Winexpos�

[matonga]

Matias, I'd like to come up with some artwork for you to use with WinExpose. (...)

All suggestions, artwork, icons, imagery, and GUI redesign/tips/ideas/etc... you and everyone can provide are greatly welcome.

I'm not an artist neither a graphics designer, and it's very difficult to me to came up with a good user interface. Indeed the actual icon has been provided by a friend of mine, and then modified by a WinExposé user to make borders look smoother and better. If you download the very first version available (September 7, 2006), you'll find it has a... errr... mmm... some sort of icon (the cyan thing, yes, I did draw it on my own, hahahah).

Between me and a friend, I know we could come up with something that would work nicely for you, if you'd let us.

That's about the code or the user interface, imagery and icons? :-) Ooops, my boss came back, 'll have to leave this message unfinished.

[Kaishi]

Just the imagery and icons, we aren't coders, but we are artists. I actually have to leave for the rest of the night very soon but I'll be back tomorrow morning, and hopefully by then, we can get a mockup together for you. If you like it, we can do the artwork in a fashion compatible with the current UI.

[netster007x]

I love this app but it has TWO CRITICAL BUGS that pull my awe to a screeching halt. PLEASE fix

1) When entering standby in WinXP, windows makes the system error “bum” sound. Upon return from standby, about a million WinExpose error windows pop up!

2) When using WinExpose with Yahoo! messenger with voice 8.0, a micro sized Yahoo! messenger window pops up titled “RVSELECT06BE2A58″ that can’t be closed without exiting yahoo messenger! To test this you can get yahoo messenger from messenger.yahoo.com

This is an excellent program with incredible potential, but these bugs MUST be addressed. I have just downloaded the latest version (10/19() and neither bug has been addressed. Are these known bugs?

[matonga]

1) When entering standby in WinXP, windows makes the system error “bum” sound. Upon return from standby, about a million WinExpose error windows pop up!

This is a known bug. The main problem is I'm not able to reproduce this bug in any of the computers I have access to. So still can't determine where the bug is. The log files I have received so far don't report errors, so at least is not the graphics engine, but the app itself.

2) When using WinExpose with Yahoo! messenger with voice 8.0, a micro sized Yahoo! messenger window pops up titled “RVSELECT06BE2A58″ that can’t be closed without exiting yahoo messenger! To test this you can get yahoo messenger from messenger.yahoo.com

Didn't know about this. The window enumeration code has been rewritten (and will be available in next release), based on TaskSwitchXP and SmallWindows (BTW SmallWindows window enumeration has a bug: it doesn't skip layered windows). Anyway, try adding RVSELECT06BE2A58 to the exceptions list.

Notes: I'll soon include the ability to put an asterisk on names on exception list, for e.g.:

* - Notepad //to skip notepad windows

RVSELECT* //to skip Yahoo! hidden windows

etc...

I'd no time today to make improvements yet.

Matías

[Smiff]

hello, glad to find this thread. fantastic app. with (for me) one showstopper bug, probably same as standby issue reported above.

every time i lock workstation, app crashes*. to recreate: (enable both fast user switching and welcome screen if not already enabled, i haven't tried tried without them).

1) start app

2) press Winkey+L to lock workstation

3) log back on to your user account. errors as described below.

*the crash could be happening on unlock or lock - i can't tell since desktop not visible in between!

same behaviour on all 3 PCs here (all XPsp2, athlon K7 or K8, nvidia GF3 to GF6)

happens with all configuration options.

same error whether running as Admin or limited user.

have tried older and newer versions, also same.

exact error is:

----------------------------

Win32 Error. Code: 5.

Access is denied.

----------------------------

by clicking through them, i can see the first error msg was:

----------------------------

Win32 error. Code: 2

The system cannot find the file specified

----------------------------

The 2nd error msg is:

----------------------------

Win32 Error. Code: -214702378.

Element not found.

----------------------------

From then on, the errors appear to be identical to the first one i posted above:

----------------------------

Win32 Error. Code: 5.

Access is denied.

----------------------------

this one repeats many times, best to use task manager to force close process.

sometimes, the crashes look slightly different: -214702378 is the first and second error, then code 5 repeats. or sometimes, the first error may be 5, then -214702378.

