Homebrew TextDS3 feature requests

[Stormwave]

I decided to start on the next version of TextDS. I've already started building the new UI (skinnable). I'm hopefully going to be adding in the ability to edit the text. The only issue I'm expecting will be the speed of editting very large files, but I'll have to see how it goes, hopefully it won't be too much of an issue.

So I thought I'd ask here if anyone has any other feature requests before I fully start programming this?

I'm going to take my time on this version (since the last version is perfectly workable and stable), so it might not be finished for at least a few weeks.

 

[CannonFoddr]

Apart from what's mentioned (skinnable and editing), the only thing I'd like to see added is the 'file select'/'bookmarks'/'option' screens to rotate depending on whether you reading in 'novel' or landscape mode - as it's a pain having to turn the DSi to select another text file or add a bookmark etc

I'd also prefer it if those pages also took on the same colour scheme (or will it be 'graphical' now ??) as the rest of the program

If it's more graphical - perhaps have something like DSreader that has a slide-out or pop-up panel with icons for 'Load text/add bookmark/options' that shows with pressing [start] instead of having TextDS2 way of: press [start] for 'open file', [select] for 'options' and [Y] for 'bookmarks', as I found that a little confusing

Spoiler

I think one of these icons was for 'font selection' or something but not something I really like

EDIT: Just thought of one other thing - MAYBE a softreset function ???
By adding a filename to TextDS3 'Setting.INI' -you can then select the 'softreset' function in the program & it'll run the progam mentioned
That way people can use the DSTwo 'reset2desktop' file, and other card user could try using their firmware OS as a 'reboot' - a bit like how Moonshell does it's 'resetmse' folder

 

[Stormwave]

Thanks for the ideas.

I was already planning to put in the portrait UI (it annoys me to).

I like the idea of the slide-out panel. I did originally have that idea but I didn't want to rip off DSReader, lol. I think I'll implement it though, since it is a good idea. I'll probably use a side menu.

I will add in the soft-reset thing aswell, good idea. I'm not entirely certain how to do it (not launched NDS files before), but I'm sure I'll figure it out. I'll have a look at the DSTwo reset sample and see if I can get it working.

 

[sethirion]

Something like a "help" of what does which button. I know that you get the readme file, but it helps if you forget the function.

I see it like a very complete app right now; I would also like the portrait UI asaide from that I have no complains about.

Very good program you did, thanks!

 

[Dwight]

I'm assuming that this is a .txt file reader/editor, so I'm going to throw in the ability to edit .docs. I don't know if it is possible, but it would be extremely useful.

 

[Synt4x3rror]

I have a request

how about being able to create text files?

editing them would still be ok if that isn't possible.

 

[owamugen]

:0

All I want now is a reset function or some kind.

 

[Overlord Nadrian]

I'm assuming that this is a .txt file reader/editor, so I'm going to throw in the ability to edit .docs. I don't know if it is possible, but it would be extremely useful.

Moonshell2 can do it (kinda), so it shouldn't be a problem.

 

[CannonFoddr]

I'm assuming that this is a .txt file reader/editor, so I'm going to throw in the ability to edit .docs. I don't know if it is possible, but it would be extremely useful.

Moonshell2 can do it (kinda), so it shouldn't be a problem.

Unless he's talking about proper '*.doc' files (i.e. Microsoft Word files) with full formatting and font support - in which case I think that'll be too much to ask for

 

[Stormwave]

Indeed, editting .docs would be outside of the scope of this project, it would take far too much work.

Creating txt files should be simple enough, I was planning on implementing that anyway

As for the font etc, I presume nobody minds if I use the same font as TextDS2? (including sizes, spacing, etc).

 

[CannonFoddr]

Hmm... what with the asking of 'docs' & also 'playing' with other readers (Like DSLibris), it got me thinking of another suggestion

How's this ?.......

Currently it seems that 'TextDS3' may become a Reader/Editor, capable of reading standard 'txt' files.

How about 'addons' (the idea came from 'DS Skin maker'), which allows TextDS to load in & format/display/edit other 'txt' based files like 'XML','RTF' and 'HTML' - or would that be too difficult ??

