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Old 04-21-2010, 02:41 PM   #41
JohnWho
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Originally posted by Jim Sachs:
The new scheme works pretty well, but my brilliant method of coding the final color of the font has a minor drawback - everything on the crystal must be the same color. This means that the white ellipse showing the current date will be the same color as the numbers. Now I need to determine if this is a big enough deal to write new code to address it.  
IMO - if "we, the people" are given a choice, I suspect we'd prefer to be able to change the color of the digital clock/calendar with the ellipse showing the current date the same color than have only the present color with the white ellipse. Perhaps a poll?

It is unfortunate that the coding for the ellipse can't stay white while the rest of the calendar color can be changed, though.
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Old 04-21-2010, 03:03 PM   #42
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I hate to admit it, but I have to agree with Dale - it really is a lot nicer to have that white circle around the current date. I'll try to come up with a way to make it happen.

The way I'm currently doing it is to make the digital clock font white, then project the image through a colored filter. The user is allowed to choose the color of that filter. This accomplished 99% of what I wanted to do while only adding a few lines of code. I'll need to break the white circle out into a separate object, with a new section of code to handle it. It shouldn't be too hard, I'm having to do something similar with the analog clock to handle the second hand.
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Old 04-21-2010, 03:17 PM   #43
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I have now had another issue, I came back and windows had kicked into the screen saver, however it wouldn't close, it was stuck on the startup logo and I had to hardboot to get out.
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Old 04-21-2010, 03:27 PM   #44
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A previous version of the program may be still set as your screensaver. I'll have to go through the new Registry entries and see if there's anything that might choke an older version.
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Old 04-21-2010, 04:23 PM   #45
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Just tried out 11e on my W7 machine (Home Premium 64bit from the factory). Didn't have any of the problems that have been reported here, but I did have to remove the installer version to get rid of the playlist bug. Everything is fine.
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Old 04-21-2010, 04:44 PM   #46
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Originally posted by Jim Sachs:
I hate to admit it, but I have to agree with Dale - it really is a lot nicer to have that white circle around the current date. I'll try to come up with a way to make it happen.

The way I'm currently doing it is to make the digital clock font white, then project the image through a colored filter. The user is allowed to choose the color of that filter. This accomplished 99% of what I wanted to do while only adding a few lines of code. I'll need to break the white circle out into a separate object, with a new section of code to handle it. It shouldn't be too hard, I'm having to do something similar with the analog clock to handle the second hand.  
I almost asked about the analog clock and the second hand, but figured that when you specified the calendar/digital clock only, maybe you weren't working on doing the same thing with the analog clock especially since it is black and white and not the same color scheme as the calendar/digital clock. Sounds like you are on the right track.

These improvements sure give a more elegant look and feel to the program and are much appreciated even though they aren't really doing anything additional to the realism of the simulation.
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Old 04-21-2010, 05:47 PM   #47
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I also didn't have any problems on my Win7 64bit machine. But I do have my User Account Control turned off.
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Old 04-21-2010, 06:17 PM   #48
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Originally posted by Nicki:
Just tried out 11e on my W7 machine (Home Premium 64bit from the factory). Didn't have any of the problems that have been reported here, but I did have to remove the installer version to get rid of the playlist bug. Everything is fine.  
For future reference, how did you "remove the installer version"? Uninstalling it through Programs and Features? Or some other method?

And what were the symptoms you saw before removing it?
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Old 04-21-2010, 10:00 PM   #49
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Progress Report: I just got the Second Hand On/Off feature working. It was slightly more time-consuming than I thought, but worked out elegantly, code-wise. Now to do something similar with the date-circle.
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Old 04-21-2010, 10:32 PM   #50
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Originally posted by Jim Sachs:
Progress Report: I just got the Second Hand On/Off feature working. It was slightly more time-consuming than I thought, but worked out elegantly, code-wise. Now to do something similar with the date-circle.  
Suggestion: if the date-circle turns out to be separate code, you might consider letting the user optionally turn it off (like the second hand feature).
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Old 04-21-2010, 10:45 PM   #51
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But the whole point of the calendar is to display the date.
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Old 04-22-2010, 07:39 AM   #52
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I like the current date being highlighted somehow on a calendar.

However, I can't help but reflect on the "old days" when one had a calendar on the wall and they had to know which date was today or they would "X" out days as they progressed.

Oh, and they didn't have to "power on" anything to read the calendar unless it was at night.

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Old 04-22-2010, 08:55 AM   #53
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Originally posted by Jim Sachs:
But the whole point of the calendar is to display the date.  
Selection of responses:

A.
Originally posted by Jim Sachs:
Sorry, I pay no attention to dates, days of the week, birthdays, holidays, etc. One day is just like any other to me.  
B. The whole point of the calendar is to display the month. Date is optional.

