(Teletype) Monitoring Live Variables (Done)

tehn · 2017-10-21T22:41:39.808Z

strongly agreeing with the ABCD/XYZT approach.

it’s very elegant in terms of UI. of course we want to monitor things like P.I etc, and adding an explicit line assigning A P.I in a script is a good way to keep things straight. i know it adds script length, but again thanks @sam for the semicolon

the lower code impact to me feels like a huge bonus, and this feature really brings a new dimension to teletype’s live mode usability, which i understand many users are probably perplexed by

good suggestions all around, and @sliderule i truly appreciate your ambition and skills

tehn · 2017-10-21T22:45:06.405Z

great mockups.

can we (please) have the numbers be right-aligned? (like in the tracker)

personal preference is no column division (but that’s just me)

sliderule · 2017-10-21T22:55:14.380Z

Alright, I’ll shelve WATCH discussion for now. If I get curious about its impact during profiling and/or after scheduling, it may resurface with measured data.

@laborcamp looks good. Can you annotate the offsets of the column positions when we finalize on a design?

tehn:

can we (please) have the numbers be right-aligned? (like in the tracker)

personal preference is no column division (but that’s just me)

I’m cool with both of these if we center the header. Without the line, it would feel floaty to me to be on the left with the number on the right. Also just me.

laborcamp · 2017-10-21T23:07:08.887Z

So, Variant D but right aligned?
Any other feedback?

sliderule:

Can you annotate the offsets of the column positions when we finalize on a design?

Not sure I understand: can you tell me exactly what you need to see in the annotations?

sliderule · 2017-10-21T23:09:28.081Z

laborcamp:

Not sure I understand: can you tell me exactly what you need to see in the annotations?

How many characters is each element away from the left edge, i.e.: the horizontal offset of each cell and header.

My only other request was center the header if we drop the column lines.

laborcamp · 2017-10-21T23:14:11.010Z

For @tehn

Screen Shot 2017-10-21 at 6.12.49 PM.png1734×556 8.53 KB

laborcamp · 2017-10-21T23:19:27.776Z

sliderule:

How many characters is each element away from the left edge, i.e.: the horizontal offset of each cell and header.

Hmm, I am just working with a font I found somewhere on the internet many months ago, when we were making illustrations for the Teletype Studies. This is not exact match to the Teletype display font. So any exact counts and measurements would not really apply.

If you want me to provide counts anyway, I can do that, but I think it might introduce some inconsistencies?

sliderule · 2017-10-21T23:24:30.258Z

If you could force it on to the text grid defined in this post, then all I need are the X values of each cell and header. I can do it myself if it’s too much to ask.

I guess I wasn’t too clear at the outset what I was looking for. I thought that breaking down the display parameters made it obvious I was looking for alignment to a text grid, but I wasn’t explicit about that fact. Sorry!

laborcamp · 2017-10-21T23:35:58.658Z

OK. Got it.
Give me a sec.

tehn · 2017-10-21T23:37:34.275Z

basically a matter of deciding the column widths and pixel padding.

FYI here’s how the tracker mode renders:

github.com

monome/teletype/blob/245c64317669a9bd3a4faecef8c26fbe9eeb3d6b/module/pattern_mode.c#L403


}
}


bool screen_refresh_pattern() {
if (!dirty) { return false; }


char s[32];
for (uint8_t y = 0; y < 8; y++) {
    region_fill(&line[y], 0);
    itoa(y + offset, s, 10);
    font_string_region_clip_right(&line[y], s, 4, 0, 0x1, 0);


    for (uint8_t x = 0; x < 4; x++) {
        uint8_t a = 1;
        if (ss_get_pattern_len(&scene_state, x) > y + offset) a = 6;


        itoa(ss_get_pattern_val(&scene_state, x, y + offset), s, 10);
        font_string_region_clip_right(&line[y], s, (x + 1) * 30 + 4, 0, a,
                                      0);


        if (y + offset >= ss_get_pattern_start(&scene_state, x)) {

there are a bunch of magic numbers in there, and a right-aligned string render.

i can calc these numbers on monday if it hasn’t happened by then

laborcamp · 2017-10-21T23:57:08.616Z

Here it is forced to the 8x32 character grid:

Screen Shot 2017-10-21 at 6.55.31 PM.png926×658 14.8 KB

laborcamp · 2017-10-22T00:13:40.759Z

An esthetic consideration regarding the handling of the highlight/brightness settings. If we want to have it look like tracker, then the values should be brighter than the variable names and the rule lines. Reverse handling also looks fine:

Screen Shot 2017-10-21 at 7.10.31 PM.png1738×482 8.92 KB

Please let me know if there is anything else I can do.
Excited for this!

sliderule · 2017-10-22T01:34:57.833Z

Oh, I’ve already explored this code. I had to do so for the tracker data entry overhaul.

I’ll get this done within the next 24 hours. Thanks so much @laborcamp for mocking this up! I’ll probably shift it 1 character left to center it overall.

Leverkusen · 2017-10-22T08:15:32.671Z

Just as a feedback - I like the version with dotted lines between the columns and highlighted values opposed to highlighted labels the most. It has a nice minimalistic design and focusses on monitoring the values with a reference to the individual variables. Also right-aligned feels better than left-aligned with numbers.

The icons are just missing cause it is a quick mockup, aren’t they?

I am really looking forward to this - Thank you for working this out!

tehn · 2017-10-22T11:19:36.538Z

left rendering is absolutely perfect. super elegant. thank you!

Justmat · 2017-10-22T12:59:43.756Z

These all look really great! My vote is for Figure 3: D.

EDIT:
Should have finished reading the thread before posting! My new and improved vote is for highlighted values.

sliderule · 2017-10-22T15:35:26.271Z

Suggestions on a toggle keystroke? I’m penciling in CTRL-D for “debug”, but it could be a number of things.

sam · 2017-10-22T15:45:50.967Z

ctrl-d is already taken by “delete forward”.

You can see all the keybindings here: https://monome.org/docs/modular/teletype/manual/#keys

I would go with alt-something as that is more in keeping with the other bindings (ctrl is mainly used for text editing). It would also be nice, but not essential if it didn’t clash with an existing ctrl binding, but I’m unsure what would be best, alt-l or alt-q?

edit: the ~ key is free at the moment. Or is that “too soon™”.

Might also be nice to coordinate with @scanner_darkly and his grid display for the keystroke.

laborcamp · 2017-10-22T18:01:46.874Z

sam:

the ~ key is free at the moment.

I like this idea.

Just to be clear: this is to toggle between “live” monitoring and “static” display?
Or to have the Variable monitoring table visible/not visible?
Other?

sliderule · 2017-10-22T18:08:27.747Z

Alright, the feature is complete. Toggle key is tilde, defaults to off.