Looking for Beta Testers for Computer Graphics Program

[EntityX]

Ray Rover 1.0.39 is on site. Made boo boo and forgot to expand label after I added instructions so 1.0.38 was on site just a few minutes. Boops look at the instructions for saving a Personal Screen on the press w Instruction for Ray Rover page. Just 2 paragraphs down. Even if you couldn't see the Settings Explained page you have all you need there now. I give a much more complete explanation than I gave you in my email.

I also noticed that if you have the screen paused and you then press f to move through the different modes the list wasn't following the mode so I fixed that. The random screen settings buttons are U and \ but they work in the Freestyle mode not the Personal Screens but because the list wasn't updating one could get thrown off.

[EntityX]

In my opinion, using the lowercase and uppercase of a particular character for doing different functions is a bad idea.

Ok ak but I'm trying to squeeze all the functionality I can out of the keyboard so that's why I do it. I want to be able to create changes with a minimum amount of keystrokes. That's a thought though. I sometimes use 2 key combinations for some functions but I like the idea of a single stroke when possible. I don't think any serious error will occur if you end up seeing a settings display versus a keyboard controls list display. If it had to do with weapons control then you wouldn't want to use lower and upper case of the same character but it's not too serious here.

s = Launch ICBM
S = Fire torpedos

Captain I know you asked me to fire the torpedos but I'm really sorry. I forgot to press the shift key.

[EntityX]

akhileshbc thanks much for your email. I'm just using a monitor that has maximum 1280 width on resolution so I set max size for form too low. I corrected that so the next version should display ok. I'm surprised Boops didn't say something about that because I know he often uses a high screen resolution. I should perhaps consider buying a monitor with a high resolution. I have an old emachines monitor that was made back when the cowboys and indians were fighting.

I think I'll keep my Settings Explained form the way it is. It would be an enourmous amount of work to convert it over to something else. I know I can't copy and paste from the properties window for text for each of the labels. If I could then I might consider it but I think it looks sufficiently good as it is. Right now I'm in the process of rebuilding the Settings Control Screen so I will think about whether I try some other scheme like you suggest. The reason I'm rebuilding it is because there is some kind of bug associated with the Form. If the edge of a combobox is touching the edge of the form when it opens then it doesn't open. I added a new form to my application and am adding things to it gradually so until that is complete anyone that sets the Windows display property for text size above the default value will very likely get the same problem where the Settings Control Screen doesn't open. I think most people leave that in default but I'd like to take care of that problem for those few people that do use one of the 2 larger text sizes.

Akhileshbc you said

Also, I think it would be better to consider a HTML based documentation (or RTF Text). Because it could give more decent look. Instead of using the labels.

I know nothing about that. I can do that on a standard Windows Form? Would I use items from the Windows Form toolbox? I'm thinking probably not.

I've been using code like this so that no matter what the screen resolution is set to it spaces the labels and comboboxes out across the width of the screen without going beyond the left and right limits. That way left and right scrolling isn't necessary.

XLimit = My.Computer.Screen.Bounds.Width
Me.ComboBoxVPT3.Location = New System.Drawing.Point(CInt(Xlimit * 174 / 800), 608)

I could still do that or something equivalent to it with RTF or HTML based documentation? Or maybe there's another way to do that? Maybe you could point me in the right direction to learn about RTF or HTML based documentation.

[EntityX]

I've just been thinking about it and I very likely will keep it the way it is. I might make some minor adjustments like in the layout or style of labels but I like it the way it is even though it's on the plain side. I like things on the plain side.

[EntityX]

Ray Rover 1.0.40 is up on the site. The maximum size for the Settings Control Screen has been increased greatly so it should display full screen now no matter what the screen resolution is. Also made some adjustments to the go back 1 screen and go back 50 screens code so it works well for all the modes.

Boops you could let me know when you get a chance what the same section of the Settings Explained window looks like on your computer that you posted in post # 18 and if the rest of the explanations below that looks better than it did before. It seems like akhilesbc's computer displays that window the same as mine does so it works ok for him.

[boops boops]

I installed 40. I don't see the settings explained screen because the settings screen (w) crashes the program. Or, rather, the window (or whatever it is) closes leaving a process running that has to be killed by Ctrl-Alt-Delete.

What's high-res about 1680 x 1050? it has been commonplace for desktop systems in the last few years, and the shops I've seen sell hardly any separate monitors below 1920 x 1080.

What language are you coding this program in? Can't you change to putting the output, or at least the info, into normal resizable windows? That way you shouldn't have to worry about screen resolution. The present compulsory kiosk mode is nothing but a nuisance. It should only take a few lines of code to provide full-screen when the user wants it.

