DemoPad.com

I've managed to get xbmc (on a Raspberry Pi) working well now through Demopad after some bizarre problems routing it through my receiver - despite too many hours and advice from other forums I ended up buying another sd with xbmc preinstalled, on Raspbian (or something) rather than OpenElec and this works fine through the receiver.
Anyway, I also upgraded my receiver recently (not part of the previous xbmc problem as it didn't work on this one either) sticking with Pioneer but this one has Airplay and internet connectivity and I'm exploring feedback potential, so far volume is working nicely. Which finally (!) brings me to my question - has anyone ever managed to get a rotary volume up and running on Demopad only the new receiver works with the iControlAV ios app which has one and it's very cool, I think. I've created a design for one (on Corel Draw) but getting it to accept commands, ie by 'turning' it is the problem. I've tried various combinations on four see-through square buttons placed over the top of an image but unless you actually swipe up/down/left or right in these areas it doesn't really work, obvious I know as by 'turning' the knob using a finger on the screen, this is in a circular pattern. Any ideas and Demopad, any chance you could incorporate a circular swipe update?

We have had reasonable results using a horizontal, transparent gauge object which is placed over the top of say 10 images which show the various states of the level. The gauge affects a number, which in turns sets the appropriate flags to show the correct image. It works for a semi-circle quite well, because even though you are moving your finger in a semi-circle, you are still moving it from left to right, but with a completely round control it doesn't quite work....

Thanks, I've had a play around with that and see what you mean. Quick question - what does the 'minimum display offset' value do please? Thanks

It stops the gauge image going to 0%, eg if the range of the gauge is 0-100, and the offset is 5, then the gauge will never look as though it goes below 5%. The number behind it will still go to 0 though if you slide your finger down. It is there for gauges which have an indicator graphic at the top of the image, and you never want the indicator part of the image to vanish completely.

Ah, I see thanks I think I may have cracked-it with the rotary volume control, I really should get out more! If anyone's interested I will post the results once I've tweaked a few things....

DemoPad wrote:We have had reasonable results using a horizontal, transparent gauge object which is placed over the top of say 10 images which show the various states of the level. The gauge affects a number, which in turns sets the appropriate flags to show the correct image. It works for a semi-circle quite well, because even though you are moving your finger in a semi-circle, you are still moving it from left to right, but with a completely round control it doesn't quite work....

If it can influence things, I too would like the ability to do a rotary volume like iControlAV. Well at least you've got 2 requests

Unfortunately, 'tweaking a few things' turned into giving up after far too many hours on this As Demopad said, you can get this working ok on a semicircle but major problems with the full circle. Thanks cv27 for the back-up request I appreciate this is now in the wrong topic but how about it Demopad - ?first software of this type with rotary controls - could be a big seller not to mention the kudos.... Worth a try

We'll try & put it in version 1.4.5 or 1.4.6 of the app, can you please email [email protected] with some example images you want to use. Presume a square control which (if the image had a pointer indicator) went from a 7 o'clock position (minimum) to a 5 o'clock position (maximum) would suffice?

DemoPad wrote:Presume a square control which (if the image had a pointer indicator) went from a 7 o'clock position (minimum) to a 5 o'clock position (maximum) would suffice?

The iControlAV rotary button being discussed lets the user spin around and around until the right level is reached. And it makes sense. For example, it would be difficult to precisely control volume with a 1 inch linear slider. The 7 o'clock to 5 o'clock approach would restrict the travel for adjusting the volume 0-100% to the circumference of the rotary dial (actually 10/12th of that).

The ideal for me would be something like this.

On that full circular path, in a given direction, increment/decrement volume as my finger travels.

How about this: apply a mask to that rotary dial image that divides it into 'x' successive controls along that perimeter and just sense when there is finger contact (action when pressed ?) on one of those controls, along with remembering the last control area touched for determining movement and changes in direction. I guess you would also need to track when the finger leaves the surface so to reset everything.

You could set the requirements: any image could be used, but the circular mask would be "fitted" within that image against its smallest dimension and the touch sensitive part would be a circular band of say ¼". I would also hope you would let us define the number of discrete control areas ('x') to account for extra big rotary dials versus smaller ones.

Easy for me to say

Wow, thanks for doing this! I've sent some images, hope they are useful... I'd echo c27's suggestions really - a rotary dial, ideally with a surrounding LED (as long as it didin't infringe on copyright issues - see iControl AV!?) for the bling side of it, that increases/decrease with rotation of the knob and therefore volume. I don't know about other receivers, but with my Pioneer VSX922, anything below about -60 is pretty much inaudible and I've never had it above -10 yet - my wife would like to keep our windows intact! Beyond that, it would just be great to have a control like this Thanks again...

Hey has there been any progression on this subject I'd be keen to have a rotary option

I too would absolutely love to see this in DemoPad. It would make a killer feature. I’m in the process of planning the UX with a specialist for a project and he’s added some rotary controls and I haven’t yet told him that’s not possible in DemoPad!