LayoutManager [release 1.1]

[klownboy]

Hey Filehero,

I hope all is well. Sounds like you've been busy. I just this morning received an email from Buy.com of Lightroom 4 being on-sale.

I have been using Layout Manager and haven't experienced any issues. I was glad to see that after making changes to a layout, the asterisk appears as we discussed earlier, and in addition, it does eliminate the asterisk when you make subsequent changes that return you to the layout with which you started. So it's smart enough also to detect when you're back! Very nice.

Everything is fine at this end of the pool.

Take care,
Ken

[Filehero]

Hi Ken,

yes, all is well, just some busy times ahead.

Thanks for your feedback on LM. I'm glad to hear it's working as expected.

<a little offtopic>
LR4 seems to be a large step for me. Just had a quick look on the new map module, great stuff. The development module (I do RAW only) obviously has been really improved as well. Unfortunately the usage paradigm has changed as well. Will need lots of pictures to get used to it again, I'm afraid.
</a little offtopic>


Cheers,
Filehero

[klownboy]

Hi again Filehero,

Something odd just happened on the Layout Manager menu. The golden star for the active layout is now gray instead of gold. I've been poking around in the ini and xys files, but haven't been able to find out why. I've attached a picture of what I mean.

xy01.jpg (23.66 KiB) Viewed 255486 times

It's only happened on my laptop not a desktop computer. I tried going to other layouts with the same result. I don't believe I've changed any settings (i.e., color settings etc.) in the XY configuration menu that would explain it. I'll be doing some more checking on the desktop when I'm home again.

Talk to you soon,
Ken

[aurumdigitus]

Given the work that goes into such projects as Layout Manager referring to them as scripts seems almost disingenuous . The functionality that they add and the amount of code it takes to get it there really deserves a more prestigious name.

As XY v11 is being rolled out today, how about elevating Layout Manager and its ilk to the level of add-on or even extension?

[admin]

Given the work that goes into such projects as Layout Manager referring to them as scripts seems almost disingenuous . The functionality that they add and the amount of code it takes to get it there really deserves a more prestigious name.

As XY v11 is being rolled out today, how about elevating Layout Manager and its ilk to the level of add-on or even extension?

Open a domain http://www.xyploreraddons.com and do it. I won't stop you.

[klownboy]

Hey Filehero,

I checked my desktop and the Gold Star indicating the active layout is indeed golden unlike on my laptop as I reported last night. I've been looking through the Layout Manager files and I think you use the XY internal icon :favs for the golden star and :favfiles for the blue inactive layout in LMMeny.xys? I've applied those internal XY icons to another User Button, both the :favs icon and the :favfiles icon and they show up fine on the button bar on both the laptop and desktop computers so I'm not sure why the gold star is not showing as gold on the laptop's Layout Manager menu...yet...

Oh by the way, when poking around I did notice in the layouts.ini file that there was no space between the two user added layouts as there are between the other layouts pre-sets you have on original installation.

Hi aurumdigitus,

I hope you don't feel I was belittling Layout Manager or it's author, Filehero because of my referrals to the "script". I do have the utmost respect for coders like Filehero and Don. I only wish I could do half what they do. Layout Manager is indeed more like an addon or extension then just a "script", but I suppose it would be up to Filehero on what he wants to do or call it.

Thanks again,
Ken

[Filehero]

Hi Ken,

thank you for reporting and doing the first analysis.

I checked my desktop and the Gold Star indicating the active layout is indeed golden unlike on my laptop as I reported last night. I've been looking through the Layout Manager files and I think you use the XY internal icon :favs for the golden star and :favfiles for the blue inactive layout in LMMeny.xys? I've applied those internal XY icons to another User Button, both the :favs icon and the :favfiles icon and they show up fine on the button bar on both the laptop and desktop computers so I'm not sure why the gold star is not showing as gold on the laptop's Layout Manager menu...yet...

You're right, for the fav icons I'm referencing XY's internal ones.
A couple of times I noticed this behaviour too - but like you only on me notebook. I blamed it on my notebook configuration because I couldn't really find any reproducable settings. This is indeed a really strange one. The only thing I could possibly try is to make the fav icons external like all others and hope it gets fixed this way.

Oh by the way, when poking around I did notice in the layouts.ini file that there was no space between the two user added layouts as there are between the other layouts pre-sets you have on original installation.

This is true. Since I'm completely relying on the XY script Api here I haven't any direct control on the layout when writing to the ini file.


Cheers,
Filehero

[Filehero]

Hi aurumdigitus,

The functionality that they add and the amount of code it takes to get it there really deserves a more prestigious name.

Thank you.

I don't have any preferences here. In strict technically terms, it is a script. Extensions or AddOns usually are implementing a clearly defined interface where they get plugged in. Additionally the hosting application provides a way to manage those extensions (installation, deinstallation etc.).

Conclusio: I'm fine with any name.


Cheers,
Filehero

[klownboy]

Hey Filehero,

I hope all is well. Any rest scheduled for this weekend?

It is indeed strange that you had the same issue with the gold star appearing as gray on your lapptop as I did and not on your desktop. My 2 desktops and my laptop all have Windows 7 installed. At first I was thinking it may be a operating sytem issue, but I don't think so. I was planning on adjusting Windows colors and themes to see if it made a difference. I had already played around with XY internal colors to see if that may have been the issue, but it didn't make andy difference.
I noticed you had a "favorites_16x16.png" file, (which is a golden star) in the resources/help/images folder. So I converted it to a ico and then placed it in the resources folder. Then I changed the line of code to refer to it as you refer to other external ico files in LMMenu.xys, "$ICON_PATH\Favorites_16x16.ico". I did this for a desktop (which had no issue) as well as the laptop where I had the issue and the gold star shows up fine (as gold) on both...strange. I hope you don't mind me playing with your code. I figured I'd give it a try at least until we can figure what caused the issue.