BB

[akhileshbc]

I could still do that or something equivalent to it with RTF or HTML based documentation? Or maybe there's another way to do that? Maybe you could point me in the right direction to learn about RTF or HTML based documentation.

You could use the RichTextBox control in toolbox.

Public Class Form1
 
    Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        '~~~ My file RTF file was situated in My Documents
        Dim strPath As String = IO.Path.Combine(My.Computer.FileSystem.SpecialDirectories.MyDocuments, "abc rtf help.rtf")
 
        '~~~ Load the file
        RichTextBox1.LoadFile(strPath)
    End Sub
End Class

I have attached a sample RTF file.

If you want to display HTML help, then I think, you could use the WebBrowser control.

[EntityX]

I installed 40. I don't see the settings explained screen because the settings screen (w) crashes the program. Or, rather, the window (or whatever it is) closes leaving a process running that has to be killed by Ctrl-Alt-Delete.

Sorry to hear that. It works ok on my computer. You said "the settings screen (w)" but you meant the settings screen (m) right? w is the instructions screen. I'm thinking the problem you're talking about is the one I was just discussing but it only happens for me when I have set the Windows display property for text size to the middle value. Does it happen in all screen resolutions?

What's high-res about 1680 x 1050? it has been commonplace for desktop systems in the last few years, and the shops I've seen sell hardly any separate monitors below 1920 x 1080.

You're right it's just that I'm living in the past. Like I said I have this old monitor. I should be more aware of such things. That's why it's good of course that I'm beta testing this. My monitor only goes up to 1280 x 1024 for the highest resolution.

What language are you coding this program in? Can't you change to putting the output, or at least the info, into normal resizable windows? That way you shouldn't have to worry about screen resolution. The present compulsory kiosk mode is nothing but a nuisance. It should only take a few lines of code to provide full-screen when the user wants it.

I'm using Visual Basic 2010 in Visual Studio 2010 Pro. When I was talking about that code that you see 5 posts back, that's for the Settings Control Screen so that the comboboxes and labels are spaced horizontally across it nicely no matter the screen resolution. I don't use anything like that for the Settings Explained window. I tried putting the Settings Explained window into a sizeable mode but the only reason I stayed away from it is because I get these weird hatch lines at the right edge of the form for some reason. They only appear if you start to scroll down. If you leave the form at the scroll position it opens in or scroll up it doesn't happen. They aren't really that bad but are just a bit anoying. Maybe I should post here in the forums about it sometime but for the time being I may leave it at a fixed size like it is now.

You just got me thinking though when you say

Can't you change to putting the output, or at least the info, into normal resizable windows?

Do you mean have a window for each setting explanation?

The present compulsory kiosk mode is nothing but a nuisance.

Do you mean because you have to scroll to the position of the explanation that you want? Did you know that if you click in a combobox and then click Settings Explained or even just double click the Settings Control Screen in a blank area that the window opens so that you can see the explanation for that setting? So let's say you click in the Bph combobox and then double click the blank surface of the form or instead click the Settings Explained button, the form will open so that you can see the explanation for Bph. It may not always be at the top though. At least that's how I designed it to work and how it does work on my computer.

[EntityX]

Version 1.0.41 is up on the site. Hardly changed anything except the maximum form size.
It's now at (3280, 2048). I had it 5000, 4000. Don't know if that could possibly have caused a problem on your computer boops. There wasn't anything else that I changed about the adjust setttings form so hopefully that will make a difference and 1.0.40 version worked fine on my computer. Wikipedia says

Special monitors for medical diagnostic work are using 3280×2048 WQSXGA, which is the current maximum resolution available in a single monitor

so I set it to that. Hope it makes a difference. akhileshbc did you try version 1.0.40 and have any problems with it?

[boops boops]

Installed 41. The testing time has expired although I was not using the program. The activation screen appears correct (except that the name Ray Rove[r] is truncated). The activation procedure you mailed me does not work -- the code is not accepted.

I did mean the w screen, yes. By kiosk mode, I meant Ray Rover is always on top so although I can show the task bar I cannot view any other program, either by clicking the TaskBar or Alt-Tab. So I have to kill Ray Rover before I can use anything else.

BB

[EntityX]

My activation system got screwed up somehow. It's giving me problems too. I was modifying it not too long ago. I'll get to work on it again. Were you able to open the settings control screen after installing 1.0.41 ?

[boops boops]

News: I just installed RR41 on my netbook (Samsung NC20) and at first sight it appears to work entirely as intended. The monitor resolution is 1280 * 800. Among other things it does allow program switching with Alt-Tab, and none of the screens are corrupted.