-214702378 always seems to be in the first or 2nd error.

there are approx 20-30 ? (haven't counted exactly) dialog boxes generated total per crash.

this about all the info i can think of, if you need more please ask.

this basically means the app must currently be restarted by hand every time users switch or after coming back to system, which is quite impractical.

I hope i can work with you to fix this because otherwise this app seems almost perfect already (i only discovered it two days ago). thank you!

[netster007x]

This is a known bug. The main problem is I'm not able to reproduce this bug in any of the computers I have access to. So still can't determine where the bug is. The log files I have received so far don't report errors, so at least is not the graphics engine, but the app itself.

Good to know that you're working on it

Didn't know about this. The window enumeration code has been rewritten (and will be available in next release), based on TaskSwitchXP and SmallWindows (BTW SmallWindows window enumeration has a bug: it doesn't skip layered windows). Anyway, try adding RVSELECT06BE2A58 to the exceptions list.

Hmm, I added both "Yahoo! messenger with Voice" and "RVSELECT06BE2A58" to the exceptions list, and neither appeared during expose, yet the RVSELECT06BE2A58 window still appeared. Also, the window actually has a slightly different title each time I run yahoo messenger and do a winexpose.

If you get a chance It should be very easy to reproduce the problem after installing Yahoo! Messenger With Voice 8.0 from messenger.yahoo.com

[matonga]

New version of WinExposé (2006-10-21):

• Faster software engine (the hardware engine can be made faster too, by overclocking the video board, but that's your responsibility =:-)).
  
• Fixed wallpaper displacement bugs.
  
• Now exceptions list can include wildcards. For example: RVSELECT*
  
• Now exceptions list can include executable names also. For example: notepad.exe. (for each window, the title is tested against the list of exceptions. Then WinExposé determines the window's app exe file, and test it against the list of exceptions too).
  

I still can't reproduce the f*... bug, I suspended my computer, hibernated it, pressed Win+L, everything, I even exposed the windows then did all the tests again, and whenever I return the program is still running and correctly working... I added lots of debug info into the log file now, so anyone who can "successfuly" reproduce the bug, please do it, and BEFORE running WinExposé again, copy the log file and send it to me by whatever means (private message, post it to this thread, or whatsoever).

Thanks in advance by all the feedback, and by the patience,

Matías

Edit: oops, I forgot to include the new window enumeration algorithm into the code... I'll include it on next version. ,':-(

[Smiff]

using Oct21 build,

on this machine (K7, GF6600LE, 1440x900) (not the same one i was testing on last night)

1st error:

--------------------------------

A Win32 API function failed.

--------------------------------

Then dozens of these:

--------------------------------

Win32 Error. Code: 6.

The handle is invalid

--------------------------------

Note: the Oct19 also shows these same errors on this machine - i got Error 5 on the other PC, Error 6 on this. why?! ive no idea. this must be useful in some way?

when i try today, the error, on either PC and either version, does not always seem to be fatal - often the app is still running, i can lock the workstation again and repeat the same errors over and over.

the error log i don't think is useful?

[21-10-06 10:18:32] Log started

[21-10-06 10:18:32] InitDXEngine () ...

[21-10-06 10:18:32] Trying dd.CreateSurface (ddsbackbuffer)...

[21-10-06 10:18:32] dd.CreateSurface (ddsbackbuffer) succeeded

[21-10-06 10:18:32] Trying d3d.CreateDevice (TnLHALDevice)...

[21-10-06 10:18:41] d3d.CreateDevice (TnLHALDevice) succeeded

[21-10-06 10:18:41] -->> EnumTextureFormatsProc()

[21-10-06 10:18:41] ddpf.dwRGBBitCount=32

[21-10-06 10:18:41] ddpf.dwRBitMask=0x00FF0000

[21-10-06 10:18:41] ddpf.dwGBitMask=0x0000FF00

[21-10-06 10:18:41] ddpf.dwBBitMask=0x000000FF

[21-10-06 10:18:41] ddpf.dwRGBAlphaBitMask=0xFF000000

[21-10-06 10:18:41] --<< EnumTextureFormatsProc()

[21-10-06 10:18:41] EnumTextureFormatsProc(): Perfect match!

