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Little Thing

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    #16
    RE: Little Thing

    More:

    It is Hours later Tom Cone and it's still working.

    Review: Yes the Alpha main window was dimmed, and the startup application menu also dimmed. The Da__ed thing, as far as windows should be concerned is INACTIVE. According to 'Alt-TAB', "A5HALT" was the 'active' window [none of course].

    No key presses of any kind other than Alt-TAb would activate it. Yes, I had done a number of 'Activate' fields, forms, etc in On init, on activate, and everything else, seemingly with no success.

    Alas!, the sys_send_keys("{ALT-TAB}") prevails as a good solution. All this once again proving that there is 'Life After Birth'

    Thanks again all.

    Comment


      #17
      RE: Little Thing

      I was following this thread hoping someone would have a magical solution to this interesting problem. I have this same issue with a couple A5 apps, but with a twist. I pop up a password dialog on every app to limit user access using ui_get_password(). On one computer with Win98, the password box sometimes has focus and sometimes it doesn't. Same thing on one computer with Win95. Yet the same app on other computers works fine. All of the apps are opened with a similar shortcut. Example

      D:/A5V4_Runtime/Alpha5.exe "D:/Data Files/Databases/Hazmat/Hazmat Table.adb"-include=start.txt
      (backslashes replaced)

      Start.txt replaces the splash screen, hides the controlpanel, and changes the A5 icon and title. There doesn't seem to be a pattern. And {Alt}{tab} just kicks the user out of the application, since it appears the main menu screen has focus, but not the dialog. I have tried all kinds of solutions, but the problem still appears, both in Runtime and full programs, and not every time. My home computer is the Win98 with the problem, so testing has been easy.

      In any case, clicking on the password box gives focus to it, so the problem is mostly a nuisance. Just another annoying Windows "characteristic"

      Jerry

      Comment


        #18
        RE: Little Thing

        Hi ken,

        Does your POS app generate and read bar-code labels, if so is there a way that I can share it with you?

        Ed Schulz

        Comment


          #19
          RE: Little Thing

          I have Win98se and I can make this happen or not happen!

          My app loads a form with 3 buttons on it and uses the form's OnKey to "push" the buttons. If I set Win to Prevent Applications From Stealing Focus, then my OnKey does not work until I click the form. If I set Windows not to Prevent Applications From Stealing Focus, then my OnKey works without clicking the form.

          If you are using TweakUI 1.33 from Microsoft, go to the General tab and uncheck Prevent Applications From Stealing Focus and see if it helps. If you don't have TweakUI, you can find it here:

          www.zdnet.com/downloads/stories/info/0,10615,17590,00.html

          I'm not sure how to make this a link, so copy and paste it in your browser.

          Hope this helps y'all.

          Charles

          Comment


            #20
            RE: Little Thing

            Fascinating. Is there any way of controlling this without Tweak Ui, for example by manipulating registry settings?

            Thanks for the discovery,
            Bill
            Bill Hanigsberg

            Comment


              #21
              RE: Little Thing

              I'll dig into the registry and get back with anything I find.

              Comment


                #22
                RE: Little Thing

                It appears that the easiest way is to use TweakUI. Toggling this on and off makes many changes to one registry key. If I find out anything more, I'll let you know.

                Charles

                Comment


                  #23
                  RE: Little Thing

                  Have you got a start-up form ?

                  Comment


                    #24
                    RE: Little Thing

                    To All:

                    Thanks Again - I've used TweakUI ever since I found it on the first machine I built. I still [quickly] haven't found the 'Focus' thing, but will certainly look into it. I probably should have posted that a sys_send_keys - ESC has worked in the meantime. Like Tom Cone I also have an init that places focus on one of my menu selections.

                    Jean Bedard - Yes I have a startup form. Real Original name too, 'Main Menu' [pretty creative eh?]

                    POS with barcode. No it doesn't have it. I did an app in A4 for a guy in St.Louis but it only processed the reading of codes, didn't generate them.

                    Thanks again to all

                    Ken the Newbie.

                    Comment


                      #25
                      RE: Little Thing

                      HI,

                      All I have done is to put this on the first form that loads in the on_init:

                      sys_send_keys("{ESC}")

                      I know how some people feel about using sys_send_keys, but as my college friend used to say, "It's crude but effective". I don't think he was referring to me, but now that I think about it, I heard him say it alot when I was around. Hmmm.?

                      Jay Talbott
                      Jay Talbott
                      Lexington, KY

                      Comment


                        #26
                        RE: Little Thing

                        Hi again, Charles,

                        Thanks very much for your efforts.

                        My reason for wondering whether we can cut Tweak_ui out of the process is that I am at an educational institution with between 3 and 4k machines. Our tech support people favor standard setups so when a machine fails or is replaced the setup can be ghosted on to it from the network. For example, students always find ways to screw up lab machines. The techs don't debug; they just rebuild--simultaneously--as many machines as they need to. So it would be nice to know the settings.

                        Of course, we might use tweak_ui on the template machines but I wonder whether settings created with it would transfer cleanly to destination machines which did not have it....

                        I love windows.

                        Bill
                        Bill Hanigsberg

                        Comment


                          #27
                          RE: Little Thing

                          Hi Jay,

                          I discovered a problem with this solution which you should know about.

                          It works in W98 on the two machines in my office which have the focus problem.

                          My W95 machine does not have the focus problem. However, the code throws the opening form into change mode.

                          So I removed the code because of the variability of its consequences.

                          I haven't tried it on my ME machine.

                          Bill
                          Bill Hanigsberg

                          Comment


                            #28
                            RE: Little Thing

                            Bill,
                            I use the ESC key idea on Win 95 without a problem. But my first opening form has enter and change restricted since it is only a menu screen. Do you have any OnKey events for the opening form?

                            Jerry

                            Comment


                              #29
                              RE: Little Thing

                              Jerry,

                              I don't know. Have to look. It is part of a logon and setup routine so there is lots of stuff happening there.

                              However, my W95 machine does not have the focus problem so I do not need the code. If I add the code and open the application on this machine I get this problem.

                              So this prompts me to wonder whether your W95 machine presents the focus issue. If so, we're back to the setup question. Why do some machines have it and others not and can we devise a solution which works cleanly for both classes of machine.

                              Bill
                              Bill Hanigsberg

                              Comment


                                #30
                                RE: Little Thing


                                Like this
                                There can be only one.

                                Comment

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