#166013 - 24/06/2003 12:26
Re: Original art assets used in XML interface?
[Re: Mach]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31604
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Any way to make it skin-able? Allow a user to supply theire own gif or bmp of the fascia/handle? Interesting idea. The tough part would be getting the knob/buttons to line up right with the hit-points I've coded into the form. I'd have to make an easy way to edit that.
Hm.
Might help with a bit of redesign work I wanted to do anyway related to that.
Hm.
I'll think about it.
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#166014 - 24/06/2003 16:50
Re: Original art assets used in XML interface?
[Re: tfabris]
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veteran
Registered: 08/05/2000
Posts: 1429
Loc: San Francisco, CA
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My suggestion is that the "always on top" be within the right click menu.
It could be:
Show remote
Always on top
Show face
Always on top
Configure
The "Always on top" is another selectable menu item for each component...
- Jon
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#166015 - 24/06/2003 17:17
Re: Original art assets used in XML interface?
[Re: jbauer]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31604
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Hmmm. Ideally, I'd like to have the menu be sensitive to which window you clicked on and offer just the one "always on top" for just that window. I'll look into doing it that way.
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#166016 - 24/06/2003 17:45
Re: Original art assets used in XML interface?
[Re: tfabris]
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enthusiast
Registered: 18/02/2002
Posts: 335
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either way sounds cool, by the way youve made my remote useless at work. Nice work on the program its pretty cool.
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#166017 - 24/06/2003 17:47
Re: Original art assets used in XML interface?
[Re: eliceo]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31604
Loc: Seattle, WA
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#166018 - 24/06/2003 18:29
Re: Original art assets used in XML interface?
[Re: tfabris]
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veteran
Registered: 19/06/2000
Posts: 1495
Loc: US: CA
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XML is good for that kind of thing.
_________________________
Donato MkII/080000565 MkIIa/010101253 ricin.us
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#166019 - 24/06/2003 18:37
Re: Original art assets used in XML interface?
[Re: tfabris]
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veteran
Registered: 08/05/2000
Posts: 1429
Loc: San Francisco, CA
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Either way is great with me...
By the way, with dual tuners, if the face or the remote is on the second monitor when I close the app, the program puts them back at default location when starting the next time... Not ideal, but at least it doesn't crash.
- Jon
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#166020 - 24/06/2003 19:27
Re: Original art assets used in XML interface?
[Re: tfabris]
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enthusiast
Registered: 14/09/2000
Posts: 363
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Just kinda thinking aloud here...
I think the main difference is that with multi-monitor support, some of the monitors can have negative coords. Maybe there's some logic in the built-in functions that try to make sure a window isn't openning off-screen (e.g. no negative coords) that should be re-writen for multi-monitor support.
Although, if that's the case, then it would seem to be an issue of updating the toolkit, not something that you specifically do in an application.
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#166021 - 24/06/2003 21:38
Re: Original art assets used in XML interface?
[Re: tfabris]
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journeyman
Registered: 23/08/2002
Posts: 93
Loc: South Texas
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#166022 - 24/06/2003 23:58
Re: Original art assets used in XML interface?
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 18/01/2000
Posts: 5683
Loc: London, UK
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hit-points I've coded into the form
The traditional way to do this is to have another bitmap, the same shape as the one the user sees, but with different coloured regions on it. When the user clicks, you hit test the hidden bitmap and pick up the colour.
Windows Media Player 9 uses this technique.
Oh, and can you make it alpha-transparent when it's not the active window  ?
_________________________
-- roger
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#166023 - 25/06/2003 03:22
Re: Original art assets used in XML interface?
[Re: Roger]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31604
Loc: Seattle, WA
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The traditional way to do this is to have another bitmap, the same shape as the one the user sees, but with different coloured regions on it. When the user clicks, you hit test the hidden bitmap and pick up the colour. Interesting idea. I'll have to see if that works in VB. Sounds like it would work.
Oh, and can you make it alpha-transparent when it's not the active window ? I don't understand the question. Are you saying that the Region Window (non-rectangular window) feature isn't working when the window loses focus? I'm not getting that. The windows have rounded corners regardless of whether or not they are the active window on all the systems I tested on.
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#166024 - 25/06/2003 03:29
Re: Original art assets used in XML interface?