[21-10-06 10:18:41] InitDXEngine () -> OK

[21-10-06 10:18:41] -> Device can retrieve textures from nonlocal video (AGP) memory.

[21-10-06 10:18:41] -> Device can retrieve textures from device memory.

[21-10-06 10:18:41] -> Bilinear filtering.

[21-10-06 10:18:41] -> Device render bit depth: 1280

[21-10-06 10:18:41] -> Minimum texture width: 1

[21-10-06 10:18:41] -> Minimum texture height: 1

[21-10-06 10:18:41] -> Maximum texture width: 4096

[21-10-06 10:18:41] -> Maximum texture height: 4096

[21-10-06 10:18:41] -> Maximum texture aspect ratio: 4096

that's it, the log just ends there (this is just start app, lock/unlock, read log). if i don't crash it, it carries on logging happily. so i guess it's not crashing where you expected it to?

edit: just confirming, i still get error 5 (Access Denied) on the other PC, so Oct21 and Oct19 builds do behave the same.

here is log from Error 5 machine:

[21-10-06 10:31:30] Log started

[21-10-06 10:31:30] InitDXEngine () ...

[21-10-06 10:31:30] Trying dd.CreateSurface (ddsbackbuffer)...

[21-10-06 10:31:30] dd.CreateSurface (ddsbackbuffer) succeeded

[21-10-06 10:31:30] Trying d3d.CreateDevice (TnLHALDevice)...

[21-10-06 10:31:47] d3d.CreateDevice (TnLHALDevice) succeeded

[21-10-06 10:31:47] -->> EnumTextureFormatsProc()

[21-10-06 10:31:47] ddpf.dwRGBBitCount=32

[21-10-06 10:31:47] ddpf.dwRBitMask=0x00FF0000

[21-10-06 10:31:47] ddpf.dwGBitMask=0x0000FF00

[21-10-06 10:31:47] ddpf.dwBBitMask=0x000000FF

[21-10-06 10:31:47] ddpf.dwRGBAlphaBitMask=0xFF000000

[21-10-06 10:31:47] --<< EnumTextureFormatsProc()

[21-10-06 10:31:47] EnumTextureFormatsProc(): Perfect match!

[21-10-06 10:31:47] InitDXEngine () -> OK

[21-10-06 10:31:47] -> Device can retrieve textures from nonlocal video (AGP) memory.

[21-10-06 10:31:47] -> Device can retrieve textures from device memory.

[21-10-06 10:31:47] -> Bilinear filtering.

[21-10-06 10:31:47] -> Device render bit depth: 1280

[21-10-06 10:31:47] -> Minimum texture width: 1

[21-10-06 10:31:47] -> Minimum texture height: 1

[21-10-06 10:31:47] -> Maximum texture width: 4096

[21-10-06 10:31:47] -> Maximum texture height: 4096

[21-10-06 10:31:47] -> Maximum texture aspect ratio: 4096

looks same, also not useful? :/

i will try to guess what's different in our windows configuration, but this could be difficult.

things i have tried and ruled out:

- using the default/custom xp logon screen

- changing colour depth

- closing down all extra apps to check for some conflict

- cleartype (heh, getting desperate here)

i'm open to suggestions, i really want this thing to work!

perhaps its a video driver thing, do you have a non-nvidia graphics card? i don't unfortunately.

edit2: to summarise

sometimes i get the errors and app crashes

sometimes i get the errors and app doesn't crash

sometimes i get no errors and the app silently crashes.

it never goes through a lock/unlock ok.

similar problem (varying msgs) on 3 systems with varying hardware, all running XP and mostly same software.

[Sranshaft]

Found a pretty weird bug here but one that probably needs to be addressed.

When in exposed mode, if you open the Settings dialog, you get a error noise and nothing can be selected. You then have to close WinExpose and start again.

Putting in a check to see if WinExpose is in exposed mode before opening the settings window would solve this problem. Also, you could have it so if in exposed mode it would un-expose(?) before opening the Settings dialog.

