Windows disappear when swapping between the sequencer tab and layout tab

[gerry]

4.1.5 (I think this was in the previous version too) - Windows.
If you have say the House preview and the Effects windows open (one monitor) and you click on the layout tab (and play the seq or just click on thatbtab and do nothing),
when you come back to the sequencer tab , there is no window open other than the main sequencer grid.
You have to open the windows again

[Phrog30]

I think this is by design, not a bug. I thought I read in a release note where they made this change.

[kevinp]

Any floating windows hide now by design when you click into another tab from the sequencer.  On my home computer (Mac) the windows will show again when I click back over to the sequencer tab.

[kevinp]

Played around a bit and determined that when you switch back to the sequencer tab the windows will go back to however your current perspective is saved, not how the windows were positioned when you left the tab.

If the position of any open windows were saved automatically when switching tabs, then the perspectives menu item could almost be eliminated as this would all be handled in the background without user interaction.

Future enhancement?

[Gilrock]

I thought about that but I don't like saving over top of someones settings without them knowing I'm doing it.  I added the Save button to the Perspectives panel to give you a quicker way to save your Perspective.

[kevinp]

Just thinking out loud here.  What if you were to implement a temporary perspective file when switching between tabs?  If a user has moved any windows since xLights was first opened (and perspectives loaded) they would remain in place/open upon returning to the sequencer.  That way you're not overwriting the user's saved perspective and it will load upon the next startup of the program.  Upon quitting xLights the temporary perspective file could be trashed.

Or maybe just a warning dialog box that pops up if there's been a change in perspectives asking if you want to save the current screen layout before switching tabs?  Similar to how the warning pops up now if you attempt to new/open/close a sequence that hasn't been saved and changes have occurred.

The current workflow works just fine.  Users just have to remember to save the current perspective before switching tabs.  This could be a future enhancement down the road to eliminate an extra step on the user's part.

[gerry]

Played around a bit and determined that when you switch back to the sequencer tab the windows will go back to however your current perspective is saved, not how the windows were positioned when you left the tab.

Hi,

Thanks for this and from my perspective this is fine. Reading this thread, I just saved the 'perspective' of the windows that I normally have open when on the sequencer (ie perspective -> Save current ) and it retains it when I toggle back and forwards.