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DS development > Extended Keyboard Example 5

#100973 - headspin - Fri Sep 01, 2006 7:47 am

A few people were put off using my keyboards because of the shading, the latest keyboard example simplifies the look so it will suit a broader variety of apps.

- Source is now in one file (plus header) to make integration easier.
- No more use of lcdSwap() function as it messes up on some carts. I was obviously being lazy before, now the keyboard is drawn to the sub screen like it should.
- Cleaned up the code a bit.
- Keyboard is now at the bottom of the screen, so it's easier to use (apparently).
- Removed my custom pen jump checking code, since libnds takes care of most of this these days and is always being improved.
- Updated source using latest LibNDS template.

http://headkaze.drunkencoders.com/
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Warhawk DS | Manic Miner: The Lost Levels | The Detective Game

#100977 - Lick - Fri Sep 01, 2006 9:33 am

I just want to say thank you for the DS pictochat font. OMG IT's EXACTLY WHAT I SEARCHED FOR!
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#100980 - headspin - Fri Sep 01, 2006 9:51 am

Arrggh now I'm being told my jump code is not nicely replaced by libnds.. what should I do put back my custom jump handling code?
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Warhawk DS | Manic Miner: The Lost Levels | The Detective Game

#100983 - Lick - Fri Sep 01, 2006 10:19 am

For the time being, yes I think that would be a better plan.
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#100985 - headspin - Fri Sep 01, 2006 10:30 am

naa I think I'll wait, I could be wrong, and the jumping could be the same as my code I don't know. I have no conclusive tests with my old method vs this new lib.
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Warhawk DS | Manic Miner: The Lost Levels | The Detective Game

#101035 - HyperHacker - Fri Sep 01, 2006 9:09 pm

Is there a way to use the old blue style though? I liked it.
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#101046 - Nintendo Maniac 64 - Fri Sep 01, 2006 10:14 pm

why isn't there a full screen-width keyboard? The bigger it is, the faster you can type, er... tap.

#101063 - Lick - Sat Sep 02, 2006 12:27 am

Because it's tile-based (8x8). You couldn't ever fit all characters and buttons of a 'pc keyboard' with 16x16 tiles. But pixelplotting would be nice yes. I simply draw subpixel font-characters one by one in DSLiveWeather. I think it looks okay enough and gives the user enough room (20 pixels) to 'tap'. It isn't a pc keyboard but it's good enough for my application.

Hands up for headspins efforts!
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#101102 - headspin - Sat Sep 02, 2006 3:18 pm

Okay, I've updated it again...
- Added back my pen jump checking code. It seems to work better on h/w, although it doesn't work as well in Dualis.

While your debugging your apps in Dualis you might want to comment out the following line to remove the custom pen jump detection code:
Code:
#define USE_CUSTOM_PEN_JUMP_DETECTION_CODE   1


HyperHacker wrote:
Is there a way to use the old blue style though? I liked it.


If you liked the old beveled blue keyboard like in the previous example, I have added a zip file of just the keyboard binary data that you can copy over the latest ones in the data directory.
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Warhawk DS | Manic Miner: The Lost Levels | The Detective Game

#101115 - Nintendo Maniac 64 - Sat Sep 02, 2006 7:06 pm

Lick wrote:
Because it's tile-based (8x8). You couldn't ever fit all characters and buttons of a 'pc keyboard' with 16x16 tiles. But pixelplotting would be nice yes. I simply draw subpixel font-characters one by one in DSLiveWeather. I think it looks okay enough and gives the user enough room (20 pixels) to 'tap'. It isn't a pc keyboard but it's good enough for my application.


I didn't mean for the keyboard with more keys, but the current less-keys one. Maybe it could be like in DSOrganize where you could swap keyboards for a full key-set one or a large-sized one (but with less keys).

#101144 - headspin - Sun Sep 03, 2006 4:21 am

Nintendo Maniac 64 wrote:
Lick wrote:
Because it's tile-based (8x8). You couldn't ever fit all characters and buttons of a 'pc keyboard' with 16x16 tiles. But pixelplotting would be nice yes. I simply draw subpixel font-characters one by one in DSLiveWeather. I think it looks okay enough and gives the user enough room (20 pixels) to 'tap'. It isn't a pc keyboard but it's good enough for my application.


I didn't mean for the keyboard with more keys, but the current less-keys one. Maybe it could be like in DSOrganize where you could swap keyboards for a full key-set one or a large-sized one (but with less keys).


Sounds like a good idea to me. A cut down keyboard might be more appropriate for some people. Like removing the function keys and Home/PgUp/PgDn/End etc. because they might not be used in many apps. I've got a new project going at the moment, but if I get some time I'll knock up an example.
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Warhawk DS | Manic Miner: The Lost Levels | The Detective Game

#101149 - DekuTree64 - Sun Sep 03, 2006 6:30 am

Here is a version without the F key row that I made:
[Images not permitted - Click here to view it]

I've been using your keyboard graphics in my ever-so-slowly progressing DS tracker, where I only need it for entering text, so that top row never did anything. I also added undo/redo keys, at the cost of the DS and context menu keys.

Just for fun, I also tried going down to 4 rows, moving the numbers over to numpad style (although still affected by shift for symbols). It's pretty cramped though, and there was no space left for alt or delete:
[Images not permitted - Click here to view it]

Also, some number-only versions:
[Images not permitted - Click here to view it]
[Images not permitted - Click here to view it]

I ended up writing my own code for it, but the graphics are very nice, and I love your idea for the table to map from which char was touched to which key was pressed. Makes it nice and easy to switch between multiple keyboard layouts :)
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The best optimization is to do nothing at all.
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#101222 - headspin - Sun Sep 03, 2006 10:59 pm

Hey Deku, good to hear your still working on your tracker. I remember our suprise when we first saw 0xtob's screenshots for Nitro Tracker. Did you check out my custom skin for it? Unfortunately he's written custom control drawing code so it wasn't possible to just replace the tiles with mine so my skin will probably never be used :( Anyway, I look forward to your tracker (looked good in the screenshot you showed me). Perhaps I will do a skin for it some day.

Anyway, I've now released a cut-down version of the keyboard which very closely resembles Deku's modified version. It again has the option of the blue beveled keyboard or the plain grey version. I didn't remove the Home/PgUp/PgDn/End keys because it looked a bit strange without them.
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Warhawk DS | Manic Miner: The Lost Levels | The Detective Game

#101268 - HyperHacker - Mon Sep 04, 2006 2:58 am

I almost wonder if you should include an option to bind up/down/left/right on the D-pad to Shift/Enter/Backspace/Space, as in TxtWriter. It's probably the best text input method I've ever used with a touch screen.
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#101362 - zzo38computer - Mon Sep 04, 2006 7:08 pm

Maybe you should add keyboard for full character set (including Alphanumeric,International,Japanese,Symbols,Pictures)
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#101365 - Lick - Mon Sep 04, 2006 7:20 pm

Yeah, I think a full Nintendo-style keyboard would be much more popular. Makes all homebrew seem professional, at least. Hehe.
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