Timing of splash screen V5 -vs- V6

[Jim Litzie]

A while back, on the V5 phorum, I posted a question about seeing the 'No databases open' menu when my app was run from an icon and the database was still loading. The solution, which worked well, was to add -MINIMIZE to the startup file and then maximize A5 once the application's main menu was loaded. In addition, I use a splash screen and added a login screen.

The result is that the splash screen displays first, and after initialization, my login screen displays in the center of the screen on top of the splash screen. Looks good. (see attached image)

The same exact application running against V6 behaves differently. The splash screen is displayed correctly, but is hidden prior to my login screen. This causes the login screen to appear in the upper left corner of the screen. Not very pretty.

Question is... Can anything be done to 'correct' this problem. It seems as though V6 internal code has been rearranged a little bit, causing this issue.

Regards,

Jim

[JerryBrightbill]

RE: Timing of splash screen V5 -vs- V6

Jim

The effect you are seeing is about the same as in A5V4. When A5V5 came out, a number of people didn't care for the effect and wnated the way it was in V4. Now, if you don't have a splash screen, the program opens directly to your start up form.

Jerry

[Jim Litzie]

RE: Timing of splash screen V5 -vs- V6

Hi Jerry,

I could probably live with the splash screen disappearing before my login dialog if the dialog would display in the center of the screen.

If that can't be done, I'll have to rearrange my code so that the main menu is displayed before the login. Not really what I'd prefer.

Jim

[Selwyn Rabins]

RE: Timing of splash screen V5 -vs- V6

if you have a simple demo that shows the problem, i will take a look at it to see if this is something that is easy to correct.

[Jim Litzie]

RE: Timing of splash screen V5 -vs- V6

Selwyn,

Here's a stripped down version. You can log in with

User-ID test
Password test

I included the shortcut as well.

Thanks,

Jim

[Selwyn Rabins]

RE: Timing of splash screen V5 -vs- V6

ok, i can duplicate the problem. we will fix it.

here is the issue:

if you run this script:

a5.Minimize()
ui_dlg_box("test",""%dlg%
Name: |[.20name];
Password: |[.20password];
%dlg%)

the dialog opens in the center of the a5 window.


but if you run this script:

a5.Minimize()
ui_dlg_box("test",""%dlg%
Name: |[.20name];
Password: |[.20password];
%dlg%)

the dialog opens top left because there is no a5 window in which it can center itself.

so we will change the way xdialog works so that if a5 is minimized, the dialog centers itself in the windows desktop.

[Pat Bremkamp]

RE: Timing of splash screen V5 -vs- V6

While you are working on this, perhaps you can look into this.

I start my app with a shortcut that sets the title and displays a splash screen as follows:

"C:\Program Files\A5V6\alpha5.exe" "c:\v6test\kicksoft.adb" -TITLE="Kicks Home Business Software" -SPLASH="C:\v6test\kicklogo.bmp" -ICON="C:\v6test\kicksoft.ico"

The app automatically runs the autoexec script which starts with:

' ****** Set the main menu as backdrop ******
on error goto OOPS
frm1=:form.view("Appselect","","","center","center")
:controlpanel.hide()
xbasic_wait_for_idle()
' ****** Set values for the variables ******
vHeading1 = "Select An Entity"
vHeading2 = "An Entity can be a business, organization, project or event."
biz_name_rl_def = "k=setup,{keylist_build(\"H=.025,1:40[Name]\",''+Biz_name,left(''+Biz_name,40))}{}"
vsBiz_Name="MindKicks Consulting"
' ******* Set the dialog layout **********
dlg_dlg=""%dlg%
....
and so on to display the Xdialog box shown in the screen shots.

The interesting part is this. I bring up my main menu as a backdrop to try to hide the system menu and toolbar, (the main menu has a custom view menu and the toolbars set to "none") but on startup I get screen1. After getting the screen shot and reactivating A5, screen2 shows. So, even with the wait for idle, the toolbar is not removed. Screen3 shows the main menu after closing the Xdialog box. Now the toolbar is removed. Screen4 is the result of running autoexec from the control panel. So, once A5 is running, the toolbar is properly hidden.

Is there a way to make screen1 appear like screen4?

Hope you understand all that.

Pat

[Peter.Greulich]

RE: Timing of splash screen V5 -vs- V6

The two scripts are the same?

[Jim Litzie]

RE: Timing of splash screen V5 -vs- V6

That's the exact reason it was suggested to me to start with A5 minimized; so you can't see the "no database open" toobar & menu. With a splash screen, the login, or in your case, the entity select dialog, would show in front of the splash screen, and then after the selection was made, A5 would be restored.

[Jim Litzie]

RE: Timing of splash screen V5 -vs- V6

Thanks Selwyn,

It's amazing that you jump on things like this so quickly; I'm sure there are other issues on your plate.

On that note:"), is it at all possible for the splash screen to be displayed until the autoexec is completed, or make it user defineable? (Not asking for too much, right?).

Regards,

Jim

[Pat Bremkamp]

RE: Timing of splash screen V5 -vs- V6

Peter,

Yes, it is the same script. I just select the autoexec script on the code tab and press "run".

Pat

[Selwyn Rabins]

RE: Timing of splash screen V5 -vs- V6

yes. i forgot to delete the a5.minimize() from the fist one.

[Selwyn Rabins]

RE: Timing of splash screen V5 -vs- V6

i don't think this would be easy because the splash screen, by definition, goes away as soon as a5 ends loading.

then, the database loads, and once the db has loaded, the autoexec starts up.

this is something you could try though:

in the shortcut that starts a5, you are allowed to specify an xbasic script that should execute once a5 has loaded. if you created a bitmap that was the same as the startup screen, and then did this as your xbasic command in the shortcut, it might give the visual impression of working like you want.


b = file.to_blob("c:\splash.bmp")
ui_bitmap_create("startup",4,4)
ui_bitmap_load("startup",b)
ui_modeless_dlg_box("Loading...","{image_opaque=startup}")

then, in your autoexec, you could do this:
ui_modeless_dlg_close("loading...")
ui_bitmap_drop("startup")

what the script does is load the data from a bitmap image file into a blob variable. it then creates an a5 'image' that is 4 by 4 inches. it then loads the blob data into the a5 image. it then creates a modeless xdialog that shows the startup image.

[Peter.Greulich]

RE: Timing of splash screen V5 -vs- V6

Thanks for the clarification. That helps!
:)

[Jim Litzie]

RE: Timing of splash screen V5 -vs- V6

Thanks Selwyn,

I'll give this a try over the weekend and se how it looks

Jim