Using the default STV in Custom STV Mode from custom STVs (v6.4 & later)

[Opus4]

Note: as of the v6.4.5.3 STV Update, the info in the previous post was changed so that gCustomSTVInitParams is sent as it is received instead of being turned into another array. The Java function now would take a series of typed parameters instead of a single array.

- Andy

[mickp]

I'd realy like to be able to put a link in my mc menu to the "Detailed Setup", "Video / Audio", "Audio renderer" option/dialog from the default stv which would return to SageMC once the selection is made or backed out of. Does this new feature allow for an easy way to do this or would it be better to try to hack this setting dialog into sagemc?

Mick.

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by mickp

I'd realy like to be able to put a link in my mc menu to the "Detailed Setup", "Video / Audio", "Audio renderer" option/dialog from the default stv which would return to SageMC once the selection is made or backed out of. Does this new feature allow for an easy way to do this or would it be better to try to hack this setting dialog into sagemc?

This system doesn't allow jumping to a specific dialog, but it could jump directly to the Detailed Settings menu, where you could choose that setting.

- Andy

[GKusnick]

Obviously I'm a bit late with this suggestion for 6.5, but at some point you might want to add the capability to jump to a stock menu by widget symbol (e.g. "BASE-44367") instead of by widget name (e.g. "Setup Menu"). Presumably this is exactly the kind of widget-addressing problem that symbols are meant to solve.

Perhaps the simplest approach is to first look up FindWidgetBySymbol(gTargetMenuName). If that fails, then do what you do now to look it up by widget name. That way it's backward-compatible with existing code, but allows new code to use the speedier and more future-proof symbol lookup.

[Opus4]

Thanks for the suggestion Greg. That obviously never occurred to me & it would certainly help find the correct widget. I've added it to my to-do list.

- Andy

[Opus4]

Update: I've implemented the quoted suggestion, so you'll be able to test it in the next update... whenever that happens to be.

Oh, and if the symbol is not for a menu widget, it will skip it.

Originally Posted by GKusnick

Perhaps the simplest approach is to first look up FindWidgetBySymbol(gTargetMenuName). If that fails, then do what you do now to look it up by widget name. That way it's backward-compatible with existing code, but allows new code to use the speedier and more future-proof symbol lookup.

- Andy

[GKusnick]

Great, thanks!

[Crashless]

I'm trying this out, and I'm able to successfully load the default STV, but it goes to the main menu of the Default STV.

Then upon return, it's failing to go back to the specified menu. I feel like I'm missing something obvious.

Thoughts? Code attached.

[razrsharpe]

Originally Posted by Crashless

I'm trying this out, and I'm able to successfully load the default STV, but it goes to the main menu of the Default STV.

Then upon return, it's failing to go back to the specified menu. I feel like I'm missing something obvious.

Thoughts? Code attached.

take a look at the sagemc code. It does exactly what you are trying to do and you should be able to copy it

I just did this a couple days ago to link to the system messages window before mike was able to patch sagemc and was able to get it working pretty easily

[GKusnick]

Originally Posted by Crashless

I'm trying this out, and I'm able to successfully load the default STV, but it goes to the main menu of the Default STV.

Then upon return, it's failing to go back to the specified menu. I feel like I'm missing something obvious.

gTargetMenuName specifies the name of the menu in the stock STV that you want to jump to. You've specified "Settings", but there is no stock menu by that name, so it goes to the stock Main Menu.

On return to your custom STV, it will load your Main Menu. If you want to jump to some other menu in your STV on reload, it's up to you to put code in your Main Menu's BeforeMenuLoad hook to accomplish that.

[Crashless]

Originally Posted by GKusnick

gTargetMenuName specifies the name of the menu in the stock STV that you want to jump to. You've specified "Settings", but there is no stock menu by that name, so it goes to the stock Main Menu.

On return to your custom STV, it will load your Main Menu. If you want to jump to some other menu in your STV on reload, it's up to you to put code in your Main Menu's BeforeMenuLoad hook to accomplish that.

Doh! Mis-read how that variable worked. I thought it meant it would RETURN to that screen after finishing - not GO TO that screen in the default STV.

I really should have stepped through the SageMC code one more step before messing with it on my own. I saw the "Default STV Menu" reference and my memory flashed to this thread, thinking "SageMC hasn't been updated" and I went trodding off the cliff.

Ah well - thanks for the pointers - the world makes sense again.

