Contextual toolbars with SWS

[Breeder]

Contextual toolbars have finally been released in the latest SWS pre-release (v2.5.1 #0)

Features:
The idea is quite simple. You assign existing REAPER toolbars to various contexts (track, item, envelope etc...) and then load any of those toolbars using a single shortcut. Depending on what's under mouse cursor at the time the shortcut is pressed, the appropriate toolbar will get loaded. Functionality also includes a bunch of options to select item, track, envelope under mouse cursor etc...

Screenshots:


Download and documentation:
Download here
Documentation can be found here

Donations:
A lot of effort has been invested in this. If you seriously use it, please consider supporting the developer. Thanks!
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Other stuff

[pakkuncung]

THANK YOU soooo much! This is AWESOME!

[Sexan]

AWESOME!!
There is no way to autoclose toolbar after activating command except macro:

Action xyz
Close toolbar 1
?

Thank you !!

[hopi]

This is a potentially a very kewl feature...
yet for me, since I have a very full set of TB's already developed over years and have them residing at the top of the arrange window, and have them all set up to switch between the 8 possible via iconized numbers at the extreme left of each one, ...this new SWS\BR ability creates a little problem...

I don't want to modify my existing TB's..
And they might be a little large to use as contextual TB's... you know?

However I could see where a stripped down version of each one could be nice as a contextual TB... but that would require Reaper to increase the number of TB's we can have [for me I'd need 16 instead of 8]

Now I wonder if the SWS\BR 'might' be able to deal with that in a different sneaky way... [likely not but...]

I can make and save 'alternate' TB's which as you know are really just text files, right? The only thing I do on the 'alternates' is change the top line.. then if I want to use one of them, I have to give it proper TB number in that line and take out the TB number line in the one it will replace... right?

So my thought is that IF it could the SWS\BR might [?] be able to load a TB directly from one of those TB text files regardless of the TB number???
Like I said... I know that ability is not likely but just had to ask.......

You know, thinking further what would really be KEWL, would be if Reaper had an ini where one could tell it the number of TB's a user wanted to have... say from 1 to 100.. now that would kill all birds with one stone.

[Breeder]

Originally Posted by Sexan

There is no way to autoclose toolbar after activating command except macro:

I think I have an idea on how to implement this. Will try to do it for the next pre-release.

Originally Posted by hopi

So my thought is that IF it could the SWS\BR might [?] be able to load a TB directly from one of those TB text files regardless of the TB number???
Like I said... I know that ability is not likely but just had to ask.......

This could theoretically be achievable in case if REAPER looks at .ini everytime toolbar is shown (didn't test it, just thinking out loud).
However, I think that something like this would over complicate the interface waaaaaaaaay too much so I won't add this, sorry - try spamming FR forum to get more toolbars.

[DarkStar]

^^^
or, go and vote here:
http://forum.cockos.com/project.php?issueid=4251

[mehmethan]

is there a way to use the "right click" to show up contextual toolbars ?

[gofer]

Doesn't everybody want more toolbars anyway ? This must eventually come. 4 MIDI toolbars are way to few with or without contextuals.

I haven't tried the new extension yet, will do asap of course. But I just had a thought about how Hopi could probably make the existing set useful. He uses 8 toolbars kinda ribbon style at the top of the window. Only one is visible at a time and he switches them via a set of buttons.

Are the new SWS contextual toolbars forced to open at mouse cursor? If not, Hopi could use them as a nifty additional way to switch his toolbars. He could basically have them semi-automatically follow his current work context (hover above the area of interest and use the shortcut which will switch his "ribbon" to the toolbar that fits that context best). Although I am a fan of small mouse position toolbars I think this could make for some good workflow as well.

If however SWS contextual toolbars can only open at mouse cursor it would be a very good idea to make it an option to open them in their last saved position instead (in a future build of SWS extensions). I figure we can already do this via ReaScript.

EDIT: First look reveals that it's under mouse cursor only (for a reason). After thinking a bit about it I am not sure anymore about what I previously said. I think exitement took the better of me there. Probably my above FR would better be done by adding yet another set of actions instead of an option in the config dialog and it would be pretty restricted, with regards to the "exclusive" part. Some may have multiple toolbars next to each other and then one in a different position, so it would be necesssary to rather do "swap toolbar a with toolbar b" - no, I don't think it's a good idea. After all, it's easierer to knit a taylored script for Hopi than changing your fine new set.

