New GUI idea (with box art)

[Axxer]

Dolphin Dev Team/anyone reading this:

I've been searching around for various emulator front ends and I haven't found one that just shows box art in a grid. I figured this would be pretty easy, but most front ends are for MAME, so they don't include box art as much.

So my idea is a new GUI for Dolphin (which could just be a view option, it doesn't need to replace the existing set up). Basically it's just a grid oPef box art for each of the games with names underneath. When you click on a game it would bring up a more detailed description with a bigger box art picture, a button to view the back, and the description of the game contained in the ISO. It would run much better in full screen. There could also be links to the wiki/thread for that game and a properties button. If the pictures could be found (though I doubt it) there could also be an image of the disc. A GameCube/Wii in the corner. Nothing would need to be animated, it could all be static.

It might also be a good idea just to make this a separate open source project that is compatible with dolphin, but also with other emulators. If such a front end already exists, just point me to it and let this thread die.

I would make this myself if I was more familiar with Windows development, but I still have to work on that. I would be willing to work on the project though (I can still program in Java mostly, but I an do C/C++).

[Zee530]

Somebody did this a while ago, cant remember who or where? but yeah there's a dirty build somewhere in the forums that shows box art but it'll probably be an old build.

[MayImilae]

Somebody did this a while ago

If you are referring to the mac one, that was just a mockup.

[NaturalViolence]

Step 1. Make the GUI
Step 2. Submit it on the forums so that people can look at it
Step 3. The developers will then decide if it's worth committing to master, if not people can still use it if they want to

[Axxer]

1. That'll take me a very long time... (I need to work on Windows/Mac/Linux development and how to use the same code for multiple OS's; I'm still new to desktop programming)
2. I'll do so
3. ...unrelated to me for the most part.

I have school from 8am-5pm, so I don't have much time, but I'll see what I can do.

[Axxer]

I tried looking at Dolphin's code to see what I could change and find out which libraries it was using for the GUI, but tbh I can't stand C++ (from a legibility perspective) so it was very hard to read. Im still having problems figuring out where I can edit the code and what library to use. Any help pointing me in the right direction would be greatly appreciated.

[Garteal]

You'll get used to C++. I didn't like it either before after using C#, but it slowly grew on me.
The library Dolphin uses for the GUI is called wxWidgets. You should look up some tutorials and get familiar with it.

[Axxer]

Thank you! That's what I needed. I'll post up some mock-up of my idea soon.

Speaking of which, does you know of a good GUI mock-up tool? I could use paint.net, but the mock-up would just look awful.

---

Evolus pencil is a good one?

[Garteal]

Paint.NET should be able to do the job.
Otherwise if you need something a bit more powerful, you can use GIMP.

I use Photoshop myself (cause I'm skilled with it), but the most important thing is your design, not the tool.

[Axxer]

I have it done now (I ended up using Pencil because of all of the button options to drag on and such). Here is what my design is right now:

Main Dolphin Window:



After Clicking on Wind Waker: (in a separate window, which will become the emulation window when "Play" is pressed)



After Clicking Flip:



That is the idea right now. This was somewhat hastily thrown together so the boxes aren't all the same size and some stuff isn't centered perfectly, but I think that will be easier to do when I can specify exact/relative locations in the code.

The other thing that might be included is names under each of the boxes and a drop-down menu in the upper right (on the config bar area) to order by title, size, compatibility, etc.

P.S. Sorry if the images are large, if they were made smaller they would look like crap so I kept them actual size.

EDIT: Some explanation of where all of the data in the game window comes from...

- The name comes from inside of the game and/or on the wiki (preferably the "long name" from the ISO).
- The box art will come from the wiki (the back would have to be added to the wiki for this to work; GameFAQs is where I got all of them for now)
- The description in the middle comes from the wiki
- The stuff on the right side comes from the ISO.
- The GameCube logo on the right (which would obviously be a Wii logo for Wii games) I just found on the internet and would be included with Dolphin