Multiple views for a single list

[imilne]

UiList has three views: "list", "horizontal_icon" and "covers", with each type being controlled via the skin.

How can I expand this and have multiple views within each type? Eg, Videos gives you a list down the left-hand side of the screen. What if I wanted that *and* another view that was a list down the right-hand side.

I'm assuming it'll be via multiple skins, but can you (and how do you) switch between them dynamically at runtime (when the user would press "view")?

Iain

[sub]

I'm assuming it'll be via multiple skins, but can you (and how do you) switch between them dynamically at runtime (when the user would press "view")?

Yes, you'd need multiple skin files.

You'd do something like:

SkinHelper skinHelper1 = new SkinHelper("myplugin\\skin1.xml");
SkinHelper skinHelper2 = new SkinHelper("myplugin\\skin2.xml");

UIList uiList1 = new UiList(this, "View", "Item", new Hashtable(), skinHelper1, UiList.ViewMode.LIST);
UIList uiList2 = new UiList(this, "View", "Item", new Hashtable(), skinHelper2, UiList.ViewMode.LIST);

In your GetRenderList() method, you can add one or both.

List<UiElement> renderList = new List<UiElement>();
if (showingFirstList)
renderlist.AddRange(uiList1.GetRenderList());
if (showingSecondList)
renderlist.AddRange(uiList2.GetRenderList());
....etc...

[imilne]

Thanks.

I can imagine things being awkward with two list objects though. Could you do it with a single list that gets re-constructed whenever the view changes (and is therefore given a different skinhelper)? Or would that cause problems with the list forgetting what was selected and so on? But I'd guess you'd have that problem with two different lists as well. Maybe the new get/set visibleIndex stuff you added recently would help there...

Iain

[sub]

Sure, you could reconstruct the list object when the user selected a different view if you preferred to do it that way.

uiList.Dispose();
skinHelper = new SkinHelper("myplugin\\skin2.xml");
uiList = new UiList(this, "View", "Item", new Hashtable(), skinHelper, UiList.ViewMode.LIST);

[imilne]

Ok, that sounds good. Thanks.

One last question if you don't mind: this plugin is extending NewStyleButtonListPlugin, but when the focus changes to the button strip (via "Home" or "Left" for example) I can't get focus back to the list with "Down" like your Videos/Pictures/etc ones do. Is there something special I need to do to make that happen?

Iain

[sub]

One last question if you don't mind: this plugin is extending NewStyleButtonListPlugin, but when the focus changes to the button strip (via "Home" or "Left" for example) I can't get focus back to the list with "Down" like your Videos/Pictures/etc ones do. Is there something special I need to do to make that happen?

You shouldn need to do anything special. Are you overriding the ButtonStripCallback method? If so, you probably need to make sure you're calling the base.ButtonStripCallback(...)

[imilne]

You shouldn need to do anything special. Are you overriding the ButtonStripCallback method? If so, you probably need to make sure you're calling the base.ButtonStripCallback(...)

Ah, that did it. Cheers.

Iain

[sub]

Great.

[Ommina]

Yes, you'd need multiple skin files.

You'd do something like:

SkinHelper skinHelper1 = new SkinHelper("myplugin\\skin1.xml");
SkinHelper skinHelper2 = new SkinHelper("myplugin\\skin2.xml");

Related to that -- are you opposed on principal to allowing the element name to be specified in the constructor, like we do with other UI controls? I was up to six different skin files, before resorting to dangerous Black Magic to make things work with one; making the same edit across multiple files isn't fun. Being able to indicate the element names at object creation would remove a lot of pain.

[sub]

That was my original intention, and from memory is the case with the covers view, but I didnt get around to implementing it with the two later views. I can try to add this for the next release.