Navigators - malcolmgroves/reaper_csi GitHub Wiki

Navigators provide the context for the Actions triggered within our Zone.

For example, if we’ve got a Fader widget bound to the TrackVolume action, which track will it change the Volume on? The selected track? The Master Track?

Zone “MyWidgets”
    Fader TrackVolume
EndZone

Well, the answer depends on which Navigator we associate with the Zone:

Available Navigators

• SelectedTrackNavigator
• TrackNavigator
• MasterTrackNavigator
• FocusedFxNavigator - See MapFocusedFXToWidgets for details

SelectedTrackNavigator

Zone “MyWidgets”
    SelectedTrackNavigator
    Fader TrackVolume
EndZone

Using the SelectedTrackNavigator will mean that the actions in that Zone act in the context of the currently selected track. Our Fader will change the selected track’s volume, TrackPan would alter that tracks Pan settings, etc. SelectedTrackNavigator is especially useful for tasks like setting the automation mode, record arming, or toggling input monitoring states for the selected track if, for instance, your surface doesn't have multiple sets of buttons for these actions for each channel. SelectedTrackNavigator is how that one Read or Write knob can be setup to work on an 8-fader surface (those buttons would set the automation mode for the selected track only).

Tip: if you wanted to map 8 sends from the current track to a set of widgets, you'd create a Send template zone and use SelectedTrackNavigator to do it.

Track Navigator

Zone "Channel|"
	TrackNavigator
	Fader|  			TrackVolume
ZoneEnd

The TrackNavigator is what CSI uses to manage navigation and control of widgets that may impact multiple tracks. Example: you have an 8-fader surface with 8 rotaries, 8 solo, and 8 mute buttons that you'll want assigned to different tracks. This is where TrackNavigator differs from SelectedTrackNavigator - since we have more than one fader, and we will want to assign them to more than the selected track.

In the above example, the faders are controlling TrackVolume across multiple tracks. You'll notice the use of the pipe character (located by pressing shift+backslash on your keyboard): see the section on setting up Zones for more details on why.

MasterTrackNavigator

Zone “MyWidgets”
    MasterTrackNavigator
    Fader TrackVolume
EndZone

Alternatively, using a MasterTrackNavigator means all those same actions act in the context of the Master Track. TrackVolume, TrackPan, etc will all affect the Master Track, regardless of which tracks are selected.