[N2E] Nook Touch - App Support for Hardware Buttons

Search This thread

apeine

Senior Member
Mar 9, 2011
268
31
Sao Paulo
Droid comic viewer is quite good, and allows using volume buttons for going to next / previous page.
But what I don't get is how can I convert volume buttons into nook's physical buttons? Do I have to change a file for that (keybinding)? What am I supposed to do? Can anyone show me what to do?

As for Droid Comic Viewer, you can map the volume_up and volume_down buttons for changing pages, and I use an inverted volume (down for next page and up for previous page) without "changing" my original setup - upper buttons for volume up and lower buttons for volume down.
 
Last edited:

apeine

Senior Member
Mar 9, 2011
268
31
Sao Paulo
By the way, is there any pdf reader that accepts volume buttons for next/previous page? Couldn't find this usage on Repligo and EzPDF reader.
Preferably one that accepts also text highlighting and searchable notes.

Update: Ezpdf reader does change page with volume buttons, and allows highlighting and adding notes to the file. Really great.
So for reading I use:
Droid comic viewer: cbz format is better
Aldiko: for epub files and some quick pdf (not for my master's degree)
ezpdf reader: for pdf with annotation
 
Last edited:

ryanpl

Senior Member
Jan 11, 2011
162
22
E-mails sent for support

Not to let this topic died I E-mailed Aldiko and Montano today.
The folks over at Montano replied with the following:
Hi!

I just read (overlooked would be more appropriate) the XDA thread. We could probably easily add support for the Vol Up/Down buttons. But, since we have developed a lot of software for EInk devices, we know how specific it is and usually the user interface and display partial refreshes have to be very carefully optimized. We did n't see our app on a Nook Touch, we are a little bit "frightened" by the possible result... Do you have a video somewhere? On EInk+Epson devices we optimized a lot the display operations, mostly by carefully selecting the most appropriate Waveform. For example, how does the highlight function behave ? It must be ...ugly, isn't it ?

Best regards,

-- The Mantano team

I'm at work and unable to take video but if anyone is able to help with this please chime in. Ryan
 

giando78

Member
Dec 19, 2010
19
0
Latina
Droid comic viewer is quite good, and allows using volume buttons for going to next / previous page.
But what I don't get is how can I convert volume buttons into nook's physical buttons? Do I have to change a file for that (keybinding)? What am I supposed to do? Can anyone show me what to do?

Did you find out how to remap physical to volume buttons? I also don't know how to do it!
 

giando78

Member
Dec 19, 2010
19
0
Latina
I think also Droid Comic Viewer would benefit from hardware buttons support.

It's a nice little comic reader app supporting all relevant formats (CBR, CBZ, ACV & image formats). Animations can be disabled and there's no dependency with touchscreen interface (it can be entirely operated with button actions). This would make it perfect for an e-ink screen.

I sent an email to the devs today, let's hope they get back to us!

They did come back to me saying they will add to the roadmap the following feature requests:
- ability to configure scrolling amount, rather than having it fixed at 50px; this should reduce the number of scrolls per comic page which is very annoying on e-ink
- support for Nook Touch hardware buttons
 

apeine

Senior Member
Mar 9, 2011
268
31
Sao Paulo
As I informed above, DCV already accepts volume buttons (not original nook touch buttons), and a regular manga page fits the screen. Haven't tried longer pages.
 

ryanpl

Senior Member
Jan 11, 2011
162
22
I just heard back from Mantano Reader. They are planning to include support for Nook Touch Hardware buttons with their next big release which should be the end of this month.
 
  • Like
Reactions: cymoze

klaberte

Senior Member
Jul 19, 2007
411
223
Google Pixel 5
browser?

Despite all the apps options, I still find I use my browser on my nook touch quite a bit. Is anyone asking a browser dev to add button functionality?

I know I can remap to vol +/-, but would prefer direct functionality.

If no one has requested, which browser dev do you think would be most receptive?
 

Top Liked Posts

  • There are no posts matching your filters.
  • 4
    I don't know about everyone else but I would love to see apps that support our Nook's hardware buttons for scrolling and turning pages. I created an small app just to find out exactly what these buttons were. I have attached the test apk and the source for it.

    The buttons generate a KeyEvent that can be captured in the normal manner for handling key presses.
    Left top button - 92
    Left bottom button - 93
    Right top button - 94
    Right bottom button - 95

    All the developer has to do is test for those in addition to whatever they are already monitoring for. I am going to begin emailing developers with this information and see if I get any "takers". I have emailed the following and will post a status here if I hear back:

    Kindle - 5/16: Received an email saying the suggestion would be forwarded on to the appropriate development group
    NewsRob (via google group) - 5/16: The developer is going to add page up/down and article up/down support!
    FeedR - 5/16: Email sent
    Aldiko - 5/16: Email sent
    FBReader - 5/16: Email sent

    In addition I am going to add hardware button support to some open source apps. I have located a number of open source RSS apps:
    http://code.google.com/p/feedgoal/
    http://code.google.com/p/feeddroid/
    http://code.google.com/p/reader/

    As an example of what we can do I have attached an updated FeedGoal where I have added support for the hardware buttons to scroll up and down on a feed article.

