Bug: Menus, buttons, UI, etc. do not respond to mouse clicks

[ptran]

Hi,

I've encountered a peculiar problem with Clipboard Help+Spell where the menu items, the buttons on the toolbars, and other UI elements do not respond. When I hover over them, I see the menu items highlight, the button outlines show up, and the I-beam appear in them textarea containing my copied text. But, the menus (e.g., File, Edit) do not appear, the buttons don't do what they normally do (e.g., does not create a group, does not delete a clip), and the I-beam doesn't select text. I cannot use the minimize, maximize, or window close button on the upper right corner of the application window. It almost appears that the application can detect my mouse location, but not the mouse clicks.

I'm running Windows XP Pro SP2. I am also running the goScreen (http://www.goscreen.info/) virtual desktop manager. I don't know for sure if goScreen is part of the problem. I depend on goScreen, so I'm always running. On one occasion, I ran CHS for several hours without problem when I did not have goScreen running.  But that's not really proof they are related.

Unfortunately, I don't know when I get into this state. I would copy something to the clipboard, then open the application from the system tray and unexpectedly get this behavior.

I can right click on the CHS icon in the system tray, exit it, then start it back up. At this point, the problem no longer occurs. So for now, that's my recovery from this problem.

FYI: This problem also occurs with ScreenCaptor. I am posting this message to CHS because that's the first application that exhibit this problem. FARR does not exhibit this problem.

[ptran]

Sorry, I forgot to mention I am running CHS version 1.19.02.

[mouser]

what operating system are you using?
it would be nice to uninstall goscreen if possible and see if that solves it.

[ptran]

I'm running Windows XP SP2 32-bit.

I removed goScreen from my Startup group and rebooted the computer. After logging in, I waited for all the little apps to start up and disk activity to die down. goScreen did not start up. I double click on CHS from the System Tray and it's exhibiting the problem: the File, Edit, etc. menus don't display when I click on them, the toolbar buttons do not work, I cannot select text using the I-beam cursor. I did notice that single and double clicks on the main window's title bar (the one that displays the app name, "Clipboard Help and Spell") work---a single click brings it to the foreground, and a double click maximizes the window. And ScreenCaptor is behaving the same way---the single and double clicks on the window title bar work, but menus, buttons, etc. do not work.

So far, without goScreen running, it looks like I'm still reproducing the problem.

Another data point ... I right click on the CHS icon in the system tray, select Options and Preferences, and the Options window shows up. It, too, has the "no response" behavior. I can click on the title bar and drag it around, but clicking on the different tabs does not change to them.

Here are some thoughts on what I can provide ...

1. I do have Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 on the machine, so I could try to attach to the process and poke around.
2. I can try to record a video of this behavior using DesktopActionRecorder, in case that demonstrates the problem much more clearly than how I am describing the problem.
3. I have ProcessExplorer on this machine in case it can provide you with any information about the process.
4. I can switch my GoToMyPC account to this machine and invite you (mouser) to my computer to debug/diagnose it live.

FYI ... I used the CHS icon in the system tray to exit it. I then start it up again, and all is well---I can select text and the menus drop down when I click on them.

[ptran]

Hi ... Just checking in to see if anyone has thoughts on this problem. I'm still running into it, and finally have some breathing room to post this message to the forums. So far, I've pinned both CHS and ScreenCaptor to my Start menu so that when I encounter this problem, I exit them and can quickly start them back up. It's nice to have the contents persistent on disk. I still don't have any further ideas on diagnosing this problem to provide further information about it.

[mouser]

If you exit the programs, and then restart them, they work, is tht right?  and then does the problem ever re-emerge on its own, or only after you reboot?

[ptran]

Correct. I exit the program (I right click on the system tray icon, select exit, and then start them back up).

I'll have to keep an eye out for the second condition---whether the programs re-enter this odd state.

[mouser]

if they never re-enter this state, and it ONLY happens when first started at boot time, then the problem is much less of a mystery, and seems to befall some users on startup, and there is a hope for a solution.

[ptran]

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. I checked Clipboard Help+Spell (Screenshot Captor) after login and each time (with one exception), I observe the problem. On one occasion, a window appeared on the desktop for Screenshot Captor.  I double clicked the title bar, and a rather large blank (white background only) window appeared. So in each of these cases, I stopped both programs. I restart each one, wait for them to minimize to the system tray, and opened them up---they were functional. So it does appear that the problems I see are occurring from the time the start up after logging in.

After restarting the programs after login, I have not seen the problem recur. When I double click the system tray icons, the window opens up and I can select text from the clippings (and images from Screenshot Captor).

I tried logging out and then loggin in, and saw the same results.

[mouser]

right ok.. so i'd say your problems are just an extreme case of the bad startup-with-windows bug that seems to happen to some people who use a few of my programs.  for some reason when they start with windows they don't minimize to the tray properly and the window is unresponsive, at least until the program is restarted or until the main window is close and re-opened.  i am going to be releasing a few updates at the end of this month and in early may and i will try to get this fixed by then.

[ptran]

Cool. Thanks for helping narrow down the problem, which makes it easier to work around.

[mouser]

Thank you very much for your patience and assistance ptran -- i really do appreciate it.