Hello Guest it is March 29, 2024, 12:43:44 AM

Author Topic: screen  (Read 7385 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

screen
« on: March 18, 2009, 09:58:42 PM »
hi all

i try to make a screen set that will better suits my needs, but it is getting very frustrating to work with screen4. when i click on a button, sometimes it does the button's action, sometimes it select the button for setting it up. some buttons on the screen can't be selected at all once they are configured. removing the bitmap doesn't seem to help. now my question is what format are these screens based on? can i use visual basic screen design tool for example to create my screens and then use screen tweak to assemble as a screenset?

thanks

Offline Greolt

*
  •  956 956
    • View Profile
Re: screen
« Reply #1 on: March 19, 2009, 01:41:12 AM »


"......but it is getting very frustrating to work with screen4........."

Join the club.  How many users have said the same thing.   ;D ;D ;D

Scream4 is certainly a bit idiosyncratic but it will work once you get used to it.

The best thing is to use a larger monitor so that no scroll bars are needed.  That will save 90% of the frustrations. 

Some have worked around that by using a mouse with no scroll wheel.

Sounds like you should watch the tutorial video too.  It is basic but will show you how to select buttons without the screen changing pages.

There was a program being developed called Jetcam, but the developer has, if not dropped it, at least set it aside for now.

And then there is the option of developing flash screens but I have no experience with that.  Look for posts by "zealous"

Greg
Re: screen
« Reply #2 on: March 19, 2009, 10:41:28 AM »
what i would like is to be able to use the standard windows controls and interface to keep it simple. being albe to disign fancy buttons and bitmaps is sure an interesting feature but in the end what i want is to cut some chips whatever the color or form of the buttons. is there a place where i could get the information about the format of these screens so i could make my own designer?
Re: screen
« Reply #3 on: March 19, 2009, 10:55:24 AM »
what i would like is to be able to use the standard windows controls and interface to keep it simple. being albe to disign fancy buttons and bitmaps is sure an interesting feature but in the end what i want is to cut some chips whatever the color or form of the buttons. is there a place where i could get the information about the format of these screens so i could make my own designer?

Mach3 is not designed to USE standard Windows controls and interface, so you're stuck with Scream4.  It is highly idiosynchratic, but it does get the job done.  There is a period of several hours (or days), when you first start using it, that you'll be convinced it's impossible to get any useful work done with it, but then you'll get the hang of how to work around its many quirks, and it's really not THAT bad.  The most important thing is to make frequent backups, as it will, occassionally, hose the screenset file beyond repair.  All the functionality is there to make some very nice screensets, it just takes patience and perseverence.  For me, the hard part is having to generate all the custom bitmaps, because I have no artistic skill whatsoever.

I've only seen buttons become "unselectable" under two circumstances.  First is if the button is behind something else - in which case you must move that something else out of the way first.  Second is when bitten by a bug in Scream4 that causes it to display ALL objects in the wrong position, so what you see is NOT what you get.  That can be resolved by working on a larger monitor.  Buttons configured to change screen pages seem particularly troublesome.  Sometimes you can solve sticky selection problems by doing a drag select around an object, rather than by clicking on it.  And just in case you're not aware, all objects are edited by right-clicking on them, *except* non-image buttons, which must be double-clicked (Why? I have no idea....).  Buttons are basically inactive in Scream4, *except* for those configured to change screen pages, which means when you click on them to try to edit them, they change screens and disappear.  Shift-clicking overcomes this.

Regards,
Ray L.
Regards,
Ray L.

Offline poppabear

*
  • *
  •  2,235 2,235
  • Briceville, TN, USA
    • View Profile
Re: screen
« Reply #4 on: March 20, 2009, 10:08:55 AM »
hehehehehe

   And people ask me, why in the hell do you STILL use Scream3.......... hehehehe

scott
fun times

Offline ger21

*
  • *
  •  6,295 6,295
    • View Profile
    • The CNC Woodworker
Re: screen
« Reply #5 on: March 20, 2009, 11:15:19 AM »
I think I might start designing in Screen 4, and trying to do the scripts in Screen3. The reason, is that  when you edit the scripts in mach3, it unlocks the position of all the controls, so when you go back to Screen 4, it's easy to move stuff around. Especially when the screen has ~200 bmp's. I also had mach3 move every bitmap 2 pixels in X, and 1 in Y.


Just a tip. I design on a 1280x1024 monitor. I lay out my screen in Photoshop so that all the images fit a 1280x1024 screen. But, In Screen4, I create a 1024x768 screen. This keeps me from having any of the problems a lot of guys see, and my screen scales to 1280x1024 perfectly.
Gerry

2010 Screenset
http://www.thecncwoodworker.com/2010.html

JointCAM Dovetail and Box Joint software
http://www.g-forcecnc.com/jointcam.html
Re: screen
« Reply #6 on: March 20, 2009, 07:03:05 PM »
When using Screen4 to modify some of my screens to use more hot-keys I have run into some strange key codes.
Screen4 tells me that the hot-key code for the reset button is 192 and the key code for the G-code button is 65535.
Mach Customize Wiki that the Cntrl key is 32768 so to get 65535 looks to be impossible.
Is there a list of hot-keys and their key codes?

Offline ger21

*
  • *
  •  6,295 6,295
    • View Profile
    • The CNC Woodworker
Re: screen
« Reply #7 on: March 20, 2009, 08:28:37 PM »
I think the 65535 is "no key assigned".
Gerry

2010 Screenset
http://www.thecncwoodworker.com/2010.html

JointCAM Dovetail and Box Joint software
http://www.g-forcecnc.com/jointcam.html
Re: screen
« Reply #8 on: March 20, 2009, 08:38:13 PM »
Well the use hot keys box is checked and if I un check it and then re check it I get a box that says Type the hot key now but when I hit the first number the box goes away an 99 is the new key code. This is on the G-code button next to the Reset button.

Offline ger21

*
  • *
  •  6,295 6,295
    • View Profile
    • The CNC Woodworker
Re: screen
« Reply #9 on: March 20, 2009, 08:49:58 PM »
When you design a screen from scratch, every button will have the box checked, and 65535 in the box. You don't type the number in, you hit the actual key(s) you want.
Gerry

2010 Screenset
http://www.thecncwoodworker.com/2010.html

JointCAM Dovetail and Box Joint software
http://www.g-forcecnc.com/jointcam.html