Message to all sub forum Mods and Advent re MC Menu Mender

[jollster101]

Hey Guys,

The initial MC Menu Minder thread is now 38 pages in length which is a mammoth feat for even the most hardened forum junkie to read and traverse through to try and find info from.

As a result, is it possible to maybe make it a sticky and lock the thread with a view to maybe creating a couple of new ones? The two new ones could also be stickied (or maybe one of the 2 could) if it seemed fit to.

The first of the 2 new threads could be how to use the app and outline the functionality of it and just what it does.

The 2nd could be a troubleshooting thread whereby people list their outputs from issues they are having. Maybe the 2nd could highlight how to get the output via the support package route and then people post from there.

I only ask as 38 pages is a fair bit to read through and I have seen a few posts of late about how to use the app and stuff. Just thought it may prove to be of benefit to new users to the app (which is killer btw ).

Just a thought and if not feasible or deemed stupid, no doubt the flames may begin.

[surge]

If not, could you at least update the first post in the thread to include the latest version of the file?

[Mike]

I'd suggest that Advent makes the script available tthrough our downloads section. Attaching to a thread isn't the best idea if periodic script updates are likely to be offered.

I'm happy to lock that thread, make it sticky and point to a new one from the last post, if Advent would like to contact me or one of the Mods to let us know what his plans are with the script.

Mike

[jollster101]

Originally Posted by Mike

I'd suggest that Advent makes the script available tthrough our downloads section. Attaching to a thread isn't the best idea if periodic script updates are likely to be offered.

I'm happy to lock that thread, make it sticky and point to a new one from the last post, if Advent would like to contact me or one of the Mods to let us know what his plans are with the script.

Mike

That would be good to do as at least it would make it more accessible for the masses.

A one page thread would be good that outlines how to use the app (for the new starters to it) would also be a good thing.

Who knows, maybe it could be incorporated into the download.

Just a thought.

[Advent]

I'd always meant to put together a website to host Menu Mender and provide a help/instruction page or two on how to use it, but I have a limited amount of time to work on it and I seem to keep spending that time fixing bugs or adding features rather than organising the website

I never intended to host a forum or anything though, so a sticky or sub-forum would be great. The current thread is getting ridiculously long - I meant to start a new one as soon as Menu Mender got to a non-beta release, but I keep having to add one more feature... Putting it into the downloads section also sounds like a good idea - at the very least until (if) I organise a website. I was happy for only the people that really wanted to find it to be able to download it towards the beginning (when it was still very experimental), but it is getting more and more stable now, so it might be time to make it easier to find

Also, i'm thinking about expanding Menu Mender a bit more into the area that was previously occupied by MediaCenterFX - seeing as I have already written a lot of the necessary code for modding resource files etc. That would probably require another name change, as it would no longer be an application just for Mending Menus. I haven't quite decided about that yet, or whether it would replace Menu Mender or just be another app in its own right. I guess I can worry about that if/when I get around to it...

So.. I guess a sticky with some instructions on how to use it and how to report problems would be a great idea. I guess i'd have to post that and then ask you to sticky it?

[jollster101]

Originally Posted by Advent

I'd always meant to put together a website to host Menu Mender and provide a help/instruction page or two on how to use it, but I have a limited amount of time to work on it and I seem to keep spending that time fixing bugs or adding features rather than organising the website

I never intended to host a forum or anything though, so a sticky or sub-forum would be great. The current thread is getting ridiculously long - I meant to start a new one as soon as Menu Mender got to a non-beta release, but I keep having to add one more feature... Putting it into the downloads section also sounds like a good idea - at the very least until (if) I organise a website. I was happy for only the people that really wanted to find it to be able to download it towards the beginning (when it was still very experimental), but it is getting more and more stable now, so it might be time to make it easier to find

Also, i'm thinking about expanding Menu Mender a bit more into the area that was previously occupied by MediaCenterFX - seeing as I have already written a lot of the necessary code for modding resource files etc. That would probably require another name change, as it would no longer be an application just for Mending Menus. I haven't quite decided about that yet, or whether it would replace Menu Mender or just be another app in its own right. I guess I can worry about that if/when I get around to it...