I wonder if the problems on my desktop PC are not really connected to resolution, but to the type of graphics card: that's an Nvidia GeoForce 7650 GS on the desktop. It's not an area I know anything about, but aren't some graphics subsystems (versions of DX, OpenGL) incompatible with some graphics cards? The Netbook has an onboard graphics chip (VIA Chrome9 HC3 IGP). Just a guess.

BB

Were you able to open the settings control screen after installing 1.0.41 ?

I couldn't activate it so I couldn't try.

[EntityX]

Not sure why you were having problems with the activation system. I haven't had any with recent versions. When you told me you were having a problem and it didn't accept the activation code you got I went into Vista. If I tried to use the activation code that was supposed to work it said it was no good. I checked the version and it was version 12. I installed the new version and it then accepted the code for activation. In XP I had version 32 installed and activation worked ok there. So the only problem I've had on my end is with version 12. There is something I changed that is related to activation since version 12. It's one of those situations where when the problem disappears you can't do any trouble shooting. What I did though is create a way to delete the trial minutes/activation file.


Edited out :

[boops boops]

RR1.0.43
Code was no good.
RNP-XBD-RUR-VT

QKQKRMZZGFGXCEEAA

Alt-F2 worked.

m still "crashes" RR graphics on the desktop.

BB

[EntityX]

I see something obvious. Activation code should be 12 characters. It's another display problem with the labels. I've started using autosize more recently but was still setting autosize false at the time I placed that label that displays the activation code.

RNP - XBD - RUR - VTV

Try that code.

You could try it and I bet it'll work but if it activates you could then delete the file again just to see if it keeps track of your trial minutes time ok.

Now hopefully back to the m crash problem.

[boops boops]

Activation code is now correct. What should I delete to de-activate again for testing purposes? Maybe you said but I can't find it. BB

[EntityX]

That's right I forgot. Now that it's activated you can't get to the activation screen to use Alt and F2. So just forget about it.

[EntityX]

Ray Rover 1.0.44 is up for boops testing. When you start it press the Enter key. You should see a label appear near the upper left that says TestInt(2) = 1. If you keep pressing Enter or holding it down TestInt(2) will start incrementing up. I would try incrementing it to 20 or 30 or more, then with the keyboard controls turn off A phase by pressing and releasing a and then pressing o(lower case O) for off. All phases should then be off if you're doing this from screen 0. You'll see a message that says all phases are off ... Now if you bring up the Settings Control Screen with m the only comboboxes that should appear would be the ones at the top of the screen if you're in Preset or Freestyle mode. I'm hoping it will open. As TestInt(2) goes up those two comboboxes at the top right near the edge of the screen will move left. If the screen does open then it's the same problem I'm seeing that I talked about recently where a combobox is touching the side of the screen but now I'm thinking it's not the same problem because I thought you usually operate using a high screen resolution so those comboboxes shouldn't be near the edge of the screen. Well anyway you can try it out and let me know.

You can use Num Pad 4 when graphics are showing to delete activation file if you want. Activation system only checks once every 1000 IC so you might not see an immediate difference between no trial minutes message when activated to "you have at least 299 trial minutes left".

[EntityX]

Was just watching Preset 65. ClearLimit is going way up on that. Was thinking about the instructions page and the settings control screen. I plan on making the instructions page accessible from the settings control screen. May not do it for a while. I have a lot of work ahead of me rebuilding settings control screen and have hardly done any. I think for now I'm just going to redo with standard labels because that's what I know but maybe 6 months or a year down the road when Ray Rover is out there I might then replace the standard labels with RTF labels. I enjoy working on the heart of Ray Rover though. Expanding its capabilities and then experimenting to find some cool screens.

I think I'll leave the instructions page full screen when accessed from the graphics with a task bar at the bottom but make it sizable and minimizable when acessed from the settings control screen. Task bar will go in settings control and task bar will become option but not default for graphics display.

edit entry : Was just thinking about your problem boops. It started right after I increased maximum size for the settings control form. I could create a temporary version that allows you to bring max size down for that so that you can open it until I get the new form going. I'm guessing the new form won't have that problem.

[EntityX]

Ray Rover 1.0.45 is up on the site.

I changed the controls some from 1.0.44.

Enter key = Turn test label in upper left on and off

NumLock has to be on for NumPad to work.
NumPad 5 = Increment TestInt(2) This will push NSC and TimerInt comboboxes to left as it increases. Those are at the top right as you can see in the post below.
See post # 58 about turning off all the phases before you open the form. TestInt(2) only has effect when form is opened for first time.