[Re: TheAmigo]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31604
Loc: Seattle, WA
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I think the main difference is that with multi-monitor support, some of the monitors can have negative coords. I was wondering how the OS reported the second monitor position to the application. I've never coded for multiple monitors, so I didn't know.
Maybe there's some logic in the built-in functions that try to make sure a window isn't openning off-screen (e.g. no negative coords) that should be re-writen for multi-monitor support. No, it's just that I deliberately reset the saved window position if it comes up as being off the screen (i.e, negative number or greater than the screen width or height). This is for people who change their desktop resolution. If they exit the program at a high resolution while the window is off to the side, then start it again at a lower resolution, then the window will be off screen and they would have no way to get it back on the screen.
Perhaps I just need to make that part of it optional. Add a checkbox to the config screen that disables this window-resetting code. Then maybe it would just work for those with multiple monitors.
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#166025 - 25/06/2003 06:28
Re: Original art assets used in XML interface?
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 27/06/1999
Posts: 7058
Loc: Pittsburgh, PA
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Oh, and can you make it alpha-transparent when it's not the active window ? I don't understand the question. I think he was talking about having it support alpha transparency such that when it's the active window, it's opaque, but when it's not (not focused) it's transparent (at least partially, 100% transparency isn't all that useful.)
Trillian supports this, if you wanna take a look at how it works.
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#166026 - 25/06/2003 06:40
Re: Original art assets used in XML interface?
[Re: tonyc]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 18/01/2000
Posts: 5683
Loc: London, UK
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when it's the active window, it's opaque, but when it's not (not focused) it's transparent
Yeah. What he said:
Attachments
165698-alpha-transparent.jpg (357 downloads)
_________________________
-- roger
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#166027 - 25/06/2003 10:04
Re: Original art assets used in XML interface?
[Re: Roger]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31604
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Ah, gotcha.
Yeah, when I was digging around looking for some good code to use for the Region Window stuff, I saw examples of how to do the alpha transparency thing.
I didn't do it, though, because it only works easily on XP with the Dot Net development kit, and only on 2000 with some ugly hacking, and not at all on 95/98/NT.
However, if I can find an easy way to drop it in so that I don't have to code a lot of if/then special cases to compensate for the OS's that don't support it, then that might make a good way of indicating when the window isn't focused. I was thinking of taking the existing bitmap and just dimming it, but the transparency would work, too.
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#166028 - 26/06/2003 23:58
Re: Original art assets used in XML interface?
[Re: Roger]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31604
Loc: Seattle, WA
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The traditional way to do this is to have another bitmap, the same shape as the one the user sees, but with different coloured regions on it. When the user clicks, you hit test the hidden bitmap and pick up the colour. I just did this, and it works a treat. Thanks, Roger!
I now have a skinnable interface that can be any shape with the buttons anywhere you like.
Creating the button-trigger bitmap is tricky because I'm using one of the RGB values as the index into the case statement for the IR commands to send. For instance, the top button on the face is Button 1. So you have to paint a bitmap with that button painted the RGB value of (255, 0, 1). The center-knob-press is Button 7, so you have to paint it (255,0,7).
It sounds complicated, but it's really not at all. I'll include example bitmaps.
I'll try the always-on-top and transparency features, and do some more bug fixes before another release. Dunno if it's going to be before the Amersfoort trip or not.
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#166029 - 27/06/2003 00:22
Re: Original art assets used in XML interface?
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31604
Loc: Seattle, WA
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You can also stretch the VFD to any size you like and position it anywhere on the Window...
Took about 20 seconds to make a working "Double Size" skin. 
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#166030 - 27/06/2003 16:10
Re: Original art assets used in XML interface?
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31604
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Okay, skins for this are fun. That was a great idea. I've thrown together a few sloppy skins, and even sloppy ones are cool.
I really want to release the skinnable version, but I'm having a bug with it. The trick with testing for a button hit via a bitmap isn't working from VB when the system's color depth is anything less than 24 bit color. As soon as I set the system down to 16 bit color or lower, the "point" command that lets me sample a pixel from a bitmap stops returning valid values. I'll mess with it some more and see if I can fix it. In the meantime, would folks be interested in a skinnable version that required you to run it in 24-bit color?
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#166031 - 27/06/2003 16:20
Re: Original art assets used in XML interface?
