Orphalese Tarot Zone Community Forum

Dear Richard!

I stumbled upon a very odd bug yesterday when I was using the reading function of the program.
Remember I told you that the new versions of the program, has a tendency to be slow when dragging the cards, when no background is used? I should mention that the system I am currently using is in no way slow. But the slower dragging in the recent versions means that I am using version 6.3.1 most of the time. The new program is running smoothly on newer systems, but it is not in my hands yet, so I am not the beta tester I used to be at the moment, sorry about that.

I should mention that the system I am currently using is in no way slow.

After clearing out the Orphalese directory of files installed from the newer versions I reinstalled version 6.3.1. I was then rewarded with an odd bug. I was doing a reading for a net-friend of mine and everything went smoothly. There was one thing that caused minor irritation which was that every time I wanted to open a reading it opened the same folder, every time. Not the last folder in the Readings folder that I had used. I set out to solve this last night, and I did, which led me to thinking about the fact that a lot of new versions have “odd bugs” no pun intended and believe me Richard I do in no way doubt your talent as a programmer, because in my opinion you are second to none!

I got the urge, curious as I am, to take a peek in the regedit program to see if there was something wrong in the database. I found two threads with data about the default reading folder. 1. Readingfolder and 2. Readings Folder. I deleted the one called Readingfolder and back in the program I choose Readings as my default folder and that solved my problem. I entered again the last folder I had been opening a reading from.

My point is, even though I don’t think it is the solution to every bug in the newer versions, and that maybe some could be caused by duplicate threads with slightly different names. They occur when upgrading and “downgrading” (new concept . The database then holds leftovers in some cases as in the one described above.

I would like to hear your theory on this Richard. I would also like to know if others have had the same problems or if similar bugs have appeared after upgrading etc.

Cheers and keep up the good work!

Thomas

(by the way I strongly advise people with no experience with regedit not to use it since you can crash your entire system by making an error, it happened to me some years ago. Oh, translations are underway)

Hi Thomas!

It is a good point about the registry settings. I have to confess that the problem with the recent versions is that I had been lazy and I was simply setting the initial directory for the dialog to be the default readings folder, (ReadingFolder) in the registry. This came about because there are now two reading forms. The old reading form survives as the RTF Editor (which uses the setting LastRTF to store the last file opened), and the new one, the wizard...well up till now I was just being lazy but from now on it will use the key LastReading. I need to do a similar thing with spreads too, so thanks for pointing it out!

I am a bit concerned about the dragging issue, I thought that had been fixed. Do you find that the dragging is actually worse with a plain background than with a picture? (I would have expected it to be the other way around, if anything). Apart from that one dodgy release a couple of months ago, which I mentioned in my last email to you, I haven't noticed any slowness in that area.

Out of interest, what O/S do you have on the machine that has the problem? I did make one change and it might co-incide with roughly when you are talking about. As you know, there is a Windows setting which in English is something like Show window content whilst dragging. Earlier versions of the program respected the user's setting in that regard, so a card, when dragged, would appear as an empty outline if the preference was set to no. Since about six-point-something (you know if I was really a good programmer I would have this documented!) I started overriding the user preference and always showing the card face when dragging. I figured that most users never even realise the setting is there and never change the default setting for their version of Windows, and the program is more realistic when it behaves that way. I wonder if this has anything to do with it?

Let me know your thoughts and thanks for the feedback!

Richard

Hi Richard!

I am running an English Windows XP Professional and the new system is running a Danish Windows XP Home with SP2, so far.

Maybe I should mention a Windows Tweak program I have installed on the English machine – Tweak XP Pro but if that would cause the problem I think it would have been evident some time before.

I have also wondered if the tarot Program has become more resource consuming and I dismissed that option because the dragging was fine with a background. There are not a lot of programs running in my system tray either, since a lot of them have been the cause of some conflicts in the past so I avoid them as best as I can.

I am not aware of the setting you describe since I never used it, but I will try to tweak things around a little and see what happens. I can see the setting is marked. Do you think unmarking it will make a difference?

By the way, the slower dragging of the cards occurs when I am using no background in the program. The desktop is visible with icons and all. I have been using the program this way for a very long time and have not encountered this slower dragging issue before the latest editions of the program.

When I turn a plain background on or is in the Tarot Zone there is no problem. I do not normally use pictures as backgrounds, other than the desktop but I will try.

I am running very heavy graphics programs on this pc so there should not be a problem which is why this one has been bugging me for some time, so to speak.

I will try to play around with the settings and see what results that comes up. Feedback will be sent to you A.S.A.P.

I felt I had to point it out because I was unsure if you were aware of the registry settings, but obviously you are :,)

About being lazy I have been lazy with using the program and translating lately due to other things happening. Remedy of this situation is now taking place.

Very best

Thomas

I just tried to install the latest Beta. If I run the program with out any background it is slow while dragging and gathering the cards. If I disable the function 'Show Windows Content While Dragging The speed improves radically. I have yet to find out what can be the cause of this. Maybe I should mention that the Compare Cards is also very slowly when scrolling down the page. I will try to see what I can figure out.

Cheers

Thomas

Hi Thomas,

I just released version 6.5 and I decided to put it back to how it was, i.e. so that whether you see the card when it is being dragged depends on the Windows setting you mentioned. This way we can see if it was causing the problem. It occurs to me that the pixel depth of your desktop image might have a lot to do with it as well. If you have a large image on your desktop Windows has to work harder to redraw it as you move the card around the screen.

Cheers
Richard

Hi Richard

The problem has not been solved and the dragging is a little bit slower in the new upgrade. My desktop image is only 62,8 kb so I think we can rule that out.

The program runs as it should on the new system so I will have to search a little bit more for the cause.

I will finish the translation before I go searching again.

Your consideration about this problem is much appreciated.

Cheers

Thomas