And:

Give us more Toolbars, Cockos

[hopi]

Yes, well I voted Yes on that back when the dinosaurs still roamed the Urff..

more TB's are needed, no question... and I don't really understand why we could not have virtually unlimited TB's... there may well be some coding reason that I have no clue about.... still, at least double what we now have seems needed.

[Breeder]

Originally Posted by gofer

If not, Hopi could use them as a nifty additional way to switch his toolbars. He could basically have them semi-automatically follow his current work context (hover above the area of interest and use the shortcut which will switch his "ribbon" to the toolbar that fits that context best). Although I am a fan of small mouse position toolbars I think this could make for some good workflow as well.

Hmm...to switch toolbar (using the actions Toolbars: switch to toolbar x) you first need to focus the toolbar you want to switch from. When you do this with toolbar button, the toolbar that you want to switch from will get focused (by pressing the toolbar button) and then switched (by releasing the toolbar button).
And here's the problem. Besides making an option to switch to toolbar instead of toggling it under mouse we would also need to create a mechanism to tell the extension which toolbars to switch. Why is this a problem? Imagine Hopi having 5 toolbars set up at the top REAPER. If he has toolbar 1 shown, we need to switch toolbar 1 to toolbar x. After toolbar x is shown, when the action is called again we would need to switch from toolbar x to toolbar y.

What follows from this is that the user would have to set up special rules for each context. For example, you would say..."if detected context is item, switch toolbars 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 to toolbar 2".
You can see how this can get complicated fast. Not to mention that contextual toolbars dialog is big as it is, stuffing all of these options in there somehow would make it even bigger.

I'm also not sure if setting focus to toolbar x is possible (in recent REAPER updates a new mechanism is created for setting focus to things, so I'm not sure if we could set focus to specific toolbar without trouble...in any case it wouldn't be doable from ReaScript alone since you need win32 api for it)

To be honest, contextual toolbars were created with mouse use in mind - all of these features would probably be beneficial to some users, but I don't want to over-complicate anything too much. I know that REAPER is famous for one million options, but in this case I think that simple is better.


For everything else, there is ReaScript. For example:

As said earlier, due to focus issues with toolbars it's not possible to switch specific toolbar to another toolbar, however...if you want to keep all of your toolbars docked in the same place you could pull it off with ReaScript. Like this:

from sws_python import *

window, segment, details, empty = BR_GetMouseCursorContext(0, 0, 0, 128)
toolbarAction = -1

if window in ("tcp", "mcp") and segment in ("track", "empty"):                      # Toolbar 1 (MCP/TCP track)
	toolbarAction = 41679
elif segment == "envelope" or details in ("env_point", "env_segment"):              # Toolbar 5 (envelope)
	toolbarAction = 41683
elif window == "arrange" and segment == "track" and (details in ("item", "empty")): # Toolbar 6 (Item)
	toolbarAction = 41684

if toolbarAction != -1 and not RPR_GetToggleCommandState(toolbarAction):

	# Close other toolbars
	if toolbarAction != 41679 and RPR_GetToggleCommandState(41679):
		RPR_Main_OnCommand(41679, 0)

	if toolbarAction != 41683 and RPR_GetToggleCommandState(41683):
		RPR_Main_OnCommand(41683, 0)

	if toolbarAction != 41684 and RPR_GetToggleCommandState(41684):
		RPR_Main_OnCommand(41684, 0)

	# Toggle our toolbar
	RPR_Main_OnCommand(toolbarAction, 0)

Originally Posted by gofer

If however SWS contextual toolbars can only open at mouse cursor it would be a very good idea to make it an option to open them in their last saved position instead (in a future build of SWS extensions). I figure we can already do this via ReaScript.

As said earlier, I would like to keep things as simple as possible but maybe I could pull this of without much complication. Need to play with it first...

[gofer]

I edited my previous post, because I realized I am really not so sure anymore about all that. Partly (well, mainly) because of what you say there, I think I shot too fast with my comment . Just forget about it or keep it on a distant back burner. For complicated stuff we really better use the ReaScript option.


Completely different topic:
I think the way the actions "Exclusive toggle...." work could be slightly improved.

If I have one contextual toolbar open, hitting the shortcut on another context will close the previous toolbar - which is good - but not open the toolbar for the current context. I have to hit the shortcut twice to open the toolbar for the new context.
The script I used is slightly better at that (I think I altered the script you shared back then, Breeder). If a toolbar for another context is already open, hitting the shortcut on a new context will close that "old" toolbar and open the new one with the same trigger. I really prefer it that way. Everything else is pretty much the same, I think.

