Discussion about the future use of the Record button

[Jillorious]

Well, i'd like it to be a a-b repeat button, much like in the original iriver firmware (although moving 1 point without the other IS useful, i still think that having a dedicated button is even more useful). As for the long press, IMHO it should be a favourites button that brings up a new screen of options (a bit difficult to explain, but much like the nokia phones' 'go to' button).

[Jillorious]

Another nice thing with the former approach, for those wanting the backlight option...

can anybody explain to me why people should want a dedicated backlight button? I've seen it many times throughout the forums. Why dont they just set the 'first keypress enables backlight only' to on (as i did)?
p.s. Just thought something stupid: if a a-b repeat option will somehow be implemented in the REC button in the end, then shouldn't the REC button be used for the quick menu and the a-b button be used for... Well, a-b repeat (and not vice versa)?


just my $.02

[Davide-NYC]

Why dont they just set the 'first keypress enables backlight only' to on (as i did)?

Agreed.

The REC button should go to the recording screen. Why?
Because in the end the button on the device is labelled "rec", it's got a red dot and using it for anything other than going to the recording screen is confusing and wierd.

Personally, I prefer the long press goes to recording and not the short press toi avoid accidental entry into the recording screen.

Having said that, a custimizable REC button with a default long-press of the REC button going to the recording screen would probably be the best since the poll seems to prefer customization.

just my $.02

[Jillorious]

The REC button should go to the recording screen. Why?
Because in the end the button on the device is labelled "rec", it's got a red dot and using it for anything other than going to the recording screen is confusing and wierd.

But, as I've already mentioned above, we could swap it with the a-b button.
and actually [in accordance with my suggestion above that we should have a dedicated a-b repeat button] using a red-dot symbol for bringing up the quick menu isn't even remotely as 'confusing and weird' as using a a-b symbol for it.

[Llorean]

Well, since a short press of the A-B button currently brings up the normal menu, a long press for the Quick Menu is hardly illogical.

I very definitely feel setting a button solely for A-B repeat is a waste of a button. It would

A) Break the Rockbox button mapping relative to other targets. On other players the Menu button serves as Quick Menu when held, and if possible this should be preserved.

B) Uses up a single-press option on a feature that should not be considered primary use for the player. A-B repeat is a feature that will affect a relatively small percentage of users, and the two button is easy enough as it is. Adding a one button method would either require removal of functionality, or mean that we're wasting a single press AND two combos on a fairly minor function.

[Rincewind]

I have Llorean on my side for the stripped-down version with fixed settings, yeah! 
I hope to have time to code it this weekend.
cross your fingers that the new button handling code really is easier now to program with

Then I update my old patch, maybe remove some less used options (the second quickmenu was only added because I liked to see if I can code it).

It would be nice to have some input from those who used my patch what settings you used. If you have other ideas, please post them.

btw: I won't do the a-b thing, there is already a button combo for it and I don't use it personally.

[Rincewind]

I finally had the time to update my patch.
It works with current cvs now and uses the new button action system. I also removed the second quickmenu and cleaned the code.

These actions are available for Rec Short, Rec Long and Play + Rec:
* None (default)
* View the current playlist
* View the Plugin Dir
* View the Themes Dir
* Recording Screen
* Go to Recording Screen and start recording instantly (not available for Rec Short)

Get it here: Record Button Configuration Patch

I also made a simplified patch that has fixed options (view current playlist and recording screen)
This one should be ready for inclusion in CVS
Patch

[drothenberger]

can anybody explain to me why people should want a dedicated backlight button? I've seen it many times throughout the forums. Why dont they just set the 'first keypress enables backlight only' to on (as i did)?

I often use my H140 in the car with the remote. The 'first keypress enables backlight only' option is annoying in that setting since I have to look at the remote to see if the backlight is on. So, when I press a key, sometimes it doesn't do anything (backlight is off) and sometimes it does (backlight is on) and I have to take my eyes off the road to determine what will happen.

So, I prefer the existing functionality for the record button. I can leave 'first keypress...' off and know that when I press a button, it will do what I want, plus I have a way to enable the backlight to see what song is playing, etc.

[Genre9mp3]

I think that most of the people would like the idea of having a "favorite action" button. Since the button action idea is now implemented in the CVS and things got easier for such implementation in the code (at least I hope that that's the case here) I think that this patch would worth getting into the official builds.

BTW, tell me if I'm wrong, but as I have understand it, these options work while in WPS only, right? If that's the case, then it would be also nice if we could have a hardcoded action for the Record button while in the Browser (eg. Directly enque selected file) and while in the Menu.

At least something should be done for the record button, It's just a waste as it is now.

[Rincewind]

Currently, my patch has the same actions in wps AND filebrowser.
It is easy to have different actions in filebrowser, I made different action variables (3xwps, 3x browser), currently they point to the same functions for wps and filebrowser.
The only thing that would be more work is the menu code.

[keuleJ]

These actions are available for Rec Short, Rec Long and Play + Rec:
* None (default)
* View the current playlist
* View the Plugin Dir
* View the Themes Dir
* Recording Screen
* Go to Recording Screen and start recording instantly (not available for Rec Short)

I think the default should be Rec Long: Recording Screen, Rec Short: View current playlist
None should be available as an option, but isn't a good default imho.

[Mikerman]

If I had my way, there would be an option to bring up the radio, IF no other button press (such as a long press of play) were to be adopted for that; and an option to set and play an A-B loop through a quick press of REC.  (Yes, I know that this latter proposal is duplicative to other 2-handed button combinations requiring the setting of the quick screen as well, but this offers a faster mechanism to use the A-B looping feature and there are people who would find it of good use--and by having it as an alternative, it doesn't get in people's way, if they don't want it.)  

Of course, all of the above assumes that the amount of extra code would not be seen as bloat and that these proposals would not interfere with matters otherwise.

[Rincewind]

I have thought about adding the FM-Screen to my patch, too.
Your A-B suggestion really would get in my way, because I want the record button for something that isn't currently there. Anyway, I don't know if my patch ever gets commited to cvs...

if you want a single ab-button, it should be possible to do this without adding much code, because in action.h there is this line:

ACTION_WPSAB_SINGLE, /* No targets use this, but leave in just-in-case! */

So you could add this to the Hxx-keymap and there is a chance that it works...
But, no chance to have me include this in my patch  

[Mikerman]

Thanks, and I know that my single-key A-B suggestion gets shot down left and right, sometimes for legitimate reasons.  

I only mentioned it here thinking, it doesn't hurt to include it if it's an option.  And I truly have heard from some people who would like to see it.

Just a proposal; thanks--