Not sure about the RTF format - but XML and HTML use 'tags' to display certain formats like 'bold' & italic' - so by placing a dll (or whatever) into an 'addon' folder will allow TextDS to load in the file - find the 'tags' & then display the text based on the tags it finds - although if you 'edit' the file you'll need to show all the tags as well,so perhaps that can be an option on the sidebar; an 'edit/read' toggle ?? - when in 'read' it won't show the 'tags' but in 'edit' it does

Of course the TextDS won't be able to use 'links' on 'HTM' files etc - but for basic text display with (limited) formatting might be an idea (although internal links might be feasable !)

I suggest 'addons' instead of an all in one program, as that may allow other people to attempt to create other addons for other types of txt based files (XHTML for e.g), & may make it easier to update problems with one particular format instead of re-writing the whole program

 

[Stormwave]

Hmm, I suppose that would be possible. I could write a basic script format (maybe even in XML) to allow the program to parse certain file types, which would allow expandability. RTF files aren't overly complex, I could certainly write a parser for them (already have years ago in C). I wasn't planning initially on any formatting options (other than colours and size), but I could implement it since I'm sure it'll come in handy. Obviously though, all of this will take much longer to make.

I'm going away for a few days tomorrow, so I'll have a think about how I can implement all these ideas

 

[Ace]

I think you should add 2 functions to the reader.

1: Allow the user to add a new chapter where it's needed. This would edit the text file so that the [\C] would be added wherever the user wants it. This would make it easier than editing all the text files on a computer before putting them onto the DS. This would also be very useful if you forgot to add a chapter (which has happened to me because of the repetitiveness of the boring task)

2: When opening a new text file, it should ask what mode it should use every time it opens that file. The way it works is it adds the [\M] prefix to the beginning of the text document. In this way, personal preference of the end user is integrated in a better way.

 

[Stormwave]

I hate admitting it

, but I'm having a lot of trouble loading NDS files. I've tried copying the akloader and akmenu sections from Wood R4, and I've tried that dragonminded bootlib thing (on my DSTwo) to no avail as of yet. Anyone with any expertise in this field have any advice? I understand the basic concept, loading the arm9 files into the specified offset and calling swiSoftReset to jump the program counter to the start of it, and doing the same with arm7 (triggered by IPC). I just can't get it to load anything on my DSTwo at all. I don't want to continue working on TextDS3 until I have a complete method of returning to OS.

 

[Arm73]

Indeed, editting .docs would be outside of the scope of this project, it would take far too much work.

Creating txt files should be simple enough, I was planning on implementing that anyway

As for the font etc, I presume nobody minds if I use the same font as TextDS2? (including sizes, spacing, etc).

Hi, I somehow missed this topic a few days ago, and I missed my chance to get you some more feed back.....
I'm constantly using TextDS2 now, even when I play PC games it's nice to have a DS around to check a guide while playing.
So based on my extensive use, there are a few annoying things that need to be straighten up, and a few important addition that would make life much easier:

- First, most important, the standby mode: It's broken ( maybe you're aware of this already ). When you close the lead it goes into stand by just fine, but if you leave it for a few more minutes the DS just freezes on a black screen.

- The scrolling of the Text is also a little unpredictable, sometimes is smooth, sometimes it's a little jumpy, and sometimes it goes crazy and scrolls up a couple of pages if you keep the stylus on the screen.

- The search box keyboard could be improved, sometimes I look for a long word ( or a couple of them ), but then if I want to search for something else I'll have to manually delete the whole string character by character. It's good that the application remembers the last search, but a ' clear ' button next to the ' del ' button would save a lot of time when initiating a new search.

- Also a scrolling bar or something that would display the position in the file would be useful, since most of the time I don't even know where I end up after a search ( maybe a transparent one or an auto-hiding one ).

Those are basically fixes that should be made to TextDS2 to make it more usable for the things it's supposed to do.
Now for TextDS3........ improvement and suggestions, if I may:

- The option to switch top and bottom screen ( kind of like the DSi internet browser ) , this way having the whole area of the text on the bottom screen, would make it easy for the zooming window to be scrolled left and right very quickly anywhere on the page, and the zoomed in text could be easily displayed on the top screen ( again if you are familiar with the DSi internet browser, that's what I mean ).

- A nicer UI, with graphic icons and customizable background colors to match the one used when in reading mode ( it seams you already considering this ).

