Thread: *** New RideRunner Dynamic Menus ****

Lets talk Commands, specifically the Dynamic Menu Navigation commands.

Starting with:

"RRMenuNext" & "RRMenuPrev"

Referring to the Image in POST #1

I have in this example, "RRMenuNext" on the button circled in Green on menu.skin
B00,76,509,138,29,"RRMenuNext"

I also have the SAME command on the same button, in menu2.skin,
infact MENU.skin and Menu2.skin are basicaly identical (only the top right button different)

now what the commands do

"RRMenuNext" will load the next menu in the sequence up to menu9, and loop around.
example; if you have "menu.skin" and "menu2.skin" (yes you can have "menu1.skin")
and you are on "menu.skin" it will go "menu2.skin" the same command on "menu2.skin" goes to "menu.skin".
(since you dont have 3-9)

"RRMenuPrev" will load the previous menu, and loop around.
example; if you have "menu.skin" and "menu1.skin" and "menu3.skin" and "menu4.skin", and you are
on "menu3.skin" it will go to "menu2.skin", the same command on "menu.skin" goes to "menu4.skin".

Next lets talk about Dynamic Menu Item; Commands, Labels, and Indicators, and that one variable

Commands:

"RRMenuItem;x" - where "x" is 1-n
"RRMenuItem;x;Set" - where "x" is 1-n
"RRMenuItemSave;key;(menuitem)" - where "key" is the MenuItemKey, "menuitem" is the MenuItemValue

Labels:
"RRMenuItem;x" - where "x" is 1-n

Indicators:
"RRMenuItem;x" - where "x" is 1-n


Important, USER Variable:
"RRMenuItemKey" - contains the current MenuItemKey when "Set" is used.


Referring to the Image in POST #1

looking at the item in the RED circle, actually its two obects there, a Button Object and a Label Object
The Button:

lets look at the Skin Object Code on that:
B02,53,079,352,57,"RRMenuItem;1",@RRMenuItem;1;set @

We got a click command of "RRMenuItem;1", and a HOLD command of "RRMenuItem;1;set", where 1 is the 1st button on the menu.skin, so on this menu.skin, we have 6 menu buttons
they would be (1-6):

B02,53,079,352,57,"RRMenuItem;1",@RRMenuItem;1;set @
B03,62,152,370,52,"RRMenuItem;2",@RRMenuItem;2;set @
B04,66,222,370,54,"RRMenuItem;3",@RRMenuItem;3;set @
B05,72,296,356,53,"RRMenuItem;4",@RRMenuItem;4;set @
B06,65,368,361,53,"RRMenuItem;5",@RRMenuItem;5;set @
B07,53,438,358,50,"RRMenuItem;6",@RRMenuItem;6;set @


Simple enough

Now the Label:

L05,107,081,277,31,255,255,255,28,"Arial:B","RRMen uItem;1","LEFT",,"DS=3,3,0,0,0"
L06,122,153,294,34,255,255,255,28,"Arial:B","RRMen uItem;2","LEFT",,"DS=3,3,0,0,0"
L07,134,225,293,38,255,255,255,28,"Arial:B","RRMen uItem;3","LEFT",,"DS=3,3,0,0,0"
L08,139,298,279,36,255,255,255,28,"Arial:B","RRMen uItem;4","LEFT",,"DS=3,3,0,0,0"
L09,133,371,283,35,255,255,255,28,"Arial:B","RRMen uItem;5","LEFT",,"DS=3,3,0,0,0"
L10,119,440,279,37,255,255,255,28,"Arial:B","RRMen uItem;6","LEFT",,"DS=3,3,0,0,0"


simple enough

now the Indicator images, the violet circle (ok they all ovals, but thats not important )

The Indicators:

I,355,080,56,56,"RRMenuItem;1"
I,376,151,56,56,"RRMenuItem;2"
I,387,223,56,56,"RRMenuItem;3"
I,388,294,56,56,"RRMenuItem;4"
I,384,366,56,56,"RRMenuItem;5"
I,369,435,56,56,"RRMenuItem;6"


simple enough


thats it, no more skin code is needed to create a menu... and yes Menu2.skin or Menu3.skin, is IDENTICAL!!

Now we talk about Data...where is the data coming from...

There is a new "menu.ini" file with that keeps the Dynamics of the menu.
This file is not ment to ever be hand edited (you can) but you dont need to...realy! (even the 1st time without one)
this file is with the skin, just like "general.ini" and "skin.ini"

using say button #1

now what lets detail "RRMenuItem;1;set" the set is the trigger, rr will now show a menu popup (Reserved skin name) of "MenuItemSet.skin".
This is a required skin if you are going to have user changable menus.
Its content is up to the skinner... here is a quick one put together for Carwings
There is nothing that special here, its just a CustomList, and in this case with ICONS
RR will populate it for you. No code is required, the skin name is how rr knows what to do

While on this skin, an Indicator "RRMenuItemSelIcon" is active, with the icon of the selected list item. (more this later, im not even using it)

lets look at the SELECT button code:
B,67,370,109,55,"RRMenuItemSave;$RRMenuItemKey$;($ ListText$)||EXIT"

"RRMenuItemSave" is the command, with 2 arguments, 1 is the KEY and 2 is the Value
note the ( ), they are required! as they define the value start/end.

