announcing: reFocus

Jeroen Wrote:You can jump to using <shift> + <character>, that's also a core xbmc function. It's not possible to have a scrollbar like element where you skip to characters, if that's what you mean.

I, and many others, don't use a keyboard... we have it in our home theaters and use remotes.

I don't see why it would not be possible... if there is a keystroke set that works then I'd assume a menu could be created that send the keystrokes - correct?

Jeroen Wrote:I assume you mean the buttons for moving and removing tracks in the playlist? That's not possible, can't do anything about that skinning-wise. Of course you can move and remove, but you have to do it through the context menu.

If there is no XBMC function for this maybe you can submit a feature request? I would but JM pays more attention to requests from active skinners. btw... many other apps have this: Meedio, Media Portal, etc ... this is VERY useful.

Jeroen Wrote:I can see where the total playlist running time would be useful, not sure if it's possible but I'll add that to my todo list

cool, thx - this is very useful especially when you are trying to fill a specific amount of time

Don't remember if i edited my keymap or not but my remote jumps to the letter i want when i press a number, like SMS mobile phones... 2-ABC 3-DEF...

xbs08 Wrote:Don't remember if i edited my keymap or not but my remote jumps to the letter i want when i press a number, like SMS mobile phones... 2-ABC 3-DEF...

It might work but it is not user frieldy... try teaching that to you wife, friends, kids, etc.

that is the problem with XBMC right now... very basic UI features are fine but the ones which make a media center easy to use for non-techies, like this one, is not being integrated.

... many other apps have this, even free ones. I'm not asking for something that is crazy.

It's not easy to teach this stuff to kids but anyone who used a mobile should understand it very rapidly.

One thing i remember is i edited the keymap to jump a letter when pressing rewind/forward in libraries.

NextLetter/PrevLetter are available, as is SMS jumping or SMS filtering. The reason we don't have a 36-button "scroll bar" is that it only really works for English - it breaks with non-ascii characters and makes no sense at all in some asian languages. Direct access to Next/Prev works around the first problem and is more direct. I'd suggest replacing "page up/page down" buttons with "Next Letter"/"Prev Letter" as the pageup/down is handled by the on screen scrollbar.

As to those other features, while I agree that a better playing/nowplaying window would be nice, it's just not a priority right now.

Skinners are free to mock something up, though it'd be a hack (if it would even work) - we'd need button/action support within listitems which requires some careful code consideration.

Cheers,
Jonathan

I really don't think this is the place to dicuss if XBMC should have feature X or Y or whether it's userfriendly or not. There's other areas in the forum for that.

A couple of things I can/want to say about it.

Quote:I don't see why it would not be possible... if there is a keystroke set that works then I'd assume a menu could be created that send the keystrokes - correct?

Well, no you're not correct. While there may be a keystroke the skin still needs a function it can hook into to actually execute the commands. And there is no such function. I think I know my way around the skinning engine a bit, but of course a proof of concept is welcome if you doubt my judgement.

Quote:I, and many others, don't use a keyboard... we have it in our home theaters and use remotes.

I use it in my home theater too. But my remote has a keyboard. Sure, I realize not everyone uses that. But then again, I also realize that I will not be able to please 100% of users, even if the requested is possible.

Any estimates for a initial release, today or after weekend? (I guess after weekend)

D0nR0sa Wrote:Any estimates for a initial release, today or after weekend? (I guess after weekend)

Yeah, it'll depend on how many time I can find in the evenings this week, but like I said it will be no later than next weekend.

Jeroen Wrote:Yeah, it'll depend on how many time I can find in the evenings this week, but like I said it will be no later than next weekend.

I'm definitely waiting for the initial release... that's an awesome skin, thank you for sharing it with us!