[GKusnick]

I have another wish for this mechanism. Suppose I want to use the stock STV for video browsing, but then revert to my custom STV for media playback. It would be handy to have a gReloadCustomSTVOnPlayback variable that I could set so that the next time the MediaPlayer OSD menu is loaded, it returns to the custom STV instead. (Obviously it's then up to me to dispatch to my own MediaPlayer menu as needed on reload.)

This should amount to no more than a couple of widgets in the OSD menu's AfterMenuLoad hook. (As an experiment I tried doing it in BeforeMenuLoad, but apparently that's not a good time to call LoadSTVFile(). It did load the new STV, but the menu that got displayed was the old STV's OSD menu instead of the new STV's Main Menu.)

Thanks.

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by GKusnick

It would be handy to have a gReloadCustomSTVOnPlayback variable that I could set so that the next time the MediaPlayer OSD menu is loaded, it returns to the custom STV instead.

The STV v6.6.2.19 (2009102001) update includes this request, so this is now part of the instructions in the first post of this thread:


If gReloadCustomSTVOnPlayback has been set to true, then the default STV will reload the custom STV after entering the playback menu.

This note was also added to the first post:

Note: These global variables are cleared before reloading the custom STV. If the custom STV needs to do anything specific when it is reloaded, it should set its own custom global variables before loading the default STV.

- Andy

[GKusnick]

Thanks, Andy.

[bialio]

Is all of this in place and unchanged in V7?

[GKusnick]

Originally Posted by bialio

Is all of this in place and unchanged in V7?

As I recall there have been a few bug fixes and tweaks to the rules by which it decides when to return to the custom STV v. the stock Main Menu. But yes, this machinery is still present and functional (if not exactly "unchanged").

[bialio]

Hey Opus,

In V7 I've set up two entry points for the default UI from our Phoenix STV - one going to Detailed Setup, the other to Configure Video Sources

"Detailed Setup" and
"Setup Wizard - Summary Page" respectively

When navigating away from these pages (using left key) they both end up back at the V7 Main Menu.

Other links that I've set up, like to Music / Pictures / Online areas of the default STV, behave differently on LEFT event - they reload Phoenix.

I am supposing that in one case it's 'BACK' and others it's a hard coded link to 'Main Menu', athough I haven't dug through the default STV code to verify this.

Is this something I'll need an STVi (ie UI Mod) for the default UI in order to get the Detailed Menu and Video Sources to reload the custom STV on Left instead of going to the V7 Main Menu?

btl.

[Opus4]

I think "Detailed Setup" & "Online Services Menu" should function the same, as far as using the Left arrow. Submenus in the online services area use Back, so maybe that's what you are using.

Returning to the custom STV when Back is used & there are no more menus to back to is fairly new.

The custom STV support has been convoluted enough for a while now that I'm not sure why Left on those menus is jumping directly to the Main Menu vs. using Home to do so. Maybe it was to allow getting to the Main Menu _somehow_, because using Home or the Main Menu button in Detailed Setup would probably return to the cusotm STV if you've got that option enabled.


Greg: Are you using this Left vs. Home difference on Detailed Setup/etc, or was this an oversight on my part? I don't want to assume I made a mistake & change something only to find I need to change it back.

- Andy

[GKusnick]

Originally Posted by Opus4

Greg: Are you using this Left vs. Home difference on Detailed Setup/etc, or was this an oversight on my part? I don't want to assume I made a mistake & change something only to find I need to change it back.

I can confirm that Detailed Setup and Online Services behave differently than other screens in that Left arrow returns to the stock Main Menu instead of the custom STV. But I don't depend on that difference, so if you want to change them to be more consistent, I don't have a problem with that.

My main concern, which I believe we resolved back in September, was that if I jump from a custom STV to the stock Main Menu, and then navigate into a menu from there, then Left should take me back out to the stock Main Menu where I came from rather than jumping all the way back to the custom STV. This does seem to be working now as I expect it to, so no change is needed there.

[Opus4]

OK, then I will probably update the default STV to change the way it is jumping to the Main Menu in these cases. This will affect using Left on some menus such that it will issue the Home command, causing a return to the custom STV if you've set the option to return on use of Home. Currently it simply jumps directly to the Main Menu in some places.


BTW: The use of the Back command was one of the items changed in previous discussions with Greg. Now, if there is no more menu history, then using the Back command will return to the custom STV. Note that Left functions as Back only on some menus, so there can be a difference between using Left vs. Back. If you want to go to the previous menu, use Back. If you intend to go to the parent menu, use Left.

- Andy