Great to see you've gotten the wallpaper push corrected. Another thing, that would add to the overall visual appeal of the program, if possible would be to take a screenshot of the current desktop before exposing instead of using the wallpaper. This way exposing and unexposing would look seamless with the desktop. Not really at the top of the list of things to do but it might be something to add in as flash eyecandy.

Loving the new version as it is. Every update leaves me wanting more. Thankyou very much for your continued development on this needed program.

Edit: Just thought of some other features I would love to see imported from the OSX version and other expose-clones. Perhaps a break down of seperate types of exposing modes. One for all windows, one for windows associated to the active window (ie: all Notepad windows if Notepad is the active window), and last, a clear desktop mode where all windows are pushed off screen to show the desktop then slid back to their original position.

Looking forward to seeing window titles implemented. That's really the one feature I'm dying to use.

Thanks again. Looking forward to seeing more. Would definitely donate some moeny once I get some to spare (supporting a family is expensive :|) and I'm sure there are others that would too.

[Kaishi]

Sranshaft: agreed on the "different expose modes" function, those are really nice to have. They also would require a lot more coding for Matias, and right now, he seems more concerned about resolving the few (but pretty serious) bugs.

Matias: great job with the exclusion list changes. This helps a ton. I haven't had the app crash even once on me so far, but my Windows environment and software choices are very much differentiated from the norm.

One thing I did notice that you may want to work on: even when it isn't drawing anything, WinExpose shows up as having a window to TaskSwitchXP. This app is a fantastic alt-tab replacement that captures window previews similarly to Expose, but makes a list instead of showing them all at once. I do use it a lot.

Basically, in TaskSwitchXP, WinExpose is granted a full-screen, all black window. This is an additional entry on my Alt-Tab list, and worse, selecting WinExpose's entry produces no result, so I can't really tell how the app is registering it.

EDIT: Here's a screenshot of the problem.

By comparison, RK Launcher *never* shows up on the Alt-Tab list for TaskSwitchXP, nor do the applications I keep only on my System Tray (which do show up in WinExpose, so I keep them hidden with the exclusions).

Oh, also Matias, I noticed that reselecting a currently Maximized window no longer un-maximizes it. Thanks for fixing that. Have you considered coming up with a method to eliminate the WinExpose tray icon ?

Haven't managed to come up with anything incredible art-wise this weekend so far but I've been very busy. I'm currently out of town, spending time with some friends about 500 miles north of my hometown. Things will be back to normal for me on Monday though, and I'll finish up the ideas I was working on for you.

Great job, man. I'm really glad to see how well this project is coming along.

[robby007]

Wow amazing program!

but there are a couple of things that i would like to suggest:

* specific application expose (like what was suggested above)

* hide all windows off the screen (also like what was suggested above)

* a frame around the windows

* a drop shadow

* an option to change the transparency of windows

* i would like to see my icons behind a a transparent black screen like the show case in avedesk

* the ability to change the priority of it because when i change it in task manager it goes straight back to normal

* the name of the program on the window

* if possible, faster expose time (its about 3 seconds from press to expose)

other than that i had no problems

[jlee]

I love this app! You really did a nice job on it.

I'm using 10/20 build and so far, its working pretty smoothly.

The most annoying bug I encountered is that it shuts down during hibernate and standby.

I also noticed a small little compatibility issue with RK launcher. Anything that is restored or maximized from RK launcher shows up fine, but when you minimize it again, it minimizes to the taskbar.

lastly, the occasional error messages and small stability issues every now and then.

[Kaishi]

robby007: you can tweak the expose time yourself in the options. Play with it, I like it set almost all the way to the Right, much much faster.

jlee: RK Launcher's minimize mode is known to be pretty buggy, I don't know that WinExpose can do much to work on that without implementing RK Launcher-specific code, which I'd hardly call a bugfix. Hell, I'm an RK Launcher user myself but I don't trust the way it handles minimize, so I keep a visible taskbar to handle my apps, up at the top.

Still, it isn't a bad thing for Matias to check it, maybe it *is* something he can work on.

