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New Framework control wishlist

Hello Everyone,

I wanted to start a thread where people could post a wish list of Framework controls which would be useful for you to have. We are in the design / implementation stage of Framework 1.2 so feel free to let us know what you need.

Obviously I can't guarantee what will make it into the next release, but we will do our best to accommodate as many as possible.

Thanks!

-Jeremy

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31 Replies
  • Replying to my own post to start this off, one previously requested on the forums is a date picker / calendar control.
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  • QUOTE (Jeremy Johnstone @ May 6 2009, 06:31 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
    Hello Everyone,

    I wanted to start a thread where people could post a wish list of Framework controls which would be useful for you to have. We are in the design / implementation stage of Framework 1.2 so feel free to let us know what you need.

    Obviously I can't guarantee what will make it into the next release, but we will do our best to accommodate as many as possible.

    Thanks!

    -Jeremy


    Here are a few of the things I'd like to see, many I want to remove hacks we've put in ourselves &l
    1. More options on TextEntryButton for positioning, or even hiding of, of the input field.
    2. More buttons than Play/Pause and Stop on the VideoTransportOverlay. Fastforward, rewind, next, last, and a "metadata" or information button would be very useful, as well as a metadata overlay to match.
    3. Built in scaling between 1080 and 540 (I know how to do this, it just seems silly to make every widget repeat the same steps).
    4. Stock login-type class, would have username input, password input, a URL format string, and a callback. Potentially could have states for logged in or not, and manage data storage for the developer.
    5. Better keyboard layouts. Put the "." and "@" characters on the main keyboard at least, it takes forever for users to type in email addresses. A submenu filled with things like .com, .edu, .org, etc. might go a long way to help this.
    6. Control over empty grid cell spaces. I'm not sure if this is doable today, but in a 2x3 grid with less than 6 data items, grid lines are only bordering the cells with data, leaving inconsistent blank squares everywhere else.
    7. Faster XML engine. I'm sure JSON will always be faster, but sometimes XML is required, and slows down the entire framework it seems.
    8. Stock asynchronous loading images when one isn't explicitly defined.
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  • my wish list

    1) better video playback support in the simulator. It's very painful to test video playback when any test video play 1000% slower in the emulator. I would hate to test Ad injection in such an environment.

    2) support more video codecs and protocols. You can't have too many, it is going to be running on a television after all. Would really love FLV (flash video) playback and RTSP protocol.
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  • QUOTE (dustinmbrink @ May 11 2009, 01:57 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
    2) support more video codecs and protocols. You can't have too many, it is going to be running on a television after all. Would really love FLV (flash video) playback and RTSP protocol.


    This has nothing to do with the Framework. The Framework provides no restrictions on content types, rather the low level media player provided by the partner platform. I agree, we will definitely strive to support as many codecs and protocols as possible in the future, but just wanted to set the air the Framework isn't the limiting factor.

    -Jeremy
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  • Support for formatted text in KONtx.element.TextGrid, or simplest version of HTML-like control.
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  • QUOTE (Victor @ May 19 2009, 02:18 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
    Support for formatted text in KONtx.element.TextGrid, or simplest version of HTML-like control.


    Support for rich text is on the roadmap.
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  • I need to allow the user to select a value within a range of values. There does not appear to be anything that provides that. Therefore, need one or both of:

    1. Slider
    2. Up-down (up and down arrows allow user to increment/decrement)

    I am on Rev .99.

    QUOTE (Jeremy Johnstone @ May 6 2009, 06:31 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
    Hello Everyone,

    I wanted to start a thread where people could post a wish list of Framework controls which would be useful for you to have. We are in the design / implementation stage of Framework 1.2 so feel free to let us know what you need.

    Obviously I can't guarantee what will make it into the next release, but we will do our best to accommodate as many as possible.

    Thanks!

    -Jeremy
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  • This is not really a Framework control, but rather a platform wish item.

    Can we change the restrict_console value in the Simulator Settings to accept comma separated identifiers?

