Internal variable _tctabs within TCExit

[djspits]

For the observant reader: I withdrew a recent posting on TCExit because I misdiagnosed a problem. Thanks for pointing it out. Here is why:

From the helpfile:

_TCTABS returns the current number of Take Command tab windows (or 0 if TCC is not running in Take Command).

It appears that _TCTABS (and _TCTAB) is always zero during the execution of TCExit. Other internal variables still hold valid values. Maybe the console is considered to be closed already.

I was hoping to use this value to trigger some action on closing the *last* TC console. But now I'm out of luck because I can't discriminate between "last console" and "not running in TC".

Could the variable be decremented after TCExit?
If not, how could I keep track of the number of consoles?

Regards, DJ

 

[rconn]

_TCTABS isn't really a TCC variable, it's a TCMD status. TCC queries TCMD to get the number of active tab windows; it isn't affected by a TCEXIT.

I can't reproduce your issue here -- if TCEXIT is running, then the console window is still alive and TCMD returns "1".

Exactly how are you exiting TCC?

 

[djspits]

Thank you for your reply, Rex.

I have assigned Alt+X to File | Close tab and Alt+N to File | New tab
I have CloseIfNoTabs set to No.

Normal operation: I keep TCMD running and use the keyboard to open consoles for various tasks and closing them when ready. So, on the first Alt+N the toolbar is initialized and after the final Alt+X the toolbar is cleared.

I include my TCExit.BTM

Regards, DJ

 

[djspits]

I wrote the values of _tctabs and _tctab to a textfile from within tcexit. As shown in my updated upload above. Both values are zero.

I am running TCC 16.03.52 x64 Windows 8.1 [Version 6.3.9600]

Can anyone reproduce my findings?

DJ

 

[vefatica]

It apparently depends on how you close the tabs. I put this in TCEXIT.BTM

echo %_TCTABS %_TCTAB > pid%_PID.txt

When I closed three tabs with TCC's "EXIT" command the files contained "3 1", "2 1", and "1 1".

When I closed three tabs by X-ing them individually I got "0 0" in all three files.

I could rationalize that ... TCMD first detaches the consoles and then signals the TCCs to close. Is that WAD?

And (maybe no surprise) if I X TCMD itself, all the files contain "0 0".

 

[rconn]

When I closed three tabs by X-ing them individually I got "0 0" in all three files.

I could rationalize that ... TCMD first detaches the consoles and then signals the TCCs to close. Is that WAD?

WAD -- when you X the tab (or the TCMD window), you destroy the tab window immediately. The hidden consoles aren't detached (yet), but there's no tab window left for them to query.

There really isn't any other way to handle this, unless TCMD requires that all tab windows be running TCC so it can communicate with the console session.

 

[vefatica]

WAD -- when you X the tab (or the TCMD window), you destroy the tab window immediately. The hidden consoles aren't detached (yet), but there's no tab window left for them to query.

There really isn't any other way to handle this, unless TCMD requires that all tab windows be running TCC so it can communicate with the console session.

Hmmm! TCMD handles tabbed apps exiting on their own (EXIT command) or even being killed in TaskMgr (CMD too). TCMD gracefully closes the tab. Couldn't the tab's "X" send a message to the app (or whatever's done to get it to exit) and let that other mechanism take over to close the tab? Or maybe you can't alter what the "X" does. I am only curious.

 

[rconn]

Hmmm! TCMD handles tabbed apps exiting on their own (EXIT command) or even being killed in TaskMgr (CMD too). TCMD gracefully closes the tab. Couldn't the tab's "X" send a message to the app (or whatever's done to get it to exit) and let that other mechanism take over to close the tab? Or maybe you can't alter what the "X" does. I am only curious.

TCMD used to do that, but you complained (loudly and often!) about delays in closing the tab window -- i.e., when TCC was running a lengthy TCEXIT, or when the app simply ignored the close message (which happens more often than you'd think). Do you want me to change it back to the original behavior now?

 

[vefatica]

TCMD used to do that, but you complained (loudly and often!) about delays in closing the tab window -- i.e., when TCC was running a lengthy TCEXIT, or when the app simply ignored the close message (which happens more often than you'd think). Do you want me to change it back to the original behavior now?

I don't think that was me. But if those scenarios are likely, you have a trade-off. Either way, it's not likely to concern me. As I said, I was just curious about the mechanism.

 

[djspits]

So clicking "X" is equivalent to the menu option Tab | Close. I was hoping that the latter would be a "graceful" alternative like EXIT. I think I understand. All this means that _tctab has the correct value in a console that has lost its window (zero) and that _tctabs is undefined in such circumstances. Only the EXIT command keeps the connection to TCMD alive long enough. I guess I could rig the Alt-X key assignment to somehow issue the command instead of closing the window but I cant stop the user from clicking "X". I could try to keep my own global counter,... but there's no point because even if I get the count right, I can no longer clear the TCMD toolbar from TCC which was the whole purpose of keeping the count.

Back to the drawing board.
Regards, DJ