SimpleTouch FE

[Lave Laar]

New version:

* Added transition/animation effects to the images when pageing backward and forward.
* Added a dummy.png file to the skin. For use with the transition effect.
* Added an extra imagefile for the forward, backward and poweroff images to create click animation.
* Changed the code to check for screensaver activity.  It now uses a timer with a user selectable delay.
* Changed the layout for the volume controls. (You will have to set the levels again initially).
* Moved some things around a bit in the config program.
* Created an installer for the program.

Note: The transition effect on the images looks a lot cooler if all your images are the same size.

Download: http://home.online.no/~llindga/

[bishmasterb]

Lars,

The link above isn't working for me, is it supposed to be this:

http://home.online.no/~llindga/Programs/SetupSTFE.exe


Also, here's my touchscreen project using your frontend:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=83030.0

[Barry Barcrest]

I just tested it... I think i found a bug.

BUG: When i page right the imaes just dissappear in their boxes. When i page left (BACK) they slide in from the left. Shouldn't they slide out rather than just dissappear?

BUG: When in skin mode i clicked the "UPDATE" button which i assume is an undo. It put everything back except the power button and the arrows. Not sure if this really is a bug or it was me but thought i would mention it.

The front end is looking really nice man, the Skinning part of the app is awsome. I really like that for it's easy of use dude.

[Lave Laar]

BUG: When i page right the imaes just dissappear in their boxes. When i page left (BACK) they slide in from the left. Shouldn't they slide out rather than just dissappear?

This is because the "dummy.png" file in the skin folder is just 10x10 pixels. If you resize this to the same size as the rest of the images, the transition works as you expected.

BUG: When in skin mode i clicked the "UPDATE" button which i assume is an undo. It put everything back except the power button and the arrows. Not sure if this really is a bug or it was me but thought i would mention it.

The update button is really ment to be used initially to set the size of the skin and number of images/configs to be displayed.  As it reads the position and size for every image/label from the ini-file it will look like an undo button if you have not saved in between.

Otherwise, thanks for the kind words man.

[Lave Laar]

New version:

* Added an extra optional overlay image to the background.
* Added an option to have a background image/overlay image for each config.
* Added an optional config display name label.
* Added a resize option to the skin mode.

Download: http://home.online.no/~llindga/

[Zeosstud]

Add me to the list of people using this front end for my touch screen project.  Easy to use, effective, kid tested and wife approved.  Love it.

Zeosstud

[Lave Laar]

Happy to hear that it's working out for you Zeosstud 

The last two versions don't work very well with multiple animated GIFs.  Far to high CPU usage.
I've fixed that problem in the next release.  The next version will also include code which will try to add games/programs to the FE automatically.
I've made some progress on the multiple video previews as well, but that will probably not be in the next version.
Expect a new version by the end of the week.

[eist1]

Very Nice Touchscreen Frontend!!! I have been playing with this that last few days and was wondering if there is/can be a way to have the front/initial screen be just buttons? What I am looking for is when opening the FE it shows a page of buttons that say Arcade Games, Touchscreen Games, Jukebox..... then when hitting the button it will goto the page with the boxes of choices with images. If there is currently a way to do this now please let me know, but I don't see it in the skin tool or the config. Great work!!

[Lave Laar]

New version:

* Fixed a bug when displaying animated gifs.  It would consume far to much CPU.
* Added code for autoinsertion of games to the config program.
* Added support for video-previews.
* Added support for individual skins for each config-page.  With individual number of images for each page if wanted.
* Added optional window-animation.

The video-preview is, as expected, quite CPU-intensive.  Keep the videos small if you want to display 12 at once.

Download: http://home.online.no/~llindga/

@eist1:
With this version you will be able to do what you want.  You must have at least one image at the first screen, but you can set the size to 0 and move it off the screen by setting left and top values to negative.

