how do I create a circular controlled theme?

[mulderfox]

I would like to create a theme that works on wheel controlled players like ipod nano and sansa fuze (got both of them). however, I could not find a theme that allows me to use it as a template and is designed in that way.
my purpose is to have a circle on the screen surrounding the album art. volume will be adjusted with the wheel turn and the graphic will show as a circumference filling up. also other options can be around the main circle.
Can anyone assist? thanks.

[JdGordon]

Not really sure how you'd be able to do it.
You will need to use a bunch of bitmaps for the circle drawing because the normal bar drawing wont be able to handle that at all. You may also need to use the backdrop buffer to draw the AA on the back and have the circle volume bar draw above it with lots of transparent areas...

good luck!

[[Saint]]

Perhaps you might like to show me some mockups of how you expect the UI to look in various instances?
(It needn't be anything fancy, just a simple example of what you have in mind. Hell...to be honest I don't care if you scribble it on the back of a napkin and take a photo of it.  )

I understand how you would like the volume to function, and I expect that you would like the playback progress indicator to function in the same fashion. Both are entirely possible, but I am left wondering how you would like to display other elements in the theme, for example: play/pause/shuffle/repeat/hold/etc. and so on.

I am happy to provide you with support/advice/code examples/etc, but I would like to be sure that we're both on the same page before doing so.



[Saint]

[mulderfox]

thanks for the quick answers.
I attached the mockup. it's just a crude graphic.
The idea is to make the best possible use for the control wheel.

and yes, I want to have the play controls controlled as well. the spaces on the sides can be used for that and be scrolled thru. the circle can be partial (not a full circle but rather a circle cut on top and bottom to allow for more space for the other play controls.

thanks!

[KiwiCam]

I've had similar ideas myself. I'd try breaking it into squares and use the volume to show separate Viewport positions for each range of  volume. Say, 12 viewport positions. Or more if you wanted to go bitmap crazy. I'd also use a tonne of And's & Or's for each stage of the volume position to change the bitmap (Offset might come in handy and Transparency of course for the Album art area captured within the Viewport - Hint: Clip can't do this yet) displayed at each Viewport position to show the changes in other controls affected by the Viewport placement.

[[Saint]]

Movable Viewports would be ideal for this. However, I can't see that happening.

No, it wouldn't. Unless you wanted to complicate this theme excessively. And besides, it's already possible to move a viewport conditionally so its kind of a non-statement.

I'd try breaking it into squares and use the volume to show separate Viewport positions for each range of  volume. Say, 12 viewport positions. Or more if you wanted to go bitmap crazy. I'd also use a tonne of And's & Or's for each stage of the volume position to change the bitmap (Offset might come in handy and Transparency of course for the Album art area captured within the Viewport - Hint: Clip can't do this yet) displayed at each Viewport position to show the changes in other controls affected by the Viewport placement.

Again, this is needlessly complex.

There's really no reason to do it this way unless you wanted to torture yourself intentionally. It could be achieved very trivially by drawing the album art into the backdrop buffer and drawing the volume graphic in a single viewport overtop of it, with transparency to allow the album art to show through.
Yes, you would need an image for each "stage" of the volume you wished to represent, and how finely you want to represent this is entirely up to you and how much of the audio buffer you're willing to steal.

Although I value the input and enthusiasm of the quoted author, I would advise against following that path very strongly. I don't have time right now to post code examples as its getting late here, and real life, etc. but I shall attempt to do so tomorrow at some stage.



[Saint]

[KiwiCam]

Movable Viewports would be ideal for this. However, I can't see that happening.

No, it wouldn't. Unless you wanted to complicate this theme excessively. And besides, it's already possible to move a viewport conditionally so its kind of a non-statement.

[Saint]

Could you give me an example as to how?

[[Saint]]

Duplicate the viewport(s) as many times as you require, and assign each a unique label. Switch it with the condition that tickles your fancy.




[Saint]

[KiwiCam]

Duplicate the viewport(s) as many times as you require, and assign each a unique label. Switch it with the condition that tickles your fancy.




[Saint]

Thanks. I'll bear that in mind.

[Astorga]

You could make the ring fade from green to red to indicate the volume... isn't that awesome, but can produce a nice effect