The plot thickens: a Windows XP problem related to shortcut genie

[rmcgaffic]

Folks, I have created this as a separate message because it looks like the problem is now at least understood, if not resolved. It was not an Alpha Five problem I'm happy to report, but I would sure appreciate someone steering me in the right direction for what appears now to be a Windows XP snag.

On my laptop, the shortcut genie has been failing: the name of the shortcut displays correctly on my desktop, but the icon does not display at all and the splash screen bitmap also does not display.

I filed a bug report last Friday afternoon, and was most impressed when Selwyn Rabins himself responded by Saturday morning! Selwyn reported that he had not been able to duplicate the problem at Alpha and that no one else had reported a similar problem.

I think I now know what the issue is, but am not sure what to do about.
The problem is Windows XP is screwing up the file location, I think.

When I used the Alpha shortcut genie, I browsed to my file:

C:\Documents and Settings\Robert McGaffic\My Documents\32_32.ico

just fine. The shortcut was successfully saved.

When I returned to the desktop, the shortcut was there with its correct title but of course the icon was missing. I clicked on the shortcut to change its properties, and clicked on the change icon button, normally the way one navigates to the desired .ico file.

Windows popped up a dailog box with the following message:

Windows cannot find the file icon location .startup"@C:\Docum.

.

I then tried something even more basic. I placed my icon in my root directory and specified the following in the shortcut genie:

C:\32_32.ico

On the desktop, the icon was not displayed. When I attempted to change the icon, I received the following message:

Windows can not find the file  Try.startup"[]C:\32_32.ico.

where [] is a square box graphic character.

Any ideas of why the icon file location that was stored in the Alpha Five Genie isn't being found by Windows when the shortcut is executed.

Bob McGaffic
Pittsburgh

[Doug Page]

Re: The plot thickens: a Windows XP problem related to shortcut genie

Bob,

I am at a bit of a loss as to your problem. I remember reading your last thread but can't recall if this ever worked correctly on your laptop. If it did, I would go back and check to see what might have been installed since then - including OS updates. It seems something fairly close to the OS has gone amuck here. Will continue to think about this problem.

[rmcgaffic]

Re: The plot thickens: a Windows XP problem related to shortcut genie

Doug,

The shortcut never worked on my personal laptop.

I installed the evaluation copy of A5V8 on my company laptop and it was just fine.

In the meantime, I go to the Microsoft page and see if there are any updates available.

Thanks,

Bob
Pittsburgh

[Al Buchholz]

Re: The plot thickens: a Windows XP problem related to shortcut genie

Bob

If you use Alpha to generate a shortcut on the offending machine, does the shortcut work properly?

If so, then compare the differences...

[MikeC]

Re: The plot thickens: a Windows XP problem related to shortcut genie

Hi Bob,

Just another guess...have you tried another icon to see if it works--one that does not start with a number preferably??

[rmcgaffic]

Re: The plot thickens: a Windows XP problem related to shortcut genie

Al and Mike,

Thanks for your responses.

Several weeks ago, another forum member sent me some 32X32 icons that he verified worked with the shortcut genie and of course they did not work on my personal laptop. So I'll fairly certain the problem is not with the icon file.

I created a shortcut on my company laptop exactly the same way and it worked. In other words, the shortcut genie worked with a fresh evaluation download of A5V8 on this laptop.

So I thought there is something obviously wrong with my copy of A5V8. I removed A5V8 from my personal laptop using control panel add/remove program routine, then reinstalled using downloaded evaluation copy of A5V8. That did not work.

The fact that neither the icon nor the splash screen appears on my machines leads me to believe that Windows is having trouble finding both files. I receive weird messages I receive when I attempt to change the icon on the shortcut manually.

It appears that Windows is truncating the path and file name for both the icon and the splash screen bitmap.
I just wondered if anyone every experienced a problem and how they corrected it.

Would this info be stored in the registry, generally a place I fear to tread?

Bob
Pittsburgh

[Tom Cone Jr]

Re: The plot thickens: a Windows XP problem related to shortcut genie

Bob, I wonder if your system could create a working shortcut if the icon were stored in a folder on a path that didn't use long folder names? i.e. in the root directory on the C: drive, for example.

[Al Buchholz]

Re: The plot thickens: a Windows XP problem related to shortcut genie

Bob

I've had many problems with shortcuts generated in one windows version working properly in another windows version. ie 98 to 2000 to xp. I haven't tried an xp shortcut in vista.

Is it possible that the window's version is different on these machines?

If a shortcut generated works when it's generated on the machine and it runs there - as you stated - then something is different in the os from machine to machine.

[DaveM]

Re: The plot thickens: a Windows XP problem related to shortcut genie

I think he did that Tom, but possibly trying it with a name not starting with a number also might help??

