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Author Topic: Feature Request: Add a History menu item to the active Tab hover menu  (Read 884 times)

markf2748

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Current Behavior:  When mouse hovers over the active Tab, a drop down menu appears (Library Views | List Style | Sort By | ...).  Also, you can sequentially traverse the history of that tab using the Left/Right Arrow icons in the upper left corner of the window, as well as with keyboard shortcuts.

Request:  Add a History menu item to the active Tab drop down menu (suggest placing it right under Library Views).  Click this item to bring up a recent history list for this Tab, enabling you to directly select the desired display instead of blindly sequencing with the Left/Right Arrow icons.  The history list would include albums, playlists, audio views, image views, etc.  Current view is check-marked in the list.  If the tab has no history in this MC session, its history item is greyed out.

Alternate Implementation:  The history menu shows up when mouse hovers over the Left/Right Arrow buttons (perhaps a bit too intrusive for some).

Presumably the history data is already preserved (but hidden) for the Left/Right Arrow icons.  So hopefully it would be relatively easy to make the same information visible in a drop down menu for fast direct navigation, while leaving the arrows in place for those who may sometimes prefer that method.
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HPBEME

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I think this is a great idea. When you're 20+ deep into your tab's history, continuously clicking the back button is not exactly efficient.

I definitely prefer your alternate implementation with one slight modification. Instead of having the tab history pop-up when hovering over the forward back buttons, show the history when you right-click.  That is how most (all?) Internet browser' s forward/back buttons already operate, so it would be familiar behavior.
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MusicBringer

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I think this is a great idea.
So do I.
🙂
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Caesar adsum jam forte. Brutus aderat. Caesar sic in omnibus. Brutus sic inat.

markf2748

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Instead of having the tab history pop-up when hovering over the forward back buttons, show the history when you right-click.  That is how most (all?) Internet browser' s forward/back buttons already operate, so it would be familiar behavior.
Thanks for pointing that out.  My personal preference is for immediate appearance while hovering, in same style as active tab and many other MC sub-menus, i.e. without requiring the extra RMB click.  Sometimes I prefer keeping it close to the active tab, without having to drag and reposition mouse across the screen.  Don't really see anything wrong with having this menu in both places - at the arrows and the tab.

Other features which are typically unavailable in a browser history list, but they would be useful here:

1) <delete> from list
There can be times when the history list accumulates items that are no longer desired.  When mouse sits over an item in the history list, the item is auto-highlighted.  Hitting <delete> key removes it from the list.

2) Limit the number of visible items (for example only show the most recent 20 entries, "push down" style).  When showing the max number and you delete one of those, then the next oldest reappears at the bottom (for example the 21st) if available.  Make the max visible number a settable option.

3) Omit duplicates.
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Matt

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Working on this today.  Thanks for the suggestion.
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Matt Ashland, JRiver Media Center

markf2748

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Working on this today.  Thanks for the suggestion.

29.0.76 (7/19/2022)
...
3. NEW: Made a history menu item shown in the view header menu that links to past views.
Thanks Matt, the new HISTORY menu item is awesome :) .
I hope this implementation is only a first cut and that JRiver is open to some incremental improvements.

Top request:  Filter to remove duplicates.  For example I often find a dozen or more identical entries for the original named view itself - a new duplicate added every time I revisit the original view.  Additional duplicates build up for other views as well.  For me the complete precise order of visits is distracting and not needed in the History menu.  That time path is already retained by the upper left Arrow Buttons, so let's make the History drop down a more efficient alternative, better suited for display.

Proposed finesse:  Use a push-down style which always inserts the most recently viewed (= current view) at the top of the list and removes it from any previous lower position.  I think this would mimic the way the command history is displayed at the top of an album's RMB context menu, which is visually clean and very efficient in usage.

Further finesse:  ability to delete entries on the fly when they are highlighted.

MC 29.0.81 Win 10/11 (64-bit)
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