Topic: Test results on build 837

Hi, I've got a little time this morning to test the latest build on a machine at the workplace. The latest interface modifications work a charm, many thanks for those. However I've noticed a few quirks.
On Windows (XP):

  • Every time you change directory, the column width is reset so that the entire heading fits. I've noticed this when browsing folders with photos, so I've only seen this behavior for the columns in the "Image" category, but probably it happens with other categories too.

  • A fast double click executes the file currently selected, not the one on which the click occurred. Seems Siren hasn't got enough time to move the selection...

  • At startup, Siren stalls for ~6 seconds. After tracing Siren's activity (with Sysinternals Process Monitor), it turns out it does a fair bit of prefetching, and the stall occurs when it's checking for a link in Network Neighborhood whose remote machine is offline.
    I haven't yet had time to check if it does the same for a network drive when the server is inaccessible, but it's worth investigating IMO because the same six seconds penalty is possibly multiplied by each offline resource. Sadly for the next few days I'll be offsite, I'll only be able to conduct further tests on Monday.

On Linux (Mint 9):

  • The behavior when selecting with the cursor keys isn't the one expected. If you overshoot the end of your target range, reversing (while still keeping shift depressed) doesn't deselect the extra items.

Thanks again, and sorry if I'm being a bother.

Re: Test results on build 837

Hello,

Don't worry, you don't bother me at all. You are more than welcome to report any issues or suggestions (even typos) !

On a small XP machine, I've tried without success to reproduce the two first problems with different builds :
- Column width reset
- Fast double click
Can you please try to reproduce them on another machine ?

About the third one (stuck at startup), are you sure that your "desktop", "my document" directories and all of your drives are local ?

About the GNU/Linux issue :
I'm not sure that I have understood what user interface manipulations you are doing. Can you please give more details ?
Normally Siren's controls should behave as native ones. Does the file manager work as what you expect from Siren ?

Thanks for your help

3 (edited by aleph0 2012-03-02 03:28:54)

Re: Test results on build 837

Yes, all the Windows directories you listed are on a local drive. But I've seen that Siren at startup enumerates a bunch of other directories on the drives in My Computer and the network resources in Network Neighborhood. In the weekend I'll be able to do some more tests on a old installation at home, and if I'm able to reproduce the problem I'll rerun Process Monitor and dump the trace file or grab a screenshot to send you.   

For the odd selection behavior on Linux, let's say I have 5 files
1
2
3
4
5
and I want to select from 2 to 4 using only the keyboard (I just hate laptops' touchpads).
I'd move the cursor on 2, press shift and move the selection down to 4 using the cursor keys while keeping shift depressed.
If by mistake I go further down to 5,
1
2
3
4
5

I'd expect that pressing the cursor key up (while still keeping the shift pressed) would shrink the selection, and in Siren on Windows indeed it does. Instead on Linux the file 5 remains selected; you have to discard the selection and restart from scratch.

Re: Test results on build 837

About the "stall" issue, you are right.
I've checked and it appears that the "Network Neighborhood" is scanned during the initialization of the directory tree.
About the GNU/Linux user interface issue. I've been able to reproduce it.

Unfortunately I won't be able to fix these two problems. Sorry.

Did you have the opportunity to retest the other ones : column width and double click ?

Re: Test results on build 837

Yes, I've been able to reproduce them on another WinXP machine. They only occur on certain conditions.

The column width is reset when you change to a directory that doesn't contain files of that category. The columns are first hidden, and when you go back to a directory with images/music files/etc they are displayed again, but at their default width.

The double-click thing happens only on the file checkbox. In every other position of the row double-clicking on a unselected file selects and launches it, whereas on the checkbox it doesn't move the selection so it launches a different file from the one from the one on which the user clicked.
Sorry for my inability to explain in words, probably I'm using the wrong terminology. Example, let's say I have a file selected but unchecked (in this case, Hokusai.jpg) :
http://s4d4.turboimagehost.com/t1/11100191_BeforeClick.png
if I double-click on the checkbox of the file Bliss.jpg, Siren launches Hokusai and then checks Bliss: http://s4d4.turboimagehost.com/t1/11100192_AfterClick.jpg
BTW in Linux Siren launches Bliss instead.

Sad to hear about the unresolvable issues. I don't know it it helps, but aMule (www.amule.org) is another cross-platform program based on wxWidgets and the selection works okay in Linux. Perhaps you can reuse some of its code, if it uses the same component as Siren...

Re: Test results on build 837

Thanks to your explanation I've been able to reproduce and correct the "double click" bug but unfortunately I can't reproduce the "column width" one.
I am surely missing something. Can you please post a "step by step" example ?

About the GTK selection issue, I'll try look at amule source code.

Re: Test results on build 837

Sure, here you are:

I am on a directory with images :
http://s4d3.turboimagehost.com/t1/11104097_1_-_Column_default_width.png
I decide that the columns for image dimensions are too wide and waste space, so I resize them down:
http://s4d3.turboimagehost.com/t1/11104098_2_-_Same_directory__columns_resized.png
then I go to another directory where there aren't any images; Siren dutifully hides the columns for the Image category:
http://s4d3.turboimagehost.com/t1/11104099_3_-_Other_dir__category_not_present.png
I go to a directory containing pictures, the columns for the Image category reappear, only that they've lost the narrower width that I set in step 2:
http://s4d3.turboimagehost.com/t1/11104100_4_-_Yet_another_dir__category_present.png

Hope this helps.
Regards...

Re: Test results on build 837

No, I can't recreate it.
Can you mail me your "Siren.ini" file ?
Use the mail address that can be found in Siren's "?/About ..." menu option.

Re: Test results on build 837

Sent you the INI by mail, but probably it isn't necessary to analyze it because in producing a fresh one I've gathered some more specifics.
Seems this problem only happens when the user reorders the columns. Apparently when taking note of the new ordering, Siren also writes some default size for all columns in the INI, and thereafter that size isn't changed any more.

Re: Test results on build 837

I've been able to reproduce the bug and I think I have fixed it.

Thanks a lot for your help.