Alternative Combobox behaviour in touchscreen mode

[woodslanding]

The way that comboboxes translate to sliders in the touchscreen mode is very nice for certain applications. That's how I map controls to VST parameters in my current setup. But especially for selecting patches, I would like a popup option that allows me to directly select a value from a list, without selecting intervening values, and without the expectation of the values being in some meaningful order....

Typically in touchscreen applications, when a combobox opens up it just fills up the entire window, and closes as soon as a selection is made. In this case, I would suggest the layout contain the combobox title, a multi-column list, an ESCAPE button, and (if needed) a NEXT and/or PREVIOUS PAGE button. It seems logical for the size of each element in the list to be the same as the combox itself, and the table laid out and paged accordingly:

______________________________________________
| ESCAPE - -ABSYNTH PRESET-- NEXT |
| |
| 1. Patch 1 5. 9. |
| 2. Patch 2 6. 10. |
| 3. Patch 3 7. 11. |
| 4. Not Patch 4 8. 12. |
______________________________________________

Of course, you could also put a vertical or horizontal slider in it if you prefer--but then you have to worry about sizing it. And pushing buttons is always more reliable than dragging. Especially when I'm operating the touchscreen!

GUI-wise, all you would need is a parameter in the combobox called 'touchscreen mode' with a value of 'slider' or 'popup'.

Anyway, that's how I'd do it if it were my program....

cheers!
-e

[bsork]

You get some of the behaviour you're after by using the "switches collection" version of List Box. If the list is longer than what can be displayed, there's a simple scrollbar at the right.

[senso]

thanks for the suggestion.
I'm at the beginning of touch-screen conception of Usine.
So I know that the actual version is not totally perfect.
It's my priority now but I need time for that: turn Usine into a powerful touch screen software, not only a simple layer as it is actually.

[woodslanding]

Thanks Senso! It's great to get such quick responses from the developer. It's very exciting! However, I'm not getting much sleep lately

For now, bsork's suggestion will work, I think.... although maybe I'll have to type all the presets into it??? I'll see what a shift-control-drag does to the program parameter.

One thing I'm wondering--if I add a new preset to a VST, will that be reflected in the combo?? Is this a dynamic connection, or a static one that only exists when the combo is created? Or only when the patch is opened? Will it persist when the combo is moved into a subgroup?

Guess I'll go look into it....

thanks!
-eric

[senso]

One thing I'm wondering--if I add a new preset to a VST, will that be reflected in the combo?? Is this a dynamic connection, or a static one that only exists when the combo is created? Or only when the patch is opened? Will it persist when the combo is moved into a subgroup?

unfortunately no, the wires are always going from left to right. But a [Ctrl+Drag] recreate the combo box easily.
Also Usine can't precess 'string lists' but it will arrive soon, I hope...

[woodslanding]

Recreating the combo isn't such a problem. But colorizing and formatting it, resizing it, setting its visibility, placing it correctly in the layout, cabling it to other objects that depend on it.... well, it's not ALL that easy!

Probably a lot easier to retype a list of names! But in most cases, I'll just be adding a name to the end of the list, so no big problem.

but.... maybe someday....

I realize you don't want to get into the synthedit idea of bidirectional communication (although it sure is easier in a lot of situations) but I think that makes it impossible to have a special kind of persistence hidden behind the scenes....

Alternatively, you could design it to be wired in bi-directionally like the waveform editor/sampler-- you'd need a different kind of input on a combobox (array?) to allow it to be dynamically populated (could be useful in a lot of situations!) and a similarly formatted preset list data output on the VST.

You could use the same technique for the parameter combobox, I'd think.... then you don't have to have 'special' comboboxes in either situation.

cheers!
-e

[woodslanding]

thinking more about parameter mapping..... one other thing that would be nice in this new combobox type is the ability to assign discrete values to each item in the combobox (like reaktor does) for when your parameters aren't consecutively numbered.... in which case, your array input would need to have two elements for each combobox item. If I was wishing, I'd also wish for an interface that allowed the user to reorder items in the list by drag and drop.

Just thinking out loud here..... feel free to ignore my rambling

-e

[bsork]

Recreating the combo isn't such a problem. But colorizing and formatting it, resizing it, setting its visibility, placing it correctly in the layout, cabling it to other objects that depend on it.... well, it's not ALL that easy!

A little shortcut here is to ctrl-drag to create a new, temporary box and copy the list into the existing box.

If you need to reorder the list without updating the VST preset list or whatever it's connected to, you can use the Data modules/Mapper Values module to remap the values. Clumsy compared to your suggestions, but it works.

[woodslanding]

Ah, very helpful suggestions. Thanks! I didn't know you could copy-paste into list boxes. That is very useful indeed! Reaktor is a real pain in that regard.

It's good to know I can remap values too. I'll have to look into that further.

cheers,
-e

[woodslanding]

Okay--I figure out how to copy and paste into combo boxes. I select the elements, and press copy, and nothing will paste, either to another combo box, or into another app in windows.

In fact, usine pastes the last module I copied into the patch window instead.

What am I missing?

Thanks!
-e

[senso]

you can use the right click to copy/paste.

[woodslanding]

Thanks!! I discovered that also works in the script window.....