Buttons/Keys Controls - Shift?

[MrD]

I just got a jukebox shell and I'm going to convert it to DOSCab.  I was originally going to be using a touchscreen but this has a piece of glass over the entire front so that's out.

It does have buttons 0-9, Select, Clear, and Hit.    I think I can add 2-3 buttons in one small area, but that's it.  I'm going to be using a CD based skin.   The two additional buttons will be used for scrolling left / right through CDs. 

Ideally I need at least 5-6 more buttons but I can't really add them without ruining somethings. Then I could have vol+-/mute/scroll by letter/clear song, credits, radio, exit, etc.

Here's my thought.   I'd wire the Hit button up as L-Shift on the keyboard controller.  Then for instance button 0, I'd wire to the semicolon.  Then in controls.ini I'd map

KEY_LSHIFT = BTN_POPULAR
KEY_SEMICOLON=  BTN_0

Could KEY_COLON be added for ":" ?
KEY_COLON = BTN_VOL_MUTE ?

Then if the HIT key is pressed it should flip the screen to the hits (popular).   If that button is held down, the keyboard controller should see it as a shift and then would allow me to have shifted ";" or ":" and instead it would mute the volume? 

Ideally I'd need "<", ">", "?", ":", "@", "#", "$", etc to have enough additional functions for the shifted keys.

Would this work? Or does DOSCab just see the key that is pressed, and not the actually character that is passed to the PC?  For instance "~" is already mapped to BTN_VOL_MUTE, but is it just the ~ or also the backquote?

If I could add a "shift" key, then I'd end up with the original (13 + 2 new ) * 2 = 30 buttons.  This way the controls can be as simple as they are, but I'd have additional functions available.

[Chris]

The jukebox sees the physical key, not the symbol.

When you say that you only have a small area, are you talking about physical space on the control panel or space on screen?  You do not have to have an on-screen representation of each button; classic.skn doesn't have an on-screen representation of any buttons at all.  The on-screen buttons are solely to support touchscreens or for eye candy, so if your problem is that you don't have anymore space on screen, don't worry about it.

I have an idea for supporting shift keys and may add it soon, but I had set it aside because no one was really asking for it.  Basically you would be able to assign "shift 1" and "shift 2" and have four keysets: the regular one, regular+shift 1, regular+shift 2, and regular+shift1+shift2.  To allow any button to shift with any other button would require a complete redesign of the input engine.

--Chris

[MrD]

I'm talking about physical space for the buttons.   The top part of the jukebox houses the speakers in metal grills, and then the keypad 0-9 in the center.  There is a small space where there is a digital display, but I don't want to cut into that in case you support LCD or LEDs in the future.   Below that is a curved piece of glass down towar the floor.   I really don't want to jsut stick in a random button that makes no sense if I can get away with it and I can't really go through the glass / plexi. 

I'm left with a small area to the left that is supposed to house the dollar bill collector.  I think I can maybe place a Left/Right in that area.   

So as it is, I can make it work.  I was just hoping I could add keys to do the "extras".  Some of them I could put on the back of the machine if I have to (skip a song, clear the queue, exit).

I have an IPAC controller someplace that I might get out.  It had Shift keys "player 1 + UP" . I didn't think it was working the last time I was playing around with it in my MAME cabinet.   Maybe I just had it configured wrong.   

It looks kinda like this picture attached.  The screen is going to go where the title strips are now.   I'll have to do something fancy in the lower section with lights or something. 

[Kevin Mullins]

I just finished setting up a KeyWiz Eco for my jukebox project.
(have never tried an IPAC for anything yet)

But for instance.... my original juke button panel has 10 digits (0-9) and a RESET button.
I didn't really "need" a reset button to function because WinCab did this for me if a bad selection was made. So I wired it to be the "shift" (or Shazaam as called on the KeyWiz) button and now have the digits working under normal use, but if the RESET button is held I have some of the digit buttons as admin functions. (volume up and down, song skip, pause, shutdown, etc) Works great...and NO extra buttons anywhere.

Something to think about if you have a button on the original juke panel that really isn't needed to still make it work as close to original as possible like I'm doing.
(I'll be updating my project thread shortly)

I would think that the IPAC has the same capability.

[MrD]

My cabinet had 13 keys, all of which I pretty much needed or at least wanted.   0-9, clear, enter, and hit.   With the IPAC, I set the shifted key up to the hit key.   I think that's a difference between the IPAC and the KeyWiz.   On the IPAC, the shift key also has a "normal" key as well.  It triggers when you release the key.  So my "HIT" key shows me the popular selections in DOSCab, but it also gives me the other 12 shifted keys.   Just something else for people to keep in mind when shopping for an IPAC or KeyWiz. 

[Kevin Mullins]

Very good point..... the KeyWiz "shift" function is a dedicated key input for just that purpose. So most defineately something for others to compare when planning their cabs and such. (if doing one similar to ours)
I think it will fall to each individuals application. In my case I "could" use the RESET button and make it function, but just didn't feel the need to. So I utilized it as my "shift" function, which also meant that the KeyWiz worked out just fine for me on this one. 

[Karaokedude]

Hadnt considered using the shazam key it is def worth considering if space is at a premium as ive been going through which buttons to leave out due to space
would be nice to include the volume buttons etc