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Crash using HELP facilities
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wahorger



Joined: 13 Oct 2014
Posts: 1217
Location: Morrison, CO, USA

PostPosted: Mon Aug 03, 2020 4:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Things are working. In /CHECKMATE, the help file will not properly display; with /RELEASE, everything appears to be working. So, another thread with an issue of memory management in /CHECKMATE seems to be born out.

http://forums.silverfrost.com/viewtopic.php?t=4287&highlight=

Things are coming together!
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PaulLaidler
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Joined: 21 Feb 2005
Posts: 7916
Location: Salford, UK

PostPosted: Mon Aug 03, 2020 7:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I noticed that you used ZEROISE and that may be relevant.
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wahorger



Joined: 13 Oct 2014
Posts: 1217
Location: Morrison, CO, USA

PostPosted: Mon Aug 03, 2020 3:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks, Paul, for the suggestion. I'll experiment!
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wahorger



Joined: 13 Oct 2014
Posts: 1217
Location: Morrison, CO, USA

PostPosted: Tue Aug 04, 2020 3:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Paul, back on Jan 20 in this thread, I stated that a window was minimized when HELP was invoked. I have more information.

Usually, and I cannot figure why, the window from which HELP was invoked goes to the background and/or the main window of the program gets brought to the top. The HELP is displayed over the top of that. If I close the HELP window, the main window continues to be displayed. I have to search the taskbar for the proper window to be displayed. My windows are all created as [independent].

If I am down two or three windows, the situation appears to be that the window from which the HELP is invoked goes to the background and/or the previous window stays visible/foreground, but still overlaid by the HELP file (as expected).

I am using the HELP syntax of HELPLOOKUP, attached to a menu item. I do not have a simple example.
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PaulLaidler
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Joined: 21 Feb 2005
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Location: Salford, UK

PostPosted: Tue Aug 04, 2020 8:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks. I don't have any further ideas on this at the moment.
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LitusSaxonicum



Joined: 23 Aug 2005
Posts: 2388
Location: Yateley, Hants, UK

PostPosted: Tue Aug 04, 2020 11:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bill,

In the .NET version, there is a subroutine vcBringToFront which is 'normally used to re-activate a modeless dialog'. I think that what you have to do is to bring the 'parent' to the front before closing your help window under program control, and that should make if more easily discoverable. I'm not sure if there is already a Clearwin+ function for this, but in MSDN there is a logical function BringWindowToTop which should do the trick. You feed it the Window Handle of the Window you want on top. I imagine that this has the potential to go completely mad if you give the function an incorrect handle!

There seems to me to be two paradigms in Windows programs, one of which is to have a lot of independent windows (my slide scanner software does this). Personally, I find this approach difficult to use, especially after I'd accidentally closed one of them and wanted it back. The other approach is to only let the user do one thing at a time. Sometimes this latter approach feels overconstrained and tediously pedestrian, but it does mean that the programmer doesn't have to worry about the sort of issue that you describe. The optimum is to have some of each, selected on the basis of how the program works.

As far as 'I cannot figure why' the answer probably lies in some obscure Windows rationale, probably hidden away somewhere in MSDN ! (and at a guess I'd say that somewhere there is probably a stack of window handles from which the display order is obtained, with the last in being the earliest displayed, but remember that is just a guess).

Eddie
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wahorger



Joined: 13 Oct 2014
Posts: 1217
Location: Morrison, CO, USA

PostPosted: Tue Aug 04, 2020 3:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Eddie, unfortunately, the invocation of the HELP file, once instantiated, is not under my control, nor is the closure of that window a detectable event. So, programmatically, I cannot sense the user has the HELP file open or is closing it. I might be able to utilize focus control, but I have to be careful since I can get a runaway train of open windows competing for focus.

The remainder of this message re: HELP and window visibility has been superseded.

The idea that it might be the "[independent]" nature of my windows that causes this behavior did occur to me. I removed the [independent] from my windows but, unfortunately, the effect remains. Since most other programs I use on a regular basis are MDI-style applications, it might be that this behavior is not generally observed. My windows structure might require an overhaul in any case.

I have found that even though they are declared independent (or not), subsequent windows that are created have an interesting effect. Namely, the buttons/control on the parent window appear to be working, but not the menu selections of those parent windows. I am not using %lw (except where there are windows that need to be be spawned and accessed separately).

It might be that the parent window is not automatically "disabled".


Last edited by wahorger on Tue Aug 04, 2020 5:07 pm; edited 1 time in total
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wahorger



Joined: 13 Oct 2014
Posts: 1217
Location: Morrison, CO, USA

PostPosted: Tue Aug 04, 2020 5:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I found a mis-placed "[independent]" in a separate routine invalidating what I said previously.

If this %ww[independent] parameter is not used, then the window from which HELP was invoked appears directly below the HELP window, as I would have hoped.

Sorry for any confusion.
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LitusSaxonicum



Joined: 23 Aug 2005
Posts: 2388
Location: Yateley, Hants, UK

PostPosted: Tue Aug 04, 2020 5:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bill, It's good that you are getting there. My ambitions are clearly less than yours, as I don't do MDI. Instead, I rely on multiple invocations of an SDI program, if any user has that mental agility(while I lack). I also just launch my CHM files through the HH.EXE program, and let the user search for the specifics they want, supplemented with some small dialogs that describe what mouse button clicks do, selected from the Help menu item as 'Mouse help' and also through a toolbar button.
Eddie
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John-Silver



Joined: 30 Jul 2013
Posts: 1520
Location: Aerospace Valley

PostPosted: Wed Aug 05, 2020 5:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Code:
I rely on multiple invocation of an SDI program

Heavy stuff ! B-acting ? Wink from a grade A programmer. LOL
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