Bug Report: External Functions

[The Robman]

I must admit that I've never used the External Functions tab in RM before, so today I decided to try it out to see what it does. I deduced that it's a way of incorporating key moves from other devices into the RM side of an upgrade, so I added something that I had already programmed as a keymove into an upgrade to see what it would look like. As expected, the keymove in question got converted from a regular keymove to a shaded keymove that belongs to an upgrade, and I noticed that the Edit Upgrade button became active for it.

Now, here's what I think is a bug. Most of the greyed out entries in my Keymoves section are simply functions that I assigned to buttons that are not part of the keymap, so clicking Edit Upgrade takes me back to that upgrade, as expected. However, I added an External Function to upgrade-1, and the external function just happened to come from upgrade-2. Given that the external function belongs to upgrade-1, I would expect clicking Edit Upgrade to take me to upgrade-1, so I could edit the external function if that's what I wanted to do, however it takes me to upgrade-2, which doesn't have any external functions. Make sense?

The following zip contains 2 copies of my rmir file, one from before I decided to try External Functions (file 4) and one after (file 4a). I added the external function to upgrade DVD/2000 and it just happened to come from upgrade DVD/2002. The external function is on row #16 on the Keymoves tab, for AUX1 shift-SWAP. I was expecting Edit Upgrade to take me to DVD/2000 but it took me to DVD/2002. Are my expectations correct, is this a bug?

https://www.hifi-remote.com/forums/dload ... e_id=26035

Next, I tried the Detach button to see if it works, I was expecting it to convert my external function back to a regular keymove. It does create a new keymove as expected, but it doesn't delete the external function version, and clicking Delete on the external version has no effect either. (file 4b) Is this a bug?

Also, is there any way to disable the "Shaded keymoves..." message? Once you've read it, it kind of gets in the way of navigating the shaded part of the Keymoves tab.

[mathdon]

Are my expectations correct, is this a bug?

I don't think it is a bug. There are two device upgrades involved in an External Function, the one containing the External Function definition and the one defining the function that it references. A user may wish to edit either of these, so I have given the user a choice on pressing Edit Upgrade. I know you hate dialog boxes but I hope you will accept that this is one case where there is a real choice to be made.

It does create a new keymove as expected, but it doesn't delete the external function version, and clicking Delete on the external version has no effect either. (file 4b) Is this a bug?

Yes, that was a bug, now fixed.

Also, is there any way to disable the "Shaded keymoves..." message?

There is now. I have made the "Suppress Confirmation Messages" option suppress this tooltip. That seemed better than creating yet another suppress option.

Please try development build 8, in the usual folder.

[The Robman]

It works on the files that I provided, but I was able to break it.

Even though in the example that I provided, the external function came from another upgrade, I could just as easily have added it from a built in setup code. This appears to be a scenario that has not been accounted for. If I add a function from a built in setup code, I would expect Edit Upgrade to take me to the external function upgrade, without the need for a dialog box, but it just does nothing.

Next, I tried adding 2 external functions to an upgrade, one from another upgrade and one from a built in setup code, and in this case, it breaks the Edit Upgrade button for both keymoves. It also breaks the Detach and Delete buttons. I have added another file (4c) to my zip to demonstrate this.

Regarding the dialog box, I think the button names are confusing, it certainly took my a few minutes to figure out what each button meant. I would suggest changing the 2nd button from "Function" to "Original Upgrade" and change the end of the text to ".. or the original upgrade where the function is defined".

Also, when the dialog box is displayed, I actually have 3 options:
1. Click External Function
2. Click Function
3. Click X

I would expect clicking X to indicate that I've changed my mind and don't want to edit the function after all, so I would expect it to clear the box away, but instead it opens RM for the original upgrade.

Now that I'm messing with External Functions, it occurs to me that people who use this might find an "Attach" button useful, with it doing the opposite of the "Detach" button. In other words, you would highlight a keymove and then click "Attach" and this would give a dialog box where you select one of your upgrades, and once selected, the keymove would be added to the External Functions tab of that upgrade and be assigned to the button to which it's already assigned, only now as part of the upgrade.

[mathdon]

Please try build 9, posted in the usual folder.

[The Robman]

Works perfectly, thanks Graham.