Can't see all UI setup options due to screen size

[theotherbassist]

Okay, this is really silly. I've searched around, and I can't seem to find any related answers.

I'm in a different country, away from my main PC--so I only have my netbook with me. It boasts a pretty tiny screen and runs Windows 7. When I'm trying to set preferences for a stack in the livecode UI, a few fields fall below my window view. There is no scroll bar or anything that would allow me to see the options that exist below the taskbar. I can drag the windows as high as possible, and still some options evade me--especially in preference sections with a lot of options, like the setup for android under standalone settings. Normally, I'd just plug into a larger external monitor and viola. Not an option right now though. Help!

[Simon]

Hi theotherbassist,

In the message box do this

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put the openstacks

Find out the number of the palette (its easier if you only have 1 inspector open but that does not mean it's number will be 1)
Then in the message box

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set the top of stack "revPropertyPalette 1" to 100

that 100 is up to you and it can be positive or negative.

Simon

[FourthWorld]

What's your display's vertical resolution?

[theotherbassist]

The vertical res is 600. I'll try changing those palette properties... this just seems like a problem that could easily have been anticipated by the software. Maybe I'm missing something.

[theotherbassist]

Okay, so at least I see how it is possible to view all options now.

I can alternate between

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set the bottom of stack "revstandalonesettings" to 600

and

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set the top of stack "revstandalonesettings" to 20

This is just a little bit tedious. There's really no way to get livecode to detect my screen size and adapt the UI accordingly? It's a bit odd that I have to locate the menu's stack name and manually move it up or down with code every time the options are verbose. I mean, I know livecode isn't designed for developing on mobile or anything... but I have a pretty typical res for a smaller computer.

[theotherbassist]

Couldn't LC devs simply put in a couple of commands to prevent this?
1. Detect screen res at startup
2. Define this as the max size of menu stacks
3. Throw scrollbars in each menu stack (menu stacks only--you don't want that happening with all created stacks) exceeding the max.
I know you can do all this stuff IN livecode... I'm guessing it just isn't a common problem, and so hasn't been addressed.

[FourthWorld]

I know you can do all this stuff IN livecode... I'm guessing it just isn't a common problem, and so hasn't been addressed.

Exactly. I have a 600p netbook myself, but I found that using a wide range of software, not just LiveCode, was very difficult on it.

A big part of the problem is simply the adoption rate of smaller screens. Very early into the netbook growth cycle most manufacturers moved to 768p, and with modern lightweight and inexpensive laptops, netbooks, and Chromebooks available with 768p for under $300, today 1024x600 is used by less than 1% of active Web surfers:
http://www.screenresolution.org/

While LiveCode can be used to make apps for nearly any resolution, for many years the company has listed 1024x768 as the minimum supported resolution for the LiveCode IDE.

[Simon]

Man that was hard to find!

Hi theotherbassist,
Here is a cool tool made by a user;
http://forums.livecode.com/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=13378
Now the link in there is incorrect, here is the correct one
http://charlesbuchwald.com/lcmover/
This still doesn't completely answer you problem but you can modify it to be used on any open stack. Just look for where "topStack" is used. Maybe you can modify it so well that you post the stack to revOnline.

Simon

[theotherbassist]

It's unfortunate that it was so hard to find that, but thanks a lot Simon. Every day we're just a little bit closer to writing an app that writes our apps. I think it would be pretty cool to develop for mobile inside a mobile environment soon too, but with the current neglect of smaller devices in general, I'm not holding my breath.

[FourthWorld]

Development and runtime are very different tasks, and currently all serious mobile development tools require building on a desktop.

I share your lament that manufacturers have almost completely dropped support for 600p, but LiveCode requires nothing more than most IDEs with 1024x768.

There are some interesting things that could be done for making certain types of apps within a mobile OS. But with the single-window design mobile OSes give us it's challenging, not to mention the security issues and others.

Remember that everything in the LiveCode IDE was made with LiveCode; it's all just stacks. Anyone sufficiently interested in exploring ways to put IDE elements into a group that could be used within a mobile stack is free to explore that.