Lost Dialog boxes with Multiple Monitors

Jarmus · Post by **Jarmus** » Thu May 05, 2005 9:53 pm

I use an IBM Thinkpad set up to use two monitors when docked. If I have Texpad on the external monitor when I undock (or otherwise change to single screen), it moves to the main screen correctly. But, then, opening any dialog window like Find or Replace or Open Files all open with the external screen coordinates which I can't access.

Is there a Configuration thing to change that will fix this?

My ThinkPad has ATI Mobility radeon 9000.

George

Jarmus · Post by **Jarmus** » Wed May 11, 2005 1:25 pm

Nobody else sees this effect? Any ideas on how to fix it?

George

helios · Post by **helios** » Wed May 11, 2005 2:16 pm

After undocking, I suggest that you try exiting from TextPad and then restart it.

Jarmus · Post by **Jarmus** » Wed May 11, 2005 2:36 pm

Thanks Stephen

Yes, I've found that works -- but only if I do it before I open one of those dialog boxes after undocking. If I forget and open the "Open file(s)" dialog, for instance, TextPad will be unusable until I find a way to respond to the dialog -- or kill TextPad from Windows Task Manager losing any edits I've made. Okay, <esc> will close the dialog box and return TextPad control to my keyboard, but I can never use the dialog boxes from that TextPad session until I connect a second display.

Also, I often have 15 or 20 files open which I would like to keep open while I'm working on that project (sometimes several days), so closing TextPad isn't convenient. My current workaround is to move the TextPad main window and each dialog box to my main display before undocking. If I didn't remember to do that, I can open another TexPad session while working from home.

Something to fix if there is another version then?

George

Jarmus · Post by **Jarmus** » Wed May 11, 2005 3:15 pm

A related quirk is that, when I first open a TextPad session and move it to my secondary screen while docked, then open one of the dialog boxes, it appears on my main screen and not over the TextPad window as I would expect.

The general fix to both of these problems, I think, is to remember the dialog geometry relative to the main TextPad geometry (which Windows can change on you) rather than for itself. This would mean also that, when I move TextPad within the same display, then open a dialog, it will appear relative to the new position -- which is a good thing, I think.

George

datallah · Post by **datallah** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 2:55 pm

I've seen this too.

In my case, I have a dual monitor system at work that I sometimes connect to from home over Remote Desktop. When connected via RD, Windows changes into single-monitor mode (similar to Jarmus' undocking).

While I can avoid this problem by restarting TextPad, it seems that it should be relatively easy to fix this problem so it isn't necessary to restart (and have to re-open all the files)-
The WM_DISPLAYCHANGE (see http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us ... w_2qzp.asp) message will be emitted for such a change.

Pbufs · Post by **Pbufs** » Thu Jan 25, 2007 2:46 am

I have the same problem and it looks like there isn't a work-around (other than restarting Textpad). The pain of opening the files individually can be mitigated if you save the workspace, tho'.

Post by **MudGuard** » Thu Jan 25, 2007 6:58 am

Jarmus wrote:Also, I often have 15 or 20 files open which I would like to keep open while I'm working on that project (sometimes several days), so closing TextPad isn't convenient.

In Textpad, go to
Help - Help Topics - Contents Tab - How to ... - Use Workspaces
and read the sub-items ...

(can't help on the main issue as I do not have any experience with multi-monitor environments)