TCMD10 doesn't save options until restarted

[Arjan van Gog]

Hi,

long time 4DOS/4NT user here who just upgraded to TCMD10 (v10.00.51).

While configuring I noticed that most changes that I make under the Options menu don't take effect until I close and restart TCMD. What's more, if I go back to the Options menu without closing/restarting first, my changes will not be shown. If I then click OK (or Apply) my changes will be totally lost but if I click Cancel and then close and restart my changes will be applied after all.

This applies to

Options|Configure Take Command...
Options|Configure TCC...

(haven't tried the toolbar config yet). Smells like a bug to me. Can anyone confirm this?

Thanks,
Arjan

 

[rconn]

Arjan van Gog wrote:

>
> long time 4DOS/4NT user here who just upgraded to TCMD10 (v10.00.51).
>
> While configuring I noticed that most changes that I make under the *Options *menu don't take effect until I close and restart TCMD. What's more, if I go back to the *Options *menu without closing/restarting first, my changes will not be shown. If I then click *OK *(or *Apply*) my changes will be totally lost but if I click *Cancel *and then close and restart my changes will be applied after all.
>
> This applies to
>
> *Options|Configure Take Command...*
> *Options|Configure TCC...*
>
> (haven't tried the toolbar config yet). Smells like a bug to me. Can anyone confirm this?

Not reproducible here (other than the startup mode or startup tabs,
which is expected).

Rex Conn
JP Software

 

[Arjan van Gog]

Not reproducible here (other than the startup mode or startup tabs,
which is expected).

Please take a look at this screencam:

http://www.prognosis.nl/tcmd/

Please do watch all the way to the end. The color example is somewhat repetitious but the second example with transparency gets very interesting.

Also I mention at some point that behavior is inconsistent. Actually there does appear to be a consistency: The very first time I open an Options window after starting TCMD and make changes then the next time I go back the changes will be shown as they were made (although they won't have taken effect) but if you then change something a second time and then go back those second changes will not be shown at all.

You will need FlashPlayer 10 to view the video. If you have trouble viewing it perhaps you could download the raw mp4 file instead:

http://www.prognosis.nl/tcmd/TakeCommand bug report.mp4

Thanks,
Arjan

 

[vefatica]

On Thu, 12 Feb 2009 08:06:13 -0600, Arjan van Gog <> wrote:

>Also I mention at some point that behavior is inconsistent.

As concerns transparency, it is inconsistent. A most recent change isn't
reflected if Options is opened again. Sometimes, after making a change, "OK"
does nothing; sometimes it applies the change made before the most recent one.
--
- Vince

 

[rconn]

This is WAD -- if you select the Configure TCC option from the TCMD menu, you are *NOT* updating all of the the active TCC sessions; only the default values for future sessions. (You don't need to close TCMD, just start a new tab.)

This is not new, v9 behaves the same way -- the decision being that it was (1) unwise to blindly force every active TCC session to change, and (2) difficult to do anyway.

If you want to change the values for the current TCC session, use the OPTION command within that session.

 

[Arjan van Gog]

This is WAD -- if you select the Configure TCC option from the TCMD menu, you are *NOT* updating all of the the active TCC sessions; only the default values for future sessions. (You don't need to close TCMD, just start a new tab.)

Did you actually watch the video? The behaviour is wacky any way you look at it. Especially the demonstrations with the transparency shows a genuine bug: The inactive transparency value spontaneously gets a value that it was never set to. It is getting mixed up with a previous active transparency setting!

I can understand that some changes only take effect after a restart but the user interface should have some level of consistency in what it displays.

This is not new, v9 behaves the same way -- the decision being that it was (1) unwise to blindly force every active TCC session to change, and (2) difficult to do anyway.

I went straight from TCMD/32 v4 to v10 so I never saw v9. Regardless, behaviour of a current version is not automatically justified because a previous version behaved the same way.

Please watch the video and let me know what you think after seeing it. I'm both a programmer as well as a user interface designed by profession and imho something is not right.

 

[rconn]

Did you actually watch the video? The behaviour is wacky any way you look at it. Especially the demonstrations with the transparency shows a genuine bug: The inactive transparency value spontaneously gets a value that it was never set to. It is getting mixed up with a previous active transparency setting!

Transparency is a special case, as it is constantly monitored & reset (every 50 milliseconds or so). If you want to change the current transparency, use the slider control, not the dialog.

 

[Charles Dye]

This is WAD -- if you select the Configure TCC option from the TCMD menu, you are *NOT* updating all of the the active TCC sessions; only the default values for future sessions.

Perhaps, instead of "Configure TCC..." the menu item might be named "Configure TCC defaults...", or "Configure new TCC sessions...", or "Configure TCC template..."

 

[Arjan van Gog]

Transparency is a special case, as it is constantly monitored & reset (every 50 milliseconds or so). If you want to change the current transparency, use the slider control, not the dialog.

Build 52 fixes the transparency problem I reported, thanks.

Could it be that you also changed something with regard to how changes to the other TCC options are handled? With build 51 any revised changes you made to for example the input color the second time these would not show up if you opened it a third time. But with build 52 any change you make is reflected in the Options dialog the next time you open it which is a vast improvement.

I can fully understand that some changes require a restart but perhaps it would be an idea to somehow identify those values or perphaps bring up a message box like:

The changes you made will be applied the next time you start TakeCommand or to new Console tabs that you create.
[ ] Don't show this message again
​

That would have saved me (and possibly others) a lot of confusion :-)

 

[rconn]

> Could it be that you also changed something with regard to how changes to
> the other TCC options are handled? With build 51 any revised changes you
> made to for example the input color the second time these would not show
> up if you opened it a third time. But with build 52 any change you make is
> reflected in the Options dialog the next time you open it which is a vast
> improvement.

Nothing was changed in build 52.

If you run the OPTION command from TCC, you'll see immediate changes. If
you select the "Configure TCC" menu entry from TCMD, you'll only see the
changes in a new session.

Rex Conn
JP Software

 

[rconn]

> Could it be that you also changed something with regard to how changes to
> the other TCC options are handled? With build 51 any revised changes you
> made to for example the input color the second time these would not show
> up if you opened it a third time. But with build 52 any change you make is
> reflected in the Options dialog the next time you open it which is a vast
> improvement.

Nothing was changed in build 52.

If you run the OPTION command from TCC, you'll see immediate changes. If
you select the "Configure TCC" menu entry from TCMD, you'll only see the
changes in a new session.

Rex Conn
JP Software