C. The point of the digital clock is to display the time (and day and date).

D. Some people may view the calendar as more artistic without the oval.

E. It was just a suggestion for your consideration.
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Old 04-22-2010, 09:47 AM   #54
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Dale, I used the regular windows programs and features method. I didn't use my purchased uninstall tool (http://www.crystalidea.com/uninstall-tool) because obviously not everyone has that and it would cause confusion. What was happening before was that the playlist was still disappearing when accessed by right clicking on the icon and choosing install, or through screen saver properties even though I was running 11e. Once 10d was removed that bug went away. 11e I downloaded to my desktop and right clicked and chose install, and I run it by double clicking on the icon. I very rarely use it as a screensaver.
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Old 04-22-2010, 10:36 AM   #55
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Progress Report - I have successfully broken out the date circle into its own object, so it can remain highlighted. Now I just need to hook up the interface to actually be able to change the colors of the clock/calendar font. I also plan to add the etched-look font option.
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Old 04-22-2010, 11:32 AM   #56
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Smile

It just keeps getting funner and funner!

(As in - fun, funner, and funnest.)

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Old 04-22-2010, 12:49 PM   #57
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Originally posted by Nicki:
Dale, I used the regular windows programs and features method. I didn't use my purchased uninstall tool (http://www.crystalidea.com/uninstall-tool) because obviously not everyone has that and it would cause confusion. What was happening before was that the playlist was still disappearing when accessed by right clicking on the icon and choosing install, or through screen saver properties even though I was running 11e. Once 10d was removed that bug went away. 11e I downloaded to my desktop and right clicked and chose install, and I run it by double clicking on the icon. I very rarely use it as a screensaver.  
Thanks for the report.

Curiously, I did not uninstall 10d - as previously reported, I essentially just put the new .scr file in the system32 folder.

In my case, the "disappearing playlist" bug seems to have been squashed (fixed, eliminated, whatever).

I wonder why that was different on your system?

Note: the nature of the difference could be very important in making sure that the installer version works correctly. Critical reports from other testers would perhaps be appreciated.
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Old 04-22-2010, 01:41 PM   #58
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Dale, I had the same experience with XP and Windows7. Exact same things done in both cases. I'd like to know too, if anyone has done what I did and got the same result? Normally, I wouldn't even touch the right click install, it's just that we'd been talking about that particular bug and how to access the settings panel from outside of the program. I've always run the betas as totally stand alone before.
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Old 04-22-2010, 02:31 PM   #59
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Originally posted by Nicki:
Dale, I had the same experience with XP and Windows7. Exact same things done in both cases. I'd like to know too, if anyone has done what I did and got the same result? Normally, I wouldn't even touch the right click install, it's just that we'd been talking about that particular bug and how to access the settings panel from outside of the program. I've always run the betas as totally stand alone before.  
Strange. I just did the following test on a W7-32 Ultimate laptop that had MA3-10d installed:

Copy the 11e .scr file from storage (on another system) to \Windows\System32\, giving it permission to replace the previous (10d) file.

Open Personalization, Screen Saver (which still said Serenescreen Marine Aquarium 3). That's the "Screen Saver Settings" panel.

In Settings, Music Playlist - delete the one thing that was there, and add two new .mp3 songs.

Exit out of settings. Click on the desktop MA3 icon (give it permission to run - and check the box).

MA3 version 11e ran. Music played. Brought up settings/music playlist, and the playlist still had the two new songs.

Note that there was no unstallation involved.

You've validated your experience on two systems. I've validated my different experience on two systems. We obviously need more people to do that test and report results.

I wouldn't think it could be a "permissions" problem. The settings stuff is per-user and contained in "User Documents" space.

OH! Did you perhaps previously install MA3 (10d) as a different user? [My brain is too old and fuzzy to figure out whether that could make a difference]
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Old 04-22-2010, 02:38 PM   #60
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Okay I've done some checking and going by the right click install method, Marine Aquarium 3 is not entered into the system 32 folder, whereas you replaced the 10d version in system 32 with 11e before you ran the program for the first time. So you only had 11e on your systems whereas I had 10d in System 32 and 11e on the desktop. Jim has stated that they should both coexist peacefully together, but the way I did things caused a conflict. I will try reinstalling 10d and not right clicking on 11e and choosing install. See if that is what caused it.

Edit: Yes, that is what caused it. Everything was fine until I right clicked and chose install. Then the playlist disappeared when I went to screensaver properties.
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