Templates¶
Collection, Playlist, Metadata, and Overlay Files often share a lot of common or generalizable configuration details. Templates allow you to define these details in order for them to be used across multiple definitions.
Templates definitions are placed under the top level attribute templates
. The templates
top level attribute and its
templates can either be defined in the same file as the other definitions or from an external file using the top level
external_templates
attribute. See File Blocks for how to define files for external_templates
.
External Template Example (click to expand)
In this example this is a file in your config folder called my_templates.yml
.
templates:
Actor:
plex_search:
all:
actor: tmdb
tmdb_person: <<person>>
sort_title: "!_<<collection_name>>"
sync_mode: sync
collection_order: release
This is a Collection File in your config folder called actors.yml
.
Template Definition¶
Inside a template definition, you can use all the Builders, Filters,
Settings, Updates, and Item Updates attributes that you can give
collections/playlists [except template
; templates cannot be nested].
In addition, templates also have a few special attributes that they can use:
default
- Sets what template variables default to.¶
The default
attribute allows default values for template variables which will be used if they're not
specified in the call. You need to provide a list of variables and the value that variable should get if not told differently when the template is referenced. See the tooltips below.
A variable cannot be default if it is a conditional variable.
Example
Click the icon to learn more
templates:
Actor:
default:
my_sync_mode: sync #(1)!
plex_search:
all:
actor: tmdb
tmdb_person: <<person>>
sort_title: "!_<<collection_name>>"
sync_mode: <<my_sync_mode>> #(2)!
collection_order: release
collections:
Bruce Lee:
template:
name: Actor
person: 19429
my_sync_mode: append #(3)!
Chris Pratt:
template: #(4)!
name: Actor
person: 73457
- This sets the default value of the template variable
my_sync_mode
tosync
. - The value for template variable
my_sync_mode
will replace<<my_sync_mode>>
here. - This specifies that
my_sync_mode
for this definition will beappend
. - Since
my_sync_mode
is not passed to this definition the value ofmy_sync_mode
will be the defaultsync
.
optional
- List of template variables to be removed when not provided.¶
The optional
attribute can specify variables that when not specified on the template call
will cause any attribute using one of those variables to be ignored in the template. Its value is a list of
template variables to be considered optional.
You can make any template variable optional per collection by setting it to null
.
A variable cannot be optional if it is a conditional variable or has a default value.
Example
Click the icon to learn more
templates:
Actor:
optional:
- my_sync_mode #(1)!
plex_search:
all:
actor: tmdb
tmdb_person: <<person>>
sort_title: "!_<<collection_name>>"
sync_mode: <<my_sync_mode>> #(2)!
collection_order: release
collections:
Bruce Lee:
template:
name: Actor
person: 19429
my_sync_mode: append #(3)!
Chris Pratt:
template: #(4)!
name: Actor
person: 73457
- This sets the template variable
my_sync_mode
as an optional variable. - The value for template variable
my_sync_mode
will replace<<my_sync_mode>>
here or removed as optional. - This specifies that
my_sync_mode
for this definition will beappend
. - Since
my_sync_mode
is not passed to this definition it will ignore the entiresync_mode
attribute in the template.
conditionals
- Can set template variables based on other template variables.¶
Each conditional is identified by its mapping name under the top level conditionals
attribute can have these attributes:
Attribute | Description |
---|---|
conditions |
A list of condition blocks where if all conditions are met then the variable will be the value specified in that condition block. Once all conditions in a block are met, that value will be used and no other blocks will be run.This attribute is required |
default |
The default value for when no condition block is met. If default is not specified the variable becomes an optional variable. This attribute is optional |
Condition Blocks¶
A condition block consists of one or more key value pairs comparing given template variables to pre supplied static values.
The key is the name of the template variable whose value you want to compare, while the value is the static value or
values to compare aginst. Every condition block must also have the value
key which will be the value of the
template variable if all the conditions in that block are met.
There are three ways to compare values:
-
Using no modifier:
- The given template variable's value must equal the static value or be in the list of static values.
-
Using the not modifier by appending
.not
to the key template variable:- The given template variable's value must not equal the static value or not be in the list of static values.
-
Using the exists modifier by appending
.exists
to the key template variable:- While
true
the template variable specified must exist in the template call. - While anything but
true
the template variable specified must not exist in the template call.
- While
Example
Click the icon to learn more
templates:
CustomTemplate:
conditionals: #(1)!
offset: #(2)!
default: 15 #(3)!
conditions: #(4)!
