Message Window Feature Request

[Skullzofdoom]

Hey David, love the new message window and I understand it's in it's early stages, but I have some suggestions.

In a perfect world, someone would always be paying attention to the message window, but that won't always be the case. If you could add a feature where you're able to alternate the background between 2 colors to help get someone's attention that would be great. Also, if you could choose the colors that are alternating, that would be handy too.

Another suggestion would be to have an unlimited timeout option for the message with a checkbox or something similar. Then when the next message comes through, that would overtake the message with an unlimited timeout. The most recent message always taking priority over the last regardless if it had an unlimited timeout or not.

I also noticed an issue with backgrounds when messing around with that feature. Basically, if you adjust the background for a message to anything other than black, when that message cue hits and then times out, the background does not timeout with it. Meaning if it was an orange background, it is not stuck orange until the next message cue. Do you think you could set it up for the background to timeout with the message cue?

My last suggestion would be for a live chat option. in this instance, the message window would be divided in half. Half being for the message cues and the other half would be for the live chat. In some theaters, they don't have a clearcom or walkie talkie system, so a live chat would be super helpful. In some spaces, the sound board op. will never have a ear piece or headset on but being able to have a live chat option that they could glance at on a monitor would be helpful. This feature isn't as important as the others I suggested

Multiplay is definitely becoming a powerful tool and we all really appreciate what you do.

[David]

If you set the message to to zero, it should stay on the remote screen until cleared by another message.

For the alternating colours, would swapping the text and background colours back and forth be enough? There would need to be a way to set the flash rate too (per message or global?).

At present the timeout only clears the text, not the background. I did wonder if it really should revert to black or some predefined colour. It would be a very simple change to do that.

The messaging system would be capable of 2-way chat. It's just a matter of coming up with a nice way to handle it at the MultiPlay end. When there are multiple remote screens, how would the chat be displayed?

[Skullzofdoom]

Gotcha, my thought process was if I set it to 0, the message just wouldn't relay because the timeout was so fast. I didn't try it because I thought that would happen. It's good to know that setting it to 0 holds the message though. Do you think you could add in a checkbox instead that you could click call like "hold message" or something, that when check would gray out the timeout option? I'm not sure about everyone else, but I think it's a bit more user friendly.

Yes, that would be great. I think doing it per message and not globally would be good. Then add some sort of default timing in the user preferences. I think at some point, you get a suggestion to not have it global, this way it's future proofing it.

I think having it go back to a predefined color would be cool. I'd make the default black though. Making it to a user predefined would help future proof it too incase someone down the line wanted to change the standby background color.

On the message window end, you could split the window in half, half being the actual message receiving window and the other half being live chat. On the multiplay side, I'd in the option like any of the other movable blocks in Multiplay. You could click view then select if you wanted to view live chat or not. That way if someone doesn't need it they can uncheck that in the view menu. Hopefully that's making sense. I've attched a picture below on what I am talking about with the view thing. With that check then a live chat window would appear for the Multiplay endYou cannot view this attachment.

[David]

Adding a new dockable window for chat is not hard. How to display chat from potentially more than one remote window though? Would it need a tab per remote window or does text from them all get interleaved?

If interleaved, each line would have to indicate who said it and then be echoed to the other remote windows. Also how would you reply back to a specific window? This would be like a party line comms.

Keeping the chats separate per tab keeps them all private and means they are all between that window and MultiPlay. There would never be chat between remote windows but that's probably a good thing.

[Skullzofdoom]

For the Multiplay "Master" computer, I think combining all the chats from every group would be fine in it's live chat window. I don't think you need to separate the computers sending the messages and say which computer sent it. I think that if there where multiple computers in group 1, if a computer in group 1 sends a message, on the master computer end, it would just say group 1. No need in separating which of the multiple computers said what or anything like that. (I'm not sure if that's what you where asking or not)

As far as echoing back to the other computers or not. Like I said, the master computer should see everything all interlaced but divided in names by group 1, group 2, group 3 (or whatever the user names the groups). Then for the grouped computers, if there are multiple computers on group 1, every computer in group 1 should be able to see messages sent by other computers also in group 1. A computer in group 2 should not however be able to see the messages sent by group 1. The master computer should be the only computer that can live chat to the other groups. Groups shouldn't be able to live chat each other. In a production environment, I think that cluttering up someone else's group (crew) with live chats that don't affect them would be annoying or distracting. The master computer should have an option to live chat all computers at once in case there was an emergency or an update needed to be sent out about the show.

The master computer could select each group it's talking too by boxes at the top of the live chat window. In those boxes would be each group name that would be selectable. If possible, it would be nice to be able to click the group name in the live chat (if the group sent them a message) and it auto populate that that is the group they are chatting too. If possible, avoiding drop downs would be best, so the master computer operator can always quickly select who they want to chat too.

I really hope I answered your questions in a way that's helpful and I really hope you understand what I am trying to say. I know I am not explaining things that clearly, but I'm not sure how else to explain without making the program myself, which I don't know how to do. 

[David]

That gives me some ideas for when I get more time to work on that part of MultiPlay.

[David]

For the next release, I've changed the remote display so after the timeout period, it goes back to its own set background colour instead of retaining the one sent with the message.

There is also be a new display option on a per message basis called Style. It can be selected to be Steady, Blinking or Alternate. Blinking flashes the text on and off, while Alternate swaps the colours. For now the flash rate is fixed at 500ms on, 500ms off.

[Skullzofdoom]

Awesome, thank you, David!!!