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<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<title>MPlayer skin format</title>
<style type="text/css">
em.note {color: green}
em.warn {color: red}
</style>
</head>

<body bgcolor=white text=black>

<h1 align="center">MPlayer skin format</h1>

<hr>

<h2>Contents</h2>

<ul type=disc>
<li><a href="#intro">1 Introduction</a></li>
<li><a href="#overview">2 Overview</a></li>
  <ul type=circle>
  <li><a href="#dirs">2.1 Directories</a></li>
  <li><a href="#images">2.2 Images</a></li>
  <li><a href="#parts">2.3 Parts of a skin</a></li>
  <li><a href="#files">2.4 Files</a></li>
  </ul>
<li><a href="#skin">3 The <code>skin</code> file</a></li>
  <ul type=circle>
  <li><a href="#mainwin">3.1 Main window</a></li>
  <li><a href="#subwindow">3.2 Subwindow</a></li>
  <li><a href="#skinmenu">3.3 Skin menu</a></li>
  </ul>
<li><a href="#fonts">4 Fonts</a></li>
  <ul type=circle>
  <li><a href="#symbols">4.1 Symbols</a></li>
  </ul>
<li><a href="#guimsg">Appendix A: GUI messages</a></li>
</ul>

<hr>

<div align=center>
Last modified: Sep 10, 2001
</div>

<hr>

<h2><a name="intro">1 Introduction</a></h2>

The purpose of this document is to describe the MPlayer skin format.
The information contained here might be wrong, for <em>a)</em> it is not me
who wrote the GUI, <em>b)</em> the GUI is not finished, <em>c)</em> I might
be wrong. So do not be surprised if something does not work as described here.

<p>
Thanks to <em>Zoltán Ponekker</em> for his help.

<p>
<em>András Mohari &lt;mayday@freemail.hu&gt;</em>


<h2><a name="overview">2 Overview</a></h2>

It does not really have anything to do with the skin format, but you should
know that <em>MPlayer has <b>no</b> builtin skin, so <b>at least one skin
must be installed in order to be able to use the GUI.</b></em>


<h3><a name="dirs">2.1 Directories</a></h3>

The directories searched for skins are (in order):
<pre>
    /usr/local/share/mplayer/Skin/
    ~/.mplayer/Skin/
</pre>

<p>
Note that the first path may vary according to the way MPlayer was configured
(see the <code>--datadir</code> argument of the <code>configure</code>
script).

<p>
Every skin is installed into its own directory under one of the directories
listed above, for example:
<pre>
    /usr/local/share/mplayer/Skin/default/
</pre>


<h3><a name="images">2.2 Image formats</a></h3>

Images must be truecolor (24 or 32 bpp) and can be in
BMP, PNG and TGA format (note that TGA images must be uncompressed).
<em>The preferred format is PNG as it compresses very well.</em>

<p>
In the main window (see below) you can use images with `transparency':
regions filled with the color #FF00FF (<font color="#FF00FF">magenta</font>)
are fully transparent when viewed by MPlayer. This means that you can even
have shaped windows if your X server has the XShape extension.


<h3><a name="parts">2.3 Parts of a skin</a></h3>

Skins are quite free-format (unlike the fixed-format skins of
Winamp/XMMS, for example), so it is up to you to create something great.

<p>
Currently there are three windows to be decorated: the
<a href="#mainwin">main window</a>, the <a href="#subwindow">subwindow</a> and
the <a href="#skinmenu">skin menu</a> (which can be activated by a right
click).

<ul>
<li>
The <b>main window</b> is where you can control MPlayer. The background of
the window is an image. Various items can (and must) be
placed in the window: <em>buttons</em>, <em>potmeters</em> (sliders, if
you like it better) and <em>labels</em>. For every item, you must
specify its position and size.

<p>
A <b>button</b> has three states (pressed, released,
disabled), so its image must be divided into three parts vertically.
See the <a href="#main.button">button</a> item for details.
<p>
A <b>potmeter</b> (mainly used for the seek bar and volume/balance
control) can have any number of phases by dividing its image into different
parts below each other.
See <a href="#main.hpotmeter">hpotmeter</a> and
<a href="#main.potmeter">potmeter</a> for details.

