XMBC 2.19 Beta

[injtsvetkov]

Hi guys, happy to see the new beta

613 - Add a drop-down/button to select simkey tags when entering simulated keystrokes

That's gonna be perfect. I don't know how you have it in your mind Phil but since there are several categories of tags I think it will be best to have a line of drop-down buttons (e.g. "Modifiers", "Extended", "Mouse", "Toggle", "Special" etc.) right below the text field and a button "Other" at the end for all other tags. Then all tags that don't need explanation may be removed from the list below for simplisity.

About the "{}" button - it's just perfect
I noticed that if you click it several times it does this {{{}}}. So if you need several {}{}{} in order to leave the mouse and use the keyboard with both hands, all you have to do is this:
click "{}"
click in the text field
click "{}"
click in the text field
click "{}"

and voila

It's very convenient

[phil]

I intentionally set the cursor position to in-between the {} so you could press the button and type ctrl (or whatever) to get {ctrl}.
I guess if you press the {} button more than once without typing in-between, it could (maybe) intelligently realize this and move the cursor back to the "end" of the text so you get {}{}....

As for the command button.dropdown etc. yes - I have been struggling to think the best way to do this - multiple buttons might work... but will take up quite a lot of screen space... a dropdown menu type thing with submenus might work - so click and get a dropdown of categories which have sub-menus for the individual commands... I'm not sure, I haven't really had much time to look or think about it properly (this is going to be the norm these days I'm afraid (I was hoping to get some hours today to have a go - but sadly failed once again!).

[injtsvetkov]

I guess if you press the {} button more than once without typing in-between, it could (maybe) intelligently realize this and move the cursor back to the "end" of the text so you get {}{}....

I gave that a thought before submitting my previous post but realized that it could be messy.
Say you have this: "{string1}{string2}" and want to insert "{}{}" in the middle. Clicking the button twice would insert "{}" in the middle and another "{}" at the end which will not look good especially if those strings are longer than the text field. So unless you can make it insert the next "{}" right after the previously inserted one (while keeping the cursor in-between the {}, coz IMO that is mandatory) it is better to leave it like it is now. As I think of it now you may use the "{}" button and the right arrow key like that: click>right>click>right>click to easily insert {}{}{} in between strings 1 and 2
By the way I like Kukurykus' idea about holding a key and pressing the button to insert complete tag of that key.

As for the command button.dropdown etc. yes - I have been struggling to think the best way to do this - multiple buttons might work... but will take up quite a lot of screen space... a dropdown menu type thing with submenus might work - so click and get a dropdown of categories which have sub-menus for the individual commands...

Yes, a dropdown of categories with sub-menus will be good enough. I think this looks good:

111.jpg

You may place the dropdown of categories in the yellow area, or maybe a couple of buttons/dropdowns for the basic/frequently used categories in the yellow area and one dropdown with all other categories in the green area or vice versa. Also as I see the "How to send..." dropdown can be about half an inch shorter

608 - Investigate possibility to add different actions for double, triple clicks (potentially a difficult one)

Indeed a tricky one but IMO very powerful feature because if it is possible, then sequence of buttons should also be possible (e.g. LMB>RMB or RMB>LMB>RMB or LMB>RMB>RMB). Probably a timed option for blocking/not blocking the first click would be needed (but might give it a try without such option at first) and definitely there should be a timed option for blocking/not blocking the second and third clicks. So I imagine something similar to the "Button held" feature (e.g. "Multiclick" feature) which allows to define different combinations of the second and third buttons/clicks for the selected "initial" button.

Aslo while dreaming about the neat "Multiclick" feature I had an epiphany about including "Button held" into "Button Chording" via the "Unblock after" option. Say you've set Unblock after 300ms, then instead of sending "button down" it might abandon the chord and start the "Button held" timer so if you release the button shortly after those 300ms it does the first "Button held" action or you can hold it a bit longer for the next one and so on… Additionaly you can use the "initial" button for "click&drag" by checking the "Abort when the mouse moves" option
It’s not as good as adding "Button held" to the chorded button but it surely will be great because that way both features are combined in one and you don’t need to chose whether to use the button for only chording or only "Button held".

[Kukurykus]

injtsvetkov, for 613 update/feature I proposed something better in my opinion what Phil initially liked too:

When the 'caret' is inside of {} then pressing for ex. CTRL key it would insert the full word to the braces. Or even easier. When holding appropriate 'support' key & clicking {} button it would result as for ex. {ctrl}

Since you was off some time, do you still use Windows 8.1 with HAMA Mirano (it's displayed in description)?

Loll, I just read your next post and found you already said highly of my idea too - welcome to club, mate!

Ps. 608 update next to simulated keystrokes, button chording and button held will be 4th great feature!

[??????????]

649 - Repeating simkeys don't work in a button chord

I can't confirm whether repeating simkeys do or do not work, but for me, simulated keypresses that are being held down (set to "3 During") are still getting stuck until I press the the according mousebutton again in the 2.19 Beta 1.

Are you talking about when using simeys during INSIDE a chorded button or just on a button of its own?

I meant inside a chorded button, sorry, I should have made that more clear.

