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[archive] Threading & ALT-TAB

  • October 16, 2007
  • 5 replies
  • 0 views
D

[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 16 October 2007]

Folks,

Need a little help.

Our application uses threads.

i.e. initial program is the menu program and then programs are called in a thread from there.

I have a query which I really hope someone will know the answer to.

OK, on our menu program we click program a.

From program X we can do ALT-TAB to get back to the menu and also again back to program X.

Sometimes ALT-TAB doesn't work EDIT: I really mean here that in some programs ALT-TAB doesn't work
It will let you get back to the menu, but not back to program X again.
Program X make a brief appearance and immediately i'm back to the menu again.

I've looked at all the properties on a screen that works and 1 which doesn't work and from what i can see they're the same on the fields that matter.
Ignoring sizes, screen names & handles etc.

Any ideas?

All this is running using normal local runtime(wrun32) V7.2 on windows XP SP2

Thanks,

Shaun

    5 replies

    D

    [Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 16 October 2007]

    Folks,

    Need a little help.

    Our application uses threads.

    i.e. initial program is the menu program and then programs are called in a thread from there.

    I have a query which I really hope someone will know the answer to.

    OK, on our menu program we click program a.

    From program X we can do ALT-TAB to get back to the menu and also again back to program X.

    Sometimes ALT-TAB doesn't work EDIT: I really mean here that in some programs ALT-TAB doesn't work
    It will let you get back to the menu, but not back to program X again.
    Program X make a brief appearance and immediately i'm back to the menu again.

    I've looked at all the properties on a screen that works and 1 which doesn't work and from what i can see they're the same on the fields that matter.
    Ignoring sizes, screen names & handles etc.

    Any ideas?

    All this is running using normal local runtime(wrun32) V7.2 on windows XP SP2

    Thanks,

    Shaun
    We had similar issues with this several years ago and decided to handle our own threading and not let Windows do it. We noticed that the Alt-Tab would give exceptions or events (can't remember the specifics) that would give strange behavior like you are describing. In short, the problems we were experiencing is that we had unexpected exceptions and events from the Alt-Tab and couldn't find a good way to code for them uniformly. I always understood that this was a Windows OS phenomenon.

    Again, this was many years ago and perhaps this is different now, but that's my experience with it in the past. Hopefully you'll get some more knowledgeable people to give you a better answer!

    Rob
    D

    [Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 16 October 2007]

    Folks,

    Need a little help.

    Our application uses threads.

    i.e. initial program is the menu program and then programs are called in a thread from there.

    I have a query which I really hope someone will know the answer to.

    OK, on our menu program we click program a.

    From program X we can do ALT-TAB to get back to the menu and also again back to program X.

    Sometimes ALT-TAB doesn't work EDIT: I really mean here that in some programs ALT-TAB doesn't work
    It will let you get back to the menu, but not back to program X again.
    Program X make a brief appearance and immediately i'm back to the menu again.

    I've looked at all the properties on a screen that works and 1 which doesn't work and from what i can see they're the same on the fields that matter.
    Ignoring sizes, screen names & handles etc.

    Any ideas?

    All this is running using normal local runtime(wrun32) V7.2 on windows XP SP2

    Thanks,

    Shaun
    We had similar issues with this several years ago and decided to handle our own threading and not let Windows do it. We noticed that the Alt-Tab would give exceptions or events (can't remember the specifics) that would give strange behavior like you are describing. In short, the problems we were experiencing is that we had unexpected exceptions and events from the Alt-Tab and couldn't find a good way to code for them uniformly. I always understood that this was a Windows OS phenomenon.

    Again, this was many years ago and perhaps this is different now, but that's my experience with it in the past. Hopefully you'll get some more knowledgeable people to give you a better answer!

    Rob
    D

    [Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 16 October 2007]

    Folks,

    Need a little help.

    Our application uses threads.

    i.e. initial program is the menu program and then programs are called in a thread from there.

    I have a query which I really hope someone will know the answer to.

    OK, on our menu program we click program a.

    From program X we can do ALT-TAB to get back to the menu and also again back to program X.

    Sometimes ALT-TAB doesn't work EDIT: I really mean here that in some programs ALT-TAB doesn't work
    It will let you get back to the menu, but not back to program X again.
    Program X make a brief appearance and immediately i'm back to the menu again.

    I've looked at all the properties on a screen that works and 1 which doesn't work and from what i can see they're the same on the fields that matter.
    Ignoring sizes, screen names & handles etc.

    Any ideas?

    All this is running using normal local runtime(wrun32) V7.2 on windows XP SP2

    Thanks,

    Shaun
    Yeah Rob, I hope so.

    I also edited my post above with because on a re read it sounded like ALT-TAB was a bit hit and miss.
    Its a case of that some programs ALT-TAB doesn't work and I can't figure out why.

    Shaun
    D

    [Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 16 October 2007]

    Folks,

    Need a little help.

    Our application uses threads.

    i.e. initial program is the menu program and then programs are called in a thread from there.

    I have a query which I really hope someone will know the answer to.

    OK, on our menu program we click program a.

    From program X we can do ALT-TAB to get back to the menu and also again back to program X.

    Sometimes ALT-TAB doesn't work EDIT: I really mean here that in some programs ALT-TAB doesn't work
    It will let you get back to the menu, but not back to program X again.
    Program X make a brief appearance and immediately i'm back to the menu again.

    I've looked at all the properties on a screen that works and 1 which doesn't work and from what i can see they're the same on the fields that matter.
    Ignoring sizes, screen names & handles etc.

    Any ideas?

    All this is running using normal local runtime(wrun32) V7.2 on windows XP SP2

    Thanks,

    Shaun
    Yeah Rob, I hope so.

    I also edited my post above with because on a re read it sounded like ALT-TAB was a bit hit and miss.
    Its a case of that some programs ALT-TAB doesn't work and I can't figure out why.

    Shaun
    D

    [Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 16 October 2007]

    Folks,

    Need a little help.

    Our application uses threads.

    i.e. initial program is the menu program and then programs are called in a thread from there.

    I have a query which I really hope someone will know the answer to.

    OK, on our menu program we click program a.

    From program X we can do ALT-TAB to get back to the menu and also again back to program X.

    Sometimes ALT-TAB doesn't work EDIT: I really mean here that in some programs ALT-TAB doesn't work
    It will let you get back to the menu, but not back to program X again.
    Program X make a brief appearance and immediately i'm back to the menu again.

    I've looked at all the properties on a screen that works and 1 which doesn't work and from what i can see they're the same on the fields that matter.
    Ignoring sizes, screen names & handles etc.

    Any ideas?

    All this is running using normal local runtime(wrun32) V7.2 on windows XP SP2

    Thanks,

    Shaun
    Yeah Rob, I hope so.

    I also edited my post above with because on a re read it sounded like ALT-TAB was a bit hit and miss.
    Its a case of that some programs ALT-TAB doesn't work and I can't figure out why.

    Shaun

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