The Key is the Dynamic Menu Key, as soon as you go into this popup, from a menu.skin, the key is set in User Var: "RRMenuItemKey"
Example, if on menu.skin, the key is "RRMenuItem1"
Example, if on menu2.skin the key is "RRMenu2Item1"
(remember we are talking about the 1st button, hense the 1, the 6th button would be "RRMenuItem6")

The Value is the metadata for the menu item, which is, the COMMAND rr is to exec when pressed, the LABEL of the button, and the INDICATOR image.
Ill show you what that looks like... lets do Radio

"RADIO",RADIO,Icons\Radio.png

the format is

"COMMAND",LABEL,Iconpath,,discription

Command is in qoutes

Iconpath is path to the indicator image relative the SKINPATH

4th argument is blank
description is a textual description available in LABEL "RRMenuItemSelDesc"

simple still hu?

the USER never touches this stuff (unless he wants to tweak/add MenuItems)

Metadata

This is the Skin Designers job, to create the Metadata list
of course a User may add to it.. tweak it too, if one wants to change the text

the list is in a file called "menu.lst"

its a Key Value Pair text file

KEY=VALUE

(yea, like just a ini file)

lets look at the one in CARWINGS, at least the one i created so far...
(spaces are trimmed)

Code:

[ Available Menu Items]
# LISTITEM = "COMMAND",LABEL,[ICON_PATH][,,[DESCRIPTION]]
################################################
CLEAR BUTTON	= "",,,,Clear the Buttons functionality
AUDIO(mp3s)     = "AUDIO",MUSIC,Icons\MUSIC.png,,This is the Audio Player
RADIO           = "RADIO",RADIO,Icons\RADIO.png
XM              = "XM",XM RADIO,Icons\XM RADIO.png
SIRIUS          = "SIRIUS",SIRIUS,Icons\SIRIUS.png
VIDEO           = "VIDEO",VIDEO,Icons\VIDEO.png
DVD             = "DVD",DVD,Icons\DVD.png
NAVIGATION      = "GPS",NAVIGATION,Icons\GPS.png
WEATHER         = "HOMEWEATHER",WEATHER,Icons\Weather.png
PICTURES        = "PICS",PICTURES,Icons\PICTURES.png
WEB BROWSER     = "WEB",BROWSER,Icons\INTERNET.png
APPS            = "LAUNCH",LAUNCH,Icons\LAUNCH.png
DIMMER          = "menu;dimmer.skin",DIMMER,Icons\DIMMER.png
CAMERA          = "CAMERA",CAMERA,Icons\CAMERA.png
PLUGIN MANAGER  = "RRPLUGINMGR",PLUGIN MGR,Icons\PLUGINMGR.png
#
#
# Other Navigation
IGUIDANCE       = "IGUIDANCE",iGUIDANCE,Icons\GPS.png
GMPC            = "GMPC||GMPCOVERLAY||GMPCRUN",GMPC,Icons\GPS.png

the KEY (left side of the equals) is what is SHOWN in the LIST on the "MenuItemSet.skin"
the VALUE is the MenuItem Data, that RR uses to create the menu

so.. if you want an option for say some Fuel plugin... ill make it up

add to the file:

Fuel Finder = "RR_FUEL",FUEL,Icons\Fuel.png

oh, by the way, if you dont have the icon, no biggy, its not required, it just shows nothing in the list and on the indicator...

Well, thats the Dynamic Menu System in Ride Runner (build 3/8/2012 onward)

I might tweak a thing or two, but thats why we testing... its avail on my FTP now

RECAP:


New reserved files:

Menu.ini
Menu.lst


New reserved skin files:

MenuItemSet.skin

Standard RR Reserved skin files:

Menu.skin, Menu1.skin... Menu9.skin

New Commands, Indicators, labels:

Skin Command: "RRMenuItem;x;[set]"
Skin Label: "RRMenuItem;x"
Skin Indicator: "RRMenuItem;x"
Skin Command: "RRMenuItemSave;key;(menuitem)"
Skin Indicator: "RRMenuItemSelIcon" shows icon(if any) of selected item in the MenuItemSet.Skin List
User Variable: "RRMenuItemKey"

Skin Command: "RRMenuNext" goes to next menuX.skin (looping)
Skin Command: "RRMenuPrev" goes to previous menuX.skin (looping)

Plugins,

Plugins that support Property : "menuitem" will be subscribed to the Dynamic Menu Item list

c# (in the properties method)

Code:

// Dynamic Menu
case "menuitem":
    properties = "\"WEBRADIO\",WEB RADIO,Icons\\WebRadio.png,Web Radio (Internet)";
    break;

note a 4th item (Web Radio (Internet)), its the text that shows in the "MenuItemSet.skin" list

vb6:

Code:

Case "menuitem"
    Properties = Chr(34) + "MAPPOINT" + Chr(34) + ",MAPPOINT,Icons\GPS.png,Mappoint by Microsoft as Navigation"

note the 4th item, the text in the list will be the PLUGIN Assembly Name, in this case "Mappoint"

note the 5th item, is a textual description, which is available in the label "RRMenuItemSelDesc" on the "MenuItemSet.skin"

Plugins start with PI-
as you can see

All these plugins, now support this property

My plugins are on my DropBox, Web Browser, and Web Radio already updated

Been working with mitch on this and its simply awesome. Noone will ever have to edit a exectbl.ini or menu.skin file again to customize their setup. It's a simple hold of the command and replace with an alternative from the list. THIS is the simplicity that RR has been missing... outside of DFX and a few other skins lol

This is funny actually...I did tinker in the RR Code awhile ago (~6 months) to make an attempt at making the that whole process easier and better then doing it through one of the old methods...skin plugin/exectbl/skin.ini/ect... Good thing that my attempt never made it into the svn...would have been "re-written"....

This is a great feature for RR.
Greats thanks