"Coverflow" Control

General
1

for a current project I needed a control similar to the CoverFlow control found in iTunes and OSX Finder…
Here is an image of what it looks like so far

You can control the pictures using INSERT, APPEND and REMOVE as well as Dropping them from an external source (Drop can be disabled if required)
You can change the background color, the subtitle font, size and color
You can navigate via the Scrollbar, Arrow Keys or mouseclick on any photo
It returns the IMAGE, TITLE or VALUE (index of the picture within the control)
It automatically resizes the display if the control is resized.
All is encapsulated in a CONTAINER Control (which has a canvas and scrollbar)

This is only a few hours work so far, and I have more to get it all polished up…

But when I do, I will be giving the source code away… The only caveat… if you use it… credit me in you ABOUT or Docs.

I will add a link to this thread when it is ready.

2

That looks spectacular, Dave. My first idea is to use to display pictures of reports.

3

Nice work, Dave…Can’t wait to use it…

4

Previous image above did not adjust the aspect ratio of the source pictures properly…
Also added optional reflection, and gradient background

Hope to have it ready for download over the weekend

Any feature requests?

and you can change how “strong” the reflection is… as well as the gradient color start and end.

5

Dave that is awesome! Well done and very fast too I may add :slight_smile:

6

Isn’t coverflow something that is protected by Apple’s patents? Just wondering.

7

Awesome job Dave!

8

I believe that Apple do have a patent for Coverflow technology and had a big fight some while ago but I guess you just need to find out what the patent was for as there are many similar UI components using the carousel idea. You can see some of the WPF ones at this Google Images link.

9

There are thousands of Javascript, HTML5, WPF (ad naseum) versions of controls just like this… and if you compare this to iTunes or Finder, they actually are NOT the same from a visual point of view. I used the term “coverflow” as that is what you all would recoginize.

But I tell you what… if Apple sends me a “cease and desist” order… I will… until then :slight_smile:

10

[quote=37133:@Dave S]There are thousands of Javascript, HTML5, WPF (ad naseum) versions of controls just like this… and if you compare this to iTunes or Finder, they actually are NOT the same from a visual point of view. I used the term “coverflow” as that is what you all would recoginize.

But I tell you what… if Apple sends me a “cease and desist” order… I will… until then :)[/quote]
Good :slight_smile: I suspect that if you avoid the ‘C’ word you will be ok. I think Coverflow was dropped from iTunes anyway and on iOS 7 it now looks like… O M G it looks like Windows Metro!! Lots of little squares - somebody should sue :smiley:

11

Ok… Here it is… There is a NOTES section that describes the Properties and Methods.
This code is free for you to use in any project… as long as you provide proper credit
If you find any defects, or have any improvements, please let me know… so we can all benefit.

And it is now “PictureFlow” :slight_smile:

PictureFlow ZipFile

THIS HAS ONLY BEEN TESTED UNDER OSX (Xojo2013r2, OSX 10.8.5]
It should run under Windows (turn GDI+ on), but don’t know how much flicker you will get

12

[quote=37149:@Dave S]Ok… Here it is… There is a NOTES section that describes the Properties and Methods.
This code is free for you to use in any project… as long as you provide proper credit
…[/quote]
Thanks a lot! Generous it is.

13

Very nice work Dave, very well done !!! You are a very talented man.

If I was Xojo inc, I should give you a free pro license.

14

Unfortunately doesn’t work on windows 8, no drop of image allowed.

15

There are still programmatic methods for populating the list… as a matter of fact the Drag-n-Drop was added as an afterthought.

The project of mine I designed this for will have that option will be disabled even.

16

FYI:

The dtplugins has an OS X native coverflow control. So no remake but the real Coverflow of iTunes.

BTW the dtplugins also have a native listbox and several other nice native controls.

17

@Dave: It is a good attempt to mimic the Coverflow but it lacks the animation and ‘flow’. :slight_smile:

I really recommend trying/using the dtPlugins. The native Coverflow is awesome and just works 100% like the iTunes/Finder.

You can download a demo at: http://www.dethomsoft.com
But there is a much newer and better version not released for public (only registered users I guess).
The registration fee is ridiculous kept low so please support the dev.

18

Christoph… I didn’t post this to force you to use it… I didn’t even write it with the intent of providing it to anyone at all. I wrote it for myself… and if other benefit from it fine… For those that wish to use it, please feel free… for those that don’t… no need to rip on it.

19

Lol - there is always someone who wants to pour water on your bonfire. Well done Dave for sharing it, this could be a way forward for you and many others (me included) to open source some of your ideas and then let others contribute by code rather than criticism, although other peoples ideas are always good. Have you considered doing the full github/open source thing with it? Maybe your toolbar too if you want to, then other people can improve it and you can gain the advantage of that too.

20

As usual Dave, you have very long toes to step on (its not the first time you fire up when someone replies to your posts). Please lighten up. No reason to become irritated.

And FYI I was NOT dissing your code at all, nor did I wanted you to think I was dissing it. I just wanted to note there is already an awesome native Flowcontrol that works fine.