It’s been a long time since I lasted posted so no better time to post than right now.
A few days ago forum users requested another view for Media Browser (MB), the cover flow view ala Apple. Very sleek, simple, and do-able in mcml? Um…
Trying to get this view exactly replicated in mcml proved to be quite tricky. The lack of z-ordering in mcml is really starting to get on my nerves. I know this subject has been harped on by others and microsoft probably doesn’t read my blog, but z-order is not in the Windows 7 Media Center SDK either. I really hope that doesn’t mean we have to wait for Windows 8 to get true cover flow in Media Center!
Getting back on topic, with the help of Paul Haley, fellow MB developer, I had the basis of the coverflow. The trick was creating a content-item under a repeater to be list aware. Meaning each content-item (in this case covers) needed to understand where it was in relation to the scroller and the currently focused item. If the cover was to the left of the focused item it needed a different rotation than the covers on the right. Sounds simple enough.
Without boring you on the mcml implementation, this is the result I have achieved so far:
I must admit I have wasted more than a few minutes just staring at this screen admiring it. There is still a lot of things to do, but the basis is in place and hopefully we can roll this into the next beta of Media Browser.