    Update 5/17/2011:
    I have modified the Browser from the stock Eclair to support page buttons and compiled it. When I try to start it on the Nook it comes up and then shuts down. One of the times I saw a "signing in" box. My thoughts is that it is trying to do something that requires gapps on the phone? If anyone has any ideas I'd be glad to try them.
    3
    Anyone thought of trying to create a service that'd catch the button presses outside of the stock apps that'd then send the right command for whatever. For example if you press the page forward button or page backward button in stock apps it'd function as designed. If you push it somewhere else like within your custom launcher or another app it'd perform as menu/home/back whatever
    I've started working on exactly this during this weekend. I have so far succeeded in creating service that runs in the background and makes the upper left button a "HOME" button - meaning it shows the home activity of your choice rather than the built in menu like the n button. I'll be glad to give more technical details on what I have learned so far (when I have time, probably next weekend).

    In the mean time, I would like input from other users as to some specifics on how it should work.

    Here is my current vision:
    - Have option to start the service manually or automatically start at boot (currently hard coded to start a boot)
    - The keylayout files can remain untouched so that they still work properly for the stock applications
    - the service will be aware of what Activity is in the foreground and remap purpose the buttons accordingly.
    - there will be a settings Activity that lets you choose the functionality of each button on a per application basis
    - the choices will to be to broadcast an Intent or to create a virtual key press (for example, my "HOME" button does not actually cause a HOME key press, but broadcasts a act...MAIN cat...HOME intent, my next experiment will be to send Vol Up/Down keys when Kindle app is running)

    And this is slightly off topic, but I would like put this on sourceforge or google so that others can contribute and have easy access to it. I've never done that before, so advice on this would be appreciated.
    2
    If you remaps two keys to VOLUME_UP and VOLUME_DOWN, almost all reading-centric programs work will hardware buttons. I have tested:

    Read It Later
    Kindle
    Aldiko
    FBreader
    CoolReader
    Moon+Reader
    RSSdaemon
    NewsRob
    BuzzBox RSS reader


    They all works with remapped buttons.
    1
    Keys are actually

    key 407 RIGHT_NEXTPAGE
    key 412 LEFT_NEXTPAGE
    key 139 LEFT_PREVPAGE
    key 158 RIGHT_PREVPAGE
    1
    Good news, everyone!

    This weekend I received reply from FBReader authors. Here is the translation:

    Since version 1.1.3 FBReader is able to read external file with actions mapped to keys. One can put keymap.xml file into main directory, which is /sdcard/Books by default.
    File format can be seen in example:
    Code:
    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
    <keymap>
    	<binding key="4" action="cancelMenu"/>
    	<binding key="23" action="processHyperlink"/>
    	<binding key="24" action="volumeKeyScrollBackward"/>
    	<binding key="25" action="volumeKeyScrollForward"/>
    	<binding key="66" action="processHyperlink"/>
    </keymap>

    All possible actions are here:
    Code:
    	String SHOW_LIBRARY = "library";
    	String SHOW_PREFERENCES = "preferences";
    	String SHOW_BOOK_INFO = "bookInfo";
    	String SHOW_TOC = "toc";
    	String SHOW_BOOKMARKS = "bookmarks";
    	String SHOW_NETWORK_LIBRARY = "networkLibrary";
    
    	String SWITCH_TO_NIGHT_PROFILE = "night";
    	String SWITCH_TO_DAY_PROFILE = "day";
    
    	String SEARCH = "search";
    	String FIND_PREVIOUS = "findPrevious";
    	String FIND_NEXT = "findNext";
    	String CLEAR_FIND_RESULTS = "clearFindResults";
    
    	String SET_TEXT_VIEW_MODE_VISIT_HYPERLINKS = "hyperlinksOnlyMode";
    	String SET_TEXT_VIEW_MODE_VISIT_ALL_WORDS = "dictionaryMode";
    
    	String TURN_PAGE_BACK = "previousPage";
    	String TURN_PAGE_FORWARD = "nextPage";
    
    	String VOLUME_KEY_SCROLL_FORWARD = "volumeKeyScrollForward";
    	String VOLUME_KEY_SCROLL_BACK = "volumeKeyScrollBackward";
    	String SHOW_MENU = "menu";
    	String SHOW_NAVIGATION = "navigate";
    
    	String GO_BACK = "goBack";
    	String EXIT = "exit";
    	String SHOW_CANCEL_MENU = "cancelMenu";
    
    	String ROTATE = "rotate";
    	String INCREASE_FONT = "increaseFont";
    	String DECREASE_FONT = "decreaseFont";
    
    	String PROCESS_HYPERLINK = "processHyperlink";
    
    	String SELECTION_SHOW_PANEL = "selectionShowPanel";
    	String SELECTION_HIDE_PANEL = "selectionHidePanel";
    	String SELECTION_CLEAR = "selectionClear";
    	String SELECTION_COPY_TO_CLIPBOARD = "selectionCopyToClipboard";
    	String SELECTION_SHARE = "selectionShare";
    	String SELECTION_TRANSLATE = "selectionTranslate";
    	String SELECTION_BOOKMARK = "selectionBookmark";
    Program must be restarted in order to pick up changes in config file.

    Can anyone test if this really works? I can't test it right now.

    And, I suggest to make a donation to this wonderful program authors.

    Cheers.