<p>
<b>Labels</b> are a bit special: the characters needed to draw them are taken
from an image file, and the characters in the image are described
by a <a href="#fonts">font description file</a>.
The latter is a plain text file which specifies
the x,y position and size of each character in the image. (So the
image file and its font description file form a font <em>together</em>.)
See <a href="#main.dlabel">dlabel</a> and <a href="#main.slabel">slabel</a>
for details.

<p>
<em class=note>
<b>Note:</b> all images can have full transparency as described in the
section about <a href="#images">image formats</a>.
</em>
</li>

<li>
The <b>subwindow</b> is where the movie appears. It can display a specified
image if there is no movie loaded (it is quite boring to have an empty
window :-))
<em class=note><b>Note:</b> transparency
is <b>not allowed</b> here.</em>
</li>

<li>
The <b>skin menu</b> is just a way to control MPlayer by means of
menu entries. Two images are required for the menu: one of them is the base
image that shows the menu in its normal state, the other one is used to
display the selected entries. When you pop up the menu, the first image is
shown. If you move the mouse over the menu entries, the currently selected
entry is copied from the second image over the menu entry below the mouse
pointer. (So the second image is never shown in whole.)
<p>
A menu entry is defined by its position and size in the image (see the
section about the <a href="#skinmenu">skin menu</a> for details).
</li>
</ul>

<p>
There is an important thing not mentioned yet: for buttons, potmeters and
menu entries to work, MPlayer must know what to do if they are clicked.
This is done by <a href="#guimsg">messages</a> (events). For these items
you must define the messages to be genereated when they are clicked.

<h3><a name="files">2.4 Files</a></h3>

You need the following files to build a skin.
<ul>
<li>
The configuration file named <a href="#skin">skin</a> tells MPlayer how
to put different parts of the skin together and what to do if you click
somewhere in the window.
</li>
<li>The background image for the main window.</li>
<li>Images for the items in the main window (including one or more font
description files needed to draw labels).</li>
<li>The image to be displayed in the subwindow (optional).</li>
<li>Two images for the skin menu (they are needed only if you want to create
a menu).
</ul>

With the exception of the skin configuration file, you can name the other
files whatever you want (but note that font description files must have
.fnt extension).


<h2><a name="skin">3 The <code><b>skin</b></code> file</a></h2>

<p>
As mentioned above, this is the skin configuration file.
It is line oriented; comment lines start with a '<code>;</code>' character
at the beginning of the line (only spaces and tabs are allowed before the
'<code>;</code>').

<p>
The file is made up of sections. Each section describes the skin for an
application and has the following form:
<table border=1 width="100%"><tr bgcolor=silver><td><pre>
section = <i>section name</i>
.
.
.
end
</pre></td></tr></table>

<p>
Currently there is only one application, so you need only one section:
its name is <b>movieplayer</b>.

<p>
Within this section each window is described by a block in the following form:
<table border=1 width="100%"><tr bgcolor=silver><td><pre>
window = <i>window name</i>
.
.
.
end
</pre></tr></td></table>
where <i>window name</i> can be one of these strings:
<ul>
<li><b>main</b> - for the main window</li>
<li><b>sub</b> - for the subwindow</li>
<li><b>menu</b> - for the skin menu</li>
</ul>

<p>
(The sub and menu block is optional---you do not need to create a menu or
to decorate the subwindow.)

<p>
Within a window block, you can define each item for the window
by a line in this form:

<blockquote>
<pre>
item = parameter
</pre>
</blockquote>

<p>
where <i>item</i> is a string that identifies the type of the GUI item,
<i>parameter</i> is a numeric or textual value (or a list of values
separated by commas).
</p>

<p>
Putting the above together, the whole file looks something like this:

<p>
<table border=1 width="100%"><tr bgcolor=silver><td><pre>
section = movieplayer
  window = main
  ; ... items for main window ...
  end
  
  window = sub
  ; ... items for subwindow ...
  end
  
  window = menu
  ; ... items for skin menu ...
  end
end
</pre></tr></td></table>

<p>
Finally some words about specifying images for the various items.
<br>
The name of an image file must be given without leading directories---
images are searched in the directory of the skins. You may (but you need not)
specify the file's extension. If the file doesn't exist, MPlayer tries to
load the file <i>&lt;filename&gt;.&lt;ext&gt;</i>, where <i>tga</i>,
<i>TGA</i>, <i>bmp</i>, <i>BMP</i>, <i>png</i> and <i>PNG</i> is tried
for <i>&lt;ext&gt;</i> (in this order). The first matching file will be used.