NumPad 6 = Increment TestInt(3) This will bring the maximum form width down as it goes up. This worked for me too before I shortened the length of the dividing lines between the phases. It has the effect though of always giving you a task bar even if you just go one down from My.Computer.Screen.Bounds.Width. If TestInt(3) is 0 then the max width of the form is set exactly to the screen width.

So turn the test label on with Enter and then you can see TestInt(2) or TestInt(3) increment.

See if you can open the Settings Control Screen (m) without doing either first. I found that I can now for the first time open it when the Windows text size is set to the middle size. What I changed was neither of the above but the length of those dividing lines that you see between the phases. I brought the length down just 5 from what they were before and now it opens. So that might fix your problem too boops but if it doesn't then you can try the other two methods one at a time.

XLimitI = My.Computer.Screen.Bounds.Width
Me.LblDividingLine1.Size = New System.Drawing.Size(XlimitI - 23, 7)
When it was XlimitI - 17 the screen wouldn't open when the Windows text size was set to the middle setting. At XLimitI - 21 it opened but I'm using - 23 for a safety margin.

Boops what I found when the m screen didn't open is that all I needed to do to close Ray Rover was what you normally do. Press Esc key. I'm not 100% sure it's the same problem but I'm thinking it probably is.

[EntityX]

Here's something that's sort of interesting. The Settings Control Screen looks best when the Windows property for text size is at the default setting which is the smallest. It looks the worst not at the largest text size but rather at the middle one. You can see how in the middle screenshot the values inside the comboboxes are often showing only partially and the phase labels are too short to center the text. The colors of those a and b phase labels are starting to get on my nerves. I'll probably change them.

default text size
Attachment 83081

middle text size
Attachment 83079

largest text size
Attachment 83080

[EntityX]

Pardon me if I'm posting you guys to death. I'm becoming a postaholic. I better go to postaholics anonymous. PA meetings. Anyway I was wondering if you might know if there's anyway to determine from a Visual Basic application what the Windows property for text size is? I posted in the VB.NET forum here but got no replies. If it was at the middle setting I could alter the width of the comboboxes and move them a bit. I don't know what percentage of computer users go above the default value. Maybe it's pretty small. I wasn't even aware of this setting until after I started this thread. If you don't know that's ok. Just want to say thanks again for all your help boops and thanks akhileshbc too for your help.

[boops boops]

RR1.0.45. m screen appears and is maximized. The button texts are readable but some labels are still truncated. The Settings Explained window still has corrupted lines but less than before; can't you give it a resizable border? Context switching (Alt-Tab) now works, but the Settings Explained window remains on top of other programs; probably you should make it an Owned Form of the Settings window instead of TopMost. Closing the Settings window the first time causes the same unhandled exception (Conversion from String "" to Double is not valid); maybe you should check that all fields have default values.

BB

[EntityX]

The reason I didn't give the Settings Explained window a resizable border I explained some posts back. I get these hatch marks at the right edge of the form if you scroll down. It doesn't happen when I scroll up or leave the form at the position it opens. I want to give it a sizable border so I'll work on that problem. I could just go ahead and give it the sizable border and we could live with the lines until I figure out how to fix that. They aren't too bad.

Attachment 83095

probably you should make it an Owned Form of the Settings window instead of TopMost.

Could you explain how to do that? Setting TopMost false is easy enough but I'm not familiar with making one form an owned form of another.

I'm thinking I should just go ahead and concentrate on rebuilding the Adjust Settings form with a new Visual Basic 2010 windows form. There are a number of things different between this form that migrated through different VB versions and a VB2010 form. Making the conversion may fix a lot of these problems possibly. The one problem I know it will fix is the problem where the form doesn't open if some object is too close to the right edge. I've tested that out.

I was thinking what if I had boops boops computer. Then I wouldn't have to bother boops boops so much. A lot of the issues have had to do with resolution so I could get a new monitor. Maybe that's a good start. I sold a Visio 26" TV less than a year ago that could also be used as a monitor. I wish now that I had kept it and used it as a computer monitor.
Any recommedations about a good monitor would be for my situation? If it was one where I could switch between lots of different possible setups so that it would be like having a number of different monitors that would be good.

I started a thread here about buying a monitor.
http://www.vbforums.com/showthread.p...62#post3979062

[EntityX]

The Settings Explained window still has corrupted lines but less than before;

BB

Boops could you give me a screenshot of that? The Settings Explained window with the corrupted lines. I might have enough space below it so I don't have to move things too much. If I could see what it looks like then I would get a better idea of how much to move things. The same area of the window that you took in post # 18 would be good. I would see what difference going to autosize made.

