Keyboard on touchscreen

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Bob Z
Posts: 10
Joined: Tue Jul 23, 2019 11:10 am

Keyboard on touchscreen

Post by Bob Z » Sat May 22, 2021 12:14 pm

I know I may be the only one with this issue, but as much as I like v1.0, overall I have a very minor complaint. The new on-screen keyboard for local touchscreens is a step backwards, IMO.

Having to touch the keyboard button at the top, and then having to touch the text box adds steps. Also, IIRC, previously the screen adjusted position when the keyboard opened. Now, if the screen is too far down, the keyboard can cover up the text box completely, so then I have to scroll it up to see the text box to start typing. I preferred the previous, touch-the-text-box-and-the-keyboard-opens setup. It's more like my tablet and phone, is more intuitive and takes fewer keystrokes/touches.

Also, the increase in font sizes (both here and in the auto/data feedback boxes) has made it where I can't see as much data when setting up and in running the system, resulting in a lot more scrolling than before.

Note, these are minor issues I'll eventually get used to, but it's not optimal for me.

Thanks and keep up the good work!

Bob

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Doug
Posts: 343
Joined: Fri Feb 02, 2018 4:56 pm

Re: Keyboard on touchscreen

Post by Doug » Sun May 23, 2021 4:43 pm

The old keyboard had some incompatibilities with the new software. The most glaring problem was that the new gcode editor would not work with the old keyboard.

In addition, the old keyboard was integrated with the browser rather then the OS. We believe that having the keyboard integrated with the OS makes it more compatible in general.

As a side note, the old keyboard was called xontab and is available for download at https://apps.xontab.com/VirtualKeyboard/ . You can try re-installing it onto your browser, but it is not something that we will support. Also, it might get removed when you upgrade software.

Bob Z
Posts: 10
Joined: Tue Jul 23, 2019 11:10 am

Re: Keyboard on touchscreen

Post by Bob Z » Tue Jun 08, 2021 3:48 pm

I'm sorry to hear this. The new keyboard setup is very annoying, to be honest, and in addition to having extra steps, the new onscreen keyboard covers up so much of the screen that I have to readjust the screen position and then go back in and tap the MDI space to get to enter the commands. This all adds a lot of steps and always throws me off, as I expect it to be responding like all my other devices (prior to 1.0, it worked pretty much like my iPad, which was great).

I use MDI all the time, and have yet to even open the g-code editor. That is a nice feature on paper, but definitely not something I would use on a regular basis. I keep my files on my PC and editing things on the fly is only going to cause confusion in the long run.

Perhaps in a future revision you can default to the browser keyboard for the MDI and use the system KB for the g-code editor? I don't want to be fooling around with adding unsupported features, etc., my intent is to build product, not fool with the OS of the BB controller.

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