<p>

<table border=1 cellpadding=5 width="100%"><tr bgcolor="#ffffcc"><td>
Here is an example to make this clear. Suppose that you have an image called
<i>main.png</i> that you use for the main window:
<blockquote>
<pre>
    base = main, -1, -1
</pre>
</blockquote>

MPlayer tries to load <i>main</i>, <i>main.tga</i>, <i>main.TGA</i>,
<i>main.bmp</i> etc, so <i>main.png</i> will be found.
<br>
If (by accident) you wrote
<blockquote>
<pre>
    base = main.bmp, -1, -1
</pre>
</blockquote>
then <i>main.bmp</i>, <i>main.bmp.tga</i>, <i>main.bmp.TGA</i>,
<i>main.bmp.bmp</i> would be searched and MPlayer would finally give up
because there is no <i>main.bmp</i> in the directory, but <i>main.png</i>.
</td></tr></table>


<h3><a name="mainwin">3.1 Main window</a></h3>

Below you can see the list of items that can be used in the 
'<code>window = main</code>' .&nbsp;.&nbsp;. '<code>end</code>' block.

<dl>
<dt><a name="main.base">
<b>base = <i>image, x, y</i></b>
</a></dt>
<dd>
Lets you specify the background image to be used for the main window.
The window will appear at the given <i>x</i>,<i>y</i> position
on the screen (0,0 is the top left corner). You can specify -1 for center
and -2 for right (x) and bottom (y). The window will be as large as the image. 
<p>
<em class=warn>
<b>Warning:</b> transparent regions in the image (colored #FF00FF) appear
black on X servers without the XShape extension.
</em>
</dd>
</dl>

<dl>
<dt><a name="main.button">
<b>button = <i>image, x, y, width, height, message</i></b></a></dt>
<dd>
Place a button of <i>width</i> * <i>height</i> size at the
<i>x</i>,<i>y</i> position. The specified message is generated when
the button is clicked.
The image given by <i>image</i> must have three parts below each other
(according to the possible states of the button), like this:
<div align=center><table><tr><td><pre><small>
+------------+
|  pressed   |
+------------+
|  released  |
+------------+
|  disabled  |
+------------+
</small></pre></td></tr></table></div>
</dd>
</dl>

<dl>
<dt><a name="main.decoration">
<b>decoration = enable|disable</b>
</a></dt>
<dd>
Enable or disable window manager decoration of the main window. Default
is <b>disable</b>.
</dd>
</dl>

<dl>
<dt>
<a name="main.hpotmeter">
<b>
hpotmeter = <i>butt, bw,bh, phases, numphases, default, x, y, w, h, msg</i>
</b>
</a>
</dt>
<dd>
Place a horizontal potmeter of <i>w</i> * <i>h</i> size at the
<i>x</i>,<i>y</i> position. The image can be divided into
different parts for the different phases of the potmeter (for example,
you can have a pot for volume control that turns from green to red
while its value changes from the minimum to the maximum.)
hpotmeter can have a button that can be dragged horizontally.
The parameters are:
<ul>
<li><i>butt</i> - the image to be used for the button
(must have three parts below each other, like in case of
<a href="#main.button">button</a>)</li>
<li><i>bw</i>, <i>bh</i> - size of the button</li>
<li><i>phases</i> - The image to be used for the different phases of the
hpotmeter. The image must be divided into <i>numphases</i> parts vertically
(see below). A special value of <kbd>NULL</kbd> can be used if you want
no such image.
</li>
<li><i>numphases</i> - number of phases stored in the <i>phases</i>
image</li>
<li><i>default</i> - default value for hpotmeter (in the range 0 to
100)</li>
<li><i>x</i>, <i>y</i> - position for the hpotmeter</li>
<li><i>w</i>, <i>h</i> - width and height of the hpotmeter</li>
<li><i>msg</i> - the message to be generated when the value of hpotmeter
is changed</li>
</ul>
The image used for the different phases must look something like this:
<div align=center><table border=0><tr><td><pre><small>
+------------+
|  phase #1  |
+------------+
|  phase #2  |
+------------+
     ...
+------------+
|  phase #n  |
+------------+
</small></pre></td></tr></table></div>
<em class=note>
<b>Note:</b> there will be a vpotmeter item too, but is it not implemented
yet.
</em>
</dd>	
</dl>