Edit entry: I just tested the Settings Explain window after setting the display properties for Windows to the middle size text and I get a lot of over lap from one label to the next. So I don't think I need that screenshot. I'll just make it so it works for me in the middle text size and then it will probably work good for you or at least a lot better for you.

[boops boops]

The reason I didn't give the Settings Explained window a resizable border I explained some posts back. I get these hatch marks at the right edge of the form if you scroll down. It doesn't happen when I scroll up or leave the form at the position it opens. I want to give it a sizable border so I'll work on that problem. I could just go ahead and give it the sizable border and we could live with the lines until I figure out how to fix that. They aren't too bad.

The only reason I asked for resizable was to help diagnose what was going wrong. I can't do a screenshot right now, but it looks pretty similar to before. It looks like you have a series of text boxes stacked up vertically in the window, but on my screen they are overlapping. Maybe you are just calculating the spacing incorrectly for different screen heights. If so you might try putting them in a FlowLayoutPanel and let Windows Forms do the spacing.

Could you explain how to do that? Setting TopMost false is easy enough but I'm not familiar with making one form an owned form of another.

Three alternative ways:

Form1.AddOwnedForm(Form2)
'or
Form2.Owner = Form1
'or
Form2.Show(Form1)

In each case, Form1 is the Owner of Form2. That means Form2 stays in front of Form1 and no other windows can come between them. Replace Form1 or Form2 by "Me" where appropriate. Another alternative would be to show the Explanations form with ShowDialog so that the user has to close it.

I'm thinking I should just go ahead and concentrate on rebuilding the Adjust Settings form with a new Visual Basic 2010 windows form. There are a number of things different between this form that migrated through different VB versions and a VB2010 form. Making the conversion may fix a lot of these problems possibly. The one problem I know it will fix is the problem where the form doesn't open if some object is too close to the right edge. I've tested that out.

I wish you would rethink the layout altogether. I could make some suggestions, but you have to consider the alternatives. For example, couldn't you use a TabControl with the different phases in different Tabs? Couldn't you split up the Settings Explained window into a series of separate Help texts which show automatically in a panel when a setting is selected? It's always going to be a lot of work with so many settings.

Besides, there are other problems looming. You have to allow for Culture. Some settings lock up when the Windows setting is a decimal comma instead of a decimal point. You try to change the value shown and it throws a new error. Time for Ctrl-Alt-Delete!

I was thinking what if I had boops boops computer. Then I wouldn't have to bother boops boops so much. A lot of the issues have had to do with resolution so I could get a new monitor. Maybe that's a good start. I sold a Visio 26" TV less than a year ago that could also be used as a monitor. I wish now that I had kept it and used it as a computer monitor.

Any recommedations about a good monitor would be for my situation? If it was one where I could switch between lots of different possible setups so that it would be like having a number of different monitors that would be good.
I started a thread here about buying a monitor.
http://www.vbforums.com/showthread.p...62#post3979062

A good monitor matters if you care about graphics, and you also need to try your program on different sizes. That's not just for debugging but for evaluating the "feel" of the program. Fairly high-res wide TFT screens (1920*1050 approx.) are cheap now. Dearer ones such as some of the Dell Ultrasharp series with a high colour gamut have noticeably richer colours. It's sometimes hard to get information about that. Here's a forum about displays.

BB

[EntityX]

I can see that you get a lot of problem that I don't. It's apparent that you can make an application work nicely on one computer but it may have lots of problems on another.

Edit entry :
I'm starting to work with a FlowLayoutPanel per your suggestion. I tried putting panels into it but didn't see how to paste text into it so then I tried textboxes and then labels. It seems like labels work the best for me. I was having very serious trouble using labels on that Settings Explained form once I put the Windows text size into the middle setting. The text was spacing way out and text was running from one label into the next like the problem you showed. When I tried to space the labels apart from each other it was giving crazy results. When I was in the default text size for Windows everything looks great. It seems like the results that I get using the middle text size in display properties is the same as what you're getting. Do you have the Windows display property set for the middle text size? (Edit entry: I just looked and saw an earlier post from you and you said your settings are default XP so I guess not.)

I'm thinking right now I'll hold off on rebuilding the Adjust Settings form and concentrate on the Settings Explained form. It will take me a while to transfer all the text into a new one that uses a FlowLayoutPanel. I'll redo the form down to the bottom of the A Phase explanations and then put up a new version and you can tell me what it looks like on your computer. I can use a separate FlowLayoutPanel for each phases explanation labels and I think that will help keep things under control more.

