MMM-SimpleBGSlideshow (yet another background slideshow module)

[MagicInMe]

I remade most of Darick Carpenter’s BackgroundSlideshow because the original was crashing my magic mirror with synchronous file system calls. This one has far fewer options, but has no dependencies and should be easier to implement and use.

Installation

There are no dependencies or node-modules required for this module. To install, run the following commands:

cd ~/MagicMirror/modules/
git clone https://github.com/scottdrichards/MMM-SimpleBGSlideshow

Usage

You can add the following to your main configuration file:

{
    module: 'MMM-SimpleBGSlideshow',
    position: 'fullscreen_below',
    config: {
        imagePaths: ['images/'],
        slideshowSpeed: 15000,
        randomizeImageOrder: false,
    }
}

Configuration

Parameter	Usage	Example
imagePaths	An array of paths for images to be taken from	["images","oldImages"]
slideshowSpeed	Number of milliseconds to show each image	10000
sortImagesBy	Sort the images by name, random, created (file creation, not image date taken), or modified	created
sortImagesDescending	Sort the images in descending order	true
randomizeImageOrder	Randomize the order to show images. Each image will still be shown once per rotation	false
recursiveSubDirectories	Include subdirectories of image paths?	false
validImageFileExtensions	Which image extensions to include. Make sure to only do extensions that the browser can render.	"bmp,jpg,jpeg,gif,png"
brightenText	Brightens the all MagicMirror text for easier viewing	true
gradient	An object that describes the gradient to be applied so that text/modules are easier to read.	see below

Here is how to configure the gradient object

{
  direction: "linear", //vertical, horizontal, radial`
  opacity: 0.75, // 1 is black
  stop1: "40%", // linear first stop, radial start gradient
  stop2: "80%" // linear second start, radial end gradient (i.e., 120%)
}

See the project here: https://github.com/scottdrichards/MMM-SimpleBGSlideshow/

[sdetweil]

@magicinme all of THESE from node helper are dependencies

const express = require("express");
const Log = require("../../js/logger.js");
const FSPromises = require("fs/promises");
const pathModule = require("path");

and should be listed in the package.json, IN CASE one of them were to go away
as has happened in 2.15 and 2.16 with removal of request and associated packages
and ical and its co dependencies…

[MagicInMe]

@sdetweil how would package.json have a listed dependency for fs and path (included in Node) or MagicMirror’s logger? I suppose express is a dependency I could maintain independently, but I rely upon the MM expressInstance.

[sdetweil]

@magicinme do npm install --save in your module folder for those dependencies.

then let npm install for your module figure out where to resolve them

u might depend on the mm expess server INSTANCE but not the code to talk to that instance

[MagicInMe]

@sdetweil what’s the purpose of installing core node features as a module? Looking at npm path it says "This is an exact copy of the NodeJS ’path’ module published to the NPM registry. "

Good point on express, I had thought I was just calling the express object but I do use express.static

[sdetweil]

@magicinme you may not ‘install’ it, as npm will resolve , but you document that you USE it, SO, if things change, you stuff still works…

I don’t know where stuff is packaged, and don’t want to know

[MagicInMe]

@sdetweil perhaps this is why https://www.npmjs.com/package/fs gets a million downloads a week even though it does nothing. I believe including core modules in package.json presents an unnecessary security risk (i.e., npm path is controlled by an individual). Unless there’s a way to include a package in package.json as a comment?

[sdetweil]

@magicinme no comments in json.

whatever… I have given everything I know and my advice on helping insure users don’t encounter problems.

the high download counts are from build systems recreating the env from scratch…

not users

[robertybob]

Does this module stretch images to fit the mirror? The original module had two different options for this, if I recall correctly

[MagicInMe]

@robertybob I currently have it so that it uses the css “cover” attribute which stretches to fill. Is that what you want?