Macro keys

[Rikeshar]

Hello raf, first off let me thank you for this awesome app. I use the ssh quite often to remotely administrate my minecraft server, and I love being able to use it for linux programs like mutt in case I forget something at home I need to e-mail to myself. I don't use the VNC portion as much, but it works like a dream as well.

One feature that I would like to see would be to be able to create macros from commonly used tasks. The remote app "HippoRemote" has a good example of of this. For instance, I like to start up XBMC on my linux box from the couch when I want to stream a movie, so if I could VNC into the computer, hit one button and have it perform something like:

super+t
xbmc
enter

It would be great (and greatly lazy )

I bought the app plus the 3.99 in app purchase just to see what all you'll be able to do with this. Thanks!

[raf]

Thanks, Rikeshar!,

Yes, macros is something that I've been considering for a while. Still not sure what's the best way to implement it though. I'll have to look at HippoRemote, to get some ideas.

If anybody feels like helping out with some mock-ups of how to best handle this, they'd be welcome!

Thanks,

Raf.

[Open Mind]

I think I might have an idea of how to implement this in a good way. It has to do with the other changes to the on screen keyboard. I've been meaning to write this as a separate topic, but here it comes.

example 1.jpg (118.71 KiB) Viewed 15022 times

example 2.jpg (92.42 KiB) Viewed 15022 times

example 3-1.jpg (98.35 KiB) Viewed 15022 times

Idea taken from the app with the best on screen keyboard (Rowmote Pro). The clever ting is that you have all the extra buttons in one place and not just 5 buttons at a time in a narrow strip. The first 3 keys are OS dependant because you don't need to see the windows key in OSX and don't need cmd in Windows. The colors should of course be the same as the current Remoter keyboard (black/transparant).

Hope you like the idea/mock-ups.

Cheers

edit: just got a new awesome idea. What if the Hide keyboard button (see first picture above) also functioned as the ONE full screen button* !?. When the keyboard is hidden, the button should be in the lower right corner and transparant (same features like we discussed). 3 feature requests** would be solved in one new simple keyboard layout.

*(the one mentioned here: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=229).
**
1) new fullscreen button
2) scrolling with invisible trackpad
3) macro keys

[Rikeshar]

My idea isn't as thought out as the previous posters, but I did notice you have some space on the upper and lower

bars:

pic1.PNG (109.78 KiB) Viewed 15018 times

As for HippoRemote, their placement isnt going to help you much, but here's what the macro edit screens look like:

pic2.PNG (59.8 KiB) Viewed 15018 times

And here's the screen where you actually do the editing:

pic3.PNG (100.16 KiB) Viewed 15018 times

[raf]

Wow guys, thanks for taking the time to present your ideas graphically. It really does help a lot.

Open Mind:
I really like your idea on the special-keys toolbar customization (that's the toolbar that goes on top of the keyboard). And it dynamically changing the keyboard view. I have been thinking about adding some kind of customization to the keyboard similar to that; but nothing so concrete as your idea. The only thing I need to worry about is cases when the user is using an external (bluetooth, usb) keyboard, as the main keyboard view is not displayed by the OS in those cases. But I can figure that out.
The idea of clicking on the fn key to get extra keys is good, but not as intuitive. Also, there is a problem, I can't instruct the PC to sleep or start applications, as that is not part of the RFB (VNC) protocol -- ideas?
Let's talk more about the fullscreen/kb hiding button.
Great job!

Rikeshar:
I think we can combine your macros idea with the custom keyboards from Open Mind. We can add the "Macros" button into the sp-keys toolbar, and that would bring up a custom keyboard with the macro names from your mockup.
Or it can be like you suggest, a separate button. I also like the idea of displaying the macros in a popover kind of view. I'm already working on adding an iPhone popover provider for other things, so it should be easier for me to do that, and I like the interface.
The macro editing is kind of tricky. I would have to write a macro parser; which is OK I guess. But also would need to detect errors on edit, and highlight them real-time, which would be complicated.
We need to come up with a macro editor that is foolproof. Maybe buttons for special keys? I don't know.
But all good ideas.

Thanks guys, let's keep talking about this.

Raf.

[Open Mind]

Wow guys, thanks for taking the time to present your ideas graphically. It really does help a lot.
1) I really like your idea on the special-keys toolbar customization (that's the toolbar that goes on top of the keyboard). And it dynamically changing the keyboard view. I have been thinking about adding some kind of customization to the keyboard similar to that; but nothing so concrete as your idea. The only thing I need to worry about is cases when the user is using an external (bluetooth, usb) keyboard, as the main keyboard view is not displayed by the OS in those cases. But I can figure that out.

2) The idea of clicking on the fn key to get extra keys is good, but not as intuitive.

3) Also, there is a problem, I can't instruct the PC to sleep or start applications, as that is not part of the RFB (VNC) protocol -- ideas?
Let's talk more about the fullscreen/kb hiding button.