So.. I guess a sticky with some instructions on how to use it and how to report problems would be a great idea. I guess i'd have to post that and then ask you to sticky it?

Just as a help out, I found these instructions for use over at TGB.

How to use
Drag and drop links to move them around. When you begin to drag, plus symbols will appear to show you where you can drop the link. Not all links can be dropped onto any strip - e.g. built in links cannot be dropped onto custom strips, and built in strips will only support one 3rd party app.

Clicking on a strip or link will set that strip/link as default. Default items given the initial focus by VMC. (For the strip, the title is the easiest place to click)

When the mouse hovers over a strip or link, extra UI elements appear for that strip/link. These include:

* Checkbox - set whether the link/strip is enabled or disabled. Disabled items do not appear in the VMC start menu. 3rd party links do not have this option.
* The button to the right of the text for the strip/link enables you to edit the text for that strip/link.
* A delete button is visible for custom strips and 3rd party links. Click this to remove the link/strip from the menu.

Also, when hovering over a strip, up/down buttons appear near the strip title. Click these to move the strip up and down in the list.

To add new 3rd party links to the menu, expand the entry points section at the bottom of the window, then drag links from here onto the menu.

Known Issues
MC Menu Mender must be run as administrator to have access to the relevant registry entries etc.

This version can only be installed on x86 machines (I don't have access to an x64 machine for testing and i'm afraid it might break badly ).

MC Menu Mender does not yet handle changing the required security attributes of ehres.dll and ehres.dll.mui (or whatever language file is relevant for you). You will have to take ownership of these files yourself (see this thread for details).

When moving built in links between strips, make sure the link's original strip is before the one you're moving it to in the list - otherwise VMC will crash on startup. This is to do with the way that VMC loads the menu - i'll try to resolve this in the future but it may not be possible.

After renaming the Now Playing strip, you will need to run mcbuilder.exe (found in your Windows\System32 directory) from an administrative command prompt (this may take a few minutes), and then reboot. This has got something to do with Windows caching language dependent resources.

MC Menu Mender allows you to add more than 2 custom strips, but only the first two custom strips are displayed on the VMC start menu.

Before saving, you must close both VMC (ehome.exe) and ehtray.exe. These processes both use the file that MC Menu Mender needs to write to.

When Things Go Wrong
This is a beta release, and it will almost certainly crash for some people. When it does, if you could forward me the contents of log.txt which will be located in the install directory for the app I would be grateful.

MC Menu Mender will make a backup of the files that it modifies (as <file>_backup.<extension>). These backups are not restored on uninstall or anything - you'll have to do that yourself.

No backups are made for registry changes, so I advise anyone that is worried to manually export the MC section of their registry (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Cur rentVersion\MediaCenter) before running MC Menu Mender.

Does this make life easier for you Advent as a starting point for drafting some info for people? There may be a few nuances or changes since additional functionality but it may be of help.

Cheers for your work btw.

[Advent]

Originally Posted by jollster101

Just as a help out, I found these instructions for use over at TGB.

Does this make life easier for you Advent as a starting point for drafting some info for people? There may be a few nuances or changes since additional functionality but it may be of help.

Cheers for your work btw.

Actually, I wrote that It also appears in the post in the massive thread here where I first released Menu Mender. There's a lot more stuff since then, so i'll have to start again. Thanks for the thought, though

[jollster101]

Originally Posted by Advent

Actually, I wrote that It also appears in the post in the massive thread here where I first released Menu Mender. There's a lot more stuff since then, so i'll have to start again. Thanks for the thought, though

I did wonder if you did but wasnt sure as at the beginning of the thread it mentioned that Advent over on the blah blah blah...........

Then we switched to a different person so was stumped if it was you or not.

Either way, I wasnt much help really.

Lol