Search found 2723 matches

by Mark1834
09 Nov 2024 17:58
Forum: Plugin Technical Support & Development
Topic: Backup and Restore Family Historian Settings via Windows Plugin Error
Replies: 19
Views: 906

Re: Backup and Restore Family Historian Settings via Windows Plugin Error

I have now updated the download link in the previous posting to point to draft version 1.3.4, which fully supports use in a multi-monitor extended desktop in FH7, and as far as is technically possible for plugins in FH6. When called from FH7, both the main menu form and all plugin interactions open ...
by Mark1834
07 Nov 2024 13:35
Forum: New Wish List Requests
Topic: Settings Backup
Replies: 37
Views: 604

Re: Settings Backup

I think that would be well worth while. I’ve already flagged that the KB stuff on WINE and Linux badly needs updating, and if David is offering to contribute to that as one of the few declared Linux users on FHUG, that’s a good separate thread in the KB forum.
by Mark1834
07 Nov 2024 11:51
Forum: New Wish List Requests
Topic: Settings Backup
Replies: 37
Views: 604

Re: Settings Backup

No problem - I think it might illustrate that it’s not well understood that the Windows Backup is not just a simple alternative with a different menu. It can be used that way, but at its heart it’s fundamentally different in its approach, and far more capable of being integrated into backup solution...
by Mark1834
07 Nov 2024 11:40
Forum: New Wish List Requests
Topic: Settings Backup
Replies: 37
Views: 604

Re: Settings Backup

I'm not sure I'd know how I would go about setting up a routine to backup part of the registry! Windows .bat field with a couple of Reg export commands. Mike's plugin helpfully generates it if you don't want to do it yourself. Then schedule it using Windows. (Or I get my overall baclup programme to...
by Mark1834
06 Nov 2024 14:21
Forum: New Wish List Requests
Topic: Settings Backup
Replies: 37
Views: 604

Re: Settings Backup

Also agree. I don’t want all my settings replicated between desktop and laptop, as they have very different displays and are used for different purposes, so any built-in solution needs to manage that type of variability. There probably is a good case for making the lack of a built-in settings backup...
by Mark1834
06 Nov 2024 10:42
Forum: General Usage
Topic: Advice needed before using a MAC for FH
Replies: 13
Views: 7414

Re: Advice needed before using a MAC for FH

If you mean display a preview of pdf file Media Records, it doesn’t do that in Windows either, so I also use .jpg or .png versions of PDF pages as media if I want that facility.
by Mark1834
04 Nov 2024 08:15
Forum: Programming Technicalities
Topic: Multiple displays and FH6
Replies: 2
Views: 290

Re: Multiple displays and FH6

I'll add a PS for completeness - the current position of the main FH window is held in memory, so is not accessible, but its opening position is stored at Registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Calico Pie\Family Historian\2.0\Preferences\Window Rect 0 , so can be retrieved to open a plugin at that ...
by Mark1834
03 Nov 2024 23:46
Forum: General Usage
Topic: Questions about the "Validate" menu item in FH7
Replies: 11
Views: 360

Re: Questions about the "Validate" menu item in FH7

But remember that GEDCOM contains errors and ambiguities, so there is no such thing as an absolute GEDCOM validator. FH checks that it understands the GEDCOM, not that it is "correct" (I'll let the lawyers argue whether a claim to support it "fully" is completely bomb-proof, but ...
by Mark1834
03 Nov 2024 18:31
Forum: Programming Technicalities
Topic: Multiple displays and FH6
Replies: 2
Views: 290

Re: Multiple displays and FH6

I read the lack of any comments as nobody else knows how to do it either! I have played with various scenarios in both single and dual display in FH6 and FH7 in order to asses how FH itself and typical plugins handle all the potential sources of variability - moving FH around the extended desktop, r...
by Mark1834
01 Nov 2024 09:08
Forum: Plugin Technical Support & Development
Topic: Ancestral Sources Launcher
Replies: 3
Views: 201

Re: Ancestral Sources Launcher

Sorry about that, John. It's a short and simple plugin, but clearly needs a better way of handling these scenarios. I want to keep it simple, so it's not worth creating a full IUP form just for one selection, so I've added additional code to cater for either cancelling the selection or families with...
by Mark1834
25 Oct 2024 17:18
Forum: Programming Technicalities
Topic: Multiple displays and FH6
Replies: 2
Views: 290

Multiple displays and FH6

None of my Store plugins actively manage where they open, so if FH is running in a second monitor they initially open in the primary display. That’s untidy at best, and potentially confusing to users, so needs fixing. It’s easy enough to force plugins to open above the main app in FH7, using iup.Set...
by Mark1834
23 Oct 2024 08:25
Forum: Programming Technicalities
Topic: Multiple Store plugins fail with Unicode user name
Replies: 13
Views: 549

Re: Multiple Store plugins fail with Unicode user name

Following Mike's observation that FH6 and FH7 can behave differently with Unicode, I have now installed a local Unicode user ( Unicodě Usěr ) on my FH7 laptop, and will routinely test my plugins in both versions to ensure compatibility. Unfortunately, this has also highlighted while Backup and Resto...
by Mark1834
23 Oct 2024 08:06
Forum: Plugin Technical Support & Development
Topic: Backup and Restore Family Historian Settings via Windows Plugin Error
Replies: 19
Views: 906

