feature request: Whiteboard not full screen

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enrico200165

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Jul 2, 2014, 7:25:49 AM7/2/14
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At least on my phone the whiteboard displays full screen.

Would it be possible to make it not full screen, ideally to make its size user defined?

The desiderata behind this request are:
- to be able to scroll without turning the whiteboard off
- to use, in the body of cards, links that call javascript

I use "long" cards and I always draw a kanji when I answer, this means that at every review I have to switch the whiteboard on and off,
I have inserted in the body of the cards some javascript to flip between 'none' and 'block'' the display of some <div>, this links do not work when I have the scratchpad on

Tim Rae

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Jul 2, 2014, 7:45:07 AM7/2/14
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Hi thanks for the feature request!
This might not be a very robust solution though, as the link could be anywhere on the screen, right? Probably it would be less cumbersome if there was a button in the action bar that you could switch the whiteboard on/off with in a single tap?


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enrico200165

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Jul 2, 2014, 7:56:12 AM7/2/14
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I am using the button on the top right of the screen to switch the whiteboard on and off , but doing that at every review is a real pain.

The ideal thing for me would be that the whiteboard be part of the card, like a field, and scroll along with the card, to do that it must not be full screen.

Ability to use links, that would also derive from the white board not being full screen is also useful but less important than the above.

I think the feature I request would be useful to anyone who reviews Kanjis or Hanzis in the right way.
For one year I reviewed without writing kanjis, now that I write them I find that it really makes a difference, but switching the whiteboard on and off at any review is a real pain.

Tim Rae

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Jul 2, 2014, 8:12:54 AM7/2/14
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Ah I see... actually I had forgotten that button is there in version 2.1.3... We have actually removed it in version 2.2 which is currently in beta.
It would be nice if we could keep the screen scrollable when whiteboard is enabled, but it's probably not currently an immediate priority of any of the developers... 
You might be better off taking a look at it yourself to be honest:


enrico200165

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Jul 2, 2014, 8:20:11 AM7/2/14
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Hmmm, It's unlikely that I have the time and skill needed to become and Android developer, but if you can tell me in which files is the whiteboard code, or give the method names of whiteboard calls to facilitate search, itwould be a great help.

Tim Rae

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Jul 2, 2014, 8:25:21 AM7/2/14
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The directory structure of the source code is basically like this:
  • src/com/ichi2/anki contains the main source code. (Whiteboard.java and AbstractFlashcardViewer.java will be of most interest for you)
  • assets/flashcard.css contains the CSS file included with each flash card
  • res/values contains app strings, whiteboard colors, and a basic HTML template for flashcards.
  • res/layout contains the GUI layouts for each screen.
Feel free to ask any questions!


enrico200165

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Jul 2, 2014, 8:27:09 AM7/2/14
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Thanks for the info.

(and thanks for this great app)

ospalh

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Jul 2, 2014, 8:39:46 AM7/2/14
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Am Mittwoch, 2. Juli 2014 14:12:54 UTC+2 schrieb Tim:
[…] scrollable when whiteboard is enabled, […]

enrico200165

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Jul 2, 2014, 8:43:14 AM7/2/14
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Thanks for the suggestion, I tried it and on my phone it does not work.

Tim Rae

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Jul 2, 2014, 8:44:26 AM7/2/14
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He means maybe try implementing that feature, as per the example code in his link


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enrico200165

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Jul 2, 2014, 8:54:45 AM7/2/14
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OK, this makes me wonder whether I explained the feature clearly:
the feature was not to scroll the content of the whiteboard but to scroll the card, with whiteboard included in the card, like fields are, and not taking 100% of the space but leaving some space to allow normal (1 finger) scrolling.

If I were able to program decently an idea I would consider would be to have a special field representing the whiteboard in the card.

