FrontRow Remote - Page 4

Mahalis · 03-12-2006, 12:09 AM

Okay, press-and-hold works beautifully, as does regular ol' clicking.

++
Current version: http://www.mm-3.net/frremote/frremote.dmg

Now to work on the preferencing.

breadman · 03-12-2006, 01:23 AM

I tried the app in my setup, which is just a standard Mac mini with Front Row and the app works for the most part!

The functionality is there and even the hold-click works...for the up button. It does not seem to work for me when I hold-click the down button, it seems to recognize the click when I release my finger, rather than when I first press it.

I think the controls are small, especially when driving. I was under the impression that the controls would take up most of the screen. Why not make them really big so it's easier to maneuver while driving?

I don't really understand the transparency, how long does it take for the app to disappear? I don't really want to look at it while content is playing. I thought it would disappear after a few seconds and then once you tap the screen, it reappears. Is this not the case?

Finally, the app seems to work for a short while and then crashes. I realize it's a beta, but I just wanted to let you know.

Thanks for your great work! This has the potential to be a fantastic app! I think you could sell this, once it's done. Right now, I just use my Nokia with Salling Clicker to run Front Row and it does a fantastic job, but I could see this replacing it in the future. Again, great job and keep up the good work.

Best Regards,
Adam

Mahalis · 03-12-2006, 10:42 AM

Quote:

The functionality is there and even the hold-click works...for the up button. It does not seem to work for me when I hold-click the down button, it seems to recognize the click when I release my finger, rather than when I first press it.

That's really odd - all the buttons use the same code. Do the left and right buttons work held down, like when you're scrolling through a movie?

Quote:

I think the controls are small, especially when driving. I was under the impression that the controls would take up most of the screen. Why not make them really big so it's easier to maneuver while driving?

It's doable... with your other suggestion, about tapping the screen, there wouldn't be a problem with obscuring things (which is why the controls were small in the first place).

Quote:

I don't really understand the transparency, how long does it take for the app to disappear?

2.5 seconds after your last click. It can be shortened if need be, but from what I've seen that makes for a lot of annoying fading in and out if you're clicking things repeatedly.

Quote:

I thought it would disappear after a few seconds and then once you tap the screen, it reappears. Is this not the case?

No, but that's a good idea...

Quote:

Finally, the app seems to work for a short while and then crashes. I realize it's a beta, but I just wanted to let you know.

Hmm.. does it close, or does it just freeze?

Quote:

Thanks for your great work! This has the potential to be a fantastic app! I think you could sell this, once it's done. Right now, I just use my Nokia with Salling Clicker to run Front Row and it does a fantastic job, but I could see this replacing it in the future. Again, great job and keep up the good work.

Thanks.

ckny · 03-12-2006, 12:02 PM

hey mahalis,

just got a quit on the new version while testing it on my desktop. this was after 2 minutes or so of opening. i'll pm you the report if youd like.

chris

breadman · 03-12-2006, 08:53 PM

Alright, I figured out most of the problem. I just downloaded the app last night, but it must have been the previous version. I redownloaded it from the link in your previous post and sure enough, the up and down does work while held down. The right/left however do not work held down. I thought this was a limitation on Front Row, but has anyone else been able to fast forward a song or movie midstream or will it automatically go to the next or preview track?

This version also seems more stable. I have not had a crash today while using it. With the previous version, it didn't freeze, it just disappeared and then when I got out of Front Row, the crash message would appear and I'd just relaunch it.

I think a much bigger version of the app would be beneficial, one that takes up most of the screen. It would be great if it disappears after a short (say 2.5 seconds) period of non-use and then pops back up after you tap the screen.

Great job Mahalis! What a great program you've built! Thanks for making my MacCar experience that much more enjoyable.

Best Regards,
Adam

P.S. An idea for an easier interface for those who do not have the graphical experience or resources would be just to build an invisible app that would sit on top of Front Row that would just respond to mouse clicks. So if you click on the right side of the screen, it would go to next. If you click on the top part, the volume would increase. And then say, you could click on the top left corner and that would be the menu button. Center of the screen would be play/pause. It would work the same way as this program, except there would be no visible interface. Could be cool! Just an idea.

CArringt · 03-12-2006, 08:54 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by ckny

hey mahalis,

just got a quit on the new version while testing it on my desktop. this was after 2 minutes or so of opening. i'll pm you the report if youd like.

chris

chris,

if you can simulate it again. please post the Log from Console so we can see what's going on.