Bob, Are you having ANY problems with any other graphics in any other app on this laptop?

Long shot, There are some settings you might look at: from the windows explorer, click tools, click folder options, click view tab and check those settings.

There are some other settings too, if memory serves correctly, but not sure where they are. Maybe under security somewhere. I will try to look for you.

I think it is your machine and not alpha, but trying to figure out what settings.

[rmcgaffic]

Problem solved and cross one off the wish list

I tried all the above suggestions without success:

1. I verified that the same version of Windows XP was used on both machines
2. I have not experienced any problems with other graphics on the machine that would not display the Shortcut genie icon
3. I placed the icon file in my root directory C:\ -- it still didn't work
4. I changed the name of the icon file to begin with a letter not a number -- it still didn't work
5. I purchased, installed, and executed a package called ErrorSmart. It found and corrected a lot of inconsistencies with my registry -- but the Alpha Five V8 shortcut genie still didn't work
6. I was on the verge of reinstalling Windows XP, when I decided to load the Beta of Version 9.

Guess what, it works!

So how is it that on the same machine, Version 8 has problems and Version 9 Beta does not?

But wait, there's more.

Forum member Bob Whitaker ("Title Bar and Application Appearance") posted a wish list request in Dec 2007 about how nice it would be to be able to change the icon in the Windows title without resorting to an external file, etc. Well, Bob, your wish came true.

As you can see in my images below, with a single 32X32 icon specified in the Beta Version 9 genie:

1. A icon on the desktop -- existing feature
2. An icon in the windows title bar -- new feature, excellent
3. An icon in the windows tray -- new feature, excellent

Note that the icons in the Windows title and tray have been appropriately reduced so there's no need to have a separate 16X16 icon.

The result: what I call branding for beginners! The ability to give a consistent graphic treatment to your application without resorting to external files or separate autoexecute files.

Sadly, the display of the splash screen is burdened by the white, uneven border around the bitmap image. See images in my post "Shortcut genie -- name OK, but no icon or splash images or custom title displayed".

Regardless of how large your bit map image is, the Shortcut genie in Beta version 9 puts the same unbalanced white margin around the image.

Alpha you are so close to perfection, please go the extra one inch and kill the margin around the bitmap. Please, Please, Please!

Why is this important? Because it greatly improves the visual impact of the splash screen, and because I noticed on my ancient IBM Thinkpad T21 Beta Version 9 takes slightly longer to load, users will have a longer period to notice that the bitmap is not properly centered. It's a little like having a picture on your living room wall that's not hanging straight.

It seems obvious that the splash screen is built from code which adds A, B, C, and D pixels to the left, top, right, and bottom of the bitmap image.
Alpha please set the values to A, B, C, and D to zero and you'll have a real winner.

[Bob Whitaker]

Re: The plot thickens: a Windows XP problem related to shortcut genie

Yes thanks Bob I just tried it and it worked fine - thats a nice additional feature. Thanks Selwyn and the team - I imagine there are a host of neat new features coming our way.

Bob Whitaker

[Tim Kiebert]

Re: Problem solved and cross one off the wish list

As you can see in my images below, with a single 32X32 icon specified in the Beta Version 9 genie:

1. A icon on the desktop -- existing feature
2. An icon in the windows title bar -- new feature, excellent
3. An icon in the windows tray -- new feature, excellent

Bob,

The three images you have in your post is how my v8 behaves as well. All I have done is specify an .ico file in one spot in the genie. It then shows in all three places. However if you specify in the genie to not have a system menu then the icon does not appear in the title bar as this is what one clicks to get the system menu.

[rmcgaffic]

Re: The plot thickens: a Windows XP problem related to shortcut genie

Tim, you are right.

In my haste to get the splash screen to work, I overlooked that the icon does indeed appear in all three locations. This only worked in the evaluation version of A5V8 that I loaded onto laptop #2, not my real A5V8 on laptop #1.

I've got to say I am impressed with how easy Alpha Five made this to do. Was this part of a recent update? Because another forum member made a request for this feature last year.

I've attached a word document that shows how little effort would be required to give an Alpha Five application a polished appearance.

It shows examples from Microsoft Excel (Work, Powerpoint, Access, etc. all follow the same approach), Quicken (also used by TurboTax), ScanSoft OmniPro, Servoy Developer, and finally CD Burner XP Professional.

Once you've had a chance to look at them, I have two questions:
1. Could you reproduce the results with Alpha Five?
2. By its appearance, which of the splash screens do you think is shareware?

I have nothing against shareware, but if a client is paying you good money to develop and application or you're developing a commercial application, don't you want to delight the user with a professional appearance?

Bob
Pittsburgh