[eist1]

Lave,

I do not see where in the skin tool to choose individual skins for each config page. It looks like all of the settings in the skin tool are global. Let me know if I am missing something. Thanks

[Lave Laar]

You have to start individually in skinmode for each of the configs.  I've included batch files to do this.  They are located in the program folder.
You may want to copy the skin.ini file from the <skin> folder to each of the "<skin>\PageImages\<Config#>" folder, so you don't have to start from scratch
for each of the config pages. 
The skin.ini in the <skin> folder and the skin.ini in the  "<skin>\PageImages\Config01" folder should be the same.
Also make sure to tick the "Use config background images" if you want to have seperate backgrounds for each config-page.

[eist1]

Lars,

Thanks, I now see where to do this at. The other question I now have is how to disable the Overlay from a screen. I want to Overlay to be gone on the first page (Config 1) but be on the other pages (Config 2-Config 10). Don't see where in teh Skin Tool this can be disabled. In the future you may want to add a dropdown box in the skin tool that has each Config in it so all you need to do is choose the page you want to configure, and also have a checkbox for the Overlay. This is still a great FE. Thanks

[Lave Laar]

Regarding the overlay that is how it works right now.  If an overlay image is not found it will use the last one loaded.  I think I will change this to work like the loading of the other images.  If it's not found then it will simply clear the image.  This would mean that the overlay image file has to be copied to each of the "<skin>\PageImages\<Config#>" folders though.
For now you can work around this by merging the overlay into the background images and delete all overlay files.

I will take a look at incorporating a dropdown box for selecting the configpages in the skin mode.

[Lave Laar]

New version 1.03:

* Added a dropdown box to the skin mode for selection of which page to skin.
* Changed the code for how the display of background, overlay and control images works.
* Added support for a second image to display when launching a game.
* Fixed a bug where the game labels would be incorrect if no image was assigned to the game.
* Changed the background music to use a folder rather than a single file.
* Added an option to testrun a game from the config program.
* Changed the name of the gamefiles.  Run the included "AddZeroFix.exe" to convert old gamefiles.
* Added option to delete games from the config program.

If a background, overlay or control image is not found in the "<skin>\PageImages\<Config#>" folder it will use the one located in the <skin> folder.
If you don't want to use the overlay for one particular page just copy the "transparent.png" file, located in the <skin> folder, to that folder and rename it to "overlay.png".   If you don't want to use an overlay at all you can delete the "overlay.png" image in the <skin> folder.
This also means that you can have seperate images for the controls for each config as well.

Download:  http://home.online.no/~llindga/

[Lave Laar]

Yet another version...

* Fixed a bug in the display of video files.
* Fixed a bug in the auto-insert games function.
* Fixed a bug in the changing of configs in the FE.
* Added an option to take screenshots of the games and resize them to user defined size.
* Added code to copy multiple games between configs.
* Added code to delete multiple games from configs.
* Added code to reset screen resolution back to standard after a game.
* Added an optional poweroff screen with quit, shutdown, reboot, standby and hibernate.

As usual available at: http://home.online.no/~llindga/

[Arcadiac]

Hi y'all, I have a lead on a few of these:
http://www.mintronix.com/p5.htm

Looks like a great alternative for the bulky standard bartop,
running the SimpleTouch FE!
Would they be suitable for most touch-screen games etc.?
I plan to get at least one for a new project.
I'm really hyped about this project, is there any chance of you guys who have
200-plus games/apps/ideas whatever compiling and posting a list of what is available and how I/we could get my grubby paws on them?

Bish's project looks great BTW, maybe this topic of touchscreen stuff deserves a sticky?

Thanks as usual for all the work and guidance, can't wait to get started, just waiting on the call-back on availability of these! 

ARCADIAC! 

[gonzo90017]

I don't think that cpu is fast enough. I tried it on a 400mhz celeron and it's very slow.

[Lave Laar]

Those look great Arcadiac.  At least the PIII versions should work good for a bartop/jukebox system.
How much are they?

I guess a 400 Mhz CPU might be slow if you have image transitions enabled in STFE.  If you disable them an reduce the size of the images it should be OK.
You could also try to reduce the number of images displayed at once.
Nothing much else that should require a lot of CPU-power, as all it ever really does is display the images. 
Have not tried it on a low end computer myself though.

[Arcadiac]

The guy told me that they are the 12" 733mz p3's w/128 mb ram, the center model in the brocure I linked to. 

