[skunkm0nkee]

I've been using the Container.Content() condition quite a lot recently as it's fantastically useful. I was wondering if it would be possible to extend it slightly so that it would be possible to work out what the previous content was?

For example when navigating tv related data you press back to go to TV Shows but at the moment you can't tell if the user has come back from a list of seasons or a list of episodes (if there is only one season then the seasons are skipped)

An example of how it could be used could be as follows:

Code:

<visible>Container.Content(tvshows) + Container.PrevContent(seasons)</visible>

[spiff]

i think this is a bad idea. jumping straight into subsections - we'd had to add tons of logic to handle it.

[skunkm0nkee]

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by 'jumping into subsections'?

The reason the Container.PrevContent would be useful (to me anyway) is when handling transitions between views and containers

[spiff]

like, if you have a favorite to e.g. a tvshow, or a particular season of a tvshow...

[skunkm0nkee]

Oh right, I see what you mean. That's not really what I was intending.

I wasn't proposing changing how the navigation works at the moment at all, all I was looking for was an additional boolean property that allows the skinner to work out what the current content type is (this part exists already via Container.Content) and what content was being viewed previously (thus my proposal for a Container.PrevContent)

If it was possible, then we can set up proper transition animations so when you click on a TV Show and that takes you into the seasons or episodes you can make a better link between the two views/containers.

[jmarshall]

First off, do you really need it? You know what view state you are in already. When content changes you have a trigger for the next view state, so based on what controls are currently visible you already know the previous state I think? I'm not sure if that would work or not - you probably know better than I do

Otherwise, I think instead having some sort of "outro/intro" folder changing anim would be more preferable, though it's not really that generic. Part of the problem is that guilib hides the current view container forcibly (which rules out hidden anims) at the same time as it shows the next view container.

As spiff says, having a previous and next content type could (possibly) involve situations that you can't really fully control.

I can certainly see the use, but I think it needs thinking through a little more to find the best way to do it.

Cheers,
Jonathan

[skunkm0nkee]

I did a bit of playing about with a few ideas and the simple effect I was trying to achieve was to go from tv shows to season and/or episodes and back again and try to have the wide icon appear in each of the views but have it in different positions/dimensions for each content type, with transitions linking them so that it seemed seamless (it was purely a test to start with and I was then hoping it would lead me to try more adventurous transitions once I proved the concept).

The problem I had in getting this was that I couldn't tell what type I had just viewed so couldn't tell what should be my starting point for the transition/animation. I gathered that the hidden animation wasn't working so was doing the animation when the next content type became visible and then it would be useful to know what the previous content type was.

I would guess that handling it via intro/outro animations would have the same issue, in that I would need to know what the next or previous state was so as to work out what transition should be carried out?