Request: Virtual Switches

[Jedsters]

I'm sure many of us, from time to time, would like a few extra switches, perhaps when setting up a new model or for those odd little features which only 1 model has and which you don't want to have to break your normal switch assignment to accommodate.

It occurs to me that the touch screen would be perfect for this. Maybe one of the Configure Screen templates could give a 3x3 array which virtual switches e.g. VS1 - VS9 would be assigned to. Then VS1 to VS9 could be made available for LS and SF.

The VS could either be sticky (normal touch on and touch off) or momentary, or possibly something else (on if touched for a range of seconds) and would obviously highlight somehow (or bold etc.) when on.

Ideally we'd want to be able to give the VS labels to help remember those odd functions.

If 9 weren't enough I guess it could be extended to more screens giving VS11-19, VS21-21 etc.?

This would certainly help me as I currently have overloaded some switches etc..

Thanks

[frskyrc-ben]

This was a feature that's been requested by customer feedback in the past. Here's a quick mockup of how it could be implemented . It's probably possible to do this using (multiple) Lua "source" demo widget but would be nice to have something actually integrated with the system

[Jedsters]

It could be useful to have the option for each switch as to whether it is a simple touch on/off or a press and hold to change the state to prevent accidental operation. Either that or possibly a 'lock switch' type feature. I guess the user would want a visual indication though as to whether a switch was touch or press and hold (or locked), possibly done by colour (although always need to be aware of various colour blindnesses when using colour), or e.g. bold text for press and hold? Interesting examples from Ben above, but input into LS, VARs etc. would be very useful too. I assume the user would get to choose the text on each switch. Thanks

[Peterbilt84]

Ben's example looks very good. Could you release this version in a nightly firmware for testing?

[strgaltdel]

i'm not in the scene of functional model builders, but sometimes i read similar topics / requests from them in the lua section of a forum

i'm pretty sure you would make them very happy when you would provide an optional "icon picker" in the config, so that every touch area could be represented by an individual, self made icon, (choosen from a folder /bitmaps/touch ?)

regards

[Kreisflieger]

Would help me to have all my switches set to my standard functionality on all models, and use touch for model-specific functions. It would be perfect if each touch field could be configured individual by colour, text and/or symbol.