I realize that a lot of newer proggys won't run on these but many that aren't so graphics intensive should, card games, bejeweled etc.  Seems a hell of a lot simpler and less space restrictve than conventional bartops as these are essentiall all-in-one units less the laptop HD, which were obviously removed for security reasons.

Any more input on suitability and possibly a list of games that should run on it, particularly touch screen suitable and wich version of MAME?

Should I install a lite version of WinXP as the OS?

He has 3 of them, probably gonna get them all, anybody else want one?

I'll have a price for y'all after I haggle the hell out of him!

I'm gonna check these out as soon as I find out if the seller's electricity came back on, mine was out for 5 days due to the hurricane that swept thru KY. w/ 80mph plus winds.  Ours finally came on at 9:30 this evening.  And on that note I gotta say I'm damn grateful, a lot of people got hit a lot harder, lost homes and property.  We just lost elec. so thoughts and prayers go out to those who got hit in any way.

As usual, thanks for input/suggestions etc.
I'm grateful for all of you! 

Love and Respect, Ron AKA ARCADIAC!

[gonzo90017]

733mhz should be enough. For some reason I thought they were 370mhz. 
A stripped down version of XP would be better. That's what I use on my 400mhz pc and it runs great.

[Arcadiac]

Looks as if these will be $75 plus actual shipping, US only please.
I'll only have 1 or 2 for sale so if you want one contact me ASAP.
Keep in mind that you will need to provide your own laptop size HD.
Making the buy tomorrow, will test and be able to ship by mid-week at the latest.
Gonzo has first dibs, but I'll keep a list in case he can't buy for some reason.
More info tomorrow!

ARCADIAC!

[Lave Laar]

I think that's a very good price for the units.  To bad you only ship to the US though.

On a sidenote, I've uploaded a new skin to the webpage.  Thanks to Andy Grooby for letting me use his graphics.

[Popcorrin]

Very nice!

[Popcorrin]

Tried installing the skin by clicking on the metal.exe and nothing happens.  A dos screen flashes for a second and that is it?

[slapaham]

I also have the same issue as Popcorrin and I was just wondering whether there is anyway of turning the sound off on the frontend as I think it's causing problems with games and apps I'm launching from it.

If you could help that would be great!

I have to say, this frontend is amazing by the way! Once I've rolled out the sound problem I'm having it will be even better!

[slapaham]

Sorry to those who have already read this in my other post but I thought it would be best to post here too!


Okay! I have found a solution for Simple Touch making Mamewah's sound crackle when launched from the menu but I don't quite know how to fulfill it!

I removed the Gamestart.wav file from Simple Touch and it came up with an error message saying that it couldn't find the file. However, it still loaded Mamewah and voila! no crackly sound! I tried it with a blank wav file in it's place and it started to crackle again - so basically, I need to turn the sound off in Simple Touch!

Then I found another problem once I got into Mamewah and loaded a game, when I then quit that game, whatever note from the music/sound effect was played when I was quitting would jam until the Mamewah menu had fully loaded. Now I haven't tried my suggested solution out but I'm guessing, as its never done it before, its because Simple Touch is still running in the background and that is sufficiently slowing the system down for this to happen. Now, Simple Touch has a command you can enter on launching a program - I would like one that closes Simple Touch - anyone tell me what this would be? I haven't got a clue!

Mamewah then has an option to run an application on shut down, so I would just aim it back to loading up Simple Touch and fingers crossed that should sort all the problems out!

Just now I need someone who can help me achieve those goals, as I haven't got a clue as to how to remove the sounds altogether from Simple Touch and I also don't know what command line I would need to shut down Simple Touch on running Mamewah from it!

If anyone can help I'd be eternally grateful!!

[slapaham]

When I was referring to 'command line' I was referring to the 'parameter' field in the config - is there any line here that would close Simple Touch on starting a program? Thinking about it, this may solve all the problems I'm having...

[Lave Laar]

Seems like I accidentally uploaded the skinfile in ascii-mode. 
I've uploaded it again, so it should be OK now.
Sorry about that.

@slapham.  I have no idea what the problem with the sound can be.  However, there is an option to run a program on shutdown of STFE.  Maybe you could use that as solution?  If not, I can put in code to avoid the message when no soundfile is found.