- align.exists: false #(5)!
value: 150
- align: center #(6)!
value: 0
- align: [top, bottom] #(7)!
value: 15
key_name: #(8)!
conditions: #(9)!
- style: standards #(10)!
key: 1080
value: Full HD
- style: standards #(11)!
key: 4k
value: Ultra HD
- This is the main
conditionals
attribute to start the whole seciton. - This is the main mapping of the conditional template variable
offset
. - This sets the default variable of
offset
to15
. - This is the base attribute for the condition blocks.
- If the variable
align
is not provided to the template then set the variable to150
. - If the variable
align
is passed with the valuecenter
then set the variable to0
. - If the variable
align
is passed with the valuetop
orbottom
then set the variable to15
. - This is the main mapping of the conditional template variable
key_name
.
Sincedefault
is not usedkey_name
will be added to the optional variable list. - This is the base attribute for the condition blocks.
- If the variable
style
is passed with the valuestandards
and the variablekey
is passed with the value1080
then set the variable toFull HD
. - If the variable
style
is passed with the valuestandards
and the variablekey
is passed with the value4k
then set the variable toUltra HD
.
move_prefix
- List of prefixes to move to the end of the collection/playlist name for sorting.¶
The move_prefix
attribute can be used to specify a list or comma-separated string of
prefixes to move to the end of the collection/playlist name for sorting. This changes the template variables
collection_sort
, playlist_sort
, and mapping_sort
.
Example
If you have move_prefix: The, A, An
and a collection is called The Avengers
then <<collection_sort>>
is
replaced with Avengers, The
instead of The Avengers
for that collection, but the collection Iron Man
will
still just be Iron Man
.
```yaml
templates:
Movies:
move_prefix: The, A, An
tmdb_collection: <
1 template: name: Movies tmdb_id: 131292 ```
Every template also has access to these template variables:
- Either
<<collection_name>>
,<<playlist_name>>
, or<<overlay_name>>
which is the name of the definition. <<mapping_name>>
is the original mapping name for the definition in the YAML file.- Either
<<collection_sort>>
or<<playlist_sort>>
which is the name of the definition aftermove_prefix
is applied. <<mapping_sort>>
which is the original mapping name for the definition aftermove_prefix
is applied.<<library_type>>
which is the library type (movie
,show
,artist
,video
).<<library_name>>
which is the name of the library.- All template variables can append
_encoded
to the variable name to use a URL encode version of the variable. ex.<<collection_name_encoded>>
Template Call¶
To call a template from a definition you use the template
attribute with the name
attribute under it. Any attribute
besides name
under template
is considered a template variables which are used to define the data that going to be
changing in the template.
Tip
The name of the template and the template variable names that you define are arbitrary, but they must match exactly between the template definition and the template call.
Template Name¶
The name
attribute is what tells the template call which template to use. Its value must correspond exactly to the
template mapping name you want to call.
Template Name Example (click to expand)
This is an example using the template name Actor
showing the template being called in two different ways.
templates:
Actor: #(1)!
plex_search:
all:
actor: tmdb
tmdb_person: <<person>>
sort_title: "!_<<collection_name>>"
sync_mode: sync
collection_order: release
collections:
Bruce Lee:
template: {name: Actor, person: 19429} #(2)!
Chris Pratt:
template:
name: Actor #(3)!
person: 73457
- This defines the template name as
Actor
. - This calls the
Actor
template using inline YAML syntax. - This calls the
Actor
template using a more readable YAML syntax.
Template Variables¶
Any other attribute aside from name
under template
is considered a template variable whose name must correspond
exactly with the template variable name surrounded by <<
and >>
in the template definition. These template variables
will replace any part of any value that contains the template variable name surrounded by <<
and >>
in the template
with the specified template variable's value.
Template Variables Example (click to expand)
This is an example using the template name Actor
showing the template being called in two different ways.
templates:
Actor:
plex_search:
all:
actor: tmdb
tmdb_person: <<person>> #(1)!
sort_title: "!_<<collection_name>>"
sync_mode: sync
collection_order: release
collections:
Bruce Lee:
template: {name: Actor, person: 19429} #(2)!
Chris Pratt:
template:
name: Actor
person: 73457 #(3)!
- The template variable
person
will replace<<person>>
here. - This calls the
Actor
template with the template variableperson
set to19429
using inline YAML syntax. - This calls the
Actor
template with the template variableperson
set to73457
using a more readable YAML syntax.
Multi-Template Variables¶
When using multiple Templates in a single definition you can send the same variable to all templates by using the
variables
attribute.