Thanks,

Chanse

Mahalis · 03-12-2006, 09:49 PM

He sent it to me and I have a pretty good idea what caused it. Or rather, I discovered a lot of things that might have caused it (and were making trouble for me too) and have since fixed those things to the best of my ability.

Anyhow, new version out. Same download link, here. With this one, a touch (or click) anywhere on the screen will bring up the much-larger-and-now-centered controls, which will then neatly disappear once you're done with them. One slight side-effect of this is that your screen displays color 5% darker than it usually would... if anyone knows how to get a window to catch mouse events without being visible, please fill me in.

CArringt · 03-12-2006, 10:14 PM

One thing i'm noticing is that the controls hide after a menu is selected that will take you to another page and you have to press the screen or click in order to restore the controls. Is there any way to have it not do this?

Edit:

Ok nevermind. The screen is timing out not dissappearing. can you make it about a secind longer before time out?

Aslo can you set the transparency higher so it doesn't block whats behind the screen completely?

Chanse

breadman · 03-13-2006, 12:25 AM

Mahalis, you're a frickin' genius!!! Downloaded the new app and that's almost EXACTLY what I'm looking for! I agree with CArringt in that the transparency needs to be higher than 0% because it's too hard to see what's behind the controls. I think a transparency of 50% would be doable, just slightly higher than what you had before when the app was not being used.

I don't know how to catch events without being visible, but think the 5% dimming is perfectly acceptable. If you can figure out how to get that 5% back, great, if not, no big deal.

Again, man, just fantastic! And how fast you got that done. If only Apple and others were as good...

One little nitpick suggestion, could you make the outside "wheel" wider? Say about 50-75% wider? That would make it a little easier to maneuver while driving.

Thanks a million,
Adam

CArringt · 03-13-2006, 12:53 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by breadman

One little nitpick suggestion, could you make the outside "wheel" wider? Say about 50-75% wider? That would make it a little easier to maneuver while driving.

Thanks a million,
Adam

I agree but take the width from the center play/pause button instead of increasing the total size of the control

ckny · 03-13-2006, 01:49 AM

mahalis,

i just downloaded the latest build you posted. i love the new look. i'm still having some issues though. random quits are still there (remote closes out and disappears and upon exiting front row i get the report).

also, fast scrolling isn't working for me. when i hold down the button it starts to fast scroll but won't stop when i let off the mouse click. i get a beach ball and it goes all the way to the end of the artist list before accepting the next command.

again, i feel like im so close... thanks for all of your hard work on this.

Mahalis · 03-13-2006, 07:19 PM

Updated again - thicker ring, more transparency, some minor code improvements. [Download]

breadman · 03-13-2006, 10:39 PM

This version is the best yet and I think final....except I ran into a problem. When I get out of Front Row and back to the desktop, the FR Remote program is still running and covers the entire screen (including toolbar and dock). I have not found a way to get out of the program. I can move my mouse under the screen, but I don't have a keyboard hooked up so I can't Open-Apple Q.

Does anyone know of a way to get out of the program without programming a hotkey that Open-Apple Qs by pressing a button on my phone in Salling Clicker?

Best Regards,
Adam

sti robot · 03-13-2006, 11:13 PM

rock on guys...i think this is much better than I was intending to cobble together with some AS in my spare time.

This is what makes this community good.

Too bad i'm thinking of going with a laptop/non-ts setup (not allowed to bring pc on work property)

ckny · 03-14-2006, 01:42 AM

Well, I'm still having issues with the newest version that was posted in the first post of this thread.

Now let me preface this by saying that perhaps it's something to do with my setup. I am testing this on my desktop power mac g5 dual 1.8. I do have some usb items plugged in including a kensington wireless mac desktop. Since others dont seem to be having the issues I'm having them maybe its related to that.

That said, when I am on the artists menu and hold down the down button using my mouse it starts fast scrolling however when I let off the down button on the "remote" it still scrolls to the end of the artist list and never stops. It gives me the beach ball while doing this. It then performs a few actions (i probably press the play/pause button trying to quit) and then force quits giving me an error report.

Again, not sure if this is related to my computer/setup or my version of frontrow (hacked version that was first released, never updated to any other version).

Here's the report from my latest quit:

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