanel/Panel/Width = 560px (560px) Leave as is or tweak; your choice.
• Plugins/Selectors/ClasslessSelector/MediaZoneNavigationPanel/Panel/Columns = 7 (5)
• Plugins/Selectors/ClasslessSelector/MediaZoneNavigationPanel/Panel/Rows = 4 (3)
• Plugins/Selectors/ClasslessSelector/MediaZoneNavigationPanel/Panel/ListModeRows = 16 (10)
• Plugins/Selectors/ClasslessSelector/MediaZoneNavigationPanel/Panel/ListModeColumns = 2 (2) Changing it only seems to goof things up.

 

[samgreco]

Thanks for this! It's simpler than I thought it would be.

 

[123]

Sam,

You're welcome! I can't deny that it took a long time to find these parameters! I spent a lot of time exploring the AutomationBrowser module and discovered that, fortunately, most everything is governed by Plugin properties.

I haven't performed extensive testing so there may be other Plugins requiring adjustment in order to take advantage of the extra real-estate. Existing custom Modules should work properly although they may look a lttle bit lost in the vastness of the extra pixels.

 

[chucklyons]

Curses, 123!

I've been working on modifying the XBbrowser to be an 'iPhone' -ish interface for our beloved Premise....I'll be posting it shortly, but now I have to do some regression testing! (My coding is still slow and painful; I farm out the graphics and some of the hard stuff)

This is an excellent piece of work! In the old forums, there was a similar question to the answer you just have provided. However, the response in those days was 'We'd have to rewrite the AutomationBrowser'

...can hardly wait to give it a try!

Excellent! Excellent!

 

[123]

I recall reading that post by Damon. He alluded to tackling the problem another way. I'm speculating that he knew of something that would've replaced the AutomationBrowser.

It may have been what was described to me by one of the developers, namely a tool similar to Microsoft's Expression Blend. A vector-based, user-interface designer that would allow you to create resolution-independent UI's. Like the old Panasonic slogan, they were "Just slightly ahead of our time".


On a more mundane note, I must mention that stretching the background images is not just a matter of magnifying them. You don't want to disturb the size or position of any menu-oriented elements in the background image. For example, the areas reserved for the Date/Time and Current Options menu should not be expanded or repositioned; their size must remain the same.

Basically, you want to add 1024-800=224 pixels of width (to the right) and 768-600=168 pixels in height (on the bottom). The WindowsXP Theme background was easy to expand but that's not the case for all Themes. For example, the Space Theme's background cannot be stretched without degrading its appearance. It has overlapping circles (alpha-blending where they overlap) that become mishapen eggs when stretched. It probably needs to be recreated from scratch ... time to upgrade my limited graphics skills.

The expansion affects various elements as follows:

• The Current Options and Administrator menus gain more vertical space (168 pixels) so you can display more items.
• The ControlPanel area, where most things are displayed, gains the most in the form of 224 additional pixels in width and 168 pixels in height. You can now see seven icons per row in Grid mode and three columns in List mode. If you use "Show All Lights", you'll see twelve at time (up from eight) lined up six to a row.
• The Watermark (the title at the top of the screen) gains 224 pixels in width so long titles aren't truncated as much.
• The Navigation Bar could gain more width but that would require modifying code in the AutomationBrowser. I didn't do this and the end-result is that the Media Player icon no longer appears at the extreme right of the Nav bar.

.

There's also a background image used when playing music in the browser that requires stretching. There are probably others as well; please post whatever other things need tweaking.

 

[Waynedb]

Very nice, this is much appreciated.

 

[123]

The display of Media items needs tweaking. When I try to show photos in List mode, I get two, not three, columns and they run off the bottom of the screen. Something doesn't appear to be respecting the ListModeColumns=3 property nor the lower boundary of the displayable area. Something to investigate when I get back from my vacation ...

 

[123]

I found a casualty of the up-conversion to 1024x768: MediaZone.

I have a very simple MediaZone whose AudioVideoOutput is ComputerAudio. If I click the MediaZone icon, I'm presented with the basic controls and I can play music. So far, so good. However, if you wait long enough (60 seconds) all of the controls disappear, including the icons in the navigator bar!

If you refresh the browser, everything reappears ... and then disappears after 60 seconds. How weird is that?!? If anyone has tried the 1024x768 upgrade, I'd appreciate it if you could confirm this odd behaviour.

Needless to say, but this weirdness does not happen in 800x600 mode. Clearly, there's more tweaking needed for 1024x768 mode.

ADDENDUM:
The only 60 second timer I'm aware of is the one that refreshes the clock. I watched the clock time and when the minute incremented, the MediaZone controls disappeared. There's some sort of ugly connection between the two widgets ... possibly an unintended one!

RESOLUTION:
In a Theme, the ControlPanel's Height should be a fixed value and not a percentage! I updated the first post to reflect this requirement.

For now, I've left the other modified Theme properties as percentages (i.e. 100%) because they do not appear to adversely affect Premise Browser's behaviour.

 

[123]

Here's a quick and dirty version of the Space Theme's background in 1024x768.

 

[etc6849]

I made the automation browser work for 1024x600. Here's what I have for the background.

I'm not sure if it's made using the same method 123 describes, because I didn't stretch the entire picture, but only stretched the control panel area to make the background a total of 1024 pixels. For me, if I stretch the entire picture the x axis alignment gets off.

I then used 123's notes and they were very helpful! To finish, I followed 123's notes and just used a simple ratio of existing width * (1024/800). I didn't modify any height values as only the width changed.

Thanks looks great!

 

[kzboray]

I went ahead and tried this with good success. I followed the instructions created by 123. I did change 3 other things.

/Plugins/Themes/WaterMark/Left=300

/Plugins/Themes/ContentWindow/Left=282
/Plugins/Themes/ContentWindow/Top=58

I also added a MediaZone to my Home and then selected it waited several minutes and the + / - buttons remained visable.

 

[nov0798]

OK, for some reason, I dont have any of these settings in builder. Any ideas?


2. Theme Modifications
Using Premise Builder, make the following changes for each Theme you use. This example covers the WindowsXP Theme. If a theme, like Space, has a RoomList Height property, set it to 100%.
Plugins > Themes > WindowsXP > RoomList > Width = 100%
Plugins > Themes > WindowsXP > ControlPanels > Width = 100%
Plugins > Themes > WindowsXP > ControlPanels > Height = 100% 650px

Make a copy of C:\Program Files\Premise\SYS\web\Images\TexturedWindowsXP.jpg. This file is the background image used by the WindowsXP Theme (stretched image attached below).
Remove the file's read-only flag.
Open it with a paint program (Paint.NET) and stretch its size from 800x600 to 1024x768.

3. Plugin Modifications
Plugins > Selectors > ClasslessSelector > RoomLighting > RoomLighting > Columns = 6
Plugins > Components > ContentWindow > Width = 800px
Plugins > Components > ContentWindow > Height = 650px
Plugins > Components > DialogManager > Width = 1024px
Plugins > Components > DialogManager > Height = 768px
Plugins > Components > BrandingPanel > Width = 750px
Plugins > Components > Watermark > Width = 750px


At this point, Premise Browser will display objects in 1024x768 mode. For completeness, perform the following changes:
Plugins > Components > ControlPanel > Columns = 7
Plugins > Components > ControlPanel > ListModeColumns = 3
Plugins > Components > ControlPanel > Width = 100%
Plugins > Components > RoomList > Columns = 7
Plugins > Components > RoomList > ListModeColumns = 3
Plugins > Components > RoomList > Width = 100%