Edit entry 2:
Just noticed that if you increase ClearLimit for a Preset screen that changes settings part way through its duration that when the settings change occurs ClearLimit goes back to what it was set to at the start of the screen in most cases. When the next version comes out the Preset screens will keep any changes made to ClearLimit throughout their duration. I'm back to working on Settings Explained form.

[EntityX]

Closing the Settings window the first time causes the same unhandled exception (Conversion from String "" to Double is not valid); maybe you should check that all fields have default values.

I haven't spent any time looking into this problem but I want to be absolutely clear. Do you mean closing the Settings Explained window or do you mean clicking Accept Settings and Run which would be closing what I've been calling the Settings Control Screen? When you say "Settings window" that's a bit ambiguous. I'm thinking you mean when you click Accept Settings and Run because that's the exception you posted before.

Edit entry: Boops I just noticed something I didn't catch before. In that post of yours where you show a screenshot with that exception, post # 18, I noticed that the CC combobox in the upper left corner of the Settings Control Screen is blank. That combobox is set to drop down style dropdownlist which means that if you try to enter a value into it programatically and the value isn't in the drop down list then it will come up blank. So when you hit Accept Settings and Run it trys to convert a blank string to double and that's why you get that exception. It never happens on my computer so I don't know why it's happening on yours but the question is what value is it trying to enter into the CC combobox when the Settings Control Screen loads? Or is it that somehow on your computer there is an incomplete dropdown list that doesn't have all the values that are supposed to be there. When you open the Settings Control screen click on the little arrow that shows you the drop down list for CC. It should look like the below screenshot. You can also take a look at the s list before you open the Settings Control Screen and see what CC is. Is it one of those values you see in the list below and does your list match what you see below? I could put in code so that if the combobox was blank it would enter a 0 or something into CC but I want to get to the root of the problem. :

[boops boops]

I haven't spent any time looking into this problem but I want to be absolutely clear. Do you mean closing the Settings Explained window or do you mean clicking Accept Settings and Run which would be closing what I've been calling the Settings Control Screen? When you say "Settings window" that's a bit ambiguous. I'm thinking you mean when you click Accept Settings and Run because that's the exception you posted before.

Edit entry: Boops I just noticed something I didn't catch before. In that post of yours where you show a screenshot with that exception, post # 18, I noticed that the CC combobox in the upper left corner of the Settings Control Screen is blank. That combobox is set to drop down style dropdownlist which means that if you try to enter a value into it programatically and the value isn't in the drop down list then it will come up blank. So when you hit Accept Settings and Run it trys to convert a blank string to double and that's why you get that exception. It never happens on my computer so I don't know why it's happening on yours but the question is what value is it trying to enter into the CC combobox when the Settings Control Screen loads? Or is it that somehow on your computer there is an incomplete dropdown list that doesn't have all the values that are supposed to be there. When you open the Settings Control screen click on the little arrow that shows you the drop down list for CC. It should look like the below screenshot. You can also take a look at the s list before you open the Settings Control Screen and see what CC is. Is it one of those values you see in the list below and does your list match what you see below? I could put in code so that if the combobox was blank it would enter a 0 or something into CC but I want to get to the root of the problem. :

I think you have found the problem. The s list shows the value 0,2. That's right, because I use a decimal comma. On opening the m screen CC was blank, and on clicking Accept & Run it crashed as described. When I changed the separator to a point (WinXP: ControlPanel/Regional and Language Settings/Custom/Decimal symbol = ".") it resolved the problem. But I'm changing it back to a comma again because I need it for other programs. You can get the current separator through System.Globalization.CultureInfo, but I have no experience with it. Maybe you won't need to if you are careful about converting strings to decimals. You do have Option Strict On, I hope?

Could you send me all the text of Settings Explained as a file (.txt, .rtf or .doc)? Maybe I can at last read it properly (not just on my tiny netbook screen) and maybe have a go myself at formatting it.

BB

[EntityX]

Could you send me all the text of Settings Explained as a file (.txt, .rtf or .doc)? Maybe I can at last read it properly (not just on my tiny netbook screen) and maybe have a go myself at formatting it.

BB

The only way that would be practical for me to send it to you without me having to do a lot of work to convert it to one of those types is to send it to you as a .NET Managed Resources file. (.resx) That's the type of file that is in my Visual Basis 2010 project. Do you have Visual Studio 2010? I see that I can individually copy what is in the resources file for each label but it won't let me copy all of the labels text at once. If you want me to email you the resources file I'll go ahead and do it. Seems like we would be doing duplicate work though. Maybe there's some adjustment on your graphics card that would help you read the Settings Explained window the way I and akhileshbc see it and your laptop computer sees it. ak sent me an email that has a screenshot of the Settings Explained window and it looks good for him.