[robby007]

thanks for the tip but that is not what i meant. i meant there is a about a 3 second delay between pressing f9 and something happening

that's probably due to my (not so recent) hardware but maybe some kind of performance<-->quality control might help

[netster007x]

thanks for the tip but that is not what i meant. i meant there is a about a 3 second delay between pressing f9 and something happening

that's probably due to my (not so recent) hardware but maybe some kind of performance<-->quality control might help

I also noticed the extreme delay after using either the hotkey or screen corner on today's build. The program was far more responsive on prior builds, please bring the responsiveness back. The excruciating delay now really just defeats the purpose of this organizer time-saver app.

Also, standby bug remains at large. I added yahoomessenger.exe to the ignore list, and that annoying RVSELECT... window no longer appears. Of course this means i can no longer have yahoo messenger exposed, but it's a small price to pay in order to no longer have to deal with that extra window.

What to Aim For:

*Reduce the expose delay to near instantaneous

*Kill the horribly annoying standby bug

KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK

[Smiff]

it's not clear (my machines never standby, i will try this later), but i assume the standby bug is the same as the lock/unlock bug.

i'm not clear how this stuff works, but it appears winexpose crashes whenever it loses the desktop or the user session disconnects?

can anyone here get through a lock or standby without it crashing - is this system dependent or usage dependent?

[alchemist612]

how do I use the exclusion list? I tried using it with objectbar and this other app I have, but it wont work.

[ljubo666]

Thanks for the great app and effort!

I just want to point out that planned captions for WinExposed windows should be provided as an option. I haven't noticed that somebody asked for that... I hope that everything that is (and will) be implemented is presented as an option i.e. could be turned on/off so that users can customize functionality as they like...

Thanks again for very nice app!

[travelfox]

this is a great app, i love it!!

i'd like to see a timer feature added. when it's in "expose" view the timer would kick in after 30 or more secs if there is no window selected in that time frame. last night i showed this to my girlfriend (she loves it) and i forgot to click on a window, so the whole night it was in "expose" view but the screen never shut off - thanks alot - T/F

[Kaishi]

Smiff: WinExpose crash related to logging off and/or going into Standby is a known issue currently, Matias has said he's working on fixing that. To help him, you can post your WinExpose Log file right after a crash (just copy the contents and paste into the thread).

alchemist612: to use the exclusion list, go into the app's settings, and add either: 1) the Title Text of the window you want to exclude, 2) the name of the executable (winamp.exe, swriter.exe, etc.), or 3) a partial name including a wildcard (*) (Winamp *, Gaim *). Anything added to the list will not be shown on the Expose list. Very simple, and a good solution to the problem.

ljubo666: Floating captions for the windows are in the works, so say Matias, the developer. To be truly Expose-like, they won't be optional, they'll be always on, and very easy on the eyes. Before that gets worked out though, Matias seems quite content doing bug resolution, which is a good plan. It's always better to work out existing problems than to implement new functions which may add more problems and make the initial attempts at fixing problems much more difficult.

travelfox: a timer isn't a bad idea at all actually, I could see that being very beneficial. Personally though, I'd really like to see the value have a slider or input box, because for me, 30 seconds would be far too long. For others, 30 seconds might not be long enough. I'd vote for an input box, with either 0 or -1 being interpreted as "no timer".

Matias: I'm back home now, going to get to work on some new artwork for your project. You've done really well so far, I can't wait until the next release.

[beanz]

Another one suffering the hibernate/locking bug, throwing up the following errors for me;

Again, nothing obvious appearing in the log.

[23-10-06 15:09:26] Log started

[23-10-06 15:09:26] InitDXEngine () ...

[23-10-06 15:09:26] Trying dd.CreateSurface (ddsbackbuffer)...

[23-10-06 15:09:26] dd.CreateSurface (ddsbackbuffer) succeeded

[23-10-06 15:09:26] Trying d3d.CreateDevice (TnLHALDevice)...

[23-10-06 15:10:37] d3d.CreateDevice (TnLHALDevice) succeeded

[23-10-06 15:10:37] -->> EnumTextureFormatsProc()

[23-10-06 15:10:37] ddpf.dwRGBBitCount=32

[23-10-06 15:10:37] ddpf.dwRBitMask=0x00FF0000

[23-10-06 15:10:37] ddpf.dwGBitMask=0x0000FF00

[23-10-06 15:10:37] ddpf.dwBBitMask=0x000000FF

[23-10-06 15:10:37] ddpf.dwRGBAlphaBitMask=0xFF000000

[23-10-06 15:10:37] --<< EnumTextureFormatsProc()

[23-10-06 15:10:37] EnumTextureFormatsProc(): Perfect match!

