Feature Request: Theme Reload Button

[EctoOne]

if you have --debug enabled, you can press strg+r to reload a theme.
either the whole theme when you're on system view or a single basic/detailed/video view when you have one selected.
and @TMNTturtlguy is right about the crashing thing when paths are not correct. happens to me often, at least the console stays open as long as i have not closed the crash error to see what path is wrong. it is still annoying because the latest windows build from @jdrassa is kinda buggy and stops working often when i try to select a system.

[TMNTturtlguy]

@ectoone exactly, and to add/clarify what you are saying, it happens even if the path is or will be correct. It crashes when it thinks the expected path is wrong. If you are in a theme and update a file and the path to it in the .xml and then change to another theme, it will either crash right then, or crash when you try to go back to the theme you are working on. As @EctoOne states, the path that ES is expecting is now invalid. If you make the changes to the theme and then restart ES, ES will then have the updated paths and everything works as it should. @lilbud is just asking to see if something can be done to let us quickly make Es update itself when config files or .xml are changes.

[lilbud]

@ectoone said in Feature Request: Theme Reload Button:

stops working often when i try to select a system

Ah, so I'm not the only person with that issue.

@TMNTturtlguy said in Feature Request: Theme Reload Button

@lilbud is just asking to see if something can be done to let us quickly make Es update itself when config files or .xml are changes.

Exactly

[EctoOne]

I am not sure if I had fully understood why you need it.
It's about creating themes and the fact that ES crashes when it can't resolve a path to some of the resources, right?

[lilbud]

@ectoone That sounds right. A while ago, you could press F4 and instantly restart ES. I was wondering if a feature like that could be brought back and mapped to the gamepad.

[EctoOne]

@lilbud But then what's wrong with using --debugand pressing ctrl+r? I know that it has its own little flaws, like not reloading background images, but for the most part it works fine for me.
Maybe it's because I how I code. Mostly I'm using a template when I mess with theme stuff. And when I have to try something new, I leave out all parts - from which I know will crash ES - until the end.

[lilbud]

@ectoone said in Feature Request: Theme Reload Button:

But then what's wrong with using --debugand pressing ctrl+r?

Don't have/want a keyboard set up

[EctoOne]

@lilbud that's a pretty good reason.
Didn't expected that you're creating themes directly on your Pi.

Edit: Wait, so the problem with ES freezing when selecting a system happens also on the Pi? Thought that was fixed recently. Haven't really used Retropie for quite some time now.

[lilbud]

@ectoone Well I did originally, then switched to making themes on my computer with ES on windows, and then ES on Windows started crashing when switching to the game list, so now I switched back to making themes on the Pi.

ES only freezes on Windows, its fine on the Pi

[EctoOne]

@lilbud Oh yeah, then I fully understand why you want that now. The bug is so annoying on the windows build. It almost made me stop working on themes when I was trying out all the variables stuff, especially since I had some weird problems with them as well.
I'm curious if @jdrassa knows about it. I was so happy when I saw that it was fixed, and then so sad when I noticed that it was not applied to the windows build for whatever reason.

[jdrassa]

@ectoone I was aware of the bug affecting Ubuntu, but this was the first report I have seen that it affected the Windows version. The Windows builds that I provide are automated and should reflect the latest code in the RetroPie repository. The fix should have been applied to the Windows version, but I am unable to verify currently as I am away from my main computer. There is a delay between when a change lands in the RetroPie repository and when the Windows build is updated, but it normally shouldn't be more than 1-2 hours. A simple work around you can use for now is to disable the on screen help option in the UI settings menu.

@lilbud back to your original question, is there a reason that the existing keyboard shortcut when running in debug mode is not sufficient?

[lilbud]

@ectoone said in Feature Request: Theme Reload Button:

But then what's wrong with using --debugand pressing ctrl+r?

Like I said before

@lilbud said in Feature Request: Theme Reload Button:

Don't have/want a keyboard set up

[BuZz]

@lilbud it would seem like a good idea if doing theme development to get a keyboard.