Binary Registry Keys.... Editable? Readable? How?

[J-Mac]

Title says it all, if you are presently frothing at the mouth, staring at RegEdit!

I have a little problem with the latest Pre-Release version of Evernote: After it installed over the previous pre-release the Evernote main window opens off-screen. Right after I updated Evernote it opened and I could not find the doggone thing! Taskbar button was there but it didn't bring anything up when clicked. Plus the thumbnail image that Win 7 shows when hovering your mouse over a taskbar button only showed about a 50 px x 200 px section of the Evernote main toolbar instead of the main window itself. I could right-click the taskbar button and then click "Maximize" and the maximized window would appear but there was no way to restore the "normal" window; instead it would just jump back off-screen again. Frustrating, to say the least.

So every time Evernote starts up I have been pressing Alt+Space+M to get into the Move function, and then I use the arrow keys to move this tiny Evernote onto the monitor. Of course I also have to resize the window. However there doesn’t seem to be anyway to make the window placement stick. Using File>Exit while the correct window is showing doesn’t stay that way; the next time Evernote starts it is back off-screen in a tiny window!!

Evernote Support said to uninstall/reinstall the app. (Have you ever heard that before?! Hate it?). Though actually it probably will fix the problem, as I am guessing that something went weird during the last update installation and hopefully reinstalling it fresh has a damn good chance of getting it right this time. Maybe. Fingers crossed. But I got a bug under my bonnet now. I want to know where the hell the Window Placement setting is stored for Evernote now. And no one will tell me. (Or can tell me...) No INI file, no DAT file, no config file. All that is left is the registry. So I looked and there it is: a whole key under HK Current User with a subkey named WindowPlacement! But... all the keys in it are Binary keys. I cannot read this key with anything. Hex Editor just shows me the Hex and makes it editable, but still doesn’t translate it into human-readable material.

Does anyone know how I can see what is listed there for WindowPlacement? I haven't reinstalled the update yet just because this is bugging me and I would like to understand where the setting is for Evernote and how to change it without uninstalling and reinstalling - because I still hate that damn answer!!

Thanks!

Jim

[attachthumb=#1][/attachthumb]

Current binary key value for Evernote MainFrameWindow Placement.

[MilesAhead]

The binary stuff could be in any arbitrary order.  Like left corner, right corner x y combos or left top right bottom.. plus other attributes.  A lot of trial and error potential.

This may work and be generally useful:

http://sourceforge.n...t/projects/winsize2/

Once you have a window sized and positioned the way you want, hit the hotkey while it's active to store the info.  After that, the first time that window pops up it's set to that position/size.

I've been using it for a few weeks.  About the only side effect is now and then a dialog box or child window comes up behind the application.  But that's pretty rare. Seems very stable.

Plus it's free.

[J-Mac]

Thank you. I'll give WinSize2 a try, though reinstalling Evernote will possibly restore the correct window placement. Still it bothers me that I cannot find where/how to even view that setting, let alone edit it. On many, many apps I have had to go into either INI, DAT, or config files to change settings and even editing registry keys. This is the first time in a long time that I could not find the basic settings for a program. Well, actually I did find them; just can't read 'em!

Thanks again!

Jim

Ha! I thought that sounded way too familiar! I used that on my notebook two years ago for a program that would only open in a relatively small window and I wanted a larger window. Worked a treat then! I used it on my desktop last March for another program - a specialized database program - where the idiot who designed it had so many limitations in it that I never did end up doing a darn thing with it - other than paying for the POS! The developer told me to change my resolution to 800 x 600 manually whenever I used it. Creep! Winsize2 did allow me to increase the window size for that but the actual program's UI stayed the same size within the larger window.

[lanux128]

just an idea, instead of editing the registry key, why not delete it (after backing up) and start Evernote to see if the window placement functions normally?

[J-Mac]

just an idea, instead of editing the registry key, why not delete it (after backing up) and start Evernote to see if the window placement functions normally?

-lanux128 (January 24, 2011, 09:30 PM)

See, I just knew someone would have an idea! Might work - I'll give it a try and post back afterward.

Thanks!