Take care,
Ken

[Filehero]

Hi Ken,

yes, everything is fine over here. The sun is shining throughout the day, no computer work planned for the weekend.

At first I was thinking it may be a operating sytem issue, but I don't think so. I was planning on adjusting Windows colors and themes to see if it made a difference. I had already played around with XY internal colors to see if that may have been the issue, but it didn't make andy difference.

To make matters worse, on my notebook I could see this behaviour only on a fresh XY installation (when putting the plain xy exe file somewhere else and just add the script directory underneath /data).

Frankly, I hate such findings. They could take days to hunt down, if ever. This is why reading the next paragraph just made my day.

I noticed you had a "favorites_16x16.png" file, (which is a golden star) in the resources/help/images folder. So I converted it to a ico and then placed it in the resources folder. Then I changed the line of code to refer to it as you refer to other external ico files in LMMenu.xys, "$ICON_PATH\Favorites_16x16.ico". I did this for a desktop (which had no issue) as well as the laptop where I had the issue and the gold star shows up fine (as gold) on both...strange.

You already approved my fix will work, thank you very much. The five golden stars and a big applause go to Ken!

The next rainy day off I will add it - and finalize the initial set of tests. I'm a bit lazy right now.

As for the code: No, I don't mind playing with the code at all. And every improvements and suggestions are very welcome.

Have a nice saturday.


Cheers,
Filehero

[klownboy]

Hey Filehero,

I hope you're enjoying the weekend. Yesterday turned into a nice day and today looks to be sunny as well.

I returned the LMMenu.xys code on the laptop back to using the internal XY icon, ":favs" mainly for testing purposes. I was also suspecting the behavior might have something to do with the icon caches. I remember reading somewhere in the forum, Don's reply to a question concerning speed of the menu. He stated that icons where cached so the speed shouldn't be affected.

Because of that I flushed out the icon and environmental caches under the view menu and also went to small icons on the toolbar menu to see if the small (16x16 size) icon was affected since we already knew the larger (24x24) size ":favs" icon looked fine on the toolbar. I was hoping to see the small (16x16) ":favs" icon on the toolbar grayed out since that is the size off the gold star on your Layout Manager menu, but no, it was gold as it should be. I really thought the issue might be due to the cached icons. I suppose not unless the icons are not completely flushed out and rebuilt, or the original internal icon has become corrupted for some reason. That's not likely since they appear correctly when called into use by XY. It boils down to, for some reason it's shows properly when XY uses it internally but not when it called out in your script. I suppose next I should use the icon ":favs" in a different script to see if it shows grey instead of gold. Sorry for thinking out loud.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend...maybe some bike riding on the trail today.

Ken

[Trasd]

Filehero,

I hope you are happy! I've been putting off learning all the ins and outs of XY Script because of time restraints, but now that I have seen what you've done with it, I guess I have to delve in headlong. Not that I didn't already have too much on my plate....

But, it all seriousness, nice job. I too like the IDE approach to layouts and have many defined in my programs that support it. As I said in the jibe above, you have piqued my interest and I will be looking into scripting my favorite non-game program very soon. There are a few things I want to add to XYplorer and I've put off learning this for far too long. From what I've seen, it is close to C as far as syntax and logic, but I will find out, won't I? Now I just need to quantify exactly what I need my first real script to do.

[klownboy]

Hey again,

As a quick followup to my last post...please read first...I used the XY internal ":favs" icon (16x16 size) within another script on my laptop and it did show up a greyed out instead of gold. So, I suppose that tells us it's not your script that's the problem, it's any script that utilizes the ":favs" icon. That blasted ":favs" icon shows up as greyed out in lieu of gold on our laptops anyway.... Ahh, but why only on the laptops?

Seeya,
Ken

[Filehero]

Hi Trasd,

I hope you are happy!

with my definition of hapiness I am. I hope you are too.

I've been putting off learning all the ends and outs of XY Script because of time restraints, but now that I have seen what you've done with it, I guess I have to delve in headlong. Not that I didn't already have too much on my plate....

Since I haven't been implementing on the job for many years (and I guess I won't be ever again) I thought taking XY and its lightweight scripting environment was a nice opportunity to do some 'programming' just for fun.
It was the right decision. No pro tools required, no weeks of diving into heavy APIs and software layers after the first "hello world" is done, and quick results.

But, it all seriousness, nice job.

Thanks.

From what I've seen, it is close to C as far as syntax and logic, but I will find out, won't I?

Well, I have a strong OO/Java background and therefore can't reasonably comment on the C syntax similarities. I would say it's a generic syntax everybody with developer skills should quickly become familiar with.

Now I just need to quantify exactly what I need my first real script to do.

I reckon, that's your major challenge to begin with.


Cheers,
Filehero

[Filehero]

Hi Ken,

As a quick followup to my last post...please read first...I used the XY internal ":favs" icon (16x16 size) within another script on my laptop and it did show up a greyed out instead of gold. So, I suppose that tells us it's not your script that's the problem, it's any script that utilizes the ":favs" icon.

thanks for already clarifying this. So I will add a dedicated fav icon.

Ahh, but why only on the laptops?

Good question. In my case, the only apparently relevant difference is my notebook runs on Win 7 Pro 32 whereas my private desktop is based on Win 7 Pro x64.


Cheers,
Filehero