Arrow Key Selection in Option Menus
Hello everyone, I have a question about buttons formatted as option menus. I created a standalone for my students that allows them to submit answers to multiple choice homework assignments via FTP to my Mac at work. Once in a while I will receive a blank submission from a student using a PC version of the standalone. By blank, I mean the student's text file on my Mac, which is their log, is updated with the date and time and name of the quiz, but the list of answer choices, for example, A, C, A, A, B, E, is missing. As far as I can tell, it has never happened with students using Macs. I thought it might be that some students quit the app before receiving the confirmation that their answers have gone through. I took that possibility into account by building in a progress message and a warning not to quit, and a warning for students who were actually submitting a list of blanks. One day, a PC-using student, who had had the blank experience, told me that he is able to submit successfully when he selects his answers using a trackpad or a mouse, but that when he selects answers using the arrow keys, the answers that appear selected in the option buttons are not sent. I took a look at this on my Mac, and although I seldom use the arrow keys, I can select answers in option menus using the arrow keys, and I can send them fine. My handler simply loops through the option buttons and gathers the answers by taking the value of the selected line. Is there something else I should be doing for PC users? Gregory Associate Professor Department of Finance John Molson School of Business Concordia University Montreal, Canada ___ use-livecode mailing list use-livecode@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode
Re: Arrow Key Selection in Option Menus
Gregory, I did a quick test with option menus in stack created on a Mac and tested on Win7 under Parallels, they behaved exactly the same when using the arrow keys to choose the selection then pressing enter/return to record the choice, the main difference I could find is that on the Mac you definitely need to press return or enter, whereas on Win7 if I used the arrow keys to make the choice simply clicking on the next menu button would record the choice of the button just exited. That's probably opposite to what I expected to find given your issues. My only suggestion would be, maybe you could add a check to confirm that the answer has been stored as they answer each question or possibly a checksum to count the number of chars in the file before they upload it, just a couple of ideas. One of the biggest challenges I find in developing is thinking of all the ways things could go wrong, or what users may do differently than expected that will affect the data, and then covering all those options. I think I read something on Jacquie's site about a good way to test your software, is to silently watch someone else try to use it for the first time. HTH Paul On 2013-02-02, at 8:00 AM, Gregory Lypny wrote: Hello everyone, I have a question about buttons formatted as option menus. I created a standalone for my students that allows them to submit answers to multiple choice homework assignments via FTP to my Mac at work. Once in a while I will receive a blank submission from a student using a PC version of the standalone. By blank, I mean the student's text file on my Mac, which is their log, is updated with the date and time and name of the quiz, but the list of answer choices, for example, A, C, A, A, B, E, is missing. As far as I can tell, it has never happened with students using Macs. I thought it might be that some students quit the app before receiving the confirmation that their answers have gone through. I took that possibility into account by building in a progress message and a warning not to quit, and a warning for students who were actually submitting a list of blanks. One day, a PC-using student, who had had the blank experience, told me that he is able to submit successfully when he selects his answers using a trackpad or a mouse, but that when he selects answers using the arrow keys, the answers that appear selected in the option buttons are not sent. I took a look at this on my Mac, and although I seldom use the arrow keys, I can select answers in option menus using the arrow keys, and I can send them fine. My handler simply loops through the option buttons and gathers the answers by taking the value of the selected line. Is there something else I should be doing for PC users? Gregory Associate Professor Department of Finance John Molson School of Business Concordia University Montreal, Canada ___ use-livecode mailing list use-livecode@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode ___ use-livecode mailing list use-livecode@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode
Re: Arrow Key Selection in Option Menus
On 2/2/13 10:00 AM, Gregory Lypny wrote: I took a look at this on my Mac, and although I seldom use the arrow keys, I can select answers in option menus using the arrow keys, and I can send them fine. My handler simply loops through the option buttons and gathers the answers by taking the value of the selected line. Is there something else I should be doing for PC users? I'm not sure why it isn't working, but you might try getting the label of the button rather than the selectedline value. No promises. -- Jacqueline Landman Gay | jac...@hyperactivesw.com HyperActive Software | http://www.hyperactivesw.com ___ use-livecode mailing list use-livecode@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode
Re: Arrow Key Selection in Option Menus
On Feb 2, 2013, at 2:39 PM, Paul Hibbert wrote: One of the biggest challenges I find in developing is thinking of all the ways things could go wrong, or what users may do differently than expected that will affect the data, and then covering all those options. Absolutely. Someone on this list (Richard Gaskin?) once observed that the difference between a tool and a product is that a tool only has to be able to be used properly, and a product must be unable to be used improperly. Unfortunately too much software gets released without the give it to users to see if they can break it testing. -- Peter Peter M. Brigham pmb...@gmail.com http://home.comcast.net/~pmbrig The first 90% of the task takes 90% of the time, and the last 10% takes the other 90% of the time. ___ use-livecode mailing list use-livecode@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode
Re: Arrow Key Selection in Option Menus
After some more tests in the LC IDE on Mac and Win7, plus building stand-alones I found a few discrepancies with the selectedLine on Win7, it all seems to work as expected on Mac. Reading the selectedLine does not appear to be reliable with option menus in Win7 stand alone apps if there is no menuPick message sent, however, it does return a value relating to the first menu item, which is not necessarily the value you require, so I still can't find why you are not seeing any value returned, maybe that is a communication issue. Jacque's suggestion works fine, or using the menuPick message of each menu button to store the answer in a field, global variable, custom property or text file should also work. Paul On 2013-02-02, at 12:12 PM, J. Landman Gay wrote: On 2/2/13 10:00 AM, Gregory Lypny wrote: I took a look at this on my Mac, and although I seldom use the arrow keys, I can select answers in option menus using the arrow keys, and I can send them fine. My handler simply loops through the option buttons and gathers the answers by taking the value of the selected line. Is there something else I should be doing for PC users? I'm not sure why it isn't working, but you might try getting the label of the button rather than the selectedline value. No promises. -- Jacqueline Landman Gay | jac...@hyperactivesw.com HyperActive Software | http://www.hyperactivesw.com ___ use-livecode mailing list use-livecode@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode ___ use-livecode mailing list use-livecode@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode
Re: Arrow Key Selection in Option Menus
Hello Paul, Jacqueline, and Peter, Thank you for responding to my question on arrow-key selection of option menu items. It was generous of you to go out of your way to test things on a Windows box. Recently, I built in a check that warns students of the number of blanks, if any, they are submitting. I will tinker with your suggestions to use a menuPick message or grab the label of the menu rather than the selectedLine. Let you know what I find. Thanks once again, Gregory ___ use-livecode mailing list use-livecode@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode
Re: Arrow Key Selection in Option Menus
I would have said that a tool is used to make a product, while a product is produced using a tool. I don't get the proper use and prevention of use thingummy. Bob On Feb 2, 2013