Specifying path to TCMD.INI causes issues

[williamleara]

If I launch Take Command (v11.0.51 x64) with this shortcut:
"C:\Program Files\JPSoft\TCMD11x64\tcmd.exe" /@C:\Users\WilliamLeara\Documents\data\TCMD.INI

strange things happen and the program doesn't work correctly. For example: if I set the TCC option "Edit Mode" to "Insert" instead of the default "Overstrike", it won't take -- it stays in Overstrike mode.

If I leave TCMD.INI in the "C:\Program Files\JPSoft\TCMD11x64" directory, then everything works fine.

I'm running 64-bit Win7.

 

[rconn]

> If I launch Take Command (v11.0.51 x64) with this shortcut:
> "C:\Program Files\JPSoft\TCMD11x64\tcmd.exe"
> /@C:\Users\WilliamLeara\Documents\data\TCMD.INI
>
> strange things happen and the program doesn't work correctly. For
> example: if I set the TCC option "Edit Mode" to "Insert" instead of the
> default "Overstrike", it won't take -- it stays in Overstrike mode.
>
> If I leave TCMD.INI in the "C:\Program Files\JPSoft\TCMD11x64"
> directory, then everything works fine.

Your shortcut is specifying the TCMD.INI directory for Take Command, not for
TCC. Things like "Edit Mode" are TCC directives, and TCC will still be
looking in the default directory for its TCMD.INI. (Which, on Win7, will be
c:\users\WilliamLeara\appdata\local\jpsoft\tcmd.ini.)

You need to also specify the TCC directory, which you can do by adding it to
the startup tab command or in the COMSPEC field in your Take Command
Configuration/Tabs dialog.

Rex Conn
JP Software

 

[williamleara]

Your shortcut is specifying the TCMD.INI directory for Take Command, not for
TCC. Things like "Edit Mode" are TCC directives, and TCC will still be
looking in the default directory for its TCMD.INI. (Which, on Win7, will be
c:\users\WilliamLeara\appdata\local\jpsoft\tcmd.ini.)

You need to also specify the TCC directory, which you can do by adding it to
the startup tab command or in the COMSPEC field in your Take Command
Configuration/Tabs dialog.

Rex Conn
JP Software

I added "/@C:\Users\WilliamLeara\Documents\data\TCMD.INI" to the command line for the TCC tab, and that fixed the Edit Mode problem. However I still have the problem that Take Command will not exit cleanly. If I click the X in the upper right corner, nothing happens. If I click File/Exit, the app crashes. This doesn't happen when TCMD.INI is left in %localappdata%. Only when I specify a path to it does this happen. Any ideas?

 

[rconn]

> I added "/@C:\Users\WilliamLeara\Documents\data\TCMD.INI" to the
> command line for the TCC tab, and that fixed the Edit Mode problem.
> However I still have the problem that Take Command will not exit
> cleanly. If I click the X in the upper right corner, nothing happens.
> If I click File/Exit, the app crashes. This doesn't happen when
> TCMD.INI is left in %localappdata%. Only when I specify a path to it
> does this happen. Any ideas?

Not reproducible here (with Windows 7 x64), and we haven't had any other
reports of this. TCMD doesn't care where the TCMD.INI file is located, and
it definitely doesn't try to access it when exiting.

Is the TCMD.INI in your ...\data\ directory identical to the one in
%localappdata%?

Anybody else able to reproduce this?

Rex Conn
JP Software

 

[nikbackm]

Your shortcut is specifying the TCMD.INI directory for Take Command, not for
TCC. Things like "Edit Mode" are TCC directives, and TCC will still be
looking in the default directory for its TCMD.INI. (Which, on Win7, will be
c:\users\WilliamLeara\appdata\local\jpsoft\tcmd.ini.)

You need to also specify the TCC directory, which you can do by adding it to
the startup tab command or in the COMSPEC field in your Take Command
Configuration/Tabs dialog.

Rex Conn
JP Software

And then you also have to specify the path to TCMD.ini for TCC sessions started from within TCC itself, like with START. Or?

Is there a "good" way to do this except by aliasing START?

At least new TCC sessions do not seem to use the TCMD.ini of their parent TCC process.