Well I just tested something. I copied the .resx file and pasted it into a folder. I opened the folder and then using Visual Studio I was able to open it. So I'll email it to you and if you have Visual Studio 2010 you should be able to open it. Even if you are able to open it and use don't feel that you have to do all that work. Only if it gives you some kind of irresistible thrill or something. I plan on pasting the text in that .resx file into labels that I put in the FlowLayoutPanel for my new ExplainSettings form so if you just wait a bit I'll eventually get the work done. But maybe you could do some experimental work to give my efforts better direction. So I do the heavy work and you give me some input on how to do the work. There are a lot of labels on the form as you know. Some of that text I see isn't completely current. I have to update some things. Most of it is current though.

[EntityX]

If you take a look at post # 68 screenshot, that's for Preset screen 0. You'll notice that CC = 0.02. So when you use your system if it said CC = 0,2 on the s list and not CC = 0,02 then that means it's deleting the 0 in the tenths place. I'll have to fix that because it could be a problem in other areas. Like if CF goes from being 1.02 to 1.2 that's not good. Not as serious with CC but I'll have to learn how to get it to convert accurately. I added an Imports statement like this

Imports System.Globalization.CultureInfo

I can get it to tell me US-en using this

System.Globalization.CultureInfo.CurrentCulture.ToString

but haven't figured out yet how to get it to tell me what kind of separator is being used. I do have Option Strict On. I also noticed that

TestDb(1) = CDbl("0,02") ' Here TestDb(1) will be set to 2.

If you looked at the value of CC after the Settings Control Screen opens I'm thinking it may be 2 and since 2 isn't in the drop down list then the combobox comes up blank.

I was just trying to duplicate the settings properties that you have so I could get a comma instead of a decimal point but didn't have any success. When I get to the screen where I select decimal symbol every time I see only one selection possible and no way to select a comma. I was trying different "Formats" but I always got just one choice for decimal symbol and list separator only had one possibility. What "Format" do you have selected?

[EntityX]

I just put up version 1.0.46 on my site. This version won't change ClearLimit for the Preset screens once a Preset screen starts when a screen changes settings part way through its duration. There is also a label you can turn on in the Settings Control Screen using Delete key. Boops tell me what you see. The label is right above Aph in the A Phase section. I increased the font size so it's bigger and it shows value of CC and CC.ToString. My guess is it says CC= 2 for Preset screen 0. I guess CC.ToString would be same. Not sure why I put CC.ToString. Since you have a computer that can test this I can't test on my computer unless I can get it to display a comma where I now have a decimal point.

Does it say CC = 0,2 for screen 0 or CC = 0,02 like it should in the s list? If it says 0,2 I have to figure out a way to get it to show 0,02 like it should.

[EntityX]

Ray Rover 1.0.47 is up on site. Same feature as 1.0.46 except for the CC combobox I use code to replace , with . You can tell me if it makes any difference and you can still turn on that label with Delete button when Settings Control Screen is open. Label is above Aph .

[EntityX]

Boops I'm not sure why you're sending me that zip file. I discovered I can open the resx file and move the text to other labels or textboxes so I don't see how it helps me. Maybe because of what I said earlier. I thought that I wasn't able to copy the text from one label to another but now I see there is a way.

[boops boops]

If you take a look at post # 68 screenshot, that's for Preset screen 0. You'll notice that CC = 0.02. So when you use your system if it said CC = 0,2 on the s list and not CC = 0,02 then that means it's deleting the 0 in the tenths place. I'll have to fix that because it could be a problem in other areas. Like if CF goes from being 1.02 to 1.2 that's not good. Not as serious with CC but I'll have to learn how to get it to convert accurately. I added an Imports statement like this

Imports System.Globalization.CultureInfo

I can get it to tell me US-en using this

System.Globalization.CultureInfo.CurrentCulture.ToString

but haven't figured out yet how to get it to tell me what kind of separator is being used.

You can get the separator from

Dim separator As String = System.Globalization.CultureInfo.CurrentCulture.NumberFormat.NumberDecimalSeparator

but is it worth the effort? Consistency is all that matters, and I doubt if decimal comma habitués would care much if you use decimal points throughout the program. Maybe you have to use CurrentUICulture and/or InvariantCulture, but I have no experience with them. Why not ask the VB.Net forum?

