INTERACT FORUM
Windows => Plug-in Development => Topic started by: JimH on November 12, 2002, 11:57:13 am
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Just a test
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Thanks Jim!
This thread is for letting plugin developers and others request features for interfacing with Media Jukebox's new Hairstyle interface.
HTPC owners should be really excited over this simple yet powerful and flexible interface to the MJ.
Everything from scripting, input, output, display, etc.. is considered on-topic.
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Properties:
in hairstyle or not in hairstyle mode
current menu location
-index
-title
menu location parent
-index
-title
menu location children
-index
-title
Methods:
Next
Previous
Up
Down
Execute (or is this the same as going next on an end child item?)
Home
Full-screen
Video sizing
start/stop visualizations
Events: (we can dream, right?)
Navigation changed
Hairstyle mode on/off
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In theory, I would like to be able to navigate the MJ using nothing but 4-6 buttons on an lcd.
The LCD would display the hairstyle menus when in "menu mode" and currently playing information in "display mode".
Those buttons would navigate the hairstyle menus when in "menu mode" and currently playing in "display mode"
Idealy, one would not need a monitor, keyboard, or mouse. Just a computer, and an LCD.
When the monitor is turned on, it would show the MJ with the hairstyle menu's synched with the display of the LCD.
Wouldnt that be cool....
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Wouldnt that be cool....
Very. Less (buttons) is More.
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A search thingi
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The same menu system that Hairstyle is build atop will be exported in the SDK.
Stay tuned...
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1) Combine web remote and hairstyle
2) make the definition language as rich as the mega-me skins and track info - preferably all editable in frontpage
3) keep the menu structure and the cursor control
4) user keys and hyper links to jump to a menu position
5) include album view as a display option
::)
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Just would like to second fan_man's points. He hit the nail on the head! :)
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It's happening. 8)
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Hey!
I want to add my vote for what Cephlen's Properties & methods requests, as well as what fan_man asked for.
This may be already what you had in mind, but I want to make sure..... I want to be able to put lots of JavaScript code inside the main.xml file, which can respond to events such as an item being executed. The script should be able to totally change things on the screen using DHTML. In particular, it may get info from the library using the SDK, and display it on the screen, etc.
The script should have the opportunity to modify the contents of each menu button. That is, perhaps a script method should be called that lets the script calculate the textual contents of the node label, so that it may show more than just the album or song name, for example.
We should have sufficient control to override the meaning of "Execute". That is, Execute could mean, "Play, Replacing Playing Now", or "Add to Playing Now", or "Bump these songs toward the top of the Playing Now, adding them if they are not there", etc.
I need to be able to set a global filter on hairstyle, so, for example, only nodes whose Custom1 field contains "h7", "h8", "m8", or "m9" will show up.
The script should be able to dynamically generate its own menu nodes, too, that may even be unrelated to the media tree, such as "Turn off Monitor", "Shutdown Computer", etc. I don't mean that you have to build-in these features, but just let us make menu nodes that we can do with what we will when the user selects them.
Sorry for being so verbose. I can't wait to see it with SDK support!
BTW, what does "Hairstyle" mean?
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Here is a challenge for all those that understand a lot more about this than I do:
Can Hairstyles solve the AudioTron interface?
It would need to send and parse html to and from the device. Is this still within the scope of Hairstyle or just another 4GL application? ?
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I have been working on my own project similar to Media Center, although not as large in scope, but have decided with some small changes to Hairstyle, I would rather use it then my own app. The main stumbling points with Hairstyle however, relate to usability. I have a rather large cd collection, 600 or so, and Hairstyle is tough to use this way.. Here are a few suggestions, requests, that would make it perfect for my situation, and Im sure many others that are planning to use Media Center on a TV, controlled by a remote control of some sort....
Browsing
Being able to quickly filter artists/albums is key. Showshifter's alphabet of buttons is decent, but it could be better (least number of navigational clicks as possible to find the artist you want). I played with something similar with the alphabet divided into 3 rows (all the letters, and 1 button for all artists/albums that start with numbers or symbols). Fewest clicks needed to get to any letter.
Flow
When you go from Artist --> Album or Genre --> Artist --> Album, and select an album to play, it would be nice if that put you to a 'Playing Now' screen that showed the tracks with checkboxes, and let you move around the tracks from there. Right now, once you select an album, you have to back out to the main menu, go to 'Playing Now', and then select Tracks. Having the album art right there is nice too.
Bonus
Once you select an ablum to play, you're viewing a screen with the tracks, currently playing song, song info, etc. It would be really nice if you had a "Burn CD' button right there, that brings you to the other utilities for burning and label making.
All of the above is from a users point of view. Im not sure if any of this can be done by an end user with the sdk or not.
What do you guys think?
Smoove