Control Scrolling of Game Description in Emulationstation

[Lolonois]

Referring to my older post a few weeks ago:

https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/31559/pr-to-enable-hotkey-use-within-emulationstation

I came up with an implementation which addresses the requests [1,2,3] to control the scrolling of a game's description by some key(-combo) in EmulationStation. Also as reading speed is very individual/subjective, there is no "right" scrollspeed and/or scroll-delay which puts emphasis on the manually controllable scrolling.

My idea was to use Hotkey to implement extra button functions:

1. Press and hold Hotkey to stop a game's description scrolling any time, scrolling will continue as you release Hotkey. See also this short video: https://jumpshare.com/embed/C39cp6nAOWx7FQLX6a8A

2. Press and hold Hotkey and push Up or Down to scroll up respective down. Again scrolling will stop as you release Up/Down but still hold Hotkey. The longer you push up or down the faster the scrolling will be. See also this short video: https://jumpshare.com/embed/76APwDR2LfT96EgQml3k

3. If you release Hotkey scrolling will continue as usual.

I currently keep the changes in this branch:
https://github.com/Gemba/EmulationStation/tree/fb_hotkey_gamedesc_scroll

Remember you will need to apply also the changes in RetroPie-Setup noted in my other post (see above), before you can utilize this feature.

What are your thoughts on this?

Cheers,
Lolonois

[1] https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/10372/suggestion-scroll-game-description-with-right-analog
[2] https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/18531/slow-down-description-when-shown-on-game-selection-menu
[3] https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/25897/delay-scrolling-of-game-description-synopsis

On a side note: Allowing Hotkey as input in ES would also enable the implementation of this idea:
https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/31713/play-video-snap-with-button-press

[Lolonois]

How to try out on a Raspberry Pi:

1. Exit Emulationstation

2. Make a backup of your current emulationstation binary /opt/retropie/supplementary/emulationstation/emulationstation.

3. Make a backup of /home/pi/.emulationstation/es_input.cfg

4. Start jstest /dev/input/js0 # or 1, 2, depending on your setup or if USB attached controllers jstest /dev/input/by-id/<your usb controller> and press the hotkey button, or a button not yet assigned. Note down the button number when pressing that button.

5. Put this number into the es_input.cfg below the controller section you just used for jstest. The line to be added is:

   	<input name="hotkey" type="button" id="_put_here_the_noted_button_number_" value="1"/>
   

6. Change to folder RetroPie-Setup: cd ~/RetroPie-Setup

7. Clear out previous source tree: sudo rm -rf tmp/build/emulationstation-dev

8. Make a folder mkdir -p tmp/build/emulationstation-dev and change to the folder pushd tmp/build

9. Run git clone --recursive --depth 1 --branch fb_hotkey_gamedesc_scroll https://github.com/Gemba/EmulationStation emulationstation-dev

10. Return to previous folder and run sudo: popd && sudo then:

    ./retropie_packages.sh emulationstation-dev depends
    ./retropie_packages.sh emulationstation-dev build
    

11. After successful building, copy the emulationstation binary: sudo cp /home/pi/RetroPie-Setup/tmp/build/emulationstation-dev/emulationstation /opt/retropie/supplementary/emulationstation/. Exit sudo shell.

12. Start Emulationstation

To revert: Restore your backup of es_input.cfg and emulationstation and run cd ~/RetroPie-Setup && sudo ./retropie_packages.sh emulationstation-dev clean to clean the cloned repo.

Your feedback is appreciated.

[Lolonois]

Updated sample video links showing the proposed functionality as Anonfiles was shutdown.

Got four likes in the meantime. But the functionality in general does not seem to be widely anticipated?