[slapaham]

Thanks for that... I'll give it ago - however, I think it's my computer and not the sounds causing the crackling... but I guess its a good bit of coding to incorporate anyway!

Mmm, I'll consider my options with the program running on shutdown - it may do the trick but I'll have to assess it's 'user-friendliness'...

Thanks for your help - appreciate it - and loving the program - good work!

[shredso]

Will this front end allow me to exit a mame game only using touch screen?  This is my number one complaint about my touchscreen so far.  I really don't want to have a keyboard out.

[Lave Laar]

The front-end will not make you able to exit mame with the use of the touchscreen.  I though that maybe enabling right-click on hold in the ELO-driver and then set mame to exit on right-click with the mouse would work, but it didn't.  I guess mame has it's own input system.
So you probably have to add a button to achieve this. As it's only one button you could use a keyboard hack for that.

I've added code to skip the soundeffects if the files is not found.  Will be in the next release.

[slapaham]

Hi Lave Laar,

I tried my RAM upgrade today - computer runs more smoothly but the problem remains unfortunately - it seems the problem lies in Simple Touch and I think I have a suggestion that might fix it (and might also be incredibly handy for people using ageing systems like mine!)

As Space Fractal suggested in my other post about this problem , the problem might be solved with a sample reduction to run in 22khz instead of 44khz. By any chance is this possible? Other than that I'm not sure there can be much else causing the problem - it is only when I run stuff from Simple Touch that the sound goes funny.

[Arcadiac]

Small update, I have a couple of the touchscreen pcs for sale in the BST thread, have a look.
ARCADIAC!

[Negativecreep0]

awesome job! on a side note where the hell you guys finding 200+ touch screen games? linkssss

[Lave Laar]

Thanks. Glad you like it.
As for the games I think some are using the PopCap games and the Gamehouse games.  There seem to be quite a few of them.

[Lave Laar]

New version 1.05

* Added an option to set sample rate for the sound.
* Added an option to disable sound all together.
* Added an option to quit, shutdown etc. by userdefined keypress.
* Added an option to disable the poweroff image.
* Added an optional Mp3 info label to show current playing song.
* Added an optional image to select next Mp3.
* Added an option to kill hung programs (If that should ever happen).

Available here

[javeryh]

I can't wait to try this out this weekend - this program looks like exactly what I need.  Quick question - if I am running jukebox software like Freebox or Xlobby can I still have music playing in the background while playing something else like Bejeweled?

Thanks!!!   

[Lave Laar]

That depends on how you start freebox or xlobby.  As STFE functions now it will wait for the launched application/game to finish so that it will know when to  resume background music / reset the resolution etc.  If you start freebox before you start STFE you will not have the problem.  The sounds from the games will probably interfere with the jukebox though, but I guess you're aware of that
If you want to be able to launch freebox from the FE and still be able to launch games I could always put in an option to don't wait for the launched program to finish.  Not much work at all.

[Kevin Mullins]

First off I gotta say STFE seems to be exactly what I've been looking for. 

Does Simple Touch Fe have the option to save and call the screenshots from within it's own directory?

In other words..... After I finished setting up about 100 games and taking screenshots of each one as I went along I noticed that there was no folder in the Simple Touch FE directory for screenshots. So I went looking for them and found each individual game directory had it's screenshot there. Which to me makes it kinda hard to setup so many games on one pc and then move it all over to another without having to go through and take all new screenshots. I pretty much use one computer for hashing out programs and setups and then move or install this stuff onto another.

So I think it would be good to have all the screenshots in one directory under the Simple Touch FE directory that it could pull those from. (hence also be able to copy an entire folder over to another pc)

Or am I just missing something?

Another question I had was if there was an automatic option to "alphabetize" games after they have been setup?

The "Autoinsert games" option does a wonderful job of doing this initially, but then after adding a few more games from other random directories I couldn't figure out an easy way to re-organize them alphabetically.

[Kevin Mullins]

Just had to throw some screenshots up...... the more I learn about it, the more I like it.
Easy and versatile. Nothing fine tuned yet, just been playing with options and ideas.
If you haven't already checked STFE out, you should.