[Feature suggestion] Better device management

[LouP]

Hello!

I've been playing with the macOS app a bit and have had an overall good experience for a beta version! A few crashes did occur but I never lost data so it's only a minor inconvenience.
Also, I thought about using the export/import functionality to enter my own Pronto IR codes as premade databases tend to be of poor quality but it isn't the case here, my needs are pretty much covered.

One thing did make the experience less than ideal for quick iteration:
I could not find a way to add or remove devices without totally overwriting the remote's button mapping.
I tried to work around the problem with the import/export functionality (export config -> remove/add device -> import config) but that obviously didn't work as the exported config also contains the list of devices selected.

I'm sure using the wizard was a dev time-saving decision for the beta but I just wanted to highlight that a better UX here would be valuable for me and probably other users too!

Thank you

[jason]

8 minutes ago, LouP said:

Hello!

I've been playing with the macOS app a bit and have had an overall good experience for a beta version! A few crashes did occur but I never lost data so it's only a minor inconvenience.
Also, I thought about using the export/import functionality to enter my own Pronto IR codes as premade databases tend to be of poor quality but it isn't the case here, my needs are pretty much covered.

One thing did make the experience less than ideal for quick iteration:
I could not find a way to add or remove devices without totally overwriting the remote's button mapping.
I tried to work around the problem with the import/export functionality (export config -> remove/add device -> import config) but that obviously didn't work as the exported config also contains the list of devices selected.

I'm sure using the wizard was a dev time-saving decision for the beta but I just wanted to highlight that a better UX here would be valuable for me and probably other users too!

Thank you

Thanks so much for the awesome feedback. Really appreciate it.

Erasing the device or removing it isn't sufficient like below? Or do you mean adding an additional virtual remote that isn't assigned to one you own?

[LouP]

Maybe I'm not understanding properly your suggestion, when I say "device" I mean a set of IR codes. The setup wizard let's us choose multiple devices to assign to an activity but it resets the remote's button mapping which is not ideal if we already set the remote up.

Maybe I missed it?




btw unrelated but I noticed a small typo while going to take that screenshot

[jason]

Ah okay. So if you jump back into the wizard, and remove the device, and you finish the wizard, it tries to remap buttons. Is it not working this way or did you expect / want something different?

[theboomr]

I think what @LouP is saying is that if you have an activity already setup on the remote with, let's say, a TV, and an A/V receiver, for example, but then later you realize you want to add another device to that same activity, like an Xbox or streaming stick or something, the only way to add another device is to go back into the wizard, but then once you've selected the new device and continued through the steps of the wizard, any custom button mappings you had set up (like assigning rare misc functions to number keys or something like that) get reset to their default mappings. I have experienced this several times as well while fiddling and tweaking my setup.

[LouP]

Yes, that's exactly what I'm reporting @theboomr, thank you for clarifying my explanation!

It is only an improvement suggestion, I managed to do everything I wanted but the limitation mentioned above made things less straightforward than they could be.

[borez]

Hi,

Would like to echo this request. A better solution would be to create a "Device Management" tab where you can store default layout profiles of specific devices (i.e. TVs, streaming boxes, receivers etc). And to select from this preset list when creating activities. After all, it's going to be a fixed device pool.

Also, would be good if there can be a full display of remote functionality codes when selecting the device group. For now its against generic naming conventions (Group 1, 2) so some guesswork is needed on which code profile suits best. Although I understand the remote database will include specific model convention going forward?

Edited March 19 by borez

[Nathan]

On 3/19/2023 at 2:05 AM, borez said:

Hi,

Would like to echo this request. A better solution would be to create a "Device Management" tab where you can store default layout profiles of specific devices (i.e. TVs, streaming boxes, receivers etc). And to select from this preset list when creating activities. After all, it's going to be a fixed device pool.

Also, would be good if there can be a full display of remote functionality codes when selecting the device group. For now its against generic naming conventions (Group 1, 2) so some guesswork is needed on which code profile suits best. Although I understand the remote database will include specific model convention going forward?

Excellent idea on the first part. We're going through designs right now on how to better handle existing configurations. Will suggest mocking up something like that to the designers.

Regarding part two, I believe the eventual plan is to turn the Testing option in the wizard into the ability to scroll the entire button list and test every button. This should get you what you're looking for, code-wise. Further, our ultimate goal is to make most of this incredibly simple with just remote lookup, so you don't have to do any guessing at all.