Zugg Software :: View topic - [2.02] Main icon is not updated by activity status

Wizard Joined: 14 Aug 2004 Posts: 1269

I have this feature enabled (it is by default and I haven't changed it), but my CMUD window status never changes colour when there is MUD ouput. I have tried with only one window and when I have added my tells window. Also tried various old versions of CMUD and they didn't seem to work either, although it definately worked on one of them (maybe 1.00).

As an aside, the feature I would most have liked in CMUD 2.0 is control over the window status's (i.e. all of them and the main CMUD icon) via script. A window option for that window to never update the main CMUD icon status would also be useful - for example, although I capture tells to another window, I don't gag them from the main window, so there is no need for the tells window to make the main icon green. Hopefully there is still time for this before CMUD goes Public. Smile

And as a further aside, I noticed that in CMUD 1.x (when the main icon was updated by activity status) the green C that is not as noticeable as the big green Z in zMUD. I guess there is not much that can be done about that without redesigning the whole logo though.

Wizard Joined: 14 Aug 2004 Posts: 1269

In order to control CMUD's window status's it would probably be most efficient to have a new Event: OnMUDOutput or something, for whenever text from the MUD is received.

Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2007 10:45 pm

Well, a trigger that matches any line will do that already without adding a new event, Seb.

This idea does have its appeals though. There've been a few threads in the past where people wanted more control over when and why the icon changes colour, and simply controlling the icon colour with a script (provided that CMUD doesn't have focus) sounds like a good way to do it.

Wizard Joined: 14 Aug 2004 Posts: 1269

A trigger that matches any line would be very inefficient wouldn't it? I imagine it would slow CMUD down much more than an event that is part of the CMUD code.

Provided that that window doesn't have focus you mean - I'd like to control all windows and the main CMUD icon.

Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2007 12:07 am

Hmm, my icon works just fine. If CMUD is running in the background and I get input, it turns green. Can anyone else confirm this or provide additional information?

The problem with changing this under program control is that you can't just color the icon any color that you want. CMUD has 4 icons stored in it's resource file: normal, green, yellow, and red. It selects one of these icons when you receive MUD input, lose connection, etc.

So it's not like you can just tell it to make the icon "purple" or something like this. This is a bitmap resource and not a simple background color.

Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2007 12:43 am

At the risk of going off on a tangent...

Regardless of the colours you can make the icon, it'd be useful if it were limited as much as being able to turn off the automatic icon updating and then having a command that'll change the icon green regardless of that setting, which you can then use in triggers or whatever to flag text as interesting when you're in another window.

I can see that a trigger would possibly be slower than an event, but not massively so. You could use a regex of . or ^. and it'll match extremely quickly.

Wizard Joined: 14 Aug 2004 Posts: 1269

I also tried minimizing CMUD but that didn't help - my icon still didn't change colour even when the MUD disconnected me due to me reconnecting with zMUD. I do have large fonts enabled though (on WinXP SP2).

I don't want to make the CMUD icon any colour - just be able to select between the 4 icons in the resource file would be cool - so I know when there is something important enough for me to look at it. Basically there is MUD output that is normal and doesn't require my attention, but that I wouldn't want to gag.

Wizard Joined: 14 Aug 2004 Posts: 1269

Oh yeah, and controlling the state of zTelnet icon, or whatever it will be called, will also be useful for scripters.

For example if you are compiling something on a remote machine, you want to know when it has finished. When you are compiling tons of text is rushing past, so actually you want to know when it stops. I'm not sure what the best way of doing that, but one way would be to have a trigger on any text that reset an alarm to 30 seconds in the future (or whatever) that when it fires will change the icon state. So the alarm would always be reset into the future until there was no more text arriving and it would fire.

That is just one example I thought of when SSH support was announced.

Wizard Joined: 14 Aug 2004 Posts: 1269

Maybe it's a Large Fonts issue... Even with an untitled session, the CMUD icon isn't changing when it should...

Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2007 5:36 pm

The Large Fonts setting shouldn't have anything to do with the icon.

Here is a simple test to do:

1) Run CMUD and close the Session window
2) Type this in the command line:

#ALARM +5 {#show fired}

3) and then immediately minimize CMUD by clicking the icon in the upper-right corner

Wait 5 seconds and then you should see your CMUD icon turn green in your task bar.

If this isn't happening, then you'll need to let us know what version of Windows you are using, and whether you have any 3rd party software that might be interfering with the standard Windows desktop or task bar. But the above procedure worked on all of my WinXP systems here.

Wizard Joined: 14 Aug 2004 Posts: 1269

I've tracked this one down. What I thought was the "Large Fonts setting" was actually the large DPI setting: I had it set to "Large size (120 DPI)" instead of "Normal size (96 DPI)". This is the setting in Control Panel, Display, Settings, Advanced (General tab), Display, DPI setting. I didn't realise there was another place to set Large Fonts (in the Appearance tab of Control Panel, Display).

I am running Windows XP Pro with SP2 and no 3rd party software that might be affecting these things.

Once I changed the DPI to Normal size and rebooted, CMUD main icon started updating. Then I tried setting Large Fonts and it still works. Very Happy

I actually prefer this way anyway since icons aren't scaled up and so don't look pixelated (although that was a fairly minor issue).

I'll update my bug report on [2.02] Import from zMUD - can't see OK button with large fonts to show that the issue is actually with Large size DPI. Large fonts are OK on that dialog.

Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2007 8:41 pm

Interesting. Thanks for the additional info. I don't really understand how changing the DPI setting would prevent the icon from changing. Maybe it's looking for an icon with a different DPI setting within the icon resource file or something. Anyway, since you found a way around it, I'm not going to worry about this right now. I'm certainly not going to make lots of different icons for all of the different DPI settings, so unless I learn more about how the DPI setting is working (or not working as the case may be), I'm not even sure that I'll add this to the bug list.

Wizard Joined: 14 Aug 2004 Posts: 1269

Right, fair enough, but do consider script control of which CMUD icon to display Wink

Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2007 10:13 pm

Yes, I'll definitely consider that...it's on the wish list.

Edited: %iconstate has been added to v2.03 :)