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Feature Request - Popup page coordinate feedback

I've requested this as many different times, to as many different people as I can imagine. Maybe if I post here it'll get some momentum.

We REALLY need to have the touch panels/TPIs send the landing coordinates of a draggable popup page back to the processor once the page has been dropped in place by the user.

The implications of having this information:
1. Preset popup page layouts:
I have a few NOC/C&C jobs that are simply 24" 1920x1200 touch panels acting like a Desktop with a popup page for each device (video matrix, set top box, monitor, etc.) controlled by the system. I want my users to be able to set up different layouts of popups across multiple pages, so they don't have to be brought up one at a time, and then arranged manually.

2. Video Walls:
Would love to be able to give the users a visual representation of the video wall on the touch panel, and then allow them to arrange popup pages in a drag-and-drop style interface which is then reflected on the actual video wall.


It seems like a very minor firmware tweak, but I haven't gotten any movement on this for the past 2 years I've been requesting it.

Comments

  • yuriyuri Posts: 861
    YES! +1

    Sidenote: It would also be great if we can request the current coordinates with a SEND_COMMAND or CUSTOM_EVENT :)
  • jjamesjjames Posts: 2,908
    If you're simply talking about getting the coordinates of the PRESS and the RELEASE, including when dragging popups, use ^TOP-1 and ^TOP-0 . . . I forget if the feedback comes in the form of a COMMAND or STRING in the TP DATA_EVENT.
  • yuriyuri Posts: 861
    jjames wrote: »
    If you're simply talking about getting the coordinates of the PRESS and the RELEASE, including when dragging popups, use ^TOP-1 and ^TOP-0 . . . I forget if the feedback comes in the form of a COMMAND or STRING in the TP DATA_EVENT.

    Is this a secret command?
    I would like to receive the upper left coordinates of the popup when released :)
  • jjamesjjames Posts: 2,908
    yuri wrote: »
    Is this a secret command?
    I would like to receive the upper left coordinates of the popup when released :)
    Secret? Naw. Unpublished? Yes. There are PLENTY of unpublished panel and master commands. Just gotta find them. Sometimes they're right in front of your face.

    If you want the upper left coordinates when released, you can always do the math. If you know the coordinates of where your finger pressed, the coordinates of the original position of the popup, the boundaries of the panel and the coordinates of the release - this would be very possible. :D

    I had done this in code once (when I was very ambitious and wanted to do "cool" things . . . about 5 years ago); I would allow the user to pick from a list of channels, press & hold the name, then where the finger was it would turn into an icon of that channel. Then the user would drag the icon onto a preset button. There were only 9 presets on the page, if they only had 5 they could remove four of the buttons on the fly. If they wanted to add another, they could "reinstate" a hidden button. It was very cool (IMHO), but very processor intensive as the panel had to send coordinates to the master, then the master need to send to the panel where the icon needed to be. So every time you moved your finger even just a pixel, the processor would process a command, then send one. I ditched it quickly - but now with the TOP command, this would be very easy to do. I just would AMX would publish more of their "hidden" commands - some of them could be *very* useful.

    Anyway - have fun with the command!
  • jjames wrote: »
    If you know the coordinates of where your finger pressed

    Would you care to elaborate here, especially if you have done it before? I have been looking, including on this forum, for a method of retrieving the tap x,y coordinates, and had no success so far. Or is this one of the "i'm sure there is a command for that, just not docummented" (almost said "an app for that")
    Thanks
  • jjamesjjames Posts: 2,908
    Felix - using the ^TOP-1 command enables touch coordinates for the press and the release. Upon pressing the screen (I believe regardless of hitting a button, popup, level, etc.) it sends the x,y coordinates back via the STRING event (I *THINK*), and upon release your finger, it sends another string back.

    It is one of the many undocumented commands, but I found it in one of the examples on the AMX website - I forget where & which.
  • Yes you can -- and here's some example code

    The ^TOP command is something we added in the last release of certain panels. It is currently available for the following panels: MVP-8400, MVP-7500, CV7, CV10, 1000vi, 700vi, 1200V, 1200VG, 1500VG, 1700VG. It will be coming later for the 9000i, 5200i, 5150, 500i, 430, TPI. I put together a demo for my own use that allows a simple drag/drop of two smaller windows into a larger window. The attached file has the code (pretty simple) and the panel pages. There is code/pages for both 800x600 displays and 800x480 displays. Maybe this will spur some great ideas on your part and some creative ways to use it.
  • jjamesjjames Posts: 2,908
    Thanks for all the info!
  • yuriyuri Posts: 861
    rgelling:

    I've seen the ^TOP command used in example code for a 9000i, how's that?
  • Nice feature.
    rgelling wrote: »
    The ^TOP command is something we added in the last release of certain panels. It is currently available for the following panels: MVP-8400, MVP-7500, CV7, CV10, 1000vi, 700vi, 1200V, 1200VG, 1500VG, 1700VG. It will be coming later for the 9000i, 5200i, 5150, 500i, 430, TPI. I put together a demo for my own use that allows a simple drag/drop of two smaller windows into a larger window. The attached file has the code (pretty simple) and the panel pages. There is code/pages for both 800x600 displays and 800x480 displays. Maybe this will spur some great ideas on your part and some creative ways to use it.

    I am currently prototyping a UI model that allows for significant end-user personalization that was mostly implemented through press&hold dialog prompts; dragging and dropping customizable elements into target areas is - too quote a 16-year old - "way cool"

    Got an ETA for the afore mentioned to-be-released 9000i firmware?
  • Having fun with the ^TOP command. Graphics are far from complete as we are just starting to skin a new prototype.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYdyPN6HmvA
  • jjamesjjames Posts: 2,908
    Haha - that's cool. A client last year asked for a function like this as he pulled out his iPhone; at the time I really didn't feel like dealing with joystick levels / buttons, overlays, etc. to get this working so I told him no.

    Now with the TOP command, it's obviously possible - though no plans to implement anything like this. I'll be using it in a drag'n'drop channel lineup environment. I did the same thing (drag'n'drop) with the channel lineup about 5 years ago, but it involved (like I said before), joystick levels, invisible overlays, and having to update the BMP's absolute location every time the level changed, so the input & output lights flashed like crazy. Very inefficient, but it worked.

    Thanks for posting this - it's inspired me to get this going over the weekend. :)
  • jjamesjjames Posts: 2,908
    I know this is an older thread - but Rick, why not just implement BDP and BDG? It's been around for years, but just doesn't work . . . have those command been ditched? My 8400 only reports an unhandled exception, not a command not found error. So maybe they do work and I'm sending wrong info?
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