    CODE
    # In order to limit the console output to messages relevant to a particular widget 
    # please enter the widget ID below 
    # example:   restrict_console=com.yahoo.widgets.tv.finance
    restrict_console= widgetrealm_tester,widgetrealm_tester2


    It would be very useful from a standpoint of not having to reset the simulator each time you want to switch between projects.

    Just a thought.
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  • Tabs not shifting their position to the left on selection
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  • Oops that's already nearly the behaviour of tab in 1.X which is great! =) Easy to link auto selection then with something like:
    CODE
    this.controls.tab._focusButton = function(index) { this._activateButton(index); }

    unless there's a cleaner way to do so
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  • I would like to see a data scroller component. For instance, I have a collection of data that I would like to display based on the current date selected. Excuse the bad picture, but something like the below picture where the component would essentially be a focusable button component that would respond to left and right key presses, and perhaps call a callback function passing in the specific date.


    CODE
    ------------------------------------------------------
    |          |                              |          |    
    |  <---    |          Aug 12, 2009        |   -->    |
    |          |                              |          |
    ------------------------------------------------------
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  • QUOTE (stevelaw1981 @ Aug 12 2009, 03:16 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
    I would like to see a data scroller component. For instance, I have a collection of data that I would like to display based on the current date selected. Excuse the bad picture, but something like the below picture where the component would essentially be a focusable button component that would respond to left and right key presses, and perhaps call a callback function passing in the specific date.


    CODE
    ------------------------------------------------------
    |          |                              |          |    
    |  <---    |          Aug 12, 2009        |   -->    |
    |          |                              |          |
    ------------------------------------------------------


    that's sorta already possible with the grid page indicator, but not in a clean way. I'll ping Ken and see what he can think of on this one.

    -Jeremy
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  • They are similar to a point, but I guess what I am envisioning is a scenario like the following where you would like to display a grid, that would refresh it's dataset based on the selected date (or whatever else). The grid may still have page indicator controls attached to it however.

    CODE
    ------------------------------------------------------
    |        |                                   |       |
    |  <---  |           Aug 12, 2009            |  -->  |
    |        |                                   |       |
    ------------------------------------------------------
    |                                                    |
    |                  Data Grid Item 1                  |
    |                                                    |
    |----------------------------------------------------|
    |                                                    |
    |                 Data Grid Item 2                   |
    |                                                    |
    |----------------------------------------------------|
    |                                                    |
    |                 Data Grid Item N                   |
    |                                                    |
    ------------------------------------------------------
    |                 <  @ O O O O  >                    |
    ------------------------------------------------------


    I see the control as being similar to the way the TabStrip component works, where we subscribe to an onTabSelect event, and be passed in the event, where we can check an index or additional data that we passed in when creating the tab strip labels.

    CODE
    new KONtx.control.DataSelector({
       default : 1,
       dataset : [{index : 1, label :  'Aug 13,2009'},{index : 2, label :  'Aug 14,2009'},{index : 3, label :  'Aug 15,2009'}],
       events : {
            onDataSetChange : function(event) {
    	     var index = event.payload.index;
                 var date = event.payload.label; 

                 // Update the grid with the chosen date
    	     this.owner.refreshGrid(date);
    	}
      }
    })
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  • I'd vote for an HTML view. Rich text is all very well, but the data I deal with is all html ( work for a TV company with a big online presence). It is also easer to build HTML on the fly when combining data sources on the box. Its also the natural language for developers working in this area.
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  • QUOTE (nethers.david @ Oct 13 2009, 02:26 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
    I'd vote for an HTML view. Rich text is all very well, but the data I deal with is all html ( work for a TV company with a big online presence). It is also easer to build HTML on the fly when combining data sources on the box. Its also the natural language for developers working in this area.



    HTML is not an appropriate technology for the TV. The user interaction semantics don't provide a good user experience. There are a ton of examples of this in the field (WebTV, Wii, etc) and all have shown it to be a generally less than ideal way to interact with your TV.