The setup dialog window is great, love it. And presets are also very welcome Thanks for the good work!

[Sexan]

One more silly question (something that I was always curious,just an info), is it possible to offset toolbar window regarding mouse position ? For example mouse to be in the middle of the toolbar and not on the edge on toolbar? Is it possible with reaper API?

[Breeder]

Originally Posted by mehmethan

is there a way to use the "right click" to show up contextual toolbars ?

Not sure I follow, if you want toolbars accessible from context menu you can simply add menu entries to open specific toolbars in Main menu->Main options->Customize menus/toolbars

[Breeder]

Originally Posted by gofer

If a toolbar for another context is already open, hitting the shortcut on a new context will close that "old" toolbar and open the new one with the same trigger.

Completely agree...will look into it.

Originally Posted by Sexan

One more silly question (something that I was always curious,just an info), is it possible to offset toolbar window regarding mouse position ? For example mouse to be in the middle of the toolbar and not on the edge on toolbar? Is it possible with reaper API?

Could be done. Not really sure how to present the options to the user. I would personally put this in options under All so it works for all toolbars. You could choose Vertical position (Top, Middle, Bottom) and Horizontal position (Left, Middle, Right). Anybody else have a different idea?

[Sexan]

Oh,I was just curious but if you can implement that that would be AWESOME!!I think that Options would work well.
Thank you again for your hard work!

[gofer]

I'm different Yeah, I'm weird like that.

Actually, often the downside of toolbars at mouse cursor is that they tend to hide the exact thing you're working at. Mainly on envelope lanes and MIDI CC lanes, whereever vertical space is narrow I more often than not first have to move the toolbar out of the way (which is easy, because the cursor is conveniently placed to do so, but still a bit annoying). I made it a habbit to try to hover at the lowest possible spot of the context because of that.

Would it be possible to make the toolbar spawn some amount of pixels (say, 30px) below the mouse? Well, or above, if it wouldn't fit onto the monitor below the mouse. To hit a button we most likely have to move the mouse a bit anyway.

If not, never mind .

[4oMuAjln]

Awesome feature!!

[Sexan]

Originally Posted by gofer

Would it be possible to make the toolbar spawn some amount of pixels (say, 30px) below the mouse? Well, or above, if it wouldn't fit onto the monitor below the mouse. To hit a button we most likely have to move the mouse a bit anyway.

That was something that was floating in my mind.That would be extremely good

[pakkuncung]

Hi Breeder,

I just notice that, the Z axis of the tooltip is behind the toolbar.



the screenshot above is from my win7 64 bit.

on my Snow Leopard the toolbar opened in opposite direction from the mouse (upward), i have not checked the issue with the tooltip on OSX.

anyway thank you for this awesome extensions.

[Breeder]

Originally Posted by pakkuncung

Hi Breeder,

I just notice that, the Z axis of the tooltip is behind the toolbar.



the screenshot above is from my win7 64 bit.

on my Snow Leopard the toolbar opened in opposite direction from the mouse (upward), i have not checked the issue with the tooltip on OSX.

anyway thank you for this awesome extensions.

Tooltip z-order is a known issue even with REAPER's own pin system: http://forum.cockos.com/project.php?issueid=5199

However, I think I have a hack in mind which will solve it for toolbars that are set as "always on top" by contextual toolbars edit: hack successful, expect it in the next pre-release

Regarding toolbar position, yes...on OSX, the toolbar is displayed differently since REAPER own actions do that. However, in the next pre-release you will be able to set toolbar position so you will be able to configure it however you want both on Windows and OSX

[pakkuncung]

SUPER AWESOME!

[Stroudy]

If using WINDOW SCREENSETS, how do I save my toolbar postions so they open the same in all screensets?

I've set my contextual toolbars as I like them, then I switch screensets and all my work is undone.

Do I need to position and size ALL my toolbars for each screenset? :S

[Breeder]

Originally Posted by Stroudy

If using WINDOW SCREENSETS, how do I save my toolbar postions so they open the same in all screensets?

I've set my contextual toolbars as I like them, then I switch screensets and all my work is undone.

Do I need to position and size ALL my toolbars for each screenset? :S

Yep...you can speed it up by editing reaper-screensets.ini manually (don't forget to close REAPER before doing it) - just copy-paste toolbar data from one screenset to others.

[sinkmusic]

Very nice, thank you !

[Stroudy]

Excellent thanks.

Any idea why I can't get the envelope lane context to work?

What are the prerequisites? Cheers

[Breeder]

Originally Posted by Stroudy

Excellent thanks.