<dl>
<dt><a name="main.potmeter">
<b>potmeter = <i>phases, numphases, default, x, y, w, h, msg</i></b>
</a></dt>
<dd>
A potmeter without a button. (I guess it is ment to be turned round,
but it reacts to horizontal dragging only.)
For the description of the parameters see
<a href="#main.hpotmeter">hpotmeter</a>. <i>phases</i> can be
<code>NULL</code>, but its quite useless, since you can not see where
the potmeter is set.
</dd>
</dl>

<dl>
<dt><a name="main.font">
<b>font = <i>fontfile, fontid</i></b>
</a></dt>
<dd>
Defines a font. <i>fontfile</i> is the name of a font description file
with <code>.fnt</code> extension (<b>no need</b> to specify the extension
here).
<i>fontid</i> is used to refer to the font 
(see <a href="#main.dlabel">dlabel</a> and <a href="#main.slabel">slabel</a>).
Up to 25 fonts can be defined.
</dd>
</dl>

<dl>
<dt><a name="main.dlabel">
<b>dlabel = <i>x, y, length, align, fontid, "text"</i></b>
</a></dt>
<dd>
Place a dynamic label at the <i>x</i>,<i>y</i> position. The label is called
dynamic because its text is refreshed periodically.
The maximum length of the label is given by <i>length</i> (its height is the
height of a character).
If the text to be displayed is wider than that, then it will be
scrolled, otherwise it is aligned within the specified space by the value
of the <i>align</i> parameter: 0 is for right, 1 is for center,
2 is for left.
<br>
The text to be displayed is given by <i>text</i>: it must be written between
double quotes (<code>"</code>) (but the <code>"</code> cannot be part of the
text). The label is displayed using the font identified by <i>fontid</i>.
You can use the following variables in the text.

<div align=center>
<table valign=top border=1>
<tr align=center><th>Variable</th><th align=left>Meaning</th></tr>
<tr><td align=center><kbd>$1</kbd></td>
    <td>play time in <em>hh:mm:ss</em> format</td></tr>
<tr><td align=center><kbd>$2</kbd></td>
    <td>play time in <em>mmmm:ss</em> format</td></tr>
<tr><td align=center><kbd>$3</kbd></td>
    <td>play time in <em>hh</em> format (hours)</td></tr>
<tr><td align=center><kbd>$4</kbd></td>
    <td>play time in <em>mm</em> format (minutes)</td></tr>
<tr><td align=center><kbd>$5</kbd></td>
    <td>play time in <em>ss</em> format (seconds)</td></tr>
<tr><td align=center><kbd>$6</kbd></td>
    <td>movie's length in <em>hh:mm:ss</em> format</td></tr>
<tr><td align=center><kbd>$7</kbd></td>
    <td>movie's length in <em>mmmm:ss</em> format</td></tr>
<tr><td align=center><kbd>$8</kbd></td>
    <td>play time in <em>h:mm:ss</em> format</td></tr>
<tr><td align=center><kbd>$v</kbd></td>
    <td>volume in <em>xxx.xx%</em> format</td></tr>
<tr><td align=center><kbd>$V</kbd></td>
    <td>volume in <em>xxx.x</em> format</td></tr>
<tr><td align=center><kbd>$b</kbd></td>
    <td>balance in <em>xxx.xx%</em> format</td></tr>
<tr><td align=center><kbd>$B</kbd></td>
    <td>balance in <em>xxx.x</em> format</td></tr>
<tr><td align=center><kbd>$$</kbd></td>
    <td>the <kbd>$</kbd> character</td></tr>
<tr><td align=center><kbd>$a</kbd></td>
    <td>a character according to the audio type (none: <code>n</code>,
    mono: <code>m</code>, stereo: <code>t</code>)</td></tr>
<tr><td align=center><kbd>$t</kbd></td>
    <td>track number (in playlist)</td></tr>
<tr><td align=center><kbd>$o</kbd></td>
    <td>filename</td></tr>
<tr><td align=center><kbd>$f</kbd></td>
    <td>filename in lower case</td></tr>
<tr><td align=center><kbd>$F</kbd></td>
    <td>filename in upper case</td></tr>
<tr><td align=center><kbd>$T</kbd></td>
    <td>a character according to the stream type (file: <code>f</code>,
    video CD: <code>v</code>, DVD: <code>d</code>, URL: <code>u</code>)
    </td></tr>
<tr><td align=center><kbd>$p</kbd></td>
    <td>the "p" character (if a movie is playing and the font has the "p"
    character)
    </td></tr>
<tr><td align=center><kbd>$s</kbd></td>
    <td>the "s" character (if the movie is stopped and the font has the "s"
    character)
    </td></tr>
<tr><td align=center><kbd>$e</kbd></td>
    <td>the "e" character (if playback is paused and the font has the "e"
    character)
    </td></tr>
</table></div>
<p>
<b>Note:</b> The <kbd>$a</kbd>, <kbd>$T</kbd>, <kbd>$p</kbd>, <kbd>$s</kbd>
and <kbd>$e</kbd> variables all return characters that should be displayed
as special symbols (for example, "e" is for the pause symbol that usually
looks something like <code>||</code>). You should have a font for normal
characters and a different font for symbols.
See the section about <a href="#symbols">symbols</a> for more information.
</dd>
</dl>