Re: Backup and Restore Family Historian Settings via Windows Plugin Error

I've been looking at this in a bit more detail, just to fully understand what is happening. Windows has issues with command scripts containing Unicode characters, so the workaround I have adopted is to use the defined Short Name or Short Path for any affected files and folders, which are always simp...
by Mark1834
21 Oct 2024 22:37
Forum: Programming Technicalities
Topic: MessageBox replacement
Replies: 20
Views: 420

Re: MessageBox replacement

IMO, 60-70 characters is about as wide as they should be (which is significantly narrower than these pages) otherwise they can get difficult to read. Dialogues are for presenting clear and snappy messages to the user, not essays. Be aware though that WINE tends to wrap to shorter lines than Windows,...
by Mark1834
21 Oct 2024 18:29
Forum: Programming Technicalities
Topic: MessageBox replacement
Replies: 20
Views: 420

Re: MessageBox replacement

Consistency with what the user is familiar with - standard Windows UI, as used in the main FH application. If you have your preferred format, and Mike has his, and I have mine, how does any of that help the user? Shouldn’t authors make every reasonable effort (and I agree that rummaging in the Windo...
by Mark1834
21 Oct 2024 17:23
Forum: Programming Technicalities
Topic: MessageBox replacement
Replies: 20
Views: 420

Re: MessageBox replacement

It probably depends on who the plugin is aimed at. Agree that for personal use, it's entirely personal choice, but for Store plugins, I think a consistent and predictable UI is vital in helping new users through the learning curve. The great potential for me of this approach is that it makes it rela...
by Mark1834
18 Oct 2024 07:36
Forum: Programming Technicalities
Topic: Multiple Store plugins fail with Unicode user name
Replies: 13
Views: 549

Re: Multiple Store plugins fail with Unicode user name

That should work, but I think diagnosing the issue as just a legacy one involving FH6 does change the perspective somewhat. It's an unfixable error that has existed ever since FH6 was introduced but has never been reported in all the years it was the active version, so won't be now from the ever-dec...
by Mark1834
15 Oct 2024 18:31
Forum: Programming Technicalities
Topic: Multiple Store plugins fail with Unicode user name
Replies: 13
Views: 549

Re: Multiple Store plugins fail with Unicode user name

Slightly more code, but a pre-screen of all full media file paths looking for Unicode (presumably via the loss conversion flag) as the plugin loads? Should execute fairly quickly in normal use and can exit on first spot.
by Mark1834
15 Oct 2024 17:35
Forum: Plugin Technical Support & Development
Topic: Backup and Restore Family Historian Settings via Windows Plugin Error
Replies: 19
Views: 906

Re: Backup and Restore Family Historian Settings via Windows Plugin Error

Thanks Bill, useful feedback. I haven’t ruled out the option of falling back to the Short Path if necessary and only rejecting the destination if that is also Unicode (or it’s a WINE/Crossover user), but I’ll ponder on that before I update the store version.
by Mark1834
15 Oct 2024 17:26
Forum: Programming Technicalities
Topic: Multiple Store plugins fail with Unicode user name
Replies: 13
Views: 549

Re: Multiple Store plugins fail with Unicode user name

Thanks Mike, that’s good feedback on the detailed why. The only FH6-compatible plugin I have that processes full folders is the Windows backup, which hands all the copying over to Windows directly to avoid just this type of Lua-induced error or limitation. Export Public GEDCOM is just FH7, as it was...
by Mark1834
15 Oct 2024 10:22
Forum: Plugin Technical Support & Development
Topic: Backup and Restore Family Historian Settings via Windows Plugin Error
Replies: 19
Views: 906

Re: Backup and Restore Family Historian Settings via Windows Plugin Error

Thanks Colin. I know that Linux user names (not the displayed name) must be simple alpha-numeric, but is my assumption that this general Unix restriction also applies to MacOS correct please?
by Mark1834
15 Oct 2024 08:09
Forum: Plugin Technical Support & Development
Topic: Backup and Restore Family Historian Settings via Windows Plugin Error
Replies: 19
Views: 906

Re: Backup and Restore Family Historian Settings via Windows Plugin Error

Thanks Brent. Looks like we are good to go, but I'll hold off for a while in case anything else falls out the woodwork. Picking up Mike's point, I fail to understand why that is anything other than a minor inconvenience that is easily worked around. The main effect is that a Unicode user cannot back...
by Mark1834
15 Oct 2024 08:07
Forum: Programming Technicalities
Topic: Multiple Store plugins fail with Unicode user name
Replies: 13
Views: 549

Multiple Store plugins fail with Unicode user name

As part of testing Unicode compatibility, I now test new plugins and updates with a Windows user name containing Unicode characters. Two main areas have tripped me up in the past, so it's worth raising them for general awareness among other authors, as I was struck by how many well-established Store...
by Mark1834
14 Oct 2024 07:38
Forum: Plugin Technical Support & Development
Topic: Backup and Restore Family Historian Settings via Windows Plugin Error
Replies: 19
Views: 906

Re: Backup and Restore Family Historian Settings via Windows Plugin Error

I have now updated the link above to Version 1.3.1 of the plugin . It corrects and simplifies the way the plugin deals with environment settings such as TEMP and APPDATA, and should be universally applicable to FH5/6/7, Windows and WINE/Crossover, and have full Unicode compatibility. The only except...