- The option to use different fonts, with different sizes. I'm aware that we already have small, med, large, but something like an actual scalable size ( 6, 7, 8, 9 and so on ) would be extremely useful.

- And speaking of fonts, it's more of an hardware problem, really not your fault, but the current one looks a little awful on the XL. Probably you don't own a DSiXL, but if you get your hands on it, you'll see what I mean.
Some people call it pixelation, and you can see it as soon as you look at the initial warning screen.
I know that it has more something to do with the colors being more intense on the XL. Now being your fonts anti-aliased ( I think that's what they are ) you see an unpleasant shadow surrounding the characters , kind of like you would see true type fonts in windows when using an LCD monitor that's not set on it's native resolution.
Well just using plain characters ( I don't know how to call them, but I see them in some commercial games and do look really great on the XL ) and maybe making it even smaller or less spaced ( give the limited resolution I don't know how small can they be, and it depends on the font used , but I'm sure that the smallest ' clean ' size , would be still perfectly readable on the XL, and will require less scrolling.
As you can see I'm not a fan of the current font ( which by the way looks perfectly fine on the DSlite, I'm just nitpicking

, but the first couple of things I mentioned, are really important I think ( the standby bug and the flacky scrolling ).
I don't care much for text editing though, I got the feeling it will add more trouble then it's worth, especially since there are other alternatives ( better or worse ? ) out there.
As it stands, yours it's a fantastic text reader, especially for gamefaqs ( so much that I would change the name and call it " Stormwave GameFAQs Reader for the Nintendo DS ") , and I would keep it that way.

Now that I found this topic , I'm really excited , knowing that a new version is on the way, I'm just thrilled !

 

[CannonFoddr]

Sorry to burst your bubble so soon - but Stormwave may've put this project on the back burner for now (IIRC last I read was he was having trouble getting the program to 'soft-reset' back to firmware & needed some help) ....

.. he is currently busy working on a different project at the moment called (HBWare)

 

[Stormwave]

Aye, I am presently working on HBWare, but I will be taking a break from it shortly whilst waiting for the GBATemp admins to get back to me about the server-side stuff, so I might finish off TextDS at some point soon.

I'm moving away from the idea of editting text now, It's hard to find the motivation to put all that work in for a feature I might never use myself. I think I might fix the bugs Arm73 has pointed out, recreate the UI (possibly using a modified version of the UI I've made for HBWare), add a few features (Switching screens etc), and then leave the program as it is. Now I can do soft-resetting fine, I'll add that in aswell, of course.

 

[Arm73]

Aye, I am presently working on HBWare, but I will be taking a break from it shortly whilst waiting for the GBATemp admins to get back to me about the server-side stuff, so I might finish off TextDS at some point soon.

I'm moving away from the idea of editting text now, It's hard to find the motivation to put all that work in for a feature I might never use myself. I think I might fix the bugs Arm73 has pointed out, recreate the UI (possibly using a modified version of the UI I've made for HBWare), add a few features (Switching screens etc), and then leave the program as it is. Now I can do soft-resetting fine, I'll add that in aswell, of course.

Good to see that it's still being worked on, CannonFoddr put quite a scare on me !
Well just saying, if Stormwave can finish it, that would rock, if not, we are still left with a solid application (TextDS2 ) that works just fine ( albeit with a few problems ).
So no pressure here, do what you can. I know that programmers have a real life too and there are other things that need to be done ( called priorities

).

But yeah, as it stands , the standby bug needs to be fixed, in fact when in long gaming sessions I can't even put the DS in standby beacuse it will most likely freeze, so I keep it on the whole time......that's no good for the batteries !
If time is an issue,I would put cosmetic changes on a secondary priority level and concentrate on fixing what's there in the first place.

I did mention something of a scroll bar or something that would display the current position in the file, and I was thinking that if implemented, it would make the reading area even smaller, however, if you put it on the top screen ( the one that currently displays the whole page and it's not readable anyway, it would do very little harm.

Fonts wise......the AKAIO font ( the one displayed in the game selection screen ) , looks really good on the DSiXL, small characters, sharp and perfectly readable, if you could somehow implement it , ( I know that must be in the firmware folder somewhere ) it would drastically change the look ( for the better ) at least on the XL.

Anyway, good luck with the other project, and of course if you need some stuff to be tested, just throw it over here......