Tim Rae

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Jul 2, 2014, 8:57:13 AM7/2/14
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The whiteboard takes up the whole area of the card, so scrolling the whiteboard is equivalent to scrolling the card


enrico200165

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Jul 2, 2014, 9:01:41 AM7/2/14
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My cards are longer than the screen, and even with cards not longer than the screen drawing over other writing makes difficult to check what you're doing, especially with kanjis with many strokes

Shall I try to make a short movie of my reviews to explain the problem?

Tim Rae

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Jul 2, 2014, 9:05:48 AM7/2/14
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No it's fine, I already understand your problem, I'm just saying that the whiteboard itself is a bitmap overlayed on top of the card. It most likely has the same dimensions as the card (not the screen), so the solution suggested by Ospalh will probably also scroll the card.


Xiao Sun

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Jul 2, 2014, 9:15:37 AM7/2/14
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That's why you need Samsung Galaxy Note series (Wacom FTW)

Stylus = drawing, tip = eraser and finger = scrolling/panning. Just like how it is done on Papyrus App.

enrico200165

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Jul 2, 2014, 9:20:30 AM7/2/14
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Thanks for the advice but for my simple needs it would be enough not to have to enable and disable the scratchpad at nearly every card.

Can you explain how using Notes would remove the problem? I have considered several times buying one but have never used so I naively imagine that I would use stylus rather than finger but still enable and disable whiteboard as many times.

enrico200165

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Jul 2, 2014, 9:23:53 AM7/2/14
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Sorry, saw it only now. Do you mean that it already works with

Stylus = drawing, tip = eraser and finger = scrolling/panning. Just like how it is done on Papyrus App. ?

ospalh

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Jul 2, 2014, 9:38:52 AM7/2/14
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Am Mittwoch, 2. Juli 2014 15:05:48 UTC+2 schrieb Tim:
[… The whiteboard] most likely has the same dimensions as the card (not the screen), […]
Actually not, the screen size is used to calculate the whiteboard size. It pretty much has to be that way, because the whiteboard content is kept when the answer is shown. The length of the answer side isn't even determined until the card is flipped. It can change depending on the text typed in with the {{type:NN}} feature. (Also using whiteboard and type answer together is usually overkill.)

If and when somebody decides to implement something like this, ey would have to decide what happens (what is scrolled) when the program detects that there are two fingers down.

Xiao Sun

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Jul 2, 2014, 9:47:38 AM7/2/14
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AnkiDroid is not optimised for Wacom technology, I think it is one of the greatest unexplored potential of this app. However, I don't think Wacom support will ever come to Anki because none of the developers use the Note and it's will be difficult to add this support.

If you have the Note phone/tablet, you can try the Papyrus app to see how the stylus and finger can be used together to draw, erase and scroll. This is because the screen can differentiate input from the stylus, or the eraser or the finger, and the ability to control the thickness of the stroke.

enrico200165

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Jul 2, 2014, 10:13:44 AM7/2/14
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Unless technical reasons prevent it normal scrolling with one finger to me would seem the best options, probably leaving space on the sides for scrolling (though one might put the finger above or below).

In my "dream cards" I the whiteboard is and element of the card and scrolls with it, below it there is the kanj in stroke order font (display initially set to 'none,' flippable to 'block' with a link calling javascript)

Charles J. Daniels

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Jul 2, 2014, 2:21:47 PM7/2/14
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one potential that would be to support an whiteboard area that could be defined in the card templates that would specify a location and size on the card that could be visually obvious where you should draw -- I understand this brings up the world of anki desktop


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enrico200165

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Jul 2, 2014, 2:29:35 PM7/2/14
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> this brings up the world of anki desktop
Since ankimobile and ankdroid came into existence I have never done a single real review with anki desktop,
only use it to edit decks templates etc. Using IT terminology anki desktop is the development tool/environment, Ankidroid is "production"/running engine.
(am unable to use ankimobile since starting drawing kanjis because the scratchpad is too small for finger on ipod/iphone)
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