Check this idea out...
Ok designers, listen up. I’d like to present an idea that I’ve been toying around with in my mind for some time. It would be a major addition, so I don’t know if it’s even possible, and also I’m not sure that all, or even most of the iCurcuit users would really care about this one way or the other. So maybe it just can’t be done if it’s not something that the majority of iCircuit’ers out there would care about or if there’s some sort of technical reason why implementing it at the code level would be impossible or just too much work for what it would be worth. However, with that said, I can’t see why people out there wouldn’t totally love it. So hows about I get to the dang idea huh? (Sorry...)
So anyway, I’m an audio guy, right? Studio engineer, electronics tinkerer/sometime designer, musician and avid iCircuit user. The things that I make with this program are often quite expansive, with multiple subcircuits and IC’s and stuff. Often with quite a few potentiometers and switches for controlling various functions. So here’s where my idea comes in.
•••••••
What if there were like a panel, like a front panel of a piece of equipment, blank except for a power switch on the left or right side (like an illuminated rocker or Pushbutton). It would have its own page just like the scope does, so there would be a tab or a button to tap on the main circuit editor page to get to it. It would start out blank and then controls would appear as you added potentiometers, switches, LED’s, lamps, and more. Not every element would have a front-panel representative, for example the resistor, capacitor, etc. but quite a few would. There could be three types of elements- 1)those that don’t need a front panel representative 2)those that definitely do need a front panel representative such as switches, lamps and the potentiometer, and a few more 3) those that CAN HAVE a front panel representative if you so choose, and that could be done with a sliding switch on the info page for a given element. For example, the AC or DC source. Choose to have a front panel representative and it would appear as a dial with 0V to whatever, 100 or 1000, etc. Choose no representative and it’s just within the circuit and presumably “inside” the piece of equipment that the front panel represents. Then the ports- they could become REAR-panel jacks that could be connected with “wires” or “cables” to another piece of “equipment” which would be another circuit file/page with its own front panel. Heck, you could have a “Rack View” which would show some or all of the user’s circuit files represented as 19” rackmount equipment. Swipe upward to scroll down the rack and see all of the gear. Turn it on. Adjust a potentiometer. Hit a switch. And things REALLY HAPPEN because each of these pieces of “gear” are fully functional circuits that the user has created.
Ok, so I know that a lot of the users out there aren’t doin such expansive things with this program. They are just stringing a few elements together to learn or play with electronics a little bit, and for them, it might be a bit much considering the fact that they don’t have any circuit files containing more than maybe a couple of tens of elements total. So it could go two ways. 1) you offer “example” circuits that alredy have front panel functionality, like an equalizer, or a radio, or whatever else, and they can play around. Or 2) you make two different versions of ICircuit. One for basic users and one for people like me who could do a whole lot more if it was there to be utilized.
I have many more thoughts about all of this but I don’t even know if anyone cares so that’s all im going to say here.