Lock screen and screen rotation during playback

[nicke623 3]

I have noticed that locking screen have been removed in the latest versions of the app (currently have 2.8.76) . I missing that function because I don't want the video to rotate then I turning my notepad during playback. Can I bypass this somehow?

[Luke 42077]

We can look at adding the lock function back in a future update. thanks !

[adam1010 19]

Was the lock feature to prevent the controls from working during playback? Like VLC's padlock icon?

 

If so please +1 my vote on bringing it back -- my child recently became old enough to sit still with an Android phone/tablet but she doesn't understand not to touch the screen during playback.

 

Ideally I would start something playing, hit the playback control lock, and then hand her the device to reduce the liklihood that she'll mess it up.  Currently I have to download the video locally and open it in VLC so I can use their control lock feature.

[Luke 42077]

What controls would you want to lock?

[adam1010 19]

I think the way VLC does it is fine -- essentially all controls (the playback controls, play/pause/skip, plus the seek bar, and the back/exit button) are removed from the overlay. When the screen is touched the overlay that appears just has an unlock icon -- tapping that icon will restore all of the controls.

 

In my opinion, the VLC overlay pops up too easily -- I would actually prefer a double-tap to the screen (instead of the current single-tap) to bring up the overlay (when in locked mode). That way when my kid adjusts her grip on the device (with her palms or thumbs touching the screen since she doesn't know better), it won't bring up the overlay and increase the chance of accidentally leaving locked mode.  I don't think a long-press would be sufficient because she normally holds it by the screen which would probably register as a long press -- I'm thinking a double-tap or triple-tap would be more immune to accidental screen contact.

 

Thanks as always Luke!

[Luke 42077]

We just have so much stuff on the video OSD right now i am not thrilled about even more icons. we might have to take something out like the ff/rew buttons.

[adam1010 19]

Can you just put it in the gear/settings sub-menu?  Maybe change the gear icon to the 3 dots / hamburger menu icon so you can list all kinds of other features in there that don't need to be displayed on the main OSD.

 

Then you could create a "locked" version of the OSD that only has the one (small) unlock icon.

 

if(single_tap() && !is_locked())

   show_osd('standard')

else if(double_tap() && is_locked())

   show_osd('locked')

 

 

Or actually it would be even less work to just have the triple tap automatically exit/disable locked mode (so you don't have to have a 2nd OSD or try to change the visibility of buttons on the current OSD).  I think I would actually prefer this --- once you've enabled lock mode, single and double taps to the screen don't have any effect -- a triple tap will go ahead and display the normal OSD and exit locked mode.

 

if( (single_tap() && !is_locked()) ||  (triple_tap() && is_locked()){

   set_locked(false)

   show_osd()

}

[Luke 42077]

I guess it could go there.

[adam1010 19]

Yeah just a "Lock Controls" text button in that sub-menu would be fantastic. Clicking it would display a brief toast message saying "Triple-tap the screen to re-enable controls"

 

If you're able to have "locked mode" persist when auto-advancing to the next episode that would be great too. A lot of the kids shows are pretty short and I wouldn't want the controls to automatically re-activate every time an episode ends.

[adam1010 19]

I noticed a few other items that we need to disable when in Lock mode -- in addition to the (1) player controls OSD that appears with single tap, there is the (2) left navigation menu that can be opened with a swipe, and also the (3) volume adjuster and (4) brightness adjuster that is handled with vertical finger drag.

 

So if there's a way to ignore all screen touches (or disable all event listeners) except for the triple tap  (which disables Lock Mode), that would be ideal.

[Luke 42077]

Thanks for the feedback.