Thanks for the positive feedback raf

1) You're right about the external keyboard problem. I hadn't thought about that. The macros needs to be available without having to show the virtual keyboard. But I think I have a simple solution to this problem. I assume people using external keyboards don't need to acces the extra keys (cmd, win-key, home, end, etc) as they are already on a standard keyboard.

I really like your idea about the popover menu. That would look much better and more iOS like than my initial idea or the radial menu.

I imagine our ideas combined like this:

This is how the fullscreen mode would look with the new fullscreen button

Fullscreen button no keyboard-1.jpg (181.37 KiB) Viewed 15002 times

When the button is tapped, the virtual keyboard would slide up. Holding the button down instead, would bring up a popover menu like this:

Popover fullscreen menu button-1.jpg (110.74 KiB) Viewed 15002 times

This way macros would be available without the virtual keyboard. Selecting "Macros" on the popover menu would bring up a new popover menu showing all of your macros. (Popover menus have a good way of dealing with varying numbers of menu items.)

When the virtual keyboard is up, the "hide keyboard" button should work exactly as the fullscreen button. Tap hides the keyboard. Hold brings up the popover menu.

2) I'm not sure what you mean. Is it the name "fn" that should be changed to "..." ? Either way would be fine by me.

3) The "sleep pc" and "app" buttons were just examples of macros that might be useful. Sleep pc would be "alt+cmd+eject" on a mac, etc.

I think Rikeshars idea of also putting the macros button in the upper and lower bar when not in fullscreen mode is also a good idea. Pressing either of those buttons would of course bring up the same macro popover menu. The macros editor should be accesable from the general settings menu.

thanks for listening to your users!

[raf]

Open Mind,

Actually the special keys are not usable on external keyboards (this is a limitation imposed by Apple), so the sp-keys toolbar is still shown when external kbs are used.

From your image: actually that's an alert sheet. I was thinking of a popover:

(left shows an alert sheet, right shows a popover)

So you think the best position for the button would be in the bottom right? Then it's not visible when the KB is up..
I was also thinking that once tapped it would bring the popover, and one of the options would be to bring the kb up. Too many taps? The problem with tap-and-hold is that its not intuitive.

2) fn was the key from your mockup. You mentioned that if pressed twice it would bring up a second screen. That's the only beef I had with the idea, otherwise I love it.

3) gotcha. As long as we all understand that I can't instruct the machine to start apps programatically via a command. BTW, I don't believe the "eject" key is sendable either

I also like Rikeshar's idea of a separate button for macros. But, on the other hand, I've been thinking about consolidating most buttons, so that one of the toolbars can be removed. A lot of ppl want just one toolbar, which I understand, specially for the iPhone and the limited screen real-estate. If we can combine all the buttons into one toolbar, and have all options accessible via popover it would be ideal. Still need to figure out exactly how. You ideas, as always, are very welcome!

Raf.

[Open Mind]

1) From your image: actually that's an alert sheet. I was thinking of a popover.

So you think the best position for the button would be in the bottom right? Then it's not visible when the KB is up..
I was also thinking that once tapped it would bring the popover, and one of the options would be to bring the kb up. Too many taps? The problem with tap-and-hold is that its not intuitive.

2) fn was the key from your mockup. You mentioned that if pressed twice it would bring up a second screen. That's the only beef I had with the idea, otherwise I love it.

1) ahh I see. I thought it was the same thing, hehe ;) But as your picture shows, native Apple apps use popovers on the iPad and alert sheets on the iPhone. I was thinking Remoter could do the same?

as for the tap-and-hold: (intuitiveness vs. less buttons and taps):
I think tap-and-hold wouldn't be a problem or counter intuitive. Apple also uses tap-and-hold for copy-paste, rearranging the icons, etc in stead of adding more options in the menus. It might not be obvious what tap-and-holding the button does, but once you've done it you won't forget it ;) At least that's my experience :) And I think the most important thing is that the keyboard can be activated/deactivated more easily than rest of the fullscreen menu.

The location of the fullscreen button:
The advantage of placing it in lower right corner is that this would be most intuitive if at some point you decided to make it a slide up instead of tap to show keyboard. When the keyboard is up the transparant button button doesn't need to visible, as the kb-hiding button serves exactly the same function. However the location of the fullscreen button is not that important to me. As long as it's transparant and easy to reach with your thumb ;)

2) ah, yes. you're right. It's not as ideal as this new alertsheet/popover menu acces to macros.

[raf]

Thanks Open Mind,

I'll work on it, and I'll post some screenshots of my progress soon. I'm working on some of the internals now, so it might be later this week, though.

Raf.

[Open Mind]

awesome. this musthave app is getting better and better. I'm also still very exited to see the resume on startup (one touch operation) feature come to life. That's my biggest wish. Do what you need to do when you need to do it. I'll keep using Remoter and enjoying improvements as they are made. Cheers!