Author Topic: Progress Bars of Life BETA v2 - With Zenos Alarm (Read 38,764 times)

mouser · « **on:** December 22, 2013, 05:12 PM »

If you'd like to try the new version of Progress Bars of Life Version 2, with Zeno's Alarm feature, you can get it here:

http://www.donationcoder.com/Software/Mouser/pbol

dr_andus · « **Reply #1 on:** December 23, 2013, 02:50 PM »

Thanks Mouser, interesting idea. However, after I installed and ran the beta, the bars are no longer showing up, only the captions.

My set-up: full-sized dock at the bottom of the screen, all bars on one single row.

Win 7, 64-bit.

[attachimg=#]

dr_andus · « **Reply #2 on:** December 23, 2013, 03:05 PM »

So, I uninstalled the beta and reinstalled the previous version, but that one won't run now either. It gives me the following messages: "EaccessViolation". And then a bunch of (6 or more) other "Access violation at address etc. etc." messages. Any idea how I can return to using the previous version? Cheers!

dr_andus · « **Reply #3 on:** December 23, 2013, 04:41 PM »

Well, I uninstalled the previous version as well, and installed the version before that, but I'm still getting the access violation messages, and the program wouldn't run. Does that mean this software doesn't uninstall completely, and whatever is left over interferes with the next installation?

mouser · « **Reply #4 on:** December 23, 2013, 05:14 PM »

Yes, when you uninstall it leaves your old settings. I'm not sure why the old version is balking with the new settings, but that's likely the cause.

However, your screeenshot about it not fitting -- just drag the bottom of the window to resize it -- that's normal that you might have to do that the first time.

ps.
I noticed that my initial sample settings may put the form off screen for people, so ~~i'll have to release an update today~~ I've uploaded a new version.

dr_andus · « **Reply #5 on:** December 23, 2013, 05:26 PM »

Thanks, looking forward to the update.

BTW, I did drag the window to resize it, so I don't think that that was the problem. I just couldn't get the bars to show, no matter what I did with it. But I can't reproduce the problem now because at the moment I don't have a working copy...

I'll try to see if there are any other remnants I can delete and then will try to reinstall it again.

mouser · « **Reply #6 on:** December 23, 2013, 05:33 PM »

There's no reason you should go back to the old version; use the new version and I'll get it working for you.

dr_andus · « **Reply #7 on:** December 23, 2013, 06:09 PM »

Thanks, Mouser. I've installed the latest version (though it seems to have the same version number as the previous beta?), but unfortunately I'm stuck with this access violation problem. After starting the app, I get the "EaccessViolation" message, and then "Access violation at address 6CA281FB. Read of address 6CA281FB." and then "Access violation at address 0077711D in module 'ProgressBarsOfLife.exe'. Read of address 00000005."

I also did a search for "progress bars" in Everything to see what has been created on my system, and I found the following folders with crash reports:

[attach=#]

They are at C:\Users\Dr Andus\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportArchive\AppCrash_ProgressBarsOfLi_804018ae7960be6b325ab27c6ee861cba5f26b16_00c276ca\Report.wer

mouser · « **Reply #8 on:** December 23, 2013, 06:14 PM »

Hmm..

Make sure program isnt running and then rename (rename not delete so you can get your old items back later) the folder My Documents\DonationCoder\ProgressBarsOfLife

That should remove any existing settings that must be causing the problem.

dr_andus · « **Reply #9 on:** December 23, 2013, 06:21 PM »

OK, thanks, that brought it back to life!

What do I need to copy over now from the old folder to the new folder to get back my settings (if that's what I need to do)?

mouser · « **Reply #10 on:** December 23, 2013, 06:39 PM »

the itemxml file.

you may want to open it up in a text editor to see if maybe it became corrupt and that's the cause of the crashing?
there should also be an itemxml.bak backup file.

dr_andus · « **Reply #11 on:** December 23, 2013, 07:07 PM »

Thanks, Mouser, all hunky-dory now!

