Suggest to use new settings.xml layout for v18 and up

[MartijnKaijser]

Since several version we support a new settings.xml format which is the same as Kodi itself uses.
As most bugs should have been solved by now we should suggest developers to start using this new layout.
I'm sure there is already some wiki page or forum post explaining how the new layout works

[basrieter]

I don't know if we have a page for the new settings for add-ons. If we have one, I would be interested to check whether it contains all info for add-on devs to migrate.

[mzfr]

@MartijnKaijser @basrieter are we talking about https://kodi.wiki/view/Add-on_settings?

[MartijnKaijser]

It looks like this
https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/blob/master/system/settings/settings.xml

[mzfr]

Do we need to check something specific within the file or do we just want to check whether its present or not?

[MartijnKaijser]

Correct:
old format
https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/blob/master/addons/metadata.themoviedb.org/resources/settings.xml
new format
https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/blob/master/system/settings/settings.xml

So you need to detect some specific things that identify it as old or new layout

[enen92]

A better approach would be to create schemas for all elements in the settings similarly to what we have done for addon xml and just validate that. We have yet to document the new settings format too. Depending on time constraints I may have a look at doing it.