Multiple Screen Issue

[WaltBrown]

Sturgis,

Just for fun, I built the attached plugin, named "idShowScreen". When selected it opens a large empty window with a couple buttons. Click "Make Map" and it makes a proportional map of all screens and open LC windows in a multiscreen environment. The stack window objects are all draggable, and when dropped change their respective stacks - I wanted to be able to see where off screen stacks were, or store some off screen. The only parameter it changes of any stack is it's rect.

It works standalone or as a plugin. I've only tested on Win7 x64, but I tested it with my screens in many orientations.

Walt

Oops just tested a very odd screen configuration, now it handles that too.

[sturgis]

Don't get put off by my use of technical terms here Walt, but.. thats just "neato!"

[mwieder]

That's quite cute. A couple of well-placed lockscreens speed things up considerably, although it's fun watching it draw. I can report that it works on linux as well, although it doesn't draw the screen outlines for multiple desktops.

[WaltBrown]

Thanks. I just finished loading Ubuntu on a flash drive, I'll try to see why it doesn't draw the screens in Linux if I get the time.
Walt

[mwieder]

No, it *does* draw the screens. It's just that if I have some windows in desktop 1 and some in desktop 2 it places the stack images properly but doesn't draw the surrounding screens for the desktop that isn't current. Minor thing, and I'm impressed enough that it figures out where the offscreen stacks are.

[BarrySumpter]

Post Submit: oops, sorry if this looks out of place. I didn't realise this thread had 2 pages.
I'll return and delete this ASAP if it doesn't belong.


I'm hoping this helps
Speaking of cludgy.
I just happen to be working on this last night needing a break from my current project.

I've got three screens on my win32.
And was getting frustrated with the time wasted having to search thru three screens.
And was experimenting with forcing exact locations of LC IDE and all its sub-stacks.
i.e. forcing meaning don't query where the stack is - just place it right there every time

This is very cludgy work in progress but hope this could be a starting ground
and maybe even learn a few niftier tricks from more experienced developers.

I'm hoping there are better ways to open the properties Inspector and script editor.

I'd be very interested in any suggestions about how to arrange related stacks and their sub-stacks together.

in win32
the left and the effectieve left didn't seem to make any difference in this scripts.
the rectangle seems to be the internal rectagle of the stack.
i.e. excluds the borders around each stack/form/window.
I'm sure I'm missing something here.

You need to add a button btnDummy to your stack if you want to use this code as is:

Code: Select all

-- button btnArrangeStacks
on mouseUp
   
   -- Rects  -- left, top, right and bottom of the rectangle
   
   -- put the screenRect into rectScreen
   --   put the screenRects into rectScreens
   
   --   put the rect of stack revMenubar into rectMenuBar
   
   --   set the left of rectMenuBar to 0
   --   set the right of rectMenuBar to 0
   
   --   set the rect of stack revMenubar to recMenuBar
   
   -- LiveCode MenuBar
   
   set the effective left of stack revMenubar to 0 + 5
   set the effective top of stack revMenubar to 0 + 30
   
   set the left of this stack to the Right of stack revMenubar + 10
   set the top of this stack to 25
   
   
   -- LiveCode Tools Palette
   
   --if revApplicationOverview is not among the lines of  the openStacks then
   -- open stack revTools
   palette stack revTools
   -- end if
   
   -- 
   
   set the left of stack revTools to 0 + 5
   set the top of stack revTools to the effective bottom of stack revMenuBar + 25
   
   Try
      -- if revaltplugin is not among the lines of  the openStacks then
      palette stack revaltplugin
      -- end if
      set the left of stack revaltplugin to the right of stack revTools + 5
      set the top of stack revaltplugin to the effective top of stack revTools - 20
   catch tErr
   end Try
   
   
   -- open stack "revPropertyPalette"
   -- send "revBuildPropertyPalette" to stack "revTemplatePalette"
   -- palette stack "revPropertyPalette 1"
   
   --call openPropertyInspector
   
   
   local tTargetID
   put the long id of the target into tTargetID
   
   # create the inspector linked to this control
   send "revBuildPropertyPalette tTargetID" to stack "revTemplatePalette"
   
   # get the name of the inspector linked to this control
   local tPaletteName
   put revPropertyPalettes(tTargetID) into tPaletteName
   
   open stack tPaletteName
   
   -- put the rectangle of stack tPaletteName into recPaletteName
   
   
   if revaltplugin is  among the lines of  the openStacks then
      set the left of stack tPaletteName to the right of stack revaltplugin + 5
   else
      set the left of stack tPaletteName to the right of revTools + 5
   end if
   
   set the top of stack tPaletteName to the top of stack revTools
   
   -- put the rect of stack revTools into recTools + 5
   
   edit the script of button btnDummy
   
   -- if "revNewScriptEditor 1" is not among the lines of  the openStacks then
   -- palette stack "revNewScriptEditor 1"
   -- end if
   
   set the left of stack "revNewScriptEditor 1" to the right of stack tPaletteName + 10
   
   set the height of stack "revNewScriptEditor 1" to the bottom of stack tPaletteName + 200
   set the top of stack "revNewScriptEditor 1" to the top of stack revTools + 10
   
   
   put the rect of stack revApplicationOverview into rectAppBrowser
   
   -- the working screenRects - left, top, right and bottom of the rectangle
   -- Adding the working adjective to either form returns the virtual co-ordinates 
   --     of each screen's working-area. 
   -- The working-area of a screen is defined to be the area not convered by OS furniture 
   --    (such as the task bar on Windows, and the Dock and Menubar on Mac OS X).
   
