Suggested update significant reduction in work time.

[Retiredslacker]

My worktime in PAINT would be significantly reduced if you made one, simple change:  make it so that all dialog boxes can be forced to pop-up OUTSIDE the image.

Most all dialog boxes (windows in which you adjust/apply things to your image) appear totally in the way. You cannot see the application unless you reposition the box.

It has to be a simple thing to do in the code, just let me control the display offset; or snap it to the border of the program window.

 

Think about it - a single adjustment - no more moving the window every single time you make any adjustment; when if it appeared out of the way, you could see immediately every time you used any tool! I am forever moving the darn windows because I want to SEE the effect, and seeing the entire image is crucial to judging the result of the application.

 

Is that too much to ask; I think it is a GREAT idea and will speed up everyone's experience in the program. Agree?

[NinthDesertDude]

Plugin authors have control of the window position, and adjusting the window's position programatically for every window would be difficult. You'd have to consider the visible size of the image, the position of the application, and the size of the dialog (and how much space it requires). Plugins that maximize over the window, like Liquify, Smudge, Brush Factory, etc. can't be moved out of the way without preventing them from maximizing in the first place. Worse yet, depending on the current position of all the windows, the location that the plugin appears could surprise the user.

 

If anything, I suppose Rick could change the PDN effect dialog's default behavior so it's partially transparent when it has no focus by any input device. Still, it's a lot more work than it sounds like.

 

So it's actually a bit of a time-consuming task, with a lot of user-design questions to be asked. Since Rick has more prevalent things to work on, I think something like this probably won't happen.

Edited December 19, 2016 by AnthonyScoffler
Removed a mostly-invalid statement.

[Retiredslacker]

Well, couldn't a simple override snap all windows to the border? Just a thought. Thanks for the great explanation - much, much better than just nope!

I do appreciate all the effort put into this program, and if I could I'd support it; hard to do at 70, alone on SS - for instance my monthly food benefit is  $76... so I spend a lot of time on the PC drawing things like big meals, warm rooms, and nice clothes!

Happy Holidays!

If you have a sec, I just installed the update, but can't find where the update notes are - what happened in this update? Thanks again.

[MJW]

For update notes, you can check the thread for the update. For the 4.013 update:

• Fixed "Missing api-ms-win-core-timezone-l1-1-0.dll" error that was being seen on some Windows 7 systems due to partial install or uninstall of Microsoft's Universal C Runtime
• Fixed the layout for the File->New, Image->Resize, and Image->Canvas Size dialogs in all known situations (various languages, DPI sizes, font configurations)
• Fixed: Old versions of PSD plugin couldn't load due to removal of PrivateThreadPool
• Fixed a crash when typing a negative number for a zoom level

[Retiredslacker]

Awesome - thank you so much!

[NinthDesertDude]

Quote

Well, couldn't a simple override snap all windows to the border?

PDN calls CreateConfigDialog(), which returns an EffectConfigDialog object that PDN could modify. Or, PDN could change the default behavior of the EffectConfigDialog directly, and nobody needs to update their plugins unless they packaged dependencies of PDN with their plugin. Docked dialogs would work similarly to the 4 docked windows on the side of the PDN window.

 

I think it's totally doable. That said, I actually prefer it to always appear in the center, so there are probably a few users like me that don't want it to change. I think that's going to be the real issue for a change like this to occur.

[Retiredslacker]

Thanks for comment; mind telling me why you WANT a pop-up window in the way of the very thing you are altering? I cannot think of a single reason you would, and would appreciate the insight. I select the effect and then move it off, always; how else can you see you results, especially if you do not know what settings will work this time. I wonder each time I start why the tools snap to the side but nothing else does! Thanks.

[NinthDesertDude]

Quote

mind telling me why you WANT a pop-up window in the way of the very thing you are altering?

I would appreciate it if you kept the tone of your question neutral.

 

I almost never use an effect that would cover a lot of the image, so I rarely have to drag a dialog out of the way because I can see most of the image. Effects that I use that cover the screen show the image inside the dialog. I don't suffer from having a dialog on-screen. That's why moving the dialog windows automatically would only hinder the speed I work at.

 

You do have a good point and I don't dispute that. It's a question of how important this is and how it can be implemented painlessly.