Rockbox Development > Feature Ideas

Virtual scrollwheel for Sansa Fuze+ (working demo)

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NarcoticV:
Hey everybody,

I'm new here - bought a Fuze+, heard about Rockbox and decided to try and help out a little bit.

The controls for the Fuze+ are pretty good already, but I'd love to make some changes. I did some work already.

The idea: why not have the touchpad on the Fuze+ behave like a scroll wheel a la IPod/Fuze player? Move your finger in a circular motion and scroll through menu items that way. I think it could be more intuitive than just tapping up and down (personally, I tend to miss the correct tapping area sometimes).

I'd like to hear what you think.


It also raises a question about the code reviewing system: I haven't committed any code to Git yet, and I'm not sure how I can best show you the idea. I have a working proof-of-concept for it (a demonstration screen, not actual usage but representative), which works on the Fuze+ and also in the UISimulator. However, some of the changes have been hacked on in various parts of non-target-specific code, and it breaks any builds that are not for Fuze+ or Fuze+-simulator.

Should I submit this for review, just so people can try it out? Obviously, it's not meant to go into the master branch, but I would like to publish it somehow to show you what it's like... How do people usually handle these kind of situations?

In any case, thanks!

-- edit: just read in the posting guidelines that I  should post the patch to the "patch tracker"... Not sure what that means exactly. Could anyone elaborate? --

gevaerts:
I would put something like that on gerrit, with a note explaining the status (I've done similar things with proof of concept code). http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/UsingGit should explain all you need to know, but feel free to point out unclear bits :)

NarcoticV:
Thanks for the tip. I added it in Gerrit: Change I64836451.

NarcoticV:
Now I'm wondering how I will try to integrate this properly into the control scheme for the Fuze+.

Regardless of how well it will work, I'm sure not everybody would want this functionality, so there should be a choice by the user to go for this alternative control method or choose the original one.

This could be:
- through a settings menu option
- through an extra define that the user can add in the makefile when building rockbox
- some other way

A settings menu option seems like a good way, because users would be able to revert to the normal scheme whenever they wanted (for example, if they want to play a plugin game or something).

Any thoughts? What are the chances of a feature like this getting accepted into the master branch if it works well, if I did it through an extra configuration setting for the user? Or if I did it through a code define in the makefile, or some other way?

Or do you think something specific like this would be forever doomed to go to the unsupported builds section, no matter how it's integrated? ;)

kugel.:
While I don't have a Fuze+ I do like the idea.

I'm not sure the setting is a good idea, we generally don't like configurable buttons. But if it's done well and works better than whatever method is in place right now I don't see anything against this change.

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