I want to have an overview of all the pages/scenes within a book

Solar2D Composer
#1

Hi everybody,

I am developing an iPad application for children to read cartoon books before they sleep, so the storyboard API is just perfect for me to navigate from one scene to another easily.

But now I want to have an overview of all the pages I have in the book/story so I can choose which page to got directly instead of going through all the pages from the begging.

Does the storyboard API support something like that ?

here is a link for what I exactly want https://dl.dropbox.com/u/64382000/viewmode_menu.png
–> In the pic I want to implement the bar on the right.
Thank you [import]uid: 184846 topic_id: 33394 reply_id: 333394[/import]

#2

I would look into using the storyboard.showOverlay() API Call as well as it’s sister call storyboard.hideOverlay().

You don’t have to use storyboard for this either. You could create your menu in main.lua and never add the group to storyboard managed scenes and it would always be there above any storyboard scene. Then you could either add that menu to the _G. global table, or add it as a member to the storyboard object:

local menuGroup = display.newGroup()  
... insert some objects ...  
  
storyboard.menu = menuGroup  
storyboard.menu.isVisible = false

Then later when you want it, since it’s now part of storyboard, the reference to the group is available in any scene with storyboard, you could just do:

storyboard.menu.isVisible = true

In your button handler the button that shows the menu.
[import]uid: 199310 topic_id: 33394 reply_id: 132659[/import]

#3

yes thank you this is helpful and I will actually use it but maybe I was not clear enough in my question,
actually I have a problem with filling the “pop-up” menu itself. It should have all the pages in the book in a smaller size so they can fit in the menu. So my question is if storyboard API supports something like giving you an overview of all the scenes you have or I should take a snap shot of every page in the book then fill the menu with it ?

Thank you for your support :slight_smile:
[import]uid: 184846 topic_id: 33394 reply_id: 132747[/import]

#4

I’m not aware of any method to automatically create thumbnail images of your storyboard scenes and of course the scene could vary throughout its life.

As you suggest you can screenshot the scenes at the right point and use that or write a routine to run through each scene and automatically capture (if you have lots). [import]uid: 106799 topic_id: 33394 reply_id: 132753[/import]

#5

I would look into using the storyboard.showOverlay() API Call as well as it’s sister call storyboard.hideOverlay().

You don’t have to use storyboard for this either. You could create your menu in main.lua and never add the group to storyboard managed scenes and it would always be there above any storyboard scene. Then you could either add that menu to the _G. global table, or add it as a member to the storyboard object:

local menuGroup = display.newGroup()  
... insert some objects ...  
  
storyboard.menu = menuGroup  
storyboard.menu.isVisible = false

Then later when you want it, since it’s now part of storyboard, the reference to the group is available in any scene with storyboard, you could just do:

storyboard.menu.isVisible = true

In your button handler the button that shows the menu.
[import]uid: 199310 topic_id: 33394 reply_id: 132659[/import]

#6

There isn’t an overview function like that. You would have to make your own thumbnails and hand load them. [import]uid: 199310 topic_id: 33394 reply_id: 132814[/import]

#7

yes thank you this is helpful and I will actually use it but maybe I was not clear enough in my question,
actually I have a problem with filling the “pop-up” menu itself. It should have all the pages in the book in a smaller size so they can fit in the menu. So my question is if storyboard API supports something like giving you an overview of all the scenes you have or I should take a snap shot of every page in the book then fill the menu with it ?

Thank you for your support :slight_smile:
[import]uid: 184846 topic_id: 33394 reply_id: 132747[/import]

#8

I’m not aware of any method to automatically create thumbnail images of your storyboard scenes and of course the scene could vary throughout its life.

As you suggest you can screenshot the scenes at the right point and use that or write a routine to run through each scene and automatically capture (if you have lots). [import]uid: 106799 topic_id: 33394 reply_id: 132753[/import]

#9

There isn’t an overview function like that. You would have to make your own thumbnails and hand load them. [import]uid: 199310 topic_id: 33394 reply_id: 132814[/import]