[23-10-06 15:10:37] InitDXEngine () -> OK

[23-10-06 15:10:37] -> Device can retrieve textures from nonlocal video (AGP) memory.

[23-10-06 15:10:37] -> Device can retrieve textures from device memory.

[23-10-06 15:10:37] -> All textures must have widths and heights specified as powers of 2.

[23-10-06 15:10:37] -> Bilinear filtering.

[23-10-06 15:10:37] -> Device render bit depth: 1280

[23-10-06 15:10:37] -> Minimum texture width: 1

[23-10-06 15:10:37] -> Minimum texture height: 1

[23-10-06 15:10:37] -> Maximum texture width: 2048

[23-10-06 15:10:37] -> Maximum texture height: 2048

[23-10-06 15:10:37] -> Maximum texture aspect ratio: 2048

(Using Oct 23 release)

Keep up the good work guys!

[matonga]

New version with little (if any) improvements (have no time lastly):

- AVG and others app in the shell tray don't expose (new window enumeration routine, yes the one I forgot to include last time).

- The desktop becomes darker (I saw this effect in the original Mac OS X Exposé).

AT LAST!!! I'm able to reproduce the lock/in/out/suspend/hibernate bug. I found a computer where this happens. WinExposé just silently crashes. Whatever it is, it doesn't appear in the logs yet, so maybe I'll have to install Delphi on that machine and run the app from the compiler... :-

@all complaining about the delay:

- I have to add a window-cacheing option, this will consume some cpu processing all the time (not only while exposing windows) but it will also improve the activation delay a lot (I hope). It's planned in the to-do list.

@all who asked for show desktop feature:

- It's not possible, at least not the way I've programmed the engine and WinExposé itself. Anyway, you have the + D shortcut, I know it has no transition effect and all the like, but it's something, and comes with Windows ;-).

@all who asked for "show windows related to the currently selected app":

- It's under development. I tried to do it, but it sometimes work (it shows only related apps, eg. notepad apps, if I select notepad), but sometimes it doesn't work (it shows all windows, related or not).

Regards,

Matias

PS: please be patient, I've to work, to study, and of course to continue improving WinExposé, all at the same time =:-)

[Smiff]

matonga,

hurrah. it's weird that all my machines show the crash and you had trouble finding one? i still think this is windows config related, since i set all mine up roughly the same way. silently crashing was one was one of the ways i've seen it crash, though usually it throws a ton of errors.

i'll be away for a week now so perhaps just perhaps now there might be a fixed build when i get back i can hope you get time, cos this app is otherwise 101% awesome to me. do you have a paypal address i can donate a few dollars and if this works well i will.

Kaishi,

i know, if you read my posts you'd see im doing everything i can to help him help me

[matonga]

Ok, finally I got a second computer where the crash "works". It silently crashes in this case, too. And an even better notice: it's the computer where I work, I mean, it has Delphi installed, so I just have to copy the sources to it and test to see what's happening.

Maybe it'll be the end of this crazy bug. If I kill this bug, I hope I'll have more time to work out on additional features. There's also a bug with the DirectX engine not working properly in some machines which do have hardware acceleration, but there's a solution to that: the software engine, slow but it works.

Also, the weather is too hot here, about 37ºC, this is very disgusting as the warm air doesn't let me think...

Greets,

Matias

@Smiff: thanks for your interest, but, about the paypal address, even though I have one, I'll keep this stuff going on free for all, and free from donations. Accepting a donation would mean to have a little more obligation to continue this software, and instead I'd like to discontinue development of this app as soon as I get it free of bugs, and as configurable, and as similar as the original Mac OS X Exposé app as I can (no show desktop feature however, as I can't do that). Please don't get me wrong.

[KSoft]

Hello, Matonga!

I had similar "hibernate bug" in my application "RunMe". It was OnTimer. I have placed code in "try-exception-end" there and it works normally without leaks and other bad consequences.

Maybe it'll be useful.

Nice program, pretty and usefull.