Multi-Template Variables Example (click to expand)
templates:
Actor:
plex_search:
all:
actor: tmdb
tmdb_person: <<person>>
sort_title: "!_<<collection_name>>"
Common:
summary: "Movies that <<collection_name>> (TMDb ID: <<person>>) are in"
sync_mode: sync
collection_order: release
collections:
Bruce Lee:
variables: {person: 19429}
template: [{name: Actor}, {name: Common}]
Chris Pratt:
variables:
person: 19429
template:
- name: Actor
- name: Common
Template Example¶
For this example were trying to create a template for all our various Actor/Actress Collections to save space in the YAML file and allow easier changes to all the Collections at once.
This is the example Collection File we're going to convert to using templates.
collections:
Bruce Lee:
plex_search:
all:
actor: tmdb
tmdb_person: 19429
sort_title: "!_Bruce Lee" #(1)!
sync_mode: sync
collection_order: release
Chris Pratt:
plex_search:
all:
actor: tmdb
tmdb_person: 73457
sort_title: "!_Chris Pratt" #(2)!
sync_mode: sync
collection_order: release
- This is wrapped in quotes because it contains a character [
!
] which has syntactic meaning in YAML files. This "quoting special characters" is a general YAML requirement, not something specific tosort_title
. - This is wrapped in quotes because it contains a character [
!
] which has syntactic meaning in YAML files. This "quoting special characters" is a general YAML requirement, not something specific tosort_title
.
You can continue adding definitions this way, but there's a lot of repetition there. Both of these collections have the
same sync_mode
, collection_order
, and actor
settings; the other two details, tmdb_person
and sort_title
,
depend on a value defined in the collection.
Those repetitive aspects can be moved into a template and leveraged by multiple collections. For this example it might look something like this:
templates:
Actor:
plex_search:
all:
actor: tmdb
tmdb_person: <<person>>
sort_title: "!_<<collection_name>>"
sync_mode: sync
collection_order: release
The only things that change are the ID that is used with tmdb_person
and the name of the collection that is used
in sort_title
.
Those two things surrounded by << >>
are "template variables" that you can define for any collection using this
template, like this:
or to do it in a single line you can do this
Note that we provide the template name Actor
and the value to insert in the place of <<person>>
. The
<<collection_name>>
is a template variable that is always available and doesn't have to be called out like
<<person>>
.
Here's the full example Actor template and two different ways to use it, as it would appear in a collection file.
templates:
Actor:
plex_search:
all:
actor: tmdb
tmdb_person: <<person>>
sort_title: "!_<<collection_name>>"
sync_mode: sync
collection_order: release
collections:
Bruce Lee:
template: {name: Actor, person: 19429}
Chris Pratt:
template:
name: Actor
person: 73457
Advanced Example¶
Here's an example IMDb Genre template and two different ways to call it.
templates:
IMDb Genre:
default:
title: feature
limit: 100
optional:
- poster_id
imdb_search:
type: movie
release.after: 1989-12-31
rating.gte: 5.0
votes.gte: 10000
genre.any: <<genre>>
limit: <<limit>>
sort_title: "!_<<collection_name>>"
url_poster: https://theposterdb.com/api/assets/<<poster_id>>
sync_mode: sync
collection_order: alpha
collections:
Action:
template:
name: IMDb Genre
genre: action
summary: Action film is a genre wherein physical action takes precedence in the storytelling. The film will often have continuous motion and action including physical stunts, chases, fights, battles, and races. The story usually revolves around a hero that has a goal, but is facing incredible odds to obtain it.
Comedy:
template: {name: IMDb Genre, genre: comedy, poster_id: 69200}
summary: Comedy is a genre of film that uses humor as a driving force. The aim of a comedy film is to illicit laughter from the audience through entertaining stories and characters. Although the comedy film may take on some serious material, most have a happy ending. Comedy film has the tendency to become a hybrid sub-genre because humor can be incorporated into many other genres. Comedies are more likely than other films to fall back on the success and popularity of an individual star.
Romantic Comedy:
template: {name: IMDb Genre, genre: "romance,comedy", limit: 200}
summary: Romantic Comedy is a genre that attempts to catch the viewer’s heart with the combination of love and humor. This sub-genre is light-hearted and usually places the two protagonists in humorous situation. Romantic-Comedy film revolves around a romantic ideal, such as true love. In the end, the ideal triumphs over the situation or obstacle, thus creating a happy ending.
filters:
genre: Comedy
Check out the example files in the Kometa Community Configs Repository for more uses and examples.