<dl>
<dt><a name="main.slabel">
<b>slabel = <i>x, y, fontid, text</i></b>
</a></dt>
<dd>
Place a static label at the <i>x</i>,<i>y</i> position.
<i>text</i> is displayed using the font identified by <i>fontid</i>.
The text is just a raw string ($x variables do not work) that must be enclosed
between double quotes (the <code>"</code> cannot be part of the text).
The label is displayed using the font identified by <i>fontid</i>.
</dd>
</dl>


<h3><a name="subwindow">3.2 Subwindow</a></h3>

The following items can be used in the
'<code>window = sub</code>' .&nbsp;.&nbsp;. '<code>end</code>' block.

<dl>
<dt><a name="sub.base">
<b>base = <i>image, x, y, width, height</i></b>
</a></dt>
<dd>
The image to be displayed in the window.
The window will appear at the given <i>x</i>,<i>y</i> position
on the screen (0,0 is the top left corner). You can specify -1 for center
and -2 for right (x) and bottom (y). The window will be as large as the image. 
<i>width</i> and <i>height</i> gives the size of the window; they are
optional (if they are missing, the window is the same size as the image).
</dd>
</dl>

<dl>
<dt><a name="sub.background">
<b>background = <i>r, g, b</i></b>
</a></dt>
<dd>
Lets you set the background color. It is useful if the image is smaller than
the window.
<i>r</i>, <i>g</i> and <i>b</i> specifies the red, green and blue
component of the color (each of them is a decimal number from 0 to 255).
</dd>
</dl>


<h3><a name="skinmenu">3.3 Skin menu</a></h3>

As mentioned earlier, the menu is displayed using two images.
Normal menu entries are taken from the image specified by the <i>base</i>
item, while the currently selected entry is taken from the image specified
by the <i>selected</i> item.
You must define the position and size of each menu entry by the <i>menu</i>
item.

<p>
These are the items that can be used in the '<code>window = menu</code>'
.&nbsp;.&nbsp;. '<code>end</code>' block.

<dl>
<dt><a name="menu.base">
<b>base = <i>image</i></b>
</a></dt>
<dd>
The image for normal menu entries.
</dl>
</dd>

<dl>
<dt><a name="menu.selected">
<b>selected = <i>image</i></b>
</a></dt>
<dd>
The image showing the menu with all entries selected.
</dd>
</dl>

<dl>
<dt><a name="menu.menu">
<b>menu = <i>x, y, width, height, message</i></b>
</a></dt>
<dd>
Defines the <i>x</i>,<i>y</i> position and the size of a menu entry in
the images. <i>message</i> is the message to be generated when
the mouse button is released over the entry.
</dd>
</dl>


<h2><a name="fonts">4 Fonts</a></h2>

As mentioned in the section about the parts of a skin, a font is defined
by an image and a description
file. You can place the characters anywhere in the image, but make sure that
their position and size is given in the description file exactly.