I considered changing the location of TCMD.INI once myself, but it had to be specified in so many places, that it was just not worth it. Better just using the defaults.

Reason I wanted to change the location was to share the same file between several different Windows users, but I just ended up syncing them instead. Also turned out there was no need to actually have the all the same settings all the time for the users.

 

[Steve Fabian]

| And then you also have to specify the path to TCMD.ini for TCC
| sessions started from within TCC itself, like with START. Or?
|
| Is there a "good" way to do this except by aliasing START?
|
| At least new TCC sessions do not seem to use the TCMD.ini of their
| parent TCC process.

IMHO if TCMD's .INI file is explicitly specified, AND that file does not
specify any tabs, the default TCC tab ought to use the same .INI file as its
parent TCMD. Anything else will cause the confusion of the OP, esp. since
TCMD includes a pull-down menu item to modify TCC options.
--
Steve

 

[rconn]

> IMHO if TCMD's .INI file is explicitly specified, AND that file does
> not specify any tabs, the default TCC tab ought to use the same .INI
> file as its parent TCMD. Anything else will cause the confusion of the
> OP, esp. since TCMD includes a pull-down menu item to modify TCC options.

That would be reasonable, except (1) there's not really any such thing as a
"default TCC tab"; (2) if you're changing the default .INI for TCMD, there's
no particular reason to think you also want to change it for TCC; (3)
there's currently no way for TCC to query a parent TCMD process for the .INI
file; and (4) there isn't any reason to put the TCMD.INI file anywhere other
than %localappdata% except "because I want to".

I'll put #3 on the suggestion list for v13.

Rex Conn
JP Software

 

[Steve Fabian]

| ---Quote---
|| IMHO if TCMD's .INI file is explicitly specified, AND that file does
|| not specify any tabs, the default TCC tab ought to use the same .INI
|| file as its parent TCMD. Anything else will cause the confusion of
|| the OP, esp. since TCMD includes a pull-down menu item to modify
|| TCC options.
| ---End Quote---
| That would be reasonable, except (1) there's not really any such
| thing as a "default TCC tab"; (2) if you're changing the default
| .INI for TCMD, there's no particular reason to think you also want
| to change it for TCC; (3) there's currently no way for TCC to query
| a parent TCMD process for the .INI file; and (4) there isn't any
| reason to put the TCMD.INI file anywhere other than %localappdata%
| except "because I want to".

As I am far too keyboard oriented, and open and close at least two versions
of TCC many times an hour, I am not normally a user of TCMD, thus my view is
virtually that of a newbie.
(1) If you are a new user and just installed and started TCMD, it does
open with a single tab. AFAIK that tab runs TCC.EXE, and is what I referred
to as the "default TCC tab".
(2) is valid, but should probably be documented (a warning in the
section that specifies how to change TCMD's .INI that this does not affect
TCC).
(3) is valid, but irrelevant - whatever .INI was used to start TCC is
the only one it will modify using OPTION dialog. If it is also the parent
TCMD's .INI file, life for newbies is simpler.
(4) is invalid for portable ("TC on the stick") users, and for permanent
users is valid only for those who only use a single version and never use
TCC to perform special actions depending on which shortcut file started it.
Keeping .INI files together with the TCSTART.BTM files for each special use,
often in a directory containing other programs utilized reduces maintenance
complexity. I have more than 14 shortcuts which utilize TCC for specific
purposes (not interactively). These use several different .INI files, not
located together. It is also much easier to transfer the files from one
system to another where the %localappdata% path is different.
--
Steve

 

[rconn]

> (3) is valid, but irrelevant - whatever .INI was used to start TCC is
> the only one it will modify using OPTION dialog. If it is also the
> parent TCMD's .INI file, life for newbies is simpler.

Perhaps valid, but also irrelevant, since newbies will not try to use custom
.INI locations.

> (4) is invalid for portable ("TC on the stick") users, and for
> permanent users is valid only for those who only use a single version
> and never use TCC to perform special actions depending on which shortcut
> file started it.

The former is also irrelevant, since TCMD and TCC always look first in their
startup directory for TCMD.INI, then in %localappdata%.

The latter is relevant only to the .001% of the users who would do that!
:-) (And hopefully those users will know what they're doing ...)

Rex Conn
JP Software