Swiping up or down to switch pages

danm

Doesn't appear switching pages by swiping up or down is currently supported.
I didn't see a roadmap item for this, does this interest anyone else? If so, I'll add a feature request.

Also, are the typical ways to switch pages either by tapping the letters positioned vertically on the right side of the canvas or (directly or indirectly) via MIDI?

Thanks

espiegel123

@danm: pretty much all user interface objects have one or more actions that can be triggered by MIDI or other widgets. This includes the page buttons.

A good way to find out what actions there are (besides looking at the manual and checking the wiki) is to put Loopy into MIDI Learn mode and then tap on objects.

In Midi Learn mode, anything with an associated action (which is almost everything) will be outlined

Here is what you will see when you tap a page button:

danm

Thanks @espiegel123.

What do you think of the idea of making the default vertically oriented page representations on the right side of the screen (ie: A and act like a swipe-able button by default?

wim

I don't think swiping is a good choice for changing pages. A swipe gesture is sequential, and page changes often would not be. A lot is generally going on with a page change. What happens when you want to go to page D from page A? Would all clip changes, page load actions, etc. fire for page C and D along the way? What happens when you inevitably swipe too far and bypass the page you're looking for? Swiping on the page itself would be hugely problematic as well. A mis-placed swipe intended for a loop would bring really unexpected consequences.

I don't feel like it brings much to the table, while I can think of many unintentional things that it could.

If swiping is really wanted, maybe swiping on a stepped dial or a fader to change pages would be appropriate.

danm

Thanks @wim , appreciate your comments. Here are my thoughts...

Certainly, swiping isn't a good choice for changing pages in all cases. But, then again, look around at all the configurable options and short cuts that Loopy Pro provides. One reason there are so many configuration options is because there are so many cases where sometimes setting things up one way for one type of use would make sense and another time setting it up another way makes sense. In the case you describe, swiping pages would indeed not make sense. But in certain simpler cases, it most definitely would make sense...The case I have is a project with 2 pages where I'd like to quickly maneuver back and forth between the two, so swiping or at least having a larger surface to tap on than those default letters is helpful for this case. For now, I've created a vertically oriented button on the right side of the canvas that triggers a page change based on tap and swipe, but it does take up extra real estate and Loopy Pro seems like it offers so many configurable options for the basic stuff, so figured I'd ask.

Again, thanks for your thoughts, everything you say makes sense, hope the above does too.

espiegel123

@danm : if you want a larger surface, you can add a button widget and size it as large as you would like. You can set it up so that swiping on the button switches pages if you would like, too.

danm

Thanks @espiegel123, that’s exactly what I’ve done for now ( see last sentence of above paragraph in my post )…really appreciate your pointing this out again though, because prior to your response earlier in this thread I had been unaware of this feature, which is great!

wim

@danm, sure, it could be useful in certain cases, and I can see your point about preferring not to sacrifice screen real estate for a larger control. Logging a feature request is a good idea regardless of whether there are positive reactions here.

A couple of things to think about when making it:

• There are no "canvas" gestures in Loopy Pro. In other words, there are no gestures definable for the empty areas. To have a swipe gesture on the canvas would require that. Maybe that would be a worthy addition. I can think of both positives and negatives for that. But as you say, options are everywhere in Loopy.
• Skipping pages would need some way to defer the actual change otherwise Loopy could go haywire real fast. A swipe gesture might work better if it could only change one page per swipe. Or, perhaps it could work like a slider moving through the pages, but only execute the page change when your finger is lifted.

danm

@wim , all makes sense. I agree that the 'swiping to change a page' behavior I'm describing is best for one page per swipe.
Given that the capability is currently supported via a configurable button and appears to require a major platform change (to enable gestures on built-in canvas UI) in order to support it, I don't plan to log a feature request at this time. Thanks very much for all the info!

wim

@danm said:
@wim , all makes sense. I agree that the 'swiping to change a page' behavior I'm describing is best for one page per swipe.
Given that the capability is currently supported via a configurable button and appears to require a major platform change (to enable gestures on built-in canvas UI) in order to support it, I don't plan to log a feature request at this time. Thanks very much for all the info!

Good discussion! Some good thoughts always come out.

Canvas gestures is an interesting concept I hadn't thought about before. Like all custom gestures in Loopy Pro there can be negative consequences if touches go wrong, but there could also be some powerful use-cases.