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tcMenu Designer UI » Problems with designer V1.7.5 on Windows

Author: davetcc
08/12/2020 12:07:25
We are sorry that there is a bug in the Windows UWP version of the app that causes menu items to sometimes not be created.

We are also adding a save as button onto the toolbar, and a label on the root properties panel that shows you what directory the designer is working in.

We are now treating this as the top priority, we've stopped all other work and sprints until this is sorted. The outcome of this will be stability on the Windows store version.

We are also aware that commercial users need more certainty around the versions of the app that they can use, or sometimes cannot even access the store directly. We are looking into how this is possible too, we will probably provide a repository of back-dated versions for anyone who has taken any kind of commercial offering from us in the past year. We cannot offer this for free, we are already starting to struggle with the weight of people using the free version on the store, and they are all on the same version! When we had several versions to look after at once, it was nearly impossible to handle.

If you are affected by this please post here providing us as much detail to recreate what you have seen as possible.

Author: kritischer
08/12/2020 16:45:20
 
could you confirm if you can recreate it in a new project, or if it's specific to a project

You might have got this sorted now but I *think* it has something to do with what I click on before adding the item and how recently (and how often) I save.
-Intermittently if I click on a sub menu and then add an element it doesn't appear even though the ID goes up.
-Sometimes I can can successfully create the item and fill out the parameters BUT if I don't save right after I enter the parameters and then click on another menu item the parameters of item just created will revert back to their defaults and blow away the friendly name, callback function, etc.

We are also adding a save as button onto the toolbar, and a label on the root properties panel that shows you what directory the designer is working in

Excellent. I tend to use save as to fork a project or to backup/protect the original that was working. From there I feel safe to make changes that often break something else. I suck at rev control and documentation. I'm just starting to demystify git.

We are looking at reversing the open folder decision and going back to emf file opening

Thank heavens. I'm not going to pretend to understand the difference between a store version and a standalone or compiled version but whoever at MS decided to "make it easier" by not displaying the files with the appropriate extensions during an open file dialog broke away from like... 30 years of Windows use behavior... and probably has pathological issues.

We cannot offer this for free, we are already starting to struggle with the weight of people using the free version on the store

I think it's unreasonable to expect everything for free... but if the most recent free "App" version works poorly or inconsistently I think you will agree that it doesn't serve your brand very well. Can you make it easier on us both by providing a link to buy a single user version? This is one of things that if not listed or easy to buy... some people can be too afraid to ask. In my case I want a stable commercial product to build the framework for application that is not going to be commercialized. I'm not sure if it makes a difference but right now it's just me and another guy and I'd rather pay something for the software that comes with a tiny amount of time for support (like a half hour) and then pay for ongoing support of specific issues that are coming up related to my ongoing (and protracted) issues. Having said that I do have a number in mind but I want to know your number.

So I found your releases page on GitHub Can you tell me what your leaning towards as far as non-appstore version goes? If I install OpenJDK 11 and compile from source will I have more features than 1.5 without the 1.7.5 Appstore bugs?

Author: davetcc
08/12/2020 19:30:23
 
but if the most recent free "App" version works poorly or inconsistently I think you will agree that it doesn't serve your brand very well.


Completely agree, we've fallen way short of the mark on this, and we are doing everything we can to correct it. For now we recommend everyone affected to do as follows:

* Get and install the Windows 7 - 1.7.0 release from github - https://github.com/davetcc/tcMenu/releases/tag/1.7.0
* Make a backup of your project files
* Run the designer app and open the EMF file that you wish to edit, it should be fully compatible with your menu structure, it uses the same XML code plugins.

We'll be providing a fuller update later once we've had a bit more time to work through this.

Author: kritischer
08/12/2020 20:44:51
I have no issues using 1.7 until you feel good about the next release. I'm sure you'll make it right and I really really really appreciate you owning the issue like this.

Author: davetcc
09/12/2020 06:25:32
We've made a call on this overnight. We are going to make all the patches of a major release available on our website somewhere. We will keep the app store versions too, but they will be updated FAR less often and only after a release has been in the wild for a while. Below is the plan:

Store version -> A slower-moving target for people who just rather someone else keeps it up to date. Maybe it updates only when there's either a serious bug or otherwise every couple of months - to a known working version.

Download version -> This will mean that almost immediately we'll put out all 1.7.x builds onto a site within the tcMenu structure somewhere (including the Java versions). When in the future we move 1.8, then we'd keep the last few 1.7.x builds around for a while to let people move over. You'd not be forced to move over, and nothing will auto-install. For Windows we need to look into how these would be signed (initially probably with our own certificate that you could download and trust). For Mac, they would be Notarized.

Author: davetcc
10/12/2020 09:00:24
 
Can you make it easier on us both by providing a link to buy a single user version? This is one of things that if not listed or easy to buy... some people can be too afraid to ask. In my case I want a stable commercial product to build the framework for application that is not going to be commercialized.


Bear with us for another week, we are fixing the Windows version first and foremost and setting up a new release repo that will be available soon, and at the same time we are discussing three standardized offerings to start with, they will be optional.

* A way for non-commercial people to get a basic level of help, that just gives a few extra features and boosted priority in the forum. Low, flexible quarterly pricing.
* Professional offering for people who need our time, with email, conference and project level support, flexible monthly pricing for only when needed.
* Custom enterprise solution for larger companies that is essentially pick-and-mix.

In this case, for interested parties at this moment, who need to purchase support, please DM me while I set up a suitable page.

Author: davetcc
27/12/2020 11:45:50
Many of the problems raised in this post should now be fixed. Going forward there are two choices:

1/ Use the app store version (recently released with fixes for many of the issues raised).
2/ Use the packaged version provided by us, see Products/tcMenu Designer from the main site.




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