newRPL: [UPDATED April 27-2017] Firmware for testing available for download

[Claudio L.]

(11-22-2015 09:00 PM)Helix Wrote:  I'm still thinking about the two independent menus. I think it would be great, because since the beginning I'm not comfortable with the variable menu assigned to the G..L keys. I would prefer to have the variable menu associated to the A..F keys, and the command menu to the G..L keys. Just a matter of preference.

But this raises several questions.

When one menu is a command menu and the other a variable menu, in principle there is no difficulty: something like left Shift PRG will affect the command menu, and something like UPDIR will affect the variable menu. But which menu will be changed by CST for example?

And how to display two command menus?

When two command menus are displayed, we need a way to know which menu will be changed, so a switching method must be implemented.

Then, what to do to return to a variable menu? VAR is not possible, because it has become command in this situation. Perhaps a long press on VAR, but it is already used for masking the second menu. Or this latter action should be shifted to another key: APPS, MODE, TOOL?

I think you are hitting the right nail. I believe we can solve your problem with one key (and only one).

Here's how:

• One key will "SWAP" the first and second menus.
• One flag will determine whether the commands (like CST) change the first or the second menu.
  

For example, initially the second menu will be VARS, and all menu changes will go into menu 1.
If you wanted to change the VARS menu to be the first, just hit the menu swap key, and if you want, change the flag so all changes affect the second menu, so your VARS doesn't change.
If you wanted to change VARS into some other command menu, you could just SWAP, change, then SWAP again.

This way, we achieve the following:

• No additional keypresses to use the menus (vs. the hp48)
• One menu becomes semi-permanent, the other one changes all the time, but both menus can change arbitrarily.
• You can use VARS in whichever menu you want.
• We need only one extra key