Bug 8731 - Screensaver menu offers combinations which do not work
: Screensaver menu offers combinations which do not work
Status: CLOSED FIXED
Product: SB Boom
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Setup
: 12
: PC Other
: -- normal (vote)
: 7.2
Assigned To: Adrian Smith
:
Depends on:
Blocks:
  Show dependency treegraph
 
Reported: 2008-07-14 14:41 UTC by Dylan Rhodes
Modified: 2009-09-08 09:25 UTC (History)
2 users (show)

See Also:
Category: ---


Attachments
possible change to also allow info retrieval more like previous API (807 bytes, patch)
2008-08-15 18:08 UTC, Peter Watkins
Details | Diff

Note You need to log in before you can comment on or make changes to this bug.
Description Dylan Rhodes 2008-07-14 14:41:22 UTC
The Settings -> Display -> Screensavers display offers the user the option of selecting a number of screensaver options "When Off," including an analog VU meter. However, apparently only the date/time and RSS ticker screen savers work. Selecting the analog VU meter results in a blank screen.

Note that this is different behavior than selecting the VU meter as the saver option "when stopped." In that case, it displays a VU meter with the needle resting at zero.

Naturally, displaying a VU meter when the unit is turned off is pretty useless. But, the approach could be better. Rather than not displaying it, the "when off" menu should instead filter out all screen saver options which are not valid options for the "off" state.
Comment 1 James Richardson 2008-07-14 14:44:41 UTC
Dylan:

Were you attached to SC or SN when you saw this.  Also, what FW version is on your boom.
Comment 2 Dylan Rhodes 2008-07-14 14:53:08 UTC
SqueezeNetwork and firmware 12. If I can upgrade to the latest firmware I'll confirm if the problem is still extant.
Comment 3 KDF 2008-07-14 16:44:57 UTC
This is actually a duplicate. There is an older report regarding visualisers showing up for squeezebox.  it's not an easy solution, unfortunately.
Comment 4 KDF 2008-07-14 16:46:36 UTC
bug 1068
Comment 5 Dylan Rhodes 2008-07-31 16:52:10 UTC
Bug #1068 does not appear to exactly match the situation being described here.

I understand the reason behind this weakness -- the list of screen savers is not enumerated, and thus we cannot add a series of flags for each screen saver to specify in which instances it can be used. Otherwise, we'd add a flag designated "can be displayed when unit is powered off" and the screen saver menu can filter based on these flags.

This bug remains a problem, as it allows the user to select a screen saver combo which does not work. It's one of those bugs you dread having a customer or member of the press discover, as there is no good explanation for it.

This is my suggestion for a workaround:

1. Remove the "off" option from the screen saver list.

2. Create a separate item in the Settings menu labeled "Display when off" or similar

3. Within that menu, offer just the options that are truly available when off -- RSS ticker, clock, or blank screen.
Comment 6 KDF 2008-07-31 18:32:08 UTC
not exact, but it is the same problem.  screensavers need an eval system that can detect where support is available.
Comment 7 James Richardson 2008-08-06 13:15:58 UTC
Dean: Please comment and target appropriately
Comment 8 Blackketter Dean 2008-08-06 13:58:53 UTC
#3 is the right solution.  Only offer the screensavers that actually work when the device is off.  This means disabling:

Analog VU Meter
Digital VU Meter
Jump To Now Playing
Now Playing
Spectrum Analyser 

(i.e. screensavers that have to do with music playing)

This also implies that they should not be available for "When Stopped" either.


Comment 9 Blackketter Dean 2008-08-08 10:26:23 UTC
Triode: would you be willing to take a look at this?
Comment 10 Adrian Smith 2008-08-08 10:54:27 UTC
Yes - will need an addition to the addSaver call to specify the type of screensaver, I assume we should support legacy screensaver plugins which don't do this and put them on all menus?
Comment 11 Blackketter Dean 2008-08-08 12:21:35 UTC
That sounds reasonable.  
Comment 12 Adrian Smith 2008-08-08 14:35:41 UTC
Please try change 22490 - this should restrict the menus as below and also avoid showing visu screensavers for pre SB2 players.

Note if the existing pref is for a screensaver which is no longer valid there will be no selected option in the menu (don't see this as a problem though)
Comment 13 Andy Grundman 2008-08-08 15:30:26 UTC
Sorry I had to revert this change because it broke Now Playing.
Comment 14 Adrian Smith 2008-08-08 15:48:54 UTC
fixed in change 22497
Comment 15 Peter Watkins 2008-08-15 18:08:57 UTC
Created attachment 3815 [details]
possible change to also allow info retrieval more like previous API

How would you now recommend getting a list of all screensavers? Or at least all screensavers for a particular mode? My SaverSwitcher plugin uses the same config for all players so any player should be able to see a full list of screensavers -- e.g., a SliMP3 should see Analog VU in the list of possible When Playing savers. Formerly I'd call hash_of_savers(), but now the only exposed method is validSavers() which only returns the list approriate for a specific client.

Would you consider a change like this to allow calling validSavers() with no $client reference in order to get a full list? 

Thanks.
Comment 16 Adrian Smith 2008-08-16 03:16:08 UTC
applied - change 22682.  Sorry didn't consider this case when addressing the original bug
Comment 17 Spies Steven 2008-08-29 15:15:27 UTC
Verified with SqueezeCenter Version: 7.2 - 22900
Comment 18 James Richardson 2008-12-15 12:39:26 UTC
This bug has been fixed in the 7.3.0 release version of SqueezeCenter!

Please download the new version from http://www.slimdevices.com/su_downloads.html if you haven't already.  

If you are still experiencing this problem, feel free to reopen the bug with your new comments and we'll have another look.