Tools Pallet goes missing

[user#606]

With LC6.1 on PC, has anyone found the Tools Pallet vanishing and not retrievable unless restarting LC?
I know you can select Pointer or Browser from the Tools Menu, but it still does not come back.
I have been coding with Drag & Drop and I wonder if that has somehow messed up the system.

Has anyone else experienced this issue?

[LCNeil]

Hi User#606

The next time the tools pallet vanishes try running the following script in the message box-

Code: Select all

set the visible of stack "revTools" to true

This should hopefully show the tools pallet again if it has been hidden

Kind Regards,

Neil Roger
--
RunRev Support Team ~ http://www.runrev.com
--

[user#606]

Thanks for the tip.
never had this issue before though.

[dunbarx]

Hi.

What runRevNeil said.

My two cents is just that all window objects in LC are simple (!) stacks. They are not mysterious gadgets. You can deal with them as simply (!) as Neil said: show them if they are not visible, and at a certain loc if you wish. Note that they are also modifiable. I always do this with the script editor, based on an idea from Mr. Thierry, that gets rid of system globals in the variable pane when stepping through code.

Craig Newman

[Simon]

Found the code Craig,
Nice upgrade!

Simon

[dunbarx]

Simon.

I hated those globals. They took up so much room, and sat at the top of the field to boot.

There is a switch in the preferences at the script editor pane that ostensibly does just this, but it does not seem to work. Never has.

Craig

[exheusden]

I used to have the same problem with RunRev. Hasn't changed with LiveCode: tools palette still disappears and no amount of menu use will make it reappear. The Set Visible is all that seems to do the trick (and I always forget it!).

[FourthWorld]

It would be helpful if we could pin down what's causing this. I've never seen it, but I don't doubt you have, and that we're both using the same install almost rules out both the engine and the IDE as the root cause.

What plugins do you have installed?

[exheusden]

Richard, if you mean plug-ins for LiveCode, then no additions: just use the basic package as it comes. I have noticed, however that LiveCode fails a lot more than RunRev used to. This seems to happen most when using or after having used the Dictionary: text input is impossible; script editing window is shown empty (very worrying!)… I then have to quit and restart, after which I'm back to normal. Also, saving takes considerably longer now that it did in RunRev.

OS X 10.8.4
LiveCode 6.1.1-rc-2 Build 2007

[FourthWorld]

Thanks, exheusden, that background is helpful. If you find a repeatable recipe for this please log a bug report:
http://quality.runrev.com/

After you do it would be helpful to post the report number here so we can follow its progress.

[exheusden]

I can actually make the tools palette disappear, though I don't know if this would be considered normal behaviuor.

Firstly, because the tools palette is hardly ever present, I do a "set the visible of stack "revTools" to true" and it shows up nicely. I can even use it. I then execute a "go to stack "eBook templates" (a substack of the stack in which that line of code is executed) and the tools palette promptly disappears, even though it is still shown as active in the Tools menu (Tools Palette ticked). Deselecting and reselecting Tools>Tools Palette has no effect; the only way to get the palette back is to once again run a "set the visible of stack "revTools" to true".

As for the other errors, I shall see if I can find a recipe for them!

[FourthWorld]

I then execute a "go to stack "eBook templates" (a substack of the stack in which that line of code is executed) and the tools palette promptly disappears, even though it is still shown as active in the Tools menu (Tools Palette ticked).

Do you see a change if you use this instead?:

Code: Select all

open stack "eBook template"

[exheusden]

With open stack… the tool palette remains visible.

[FourthWorld]

With open stack… the tool palette remains visible.

Thanks. I think I see what's happening here, and would welcome suggestions from those familiar with the IDE code on how we might fix this.

The "go" command can sometimes be used to replace the window which has focus at the time it's used. This normally occurs only with the "go...in window..." form, so it seems something is amiss here if you're not using the "in window" option.

The "open" command is never used to replace the window, always opening the specified stack in a new window.

What may have happened is that when you open the tool palette with no other windows open, the "go" command is acting on the tool palette, and for some reason it seems to be acting as though the "in window" option was used, effectively replacing the tool window with the window for the specified stack.

So using "open" seems to fix the problem, but I'm still curious about why this happened at all. I can't reproduce it here - any tips I might try for making it happen?

[exheusden]

Firstly, note that a stack window is already open, together with the Tools Palette, when a substack is opened with "go", causing the Tool Palette to disappear.

Then,

So using "go" seems to fix the problem…

No, using "open stack" seems to fix the problem.

You also write that using "go" effectively causes the tool window to be replaced. Well, in a way, though the newly opened window does not occupy the same place as the disappearing Tool Palette.

I don't know if it has anything to do with this, but closing a window with the red close button always causes the "Do you want to save changes to stack…" message, even when no changes have been made (indeed, even when nothing at all has been done with the stack, other than oening it). I've tried this with reasonably complex stackes (stacks with many cards and with substacks) and also with simple one-card stacks: I *think* this always happens with LiveCode.