Digital Workshop

1. Transparency. I set a transparent color and see it fine in preview, then it simply doesn't show or work in the editor or pub. Finally had to laboriously set the stupid Windows OS-required box around my circular object by experiementation, since I could figure out how to return the color value of the gradient I was using. Working transparency would be MUCH easier.

2. Cursors. They just won't change. Earlier, I suddenly had an hour glass at all time during a pub run. I finally went to the pub properties and changed both to the arrow, and it stoppped. Seemed like a good time set cursors for buttons and hotspots, so I did. Always an arrow, no matter what. So I changed the pub properties cursor to a hand to see if I was nuts. It didn't change, still an arrow.

3. Text box weirdness. I needed a time display on a page, so I put in a text box with the system variables I needed. That page refused to display until I deleted the whole thing. Tried it with an existing text box, and it worked, sort of. 24 hour time display as three digits-1700 hrs. as 170. Then I found it entered a new time every minute. 170171172, etc. Further, when I added year, month, date, day, it stopped displaying anything. Went back to just time, and it worked again. However, I don't need it in that text box, but a new one. I finally made a copy and deleted the existing text, and it worked...though still with the issues above.

While these issues may be basic, they are really messing up my fun...

Dave

If you tell us which Opus product you are using, and its version, it helps us to focus on your problems and on potential solutions.

It's Pro XE 4.21 running on XP.

Dave

Hi Dave

Is there any reason why you haven't downloaded the patch to take you to version 4.30?

This SR fixed several niggling (and a few major) problems. Who knows, it might fix yours.

Cheers

Thanks, Sentosa, I'll give it a shot.

One more really strange problem. Simply placing a normal text box often causes a page to refuse to display. I have to go to a page with an existing text box, duplicate it, then delete the text and replace it.

That's just WRONG...

Dave

Re "normal" text box stopping the preview.

This is a known bug which I reported to DW recently. They have told me that it will be fixed in the next SR. (That's one of the good reasons for downloading the latest SR.

The workaround is:

1. Select all the text in the offending box.
2. Ctrl+C to copy it to the clipboard.
3. Delete the now empty text box.
4. Draw a new text box and paste (Ctrl+V) the text from the clipboard into it.

HTH

Thanks again.

Always nice to have another person confirm you are neither insane nor entirely incompetent.

Dave

I've had 2) the constant hourglass cursor happen once or twice but not in any reproducible way. Haven't noticed it since SP3 must admit.

Another confirmation I am not losing my marbles...

Installed SP3 and it fixed the cursor issues. Not sure what else at this point, but I noted a release note about "rare circumstances" where transparency was ignored. For me, this was the rule rather than the exception...hope it is fixed.

Here's an additional problem I didn't see fixed or addressed in the release notes:

I attempted to create irregular hotspots with the vector tool, but the hotspot was defined by the bounding box. Not very useful if you ask me. Had to creat a whole bunch of square and rectangular hotspots to make do, but this will not always work. I could swear I've done this successfully in Illuminatus.

Anybody dealt with this one?

Dave

Hi,

You have to use "ignore transparent area" for the irregular hotspot

Benoit

Dang. While that command is a lot like sayin "ignore what isn't present," I know that Windows POS requires such things and now I remember...

Thanks, Benoit. One down, a couple fixed with SP3 and a couple of more to go...

Best regards,
Dave

Opus not Windows controls that I'd have thought. It's seems odd but it's not entirely pointless. There are plenty of times you don't want the transparent areas ignored. You wouldn't want to have to make your users click exactly on the lines making up the letters in a text box for example would you? You'd still want the centres of O's and D's and so forth to be clickable.

Or a square with a border but transparent background you wouldn't necessarily want just the border to be active.

Some good points...however, I would expect the DEFAULT for an irregular hotspot would be transparent areas ignored. If I wanted a rectangle, I have drawn a rectangle.

The Windows bounding box issue I mentioned is one very few really think about anymore. More capable operating systems of the past treated irregular bitmap objects as just that, no bounding box. I recall the first time I used Deluxe Paint on a PC...YIKES, what's up with this bounding box thing?

We've sort of learned to work around it, but it's still a major nuisance.

Dave

"More capable operating systems of the past treated irregular bitmap objects as just that, no bounding box."
What operating systems are these?

This stuff isn't rocket science -- you can work out most of this stuff by the time you have written a post.
Do you ever have anything constructive to say?
Paul

Paul:
No idea what got your goat...

This is "Basic," these are basic questions. I am working on prototypes for a counter explosive hazards course and I don't have time to play around. I have been away from programming for about 5 years and much has changed. If you don't like basic questions, hang out in advanced.

I am sorry I off-topic'd about Windows, though the bounding box issue is, indeed, an OS limitation that is not necessary and complicates otherwise simple operations. I am not going into other OS's as it is not relevant. However, I've used about 8 over my career.

As to saying something constructive, Opus is without peer as a rapid development system using a rational interface and producing highly compatible output. Also, if you actually read my posts, you will note I thank everyone who responds.

Except in this case, where I gained nothing constructive.

Best regards,
Dave