Any idea why I can't get the envelope lane context to work?

What are the prerequisites? Cheers

Did you set both envelope contexts? TCP and arrange one?

If you did and it's still not working can you please specify your OS, supply example project, REAPER.ini and BR.ini. Thanks!

[Stroudy]

Thanks again Breeder.

I don't think I understood the hierarchy properly.

[foxAsteria]

any possibility of triggering these directly with a right-click in the future? once we had more toolbars, i'd replace all context menus with toolbars. icons are far quicker to read than words once you recognize them.

feature suggestion: editable floating tooltips on these toolbars would be amazing. we could basically build a context sensitive manual into the interface that way. then maybe reading-adverse noobs will never have to RTFM.

[heda]

I also vote on the "right click" trigger, but I think this may be Cocko's job to implement right click mouse modifiers into the system, also more toolbars!

[foxAsteria]

Originally Posted by heda

I also vote on the "right click" trigger, but I think this may be Cocko's job to implement right click mouse modifiers into the system, also more toolbars!

yea i wish that mouse modifier feature was more thorough. quite a lot of things i expected to be able to do were just not possible. maybe ill start an fr to detail what's missing, but i imagine it's something more technical than oversight.

i guess ill just start making custom toolbar buttons while i wait.

[FnA]

No way to eliminating right click menus! Modifier context maybe? Double right click? Something else, OK. Yes, more toolbars and improvements to editing them and menus. And sure, more editable right click menus.

But I like how you can currently open the MIDI main context menu in the ME with double right click in velocity/CC lane and modified double right click in piano roll. Don't really want to completely lose that either.

Oh yeah... Thanks Breeder!

[Breeder]

New SWS pre-release has been released that includes various improvements!

Regarding right-click implementation - that's an interesting idea. But I'm not really sure how wise would be to try and hack this from SWS. As heda and FnA mentioned already - it would probably be best to just have right-click mouse modifiers implemented directly in REAPER.

I don't know how other people use this, but I just assigned a shortcut to one of my mouse buttons and call contextual toolbars with that. Got so used to it, it's second nature now.

Originally Posted by PooFox

feature suggestion: editable floating tooltips on these toolbars would be amazing. we could basically build a context sensitive manual into the interface that way. then maybe reading-adverse noobs will never have to RTFM.

Not sure I follow - toolbar tooltips can already contain whatever info you want. Simple rename the action in toolbar editor before assigning icon to it and that should do it.
REAPER also natively displays helpful hints in that small window under TCP (make sure to right-click it for more options).

To be honest, RTFM is a fact of life, no matter how many things we try to do to help the user, in the end you do have to RTFM. Not to mention that time is nonrenewable resource - if I spend time on something like this, some other much more useful feature will get postponed :P Not to mention that I wouldn't find this useful at all - implementing things in your free time that you would never use is kinda not fun.

Originally Posted by PooFox

i guess ill just start making custom toolbar buttons while i wait.

Hope you share them too

[heda]

Thank you Breeder!
Do you have hope we can get right click modifier from Cockos and more toolbars?

[Breeder]

Originally Posted by heda

Thank you Breeder!
Do you have hope we can get right click modifier from Cockos and more toolbars?

As anyone else, I have no idea
But I do have a feeling more toolbars will be one of the selling points of REAPER 5 - at least I hope so

[foxAsteria]

Originally Posted by Breeder

Not sure I follow - toolbar tooltips can already contain whatever info you want.

Not to mention that time is nonrenewable resource

Hope you share them too

yea i guess i knew that. not sure why i didn't realize it when making the request. sometimes i'm just thinking aloud. of course you should work on things you can enjoy. and of course i will share my buttons.

[nofish]

I like the new auto close feature for contextual toolbars.
Thank you.

[BogdanS]

contextual toolbar don't work in floating midi editor, but here in docker - all fine

[gofer]

Originally Posted by BogdanS

contextual toolbar don't work in floating midi editor, but here in docker - all fine

Seems to work alright here in floating editors, what exactly is going wrong?




Taking this opportunity to say thanks again for this awesome feature. Biggest thumbs up!

[mamazai]

Sorry but I can't do it. I can not Contextual toolbars dialog. Where can I paste this sws dylib file ? Double click doesn't work.

[mmmb]

I´ve just installed the last sws extension and can even find the contextual toolbar menu, not even on the action list.
As a matter of fact, i cant find any of the added actions on the last sws update.

am i doing something wrong? I never had an issue like this on the past after installing an extension