Coordinates, size and resolution

Developer documentation is maintained in English in both handbook editions. Use the translation menu for another language. Code and receiver screenshots remain in English.

The coordinate system

position="x,y" identifies the top-left corner. size="width,height" defines the rectangle. The origin is at the top left, positive x moves right, and positive y moves down. Child positions are relative to their current screen or panel context.

The panel starts at screen coordinate 48,216. Its cyan child at 80,80 therefore begins at 128,296 in the design grid. Native Enigma2 OSD capture, English interface; no television video. Open original ↗

XML used for this result (inside the complete example screen):

<panel position="48,216" size="1184,360">
    <eLabel position="0,0" size="1184,360" backgroundColor="#001E3048" />
    <eLabel position="0,0" size="420,42" font="Regular;24" text="Local origin: 0,0" foregroundColor="#00FFFFFF" backgroundColor="#004C6180" />
    <eLabel position="80,80" size="420,74" font="Regular;26" text="position=80,80 | size=420,74" foregroundColor="#00101928" backgroundColor="#005BD4EC" />
    <eLabel position="center,180" size="420,74" font="Regular;26" text="position=center,180" foregroundColor="#00101928" backgroundColor="#00F3C86A" />
    <eLabel position="e-440,270" size="420,64" font="Regular;26" text="position=e-440,270" foregroundColor="#00101928" backgroundColor="#009DE0B4" />
  </panel>

Download complete coordinates.xml · Download all examples and the test plugin

Relative expressions

Value	Meaning on one axis	Example in a parent 1000 wide with a child 200 wide
40	Fixed design coordinate, scaled with the screen	40 at 1:1 scale
center	Centre the whole child	(1000 − 200) / 2 = 400
c	The parent’s centre point	500; using it as x places the child’s left edge there
e	Parent’s extent/end	1000
e-220	Leave a 20-pixel right margin for a 200-pixel child	780
25%	Quarter of the parent extent	250
center+20	Centred child plus an offset	420 at 1:1 scale

These expressions are parsed by parseCoordinate. The exact context matters: font-relative w/h terms use registered alias metrics, not the measured length of an arbitrary string. The * wildcard is for contexts that support flexible layout; it is not a substitute for every size. Start with explicit sizes before using automatic layouts.

HD, FHD and WQHD

The examples declare resolution="1280,720". That is the design grid, independent of the HDMI video signal. When the desktop is larger, Enigma2 derives x/y scale ratios from the desktop and the declared resolution.

Design grid	Desktop	Scale for ordinary coordinates
1280 × 720	1280 × 720	1.0
1280 × 720	1920 × 1080	1.5
1280 × 720	2560 × 1440	2.0

The receiver screenshots in this unit were captured at 1280 × 720. The larger sizes in this table explain the scaling model; they are not additional receiver test results. Fonts are scaled vertically; many individual attributes have their own scaling code. Do not assume every integer attribute is scaled identically.

Changing resolution on a screen changes its coordinate interpretation. A skin-wide <output><resolution … /></output> can change the desktop itself. The test plugin only declares screen resolution and leaves the active skin’s desktop setting alone.

Avoid manually multiplying coordinates with getSkinFactor() and also declaring a scaled screen resolution: that can apply scaling twice. getSkinFactor() is explicitly deprecated for OpenATV in this source revision.

Practical layout checks

Keep related widgets inside a consistent grid, allow text expansion, and check both long and empty strings. A correctly positioned rectangle can still have clipped text if its height is too small. Use alignment and text options to control the content inside it.