[injtsvetkov]

Wow Kukurykus, it's sooo strange you ask me that question
I presume seeing the screenshot in my previous post made you do it
Unfortunately I have a nasty hardware problem with the fan of my laptop (win8.1) so this pic was taken on a win7 pc at work, but I hope I'll be able to find a solution soon. As for the the mouse, I have to say that Hama Mirano works perfectly with XMBC! However the LMB got mad and sometimes on a single click it sends double or triple click or no click at all so I have to look for a new mouse but I'm not in a hurry coz thanks to XMBC (and Phil) I remapped the middle click to left click

As for 608, if it works out the way I see it (time will show) it's gonna be even more powerful than chording and Button held. Even more you might not need a mouse with more than 3 buttons any more so companies may stop manufacturing them at all

[Kukurykus]

Actually I asked of your system and mouse since if you had your Windows 8.1, you could easily update for last few years freely to Windows 10. But now yes, I see your dirty grey screenshot that doesn't look so nice like in latests Windows. Really Windows 7 offered still so poor GUI colors? It's closer to XP some way :/

Mine Hama Roma started to act weird exactly after 2 years. I used it 8 hours a day intensively 5 days a week so that was totally exploited, but then I bagan to think whether its endurance was not made so intentionally (like that's with everything these days). It was because during the same month where some button sometimes needed me to press second time to react, other buttons / roll got broken that or other way as well I had no patience for this mouse anymore. I switched to Rapoo 3920P I purchased at same time that has all same functions and till now it's okey.

I use about 50 different actions (in Adobe Bridge - Image Browser) by simkeys and chording/held buttons, so I really like to make my life even more easier to access some actions by double/triple clicks too now I bound to harder way accessed combinations (sometimes in layer 2 as I had no avialable space in layer 1!).

596 - Look to improve the GUI for multiple apps per profile - maybe a sub-tree.

is what I desire to have personally. When I work with Photoshop I have many profiles depending of kind of work I do there. So each time I start new job I have to remove currently active Photoshop process to load other one. If we had a tree with multi profiles per process we could then fill the box of that we want to use at the moment, instead of keeping them in Windows folder as separate files.

[phil]

649 - Repeating simkeys don't work in a button chord

I can't confirm whether repeating simkeys do or do not work, but for me, simulated keypresses that are being held down (set to "3 During") are still getting stuck until I press the the according mousebutton again in the 2.19 Beta 1.

Are you talking about when using simeys during INSIDE a chorded button or just on a button of its own?

I meant inside a chorded button, sorry, I should have made that more clear.

OK Good - I wanted to make sure before I started going down the "wrong road"... it helps me try and figure out what is going wrong... Actually, can you send me a PM with a copy of your profile, or a screenshot of the button held setup? I need to reproduce it here to help work out exactly what is happening and why - in order to be sure I can fix it properly .
Actually, I think I may have found the problem (or at least I found A problem - I hope its the same one!) - try 2.19 beta 2 and see if its fixed.

[phil]

2.19 Beta 2 is here.

If you have check for beta versions enabled, you should get notified of a new version and prompted to update in the next day or so. This is the most efficient method (bandwidth wise) as the updates are only a fraction of the size of the full install. Otherwise, you can get the full installation beta HERE. Note that this link will always get you the latest beta version!

Changes since v2.19 Beta 1:

• #651 - XMBC does not always change lines to scroll as expected
• #612 - Improved {} button, detect pressed keys to auto add the key text where appropriate
• #649 - 'During' simkeys don't always get released when sent from a button chord

There was no change to the language template for beta 2.

Any problems, PM me a copy of the log file (or post a snippet in a code block here).

Thanks,
Phil

[Kukurykus]

After computer restart I still can't make update.

[phil]

???? Why not?
You trying through the "check for updates" or are you downloading it?
Oh - the check for updates wont work yet - as I havn't updated the version number in the DNS server LOL - thanks for reminding me

[Kukurykus]

...so I made fresh install.

612 works as you expected. There is problem with some keys like CapsLock that remians on/off, Tab that skips to next blank, Delete that deletes brackets and probably more...

Could you do it other way so: when user clicks on {} button and hold it, all those keys are just detected when pressed but won't do what they are programmed for? This way we can use them all with {} button.

[phil]

Ive just realized (thanks Kukurykus) that Ive got the version numbers messed up in 2.19 betas.
And as such, you will HAVE to install using the link above as the check for updates will NOT work.
I will have to fix this in the next version (and probably you will have to manually install that too before it gets back to normal!).

No time to fix it tonight.

EDIT: I fixed it this morning and rebuild 2.19 beta 2. If you install the rebuild version (i.e. download from the link above now) then it will update to 2.19 beta 3 with "check for updates" when I release beta 3. Otherwise, when I release beta 3, you will have to download that manually).

[Kukurykus]

I installed XMBC again from 'HERE' link, exited app. to launch again, but update to version 3 doesn't work.

[phil]

Sorry where did I say there was a version 3?
I think I said *WHEN I release beta 3"!.... That's not likely going to be any time soon as my 1 spare weekend has just passed and now I'm fully booked pretty much until mid November!