GenoPro Home
GenoPro Home  |  Get Started With My Genealogy Tree  |  Buy  |  Login  |  Privacy  |  Search  |  Site Map
 

GenoPro Support Forum




(Emperor's) New Clothes

Click to view RSS...
Author revised Config Parameters Dialog for Narrative Report (updated 2013/04/05)
Posted Friday, March 29, 2013 - Post #31546
Legendary Master

Legendary MasterLegendary MasterLegendary MasterLegendary MasterLegendary MasterLegendary MasterLegendary MasterLegendary MasterLegendary Master

Administrators
Customers
Important Contributors
FamilyTrees.GenoPro.com
GenoPro version: 3.1.0.1

Last Login: Yesterday @ 9:42 PM
Posts: 3,325, Visits: 25,525
Hi guys and gals, the weather in the UK is still far too cold for doing much in the garden (although I did mow the lawn today  Cool) so I have been working hard over the last few days exercising my remaining grey matter and honing my Javascript skills to re-engineer the 'Configuration Parameters' dialog for the Narrative Report as an Easter 'treat'.

It has bugged me for some time that this dialog has been a bit of a 'carbuncle' and using IE has caused slow loading, ActiveX and 'security' issues.  So I decided to see what could be done.  I had come across HTA's (HTML Applications) some while back but because there was no COM interface I discarded it.  But a few days ago I realised I could run it freestanding and the Report skin could pick up the results from the registry.

I decided to see I could make it look like GenoPro's Microsoft MFC-based dialogs, but just using HTML and Javascript (I have no access to GenoPro's C++ stuff). I could have used one of the many Javascript frameworks, e.g. jquery, prototype etc.) but found after some experimentation that actually it was relatively straightforward to do without them.

quick peek:
http://support.genopro.com/Uploads/Images/883a4752-f05f-4a95-810b-4393.jpg

So a tabbed dialog just like GenoPro!

The HTA is HTML/javascript that is run under the Microsoft application mshta.exe instead of Internet Explorer.  The benefits are:-
  •  much quicker loading (although there is a small delay whilst the required files are copies to a temporary folder)
  • removes the IE security restrictions (runs as any other local application).
  • provides a universal routine for other report skins (I'll update the others later)
It required an extra attribute 'Label' to the parameter groups in ConfigMsgEN.xml to provide the labels for the tabs, so those of you with your own localisations of this file will need to add these, otherwise it will default to #1, #2, #3 etc.

I have only done limited testing under 32-bit Windows 7 and so I am not releasing under the main Narrative Report thread as yet.  I would be grateful if anyone testing under a different Operating System could report back success or failure.

This change is now part of the standard skin http://support.genopro.com/Topic28332.aspx


'lego audio video erro ergo disco' or "I read, I listen, I watch, I make mistakes, therefore I learn"


Tags:

Edited: Tuesday, April 9, 2013 by genome
Posted Friday, March 29, 2013 - Post #31547
Famous Writer

Famous WriterFamous WriterFamous WriterFamous WriterFamous WriterFamous WriterFamous WriterFamous WriterFamous Writer

Customers
FamilyTrees.GenoPro.com
Translator
GenoPro version: 3.1.0.1

Last Login: 6 hours ago
Posts: 281, Visits: 11,809
Hi Ron.
In 64-bit Windows 7:
http://support.genopro.com/Uploads/Images/7458b878-0a22-4092-bec9-4467.jpg
Posted Friday, March 29, 2013 - Post #31548
Legendary Master

Legendary MasterLegendary MasterLegendary MasterLegendary MasterLegendary MasterLegendary MasterLegendary MasterLegendary MasterLegendary Master

Administrators
Customers
Important Contributors
FamilyTrees.GenoPro.com
GenoPro version: 3.1.0.1

Last Login: Yesterday @ 9:42 PM
Posts: 3,325, Visits: 25,525
Ok, thanks for that but I don't know why that should happen. 

Could you try tweaking line 77 of Code\ParameterSettings.hta, perhaps to

height:380px;



'lego audio video erro ergo disco' or "I read, I listen, I watch, I make mistakes, therefore I learn"
Posted Friday, March 29, 2013 - Post #31549
Forum Master

Forum MasterForum MasterForum MasterForum MasterForum MasterForum MasterForum MasterForum MasterForum Master

Customers
Important Contributors
FamilyTrees.GenoPro.com
Translator
GenoPro version: 3.1.0.1

Last Login: Sunday, March 21, 2021
Posts: 716, Visits: 12,927
Just tried the new Narrative report, but had two problems:

1) The new window opened and the screen shows the curser as an arrow, but changed to a vertical line with a short horizontal line above and below the vertical line whe I move the curser over the tabs.

2) The new screen shows also the first sample report image with the possibility  to select another one if I click on the arrow to the right or to the left. When I do so a new window opens, telling me there is an internet explorer script error. No selection possible.

I was reading on the first post that the file mshta.exe must be installed. I checked and it is installed ton my PC.

Hope I can get a good answer to this.
Posted Friday, March 29, 2013 - Post #31550
Legendary Master

Legendary MasterLegendary MasterLegendary MasterLegendary MasterLegendary MasterLegendary MasterLegendary MasterLegendary MasterLegendary Master

Administrators
Customers
Important Contributors
FamilyTrees.GenoPro.com
GenoPro version: 3.1.0.1

Last Login: Yesterday @ 9:42 PM
Posts: 3,325, Visits: 25,525
Again, no idea at the moment as to what is going on there.  According to wikipedia, mshta uses the same HTML rendering engine as IE and is generally installed alongside it ( I presume you do have IE installed, as mshta needs bits of it) so I am not surprised that the script error mentions Internet Explorer.  