<p>
The font description file (with .fnt extension) can have comment
lines starting with '<code>;</code>'.
The file must have a line in the form
<blockquote>
<pre>
image = <i>image</i>
</pre>
</blockquote>

<p>
where <i>image</i> is the name of the image file to be used for
the font (you do not have to specify the extension).
The above line is followed by character definition lines of the form:

<blockquote>
<pre>
"<i>char</i>" = <i>x, y, w, h</i>
</pre>
</blockquote>

<p>
Here <i>x</i> and <i>y</i> specifies the position of the
<i>char</i> character in the image (0,0 is the upper left corner).
<i>w</i> and <i>h</i> is the width and height of the character
(in pixels, of course).

<p>
Here is an example that defines the A, B, C characters using font.png.
<table width="100%" border=1><tr bgcolor=silver><td><pre>
; can be "font" instead of "font.png"
image = font.png

; Three characters are enough for demonstration only. :-)
"A" =  0,0, 7,13
"B" =  7,0, 7,13
"C" = 14,0, 7,13
</pre></td></tr></table>


<h3><a name="symbols">4.1 Symbols</a></h3>

Some characters have special meanings when returned by some of the variables
used in
<a href="#main.dlabel">dlabel</a>; these characters are meant to be
displayed as symbols. (For example, in case of a DVD stream, you could display
a nice DVD logo instead of the character 'd'.)

<p>
The following table lists all the characters that can be used to display
symbols (and thus require a different font).

<div align=center>
<table>
<tr><th align=center>Character</th><th align=left>Symbol</th></tr>
<tr><td align=center><kbd>p</kbd></td>
    <td align=left>play</td></tr>
<tr><td align=center><kbd>s</kbd></td>
    <td align=left>stop</td></tr>
<tr><td align=center><kbd>e</kbd></td>
    <td align=left>pause</td></tr>
<tr><td align=center><kbd>n</kbd></td>
    <td align=left>no sound</td></tr>
<tr><td align=center><kbd>m</kbd></td>
    <td align=left>mono sound</td></tr>
<tr><td align=center><kbd>t</kbd></td>
    <td align=left>stereo sound</td></tr>
<tr><td align=center><kbd>f</kbd></td>
    <td align=left>stream is a file</td></tr>
<tr><td align=center><kbd>v</kbd></td>
    <td align=left>stream is a video CD</td></tr>
<tr><td align=center><kbd>d</kbd></td>
    <td align=left>stream is a DVD</td></tr>
<tr><td align=center><kbd>u</kbd></td>
    <td align=left>stream is a URL</td></tr>
</table>
</div>

<p>
<b>Note:</b> currently only 'p', 's', 'e', 'n', 'm' and 't' is used.
</p>

<h2><a name="guimsg">Appendix A: GUI messages</a></h2>

These are the messages that can be generated by buttons, potmeters and
menu entries.

<p>
<em class=note>
<b>Note:</b> some of the messages might not work as expected (or not
work at all). As you know, the GUI is under development.</em>

<p>
<i>Playback control:</i>
<blockquote>
<dl>
<dt><b>evNext</b>
<dd>Jump to next track in the playlist.

<dt><b>evPause</b>
<dd>Pause playing.

<dt><b>evPauseSwitchToPlay</b>
<dd>Forms a switch together with <i>evPlaySwitchToPause</i>. They can be
used to have a common play/pause button. Both messages should be assigned
to buttons displayed at the very same position in the window. This
message pauses playing and the image for the <i>evPlaySwitchToPause</i> button
is displayed (to indicate that the button can be pressed to continue playing).

<dt><b>evPlay</b>
<dd>Start playing.

<dt><b>evPlaySwitchToPause</b>
<dd>The opposite of <i>evPauseSwitchToPlay</i>. This message starts playing
and the image for the <i>evPauseSwitchToPlay</i> button is displayed (to
indicate that the button can be pressed to pause playing).

<dt><b>evPrev</b>
<dd>Jump to previous track in the playlist.

<dt><b>evStop</b>
<dd>Stop playing.
</dl>
</blockquote>

<p>
<i>Seeking in the stream:</i>
<blockquote>
<dl>
<dt><b>evBackward10sec</b&g