Coordinates, size and resolution

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.

Three rectangles showing explicit, centred and right-relative positions inside a panel — 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.