The Zeno alert is a very interesting idea. One request/suggestion so far. Would it be possible to set the alert popup (and sound) to disappear by itself after a set number of seconds? I find it a bit disruptive to have to manually click on it to make it disappear.

E.g. at the moment I'm using it with my "half hour" bar (roughly a Pomodoro), and when it chimes in at 15 min, I am in the middle of writing (usually in some distraction-free full-screen mode, such as in WriteMonkey), so I'd prefer to just take notice of it but not have to disrupt my flow to click on it to go away.

Thanks for considering.

mouser · « **Reply #12 on:** December 23, 2013, 07:08 PM »

~~Good idea, i will add an option for that.~~

Added and uploaded.

dr_andus · « **Reply #13 on:** December 23, 2013, 07:35 PM »

Sweet!!

That was quick!

mouser · « **Reply #14 on:** December 23, 2013, 08:08 PM »

The only thing to remember is that when you enable this feature, its always going to fade out all alerts.

I was thinking it might be nice to add a feature that would let you set some events whose alerts should NOT be automatically faded out. If you enable the automatic fading you could miss an important event if you are away from the pc.

dr_andus · « **Reply #15 on:** December 23, 2013, 10:05 PM »

Quote from: mouser on December 23, 2013, 08:08 PM

The only thing to remember is that when you enable this feature, its always going to fade out all alerts.

That is fine with me, as I only use alerts for the Zeno feature.

Quote from: mouser on December 23, 2013, 08:08 PM

I was thinking it might be nice to add a feature that would let you set some events whose alerts should NOT be automatically faded out. If you enable the automatic fading you could miss an important event if you are away from the pc.

I don't use it that way but I can see that it would increase the versatility of the software.

mouser · « **Reply #16 on:** December 23, 2013, 10:11 PM »

Remember that if you intend to use PBOL just for giving you Zeno alerts, you can keep it minimized in the tray at all times, no need to have it docked or visible.

dr_andus · « **Reply #17 on:** December 23, 2013, 10:37 PM »

Quote from: mouser on December 23, 2013, 10:11 PM

Remember that if you intend to use PBOL just for giving you Zeno alerts, you can keep it minimized in the tray at all times, no need to have it docked or visible.

Good point, thanks. Though at the moment it's not a problem for me, as WriteMonkey full-screen does cover it up anyway.

I have to say the Zeno alerts work very well for the 30 min pomodoro session. That's a great function on its own already.

The only (minor) hitch (?) I'm experiencing is that in the final minute the sound alert for the Zeno continues to go off, even though I've set it not to go off after 60 sec. Could it be that the alert box and the sound function are not directly connected?

mouser · « **Reply #18 on:** December 23, 2013, 10:47 PM »

Quote

in the final minute the sound alert for the Zeno continues to go off, even though I've set it not to go off after 60 sec

can you be more specific and elaborate what happens?

dr_andus · « **Reply #19 on:** December 23, 2013, 10:57 PM »

Only the sound alert goes off (not the alert window) at 60 sec, 30sec, 15 sec, etc. all the way until 0 remaining.

mouser · « **Reply #20 on:** December 23, 2013, 11:03 PM »

ah, i get it. ok that makes sense, i'll fix.

mouser · « **Reply #21 on:** December 23, 2013, 11:15 PM »

New version up, should fix it.

dr_andus · « **Reply #22 on:** December 24, 2013, 12:19 AM »

Thanks, Mouser. That particular problem seems to be solved now, but it looks like in this version the auto-hide feature has stopped working (I do have the option checked, and it did work with the previous beta). I didn't fiddle any of the settings, just installed it over the previous version.

mouser · « **Reply #23 on:** December 24, 2013, 12:23 AM »

I may have messed with the autohide in my form resizing behavior.
Can you go and UNCHECK the option to autosize form even when docked (see general options tab); see if that helps.

If that doesn't help, can you try to describe the problem in a little more detail?

dr_andus · « **Reply #24 on:** December 24, 2013, 12:26 AM »

Sorry, I was referring to the "Automatically hide alert box after some delay."