[Re: tfabris]
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enthusiast
Registered: 18/02/2002
Posts: 335
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even a buggy version sounds cool, did you implement always on top yet? Ive really been using your program a lot at work.
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#166032 - 27/06/2003 16:24
Re: Original art assets used in XML interface?
[Re: eliceo]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31604
Loc: Seattle, WA
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I don't have Always on Top yet, nor do I have the transparency yet. I wanted to get skins working correctly first. I'll see if I can cobble together a release with instructions on how to make the skins.
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#166033 - 27/06/2003 22:02
Re: Original art assets used in XML interface?
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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As a guess (I'm not a Windows programmer) try using more widely-spaced intervals for your button codes. (xx,xx,xx) is inherently 24-bit (3 8-bit sequences), and if you're changing one of them by one bit, that going to be masked in the 24-bit-to-16-bit interpolation.
Try using (255,255,127) and (255,127,255) and (127,255,255) and (127,255,127) and (127,127,127) and (0,127,255), etc. You'll have to have a LUT, but that's hardly a large penalty.
_________________________
Bitt Faulk
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#166034 - 28/06/2003 00:21
Re: Original art assets used in XML interface?
[Re: tfabris]
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old hand
Registered: 15/07/2002
Posts: 828
Loc: Texas, USA
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Oh hell yeah. Please post it.
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#166035 - 28/06/2003 03:49
Re: Original art assets used in XML interface?
[Re: tfabris]
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member
Registered: 04/04/2002
Posts: 101
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how hard would it be to use/create an interface like this to stream music?
using empeg at home i use the display server to stream to other rooms.
_________________________
Jason
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#166036 - 28/06/2003 06:25
Re: Original art assets used in XML interface?
[Re: wfaulk]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31604
Loc: Seattle, WA
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try using more widely-spaced intervals for your button codes First thing I thought of. No, it's not that. All calls to the "point" command result in the same return value no matter what the color at that point is. Even if the difference between the two is 000000 and FFFFFF. I'm going to investigate it more.
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#166037 - 28/06/2003 06:29
Re: Original art assets used in XML interface?
[Re: maurij]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31604
Loc: Seattle, WA
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how hard would it be to use/create an interface like this to stream music? Hmmm. Not too difficult. I was planning on creating a third window, similar to the "now playing" window in Charcoalgray99's XML interface. It could theoretically be used to download and stream the current FID to WinAmp.
However, using the controls on the EmpegFace application to control the stream wouldn't work. You'd have to use the controls in WinAmp to control the stream instead.
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#166038 - 28/06/2003 08:34
Re: Original art assets used in XML interface?
[Re: tfabris]
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member
Registered: 04/04/2002
Posts: 101
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hmmm looks like we need an empeg winamp skin then. how hard are those? sounds like a decent project to try my hand at coding
_________________________
Jason
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#166039 - 28/06/2003 09:35
Re: Original art assets used in XML interface?
[Re: maurij]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31604
Loc: Seattle, WA
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how hard are those? Harder than my skins.
sounds like a decent project to try my hand at coding It's not coding so much as painting. Try your hand at one of my skins, first, before tackling a WinAmp skin:
Version 1.1 of EmpegFace here.
Remember, that this version has the 24-bit color limitation.
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#166040 - 28/06/2003 09:42
Re: Original art assets used in XML interface?
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31604
Loc: Seattle, WA
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I also had to sub-zip the skins, so you have to unzip the skins yourself. Sorry about that. Does anyone know which version of WinZip doesn't have the limitation of not allowing the same name twice in a zip file?
I'm headed out to do yard work now. I expect to see five new skins when I get back!
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#166041 - 28/06/2003 11:39
Re: Original art assets used in XML interface?
[Re: tfabris]
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old hand
Registered: 14/02/2002
Posts: 804
Loc: Salt Lake City, UT
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Thanks for the skin feature! Running my desktop at 1600x1200 makes the default very small, so doublesize rules here. Yet another wish. How about custom screen colors? That way we can imitate our Darkstorm lenses.
Edited by waterman981 (28/06/2003 11:45)
_________________________
-Michael
#040103696 on a shelf
Mk2a - 90 GB - Red - Illuminated buttons
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#166042 - 28/06/2003 13:26
Re: Original art assets used in XML interface?
[Re: Waterman981]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31604
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Custom screen colors is do-able, but I'm probably going to concentrate on the existing wish list before working on that one.
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