It may give me a clue if you can provide more details of the script error plus OS name/version and IE version.

Much of the HTML and javascript code is already present in earlier Narrative and other skins so I didn't expect this sort of issue.


'lego audio video erro ergo disco' or "I read, I listen, I watch, I make mistakes, therefore I learn"
Posted Saturday, March 30, 2013 - Post #31551
Famous Writer

Famous WriterFamous WriterFamous WriterFamous WriterFamous WriterFamous WriterFamous WriterFamous WriterFamous Writer

Customers
FamilyTrees.GenoPro.com
GenoPro version: 3.1.0.1

Last Login: Yesterday @ 10:43 PM
Posts: 463, Visits: 3,153
Just did a little test on my old Vista (32 bit) machine and all runs OK.

The command buttons are located very close to the bottom of the form but I can live with that. 
[I'm still not able to upload images like I used to do before so you will have to do with this description.]

Maybe it's the right time to bring up the old idea of GenoProjects?

What about providing the possibility to save all parameter settings together in a "projects" or "profile" collection member?  This would make it possible to have multiple parameter sets from which we can select one to generate a corresponding report without having to go through each and every tab to set or reset individual parameters.

Right now I'm using screen shots of the parameter settings so that I still know which ones to set / reset when I generate the next version of the reports.  Currently I'm using 6 different ones in 3 languages.
Posted Saturday, March 30, 2013 - Post #31552
Legendary Master

Legendary MasterLegendary MasterLegendary MasterLegendary MasterLegendary MasterLegendary MasterLegendary MasterLegendary MasterLegendary Master

Administrators
Customers
Important Contributors
FamilyTrees.GenoPro.com
GenoPro version: 3.1.0.1

Last Login: Yesterday @ 9:42 PM
Posts: 3,325, Visits: 25,525
Could be that the button positioning is due to a font-sizing issue higher up.  I'll try and address that.

Implementing a save/load profile looks quite straight forward (but life is generally not like that!) so I will see what I can do there.  Currently settings are saved in the registry under the skin name, taken from ConfigMsgXX.xml Skin/Name attribute which can vary from language to language.  I assume users may want to retrieve the same profile under different languages so I can instead save them under subkeys under the English skin name.  The last used profile will be loaded automatically each time.




'lego audio video erro ergo disco' or "I read, I listen, I watch, I make mistakes, therefore I learn"
Posted Saturday, March 30, 2013 - Post #31553
Famous Writer

Famous WriterFamous WriterFamous WriterFamous WriterFamous WriterFamous WriterFamous WriterFamous WriterFamous Writer

Customers
FamilyTrees.GenoPro.com
Translator
GenoPro version: 3.1.0.1

Last Login: 6 hours ago
Posts: 281, Visits: 11,809
My IE - v. 9.0.8
Problems by maru-san : 1 - yes, 2 - no.
Variation of parameter 'height' from 376 up to 385:
http://support.genopro.com/Uploads/Images/58e27d18-af3b-4944-8123-7dda.jpg
http://support.genopro.com/Uploads/Images/8843a4e8-324d-48f0-a962-8362.jpg
http://support.genopro.com/Uploads/Images/605b2264-8f47-47e8-8e70-2440.jpg
http://support.genopro.com/Uploads/Images/c908d259-6c50-4521-b803-475d.jpg
Posted Wednesday, April 3, 2013 - Post #31568
Legendary Master

Legendary MasterLegendary MasterLegendary MasterLegendary MasterLegendary MasterLegendary MasterLegendary MasterLegendary MasterLegendary Master

Administrators
Customers
Important Contributors
FamilyTrees.GenoPro.com
GenoPro version: 3.1.0.1

Last Login: Yesterday @ 9:42 PM
Posts: 3,325, Visits: 25,525
Well, adding a stored profile feature turned out to be a tad more involved than I had originally anticipated, but hopefully I now have a working version so have updated the attachment in the 1st post of this thread with a revised skin. Named profiles can now be saved, loaded and deleted, whilst the 'last used' set of parameters will also be remembered as in previous versions. 
The default parameter can be restored.

Note that a new registry key is used so saved parameters from earlier versions are not recalled.

I have changed the inner division to 380px and also set font-sizes in pixels (px) so hopefully this will avoid the buttons creeping off the bottom.  

maru-san, I have not been able to reproduce your problem with the theme slider, and so if it re-occurs please let me know the error code and message that you get.

The cursor is now a pointer when hovering over the tabs.


'lego audio video erro ergo disco' or "I read, I listen, I watch, I make mistakes, therefore I learn"
Posted Wednesday, April 3, 2013 - Post #31571
Famous Writer

Famous WriterFamous WriterFamous WriterFamous WriterFamous WriterFamous WriterFamous WriterFamous WriterFamous Writer

Customers
FamilyTrees.GenoPro.com
GenoPro version: 2.5.4.1

Last Login: Wednesday, June 2, 2021
Posts: 220, Visits: 14,736
Hello, nice work. But loading saved profile does not work, after saving new profile is the view changed to the first tab, Delete button has wrong position. Can you look at this? Thanks

delete.PNG (128 views, 39.56 KB)

Edited: Wednesday, April 3, 2013 by powery


Similar Topics

Click to view RSS...
Expand / Collapse

Reading This Topic

Expand / Collapse