    -Jeremy
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  • Jeremy,
    I did not find SSL as a supported protocol and that's on my wishlist. Not sure though if it's a Framework control or needs to be addressed elsewhere.
    Thanks, Niels
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  • QUOTE (niels @ Oct 20 2009, 08:44 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
    Jeremy,
    I did not find SSL as a supported protocol and that's on my wishlist. Not sure though if it's a Framework control or needs to be addressed elsewhere.
    Thanks, Niels


    Definitely not a Framework feature, but SSL is very much supported on the platform. Can you please open a separate thread with details on the issue you're experiencing?

    -Jeremy
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  • Gif support please, as some OEMs support them. All of CompuServe's patents have expired now, and some OEMS such as Samsung support gif images in their own IME. It makes it harder for us to monetise widgets and therefore have a business case to develop widgets for our magazines if we can't serve up gifs.
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  • I'd love to see support for HTTP Compression.
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  • QUOTE (Mark Phillip @ Dec 27 2009, 03:51 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
    I'd love to see support for HTTP Compression.


    Can you clarify this please?

    -Jeremy
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  • simple object serialization, for ease of submission in XMLHttpRequests.

    something like:

    var data = {key1: "x", key2: "y"}
    assert(data.serialize() == "key1=x&key2=y")
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  • QUOTE (sax @ Feb 1 2010, 12:15 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
    simple object serialization, for ease of submission in XMLHttpRequests.

    something like:

    var data = {key1: "x", key2: "y"}
    assert(data.serialize() == "key1=x&key2=y")



    JSON.stringify() does exactly what you want for simple object seralization. Virtually every server side language also has direct parsing support for the output of that too (aka JSON).
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  • QUOTE (Jeremy Johnstone @ Feb 1 2010, 10:31 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
    JSON.stringify() does exactly what you want for simple object seralization. Virtually every server side language also has direct parsing support for the output of that too (aka JSON).


    Huh. turns out the API I need to support doesn't accept JSON, so for my case I'll still need to use string serialization. It is a pretty simple problem to solve, though, so I could see why you might want to promote JSON and as the desired solution and rely on custom serialization methods for the rest.
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  • I'd like to have a 'titlebar' control for fullscreen views. What I picture in my mind is a small home button, a back button, and then a title, all on one row, that can have a configurable width up to the screen width (and is fully themed.) I say "all one row" because I would hate to take up two rows' worth of space when the extra available width would make it easy to have both buttons next to each other.
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  • QUOTE (kraney2 @ Mar 22 2010, 10:52 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
    I'd like to have a 'titlebar' control for fullscreen views. What I picture in my mind is a small home button, a back button, and then a title, all on one row, that can have a configurable width up to the screen width (and is fully themed.) I say "all one row" because I would hate to take up two rows' worth of space when the extra available width would make it easy to have both buttons next to each other.

    You think this should be included in the Framework? Why not just create it yourself, as it seems specific to how you're designing your application.
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  • 1) Are there any broadband TVs that support Bluetooth? Would be nice to add bluetooth capabilities so a user could call in via a headset through application so a phone-like control would be a nice add.
    2) More color management - Would like to see options to change sidebar background to colors other than black.
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  • QUOTE (Joe @ Mar 22 2010, 01:18 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
    2) More color management - Would like to see options to change sidebar background to colors other than black.


    The colors are controlled by the manufacturer and their marketing requirements.

    -Jeremy
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  • is a notification api relevant ? like growl or something ? it would be great with social widgets no ?
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  • QUOTE (Julien @ May 17 2010, 03:11 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
    is a notification api relevant ? like growl or something ? it would be great with social widgets no ?


    Do you have specific requirements / use cases around this area? If so, we would love to hear from you at tvwidgets@yahoo-inc.com so we can make sure those use cases are covered when we develop this feature.

    -Jeremy
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  • I know, that is not Framework change, but you probably could pass it to the right team:
    I vote for RTSP protocol.
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  • QUOTE (Dmitry @ Aug 11 2010, 12:17 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
    I know, that is not Framework change, but you probably could pass it to the right team:
    I vote for RTSP protocol.


    Definitely on the request list. If you have specific streams, I'd recommend emailing tvwidgets@yahoo-inc.com with those streams and we can give them to the OEMs to insure they support it in future releases.

    -Jeremy
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