   
   -- NOTE: specify the effective keyword, 
   --    the rectangle includes the outline added by the showFocusBorder property. 
   --    It also includes the heavy outline added to the defaultButton. 
   --    If the showFocusBorder of the object is false, or the object is not currently focused, 
   --        the effective rectangle is the same as the rectangle.
   
   
end mouseUp

[BarrySumpter]

...

But what is interesting, if I get all open stacks and their rects, I get:

revTools, 7,136,91,595
Untitled 1, 111,145,843,698
revMenubar, 60,30,868,105
revDictionary, 598,-1005,1362,-529
revStartCentre, 291,175,990,625
...
Walt

Hi walt,
Any change of you posting the script for all open stack and their rects?
tia

[BarrySumpter]

Hi Walt,
Thats very cool!
Works on Win32.

Anyone know how to save all these positions?
I can move them around but on LC close then LC open all the stacks are in differnt places than when I left them.

[WaltBrown]

Put this in a button.

Code: Select all

on mouseUp
   answer listStackRects()
end mouseUp

function listStackRects
   local tWindows, tWin, tList
   put the windows into tWindows
   repeat for each line tWin in tWindows
      put tWin & comma & the rect of stack tWin & return after tList
   end repeat
   return tList
end listStackRects

[BarrySumpter]

thanks heaps!

LOL.
Yeah ok.
Don't know why I was thinking it was a single script line for the msgbox.

[WaltBrown]

You can replace "windows" with "openStacks", "mainStacks, "revLoadedStacks" etc.

I like the idea of preset configurations. Like "CodingDesktop", "TestingDesktop", UserInterfaceDesktop", etc.

Walt

[BarrySumpter]

You can replace "windows" with "openStacks", "mainStacks, "revLoadedStacks" etc.

Is there an exhaustive list anywhere?

And by "You can replace..."
Do you mean I should get the exact same values?
Cause I think thats what is happening.

I like the idea of preset configurations. Like "CodingDesktop", "TestingDesktop", UserInterfaceDesktop", etc.
Walt

Yeah in your idShow screen "Save as default positions for CodeingDesktop, or Testing Desktop, or etc"

Is there any chance of anyone having a test of this Show Stacks and tell me why my basic field table is the same no matter which stack list I'm trying to display?
I can't work out what I'm missging here.
Perhaps a lockScreen or something like that?
tia

[sturgis]

windows and the openstacks are synonyms and should show the same thing.

if you decide to use revloadedstacks
put revLoadedStacks("All") will return all stacks including ide stacks.
put revLoadedStacks("Application") will return only your application stacks.
put revLoadedStacks("Preference") will return stacks based on your preferences setting (whether or not to show ide stacks in lists.)
put revLoadedStacks() defaults to "application".

There is also the stacksinuse which will return library stacks (start using stack "stackname")

There is also the mousestack, which while not useful for what you're doing currently, might still be interesting to look at.

There may be more 'listers' that I'm unfamiliar with (being the perpetual newbie that I am)

As for why they all are showing the same thing for you, its a function of how switch/case work. From the dictionary:

Comments:
Flow of control in a switch structure is less complicated than it looks. In general, when LiveCode enters a switch control structure, it looks for the first case section whose caseValue is equal to the switchExpression, or whose caseCondition is true. When a matching condition is found, all statements following it are executed--even statements in another case section--until either a break statement is encountered or the switch control structure ends.

My understanding is that this sort of "fall through" behavior can be useful, but I personally have never had need of it. I always end each case section with a break statement to avoid the fall through.

[sturgis]

Oh, one more thing you might be interested in adding is "the frontscripts" and "the backscripts" which will as i'm sure you surmised.. list the frontscripts and backscripts you currently have loaded.

[BarrySumpter]

I'm sure I tranced that 100 times and it never traced thru another case.
I'm sure it was me.

Thanks for help with the break. grrrr

Only revLoadedStacks() worked for me.

Code: Select all

switch tStacks
      case "Stacks"
         put the Stacks into tWindows
         put the Stacks
         break
      case "Windows"
         put the Windows into tWindows
         put the Windows 
         break
      case "OpenStacks"
         put the OpenStacks into tWindows
         put the OpenStacks
         break
      case "mainStacks"
         put the mainStacks into tWindows
         put the mainStacks 
      case "revLoadedStacks()"
         put revLoadedStacks() into tWindows   -- NOT 'the'
         put revLoadedStacks() 
         break
      case "revLoadedStacks("All")"
         put revLoadedStacks("all") into tWindows   -- NOT 'the'
         put revLoadedStacks("all") 
         break
      case "revLoadedStacks("Application")"
         put revLoadedStacks("application") into tWindows   -- NOT 'the'
         put revLoadedStacks("application") 
         break
      case "revLoadedStacks("Preference")"
         put revLoadedStacks("preference") into tWindows   -- NOT 'the'
         put revLoadedStacks("preference")
         break
   end switch