I was trying different "Formats" but I always got just one choice for decimal symbol and list separator only had one possibility. What "Format" do you have selected?

It's a Windows Control Panel setting -- see my previous post.

BB

[boops boops]

Downloaded 1.0.47 (I'm glad it only takes a minute to install!). The w screen no longer crashes. The s list still shows decimal commas, but it can't be hard just to ignore the current culture. This is just a guess:

Threading.Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture = Globalization.CultureInfo.InvariantCulture

Please discard the zip file if you have no use for it.

BB

[EntityX]

What I was wondering is when you open the m screen or the Settings Control Screen what does CC show. Is it CC = 0.02 for Preset screen 0 or perhaps 0.2. And if it's blank you can hit delete key when Settings Control Screen is open and it will give you the value off CC. I didn't do anything that would change what the s list is displaying. I was concerned about stopping the crashing. You said in above post # 76 "The w screen no longer crashes." You mean the m screen right?

I added a FlowLayoutPanel to the first ExplainSettings form and am dropping the original labels into that and it's working ok.

[boops boops]

Yes, I meant m and it does show 0.02. I regret I made a mistake: my Windows font setting was in fact set to a larger size. I have temporarily changed it to "standard" and now all the labels and combo-boxes fit their contents. I can even see the whole S menu.

I intend to change back to larger size because otherwise too many other things come out too small. If it's too much work to design your screens to allow for different Windows font settings, maybe you could simply fix the problems by specifying a given font and font size for all texts in your program (e.g. loop through the Controls collection setting the Font property).

The m screen can still lock up when the decimal separator is set to a comma. That is the result of faulty error handling. For example, if I select the value 100.01 for PTA(0) it throws an error message because Windows expects 100,01 and it detects a prohibited character. On clicking OK it changes the display to 10001 and immediately throws another exception because the field is too long. Ctrl-Alt-Delete is the only way out. I'm sure this applies to all the drop downs with fractional values. If possible please make the program ignore regional settings, as I already suggested, if you can't fix it to allow for them.

BB

[EntityX]

I regret I made a mistake: my Windows font setting was in fact set to a larger size.

Man boops I am so glad to hear that. It all makes perfect sense. Well anyway it's good because you forced me to make it work for the middle text size. I completed the work of dropping all the labels into the FlowLayoutPanel. After I got the hang of it it went pretty fast. I still have some work to do because some of the labels don't show the text just the way I want them too when in the middle text size on the ExplainSettings form but there are just a few like that and there are some other issues but it's displaying in the middle text size way way better than it was before so thanks for the advice to use a FlowLayoutPanel. Probably later today I'll have up another version.



The problem of the , versus . maybe you could do a little work on since I was never able to get my computer to give me the option to move to a , instead of a . You could start a new project in Visual Studio and drop a label on a form and see if you can make it display a . instead of a , for a value like CC and do it using that code of yours in post # 76 or something like it. Find out if it works since I would have to end up testing through your computer anyways on that one.

Dim CC As Double = 0.02

Label1.Text = "CC = " & CC

Set your computer as you have so that it would give you 0,02 without any code used to change things and see if you could use your code or something like it to get a result

CC = 0.02 ' instead of CC = 0,02

The m screen can still lock up when the decimal separator is set to a comma.

That doesn't surprise me at all. I knew that was coming. I just did the conversion code of using Replace(",", ".") on the string that goes in that CC combobox so that's why it would be good if you could do that little testing for me. Get the application to always use a decimal point instead of a decimal comma and then it should be ok.

Edit entry : I found that when I move into the middle text size the ExplainSettings form now with the FlowLayoutPanel takes 20 or more seconds to open. Perhaps it has to do a lot of work pushing things around or something. Earlier today I didn't see that though it wasn't displaying the labels all the way to the bottom nor is it now. Still looks a lot better with the FlowLayoutPanel. Perhaps I should go to separate explain forms. One for Used by All Phases, one for A Phase, one for B Phase , etc. then it wouldn't have to deal with so much text on opening.

Even in the default text size I noticed it takes a second or two to open but in middle text size I counted up to 24 seconds once. Not acceptable. I could just see a note. After clicking Settings Explained button please wait a half minute before form appears.

Edit entry 2: I was just thinking perhaps I could have a separate Settings Explaned button for each section and also have the ability to bring up an explanation with a selection on a menu that is brought up with a right click inside of a combobox.

[boops boops]

Amazingly (considering I hadn't even tried compiling it) my guess seems to work:


Still, I don't know how reliable it is since it applies only to the current thread. There must be some way to do something similar for the whole application. BB