@Mykle1 Yes you are a F****** genius! Way to go Pops!

@karsten13 that is exactly what I did. I like having it outside the config.js so the config.js doesn’t grow to be a huge file. And so if I mess up when I add to the compliments.json, I won’t break the entire mirror.

I’m adding a whole lot of birthdays and lots of family specific dates. I like having the remoteFile setting so I can keep this data out of config.js.

Thank you for all you have done! I am a newbie to MagicMirror (two months since I started playing with it and figuring it out) and I have installed several of your modules. I’m learning so much about node.js and javascript by tweaking their configurations and I’m impressed. I just found this note from you saying you were going to move on to new things as life has been changing so much for you.
I found MM and your modules because I was creating change in my life. Good LUCK and may you find interesting challenges and satisfaction whatever you end up doing.

And… Thank you!

p.s. I hope you do lurk from time to time and check in on us. You will be missed for sure.

@karsten13 that is exactly what I did. I like having it outside the config.js so the config.js doesn’t grow to be a huge file. And so if I mess up when I add to the compliments.json, I won’t break the entire mirror.

I’m adding a whole lot of birthdays and lots of family specific dates. I like having the remoteFile setting so I can keep this data out of config.js.

@kayakbabe Well, I haven’t played with Docker ever. I also used the #MagicMirrorOS install method because it sounded super fast and easy. That said, I discovered some things about Docker. .And in the process discovered that the compliments.json I created was being erased/deleted/disappeared every time I stopped and started the raspberry pi.

For those who don’t know anything about docker… it’s kind of like a software publishing system where make sure your production server always has the files it is supposed to have and you can throw copies of that production server out super quick. This is a super lame description… but it was the reason I couldn’t solve my path issue. Because the “copy” of MagicMirror didn’t have a compliments.json in any of the folders that I tried to put it, that compliments.json was being removed every time I started up magic mirror from that Docker instance.

So in short I redid my sd card with a manual install and didn’t use any of the alternative methods (no docker image).

I also am able to set my compliments remote file to
remoteFile: “…/…/…/config/compliments.json”
and it works great.

and I can now put it anywhere I want on the pi so long as the relative paths are correct. I can keep it from being replaced if I want to update the modules.

@jacktar said in Compliments: RemoteFile Configuration:

Just for clarity to others, a local compliments.json
file should be located in /pi/MagicMirror/modules/default/compliments/ directory and referenced using only the file name in the config file.
e.g. remoteFile: ‘compliments.json’

So… what happens if we update the compliments module? Do our customizations in the compliments.json file get wiped out?
can we put the compliments.json somewhere else to protect it?

I’ve read the other posts, not sure I found all of them, and I"m still having a little problem. I can’t seem to get the right path to my compliments.json file. I have to admit I’m a bit rusty on my linux and doing things with the command path.

I notice the magic mirror config.js has base path is “/”
I’m going to assume that is the magic mirror directory itself and all things are supposed to run relative to that.

here is my issue:
I have the compliments.json located in the mirror’s config folder (I figured that would be the safest place to put it so it won’t get overwritten if I update anything. )
so in the config.js in the modules section for compliments I tried
remoteFile: ‘/mounts/config/compliments.json’
remoteFile: ‘/config/compliments.json’
remoteFile: ‘compliments.json’
remoteFile: ‘/home/pi/magicmirror/mounts/config/compliments.json’

none of those paths worked…
so please help me out. I’m guessing I need a relative path instead of absolute, or I’m adding or not adding a slash or something.

(I’m not breaking the module, so I think I"m just not getting to my compliments.json at all and the compliments module is just defaulting)

can someone help me find the post about a guy who installed the pir-sensor and got his pi stuck with the HDMI screen output of his pi turned off? I did the same thing.
Unfortunately I am a total idiot (there I said what you all are thinking for you) for not turning on SSH and so…

I need to edit the pi config or something. I’m pretty sure I saw the instructions for it on the post that I’m looking for. Only I can’t find it.

Kelly
(who knows just enough to get in trouble)

@DiogoSekeira
me too! I’m always learning. I think this is a great first project.
Also check out the projects on raspberrypi.org . I learned a lot about python an other languages by doing projects on there.
This magic mirror project is really neat becuase it will also help you do javascript development. If you are a web developer this is an incredibly fun way to learn more about what is possible to do on a website.

Basically the magic mirror is a website running javascript with some special added stuff to allow us to control our computer directly so we can do things like turn on / off our monitor, get data from sensors connected directly to the computer running the website and all sorts of fun things.

As we say in the United States, welcome to the rabbit hole!

re the sd card,

nope… the sd card is your “hard drive” without it, there is nothing for the operating system to live on, it has to remain inside your pi at all times to run the pi. The operating system has to be on it too.

nice thing… you can have several sd cards which have different setups (different OS and/or diff software) and simply power down, switch the sd card, then power up to completely switch what you are doing with your pi. Once you get your pi setup like you want, copy the sd card by making an image or by literally copying it to another sd card, and you have insurance against an sd card failure or disaster which ruins your pi.

no problem at all using the pi4 power supply. the key is the 5v… the extra A will just allow you to power more things that are connected to your pi. If you connected a higher voltage it would burn out your pi.

In my mind I liken the voltage to water pressure in a pipe… it needs to be constant, if the pressure goes up in a pipe, you can blow the fittings. Or if it’s too low, the water won’t get to the end of the pipe so it can be used.

The amperage is like the water available that can maintain the pressure in the pipe. So if I put a lot of tubes connected to my pipe, I need a lot of water to keep all those tubes and my main pipe filled up.

Silly way to think of it, but that’s how my Da explained it to me while he was doing some plumbing.

@sdetweil I figured out that your suggestions of encoding the new line worked for me.
So, instead of using
\n
which textNode was treating literally, I tried encoding it and using this
\u000A

so when I tried the following it looked just like I put it into my morecompliments.json

"roses are red\nviolets are blue\nand I need a line\nto start here anew "

then I tried
"roses are red\u000Aviolets are blue\u000Aand I need a line\u000Ato start here anew "

and it displayed like I wanted it to like so…

roses are red
violets are blue
and I need a line
to start here anew

perhaps this will help others.

@kayakbabe

For anyone who finds this thread,

my solution was just to reinstall everything. Apparently I messed up some code somewhere else. My custom.css was fine and I used it on the fresh install.