Jim

[MilesAhead]

Yeah WinSize2 is nice. I was considering rolling my own tray app to keep a list of window positions but found it already done with a nice config dialog.

Usually when I put anything in the registry, unless I'm using a 3rd party component, I'll use string data with key names that make it obvious what the value stands for.. like Left Top Width Height or whatever.

On the registry key deletion I'd just check it doesn't have some install registration data.  Every time I use CCleaner to clean the registry I have to remember to re-register my license key for Newsbin or a week later after I've totally forgotten about it the app will tell me my one week trial has expired.  Just an annoyance.

[J-Mac]

Alas, no joy yet. Shut down Evernote after setting the desired window placement and size, deleted the entire WindowPlacement key, opened Evernote and it's still tiny and off screen. Screencap of Win+Tab view below; see that little tiny window toward the bottom, all by its lonesome? That is my Evernote window upon starting it, though off the screen at the very top left. Second screencap is the Evernote window after using Alt+Space+M and using the right arrow to move the window into view. Cute, huh?

Thanks

Jim

[attachthumb=#1][/attachthumb]

[attachimg=#2][/attachimg]

Oops - image attachments showed up in the opposite order from what I described above, so just mentally reverse attachment comments above!

[lanux128]

Alas, no joy yet. Shut down Evernote after setting the desired window placement and size, deleted the entire WindowPlacement key, opened Evernote and it's still tiny and off screen.

-J-Mac (January 24, 2011, 10:17 PM)

sounds like a bug in the pre-release. a bug that causes the program not to read/write from/to the registry at all.

try the following to reconfirm.
1. Shut down Evernote after setting the desired window placement and size.
2. Delete the entire WindowPlacement key
3. Open Evernote and repeat #1
4. Open regedit to see if the key is re-created.

[J-Mac]

Alas, no joy yet. Shut down Evernote after setting the desired window placement and size, deleted the entire WindowPlacement key, opened Evernote and it's still tiny and off screen.

-J-Mac (January 24, 2011, 10:17 PM)

sounds like a bug in the pre-release. a bug that causes the program not to read/write from/to the registry at all.

try the following to reconfirm.
1. Shut down Evernote after setting the desired window placement and size.
2. Delete the entire WindowPlacement key
3. Open Evernote and repeat #1
4. Open regedit to see if the key is re-created.

-lanux128 (January 24, 2011, 10:27 PM)

lanax,

Those are exactly the steps I completed just before my last post above! Yes, the registry key was recreated but the window is still tiny and off the screen. I would agree that the pre-release was faulty except that I am not seeing other posts at the Evernote forum reporting the same problem. Other problems but not this one. They are using a new installer package that really does suck though. Windows Installer but it appears that someone rewrote the installation package itself. During installation - since they pre-released (now there is a contradictory phrase!) the installer now wipes out all taskbar and desktop icons and then they trickle back into view. Plus it now automatically uninstalls the previous/existing version before starting the installation. I don’t think they wrote the package well. Lots of problems reported but I haven't seen any others specifically related to window placement.

I have a feeling that something weird happened during the last installation that caused the Evernote window to be tossed off screen and so that is where the registry key was created to reflect. Sucks that it cannot be changed though.

Anyway I downloaded the latest version of WinSize2 and saved the Evernote window where I want it and it seems to be working!

Thanks!

Jim

[J-Mac]

BTW the fact that the deleted key is recreated but keeping the bad window size and placement indicates that this data is being retained elsewhere. Otherwise the program restart would have no way to "know" about that bad size and placement info. Correct? I wonder where the hell else they store it? Evernote support isn't talking.

Thank you.

Jim

[lanux128]

BTW the fact that the deleted key is recreated but keeping the bad window size and placement indicates that this data is being retained elsewhere. Otherwise the program restart would have no way to "know" about that bad size and placement info. Correct? I wonder where the hell else they store it? Evernote support isn't talking.

-J-Mac (January 24, 2011, 10:48 PM)

yes, we can confirm that this is a bug for Evernote to fix. as you mentioned, the app can save its location into the registry. but the "data" might not be in the proper order, for all we know the width/length of the window might be inverted with the x,y co-ordinates. just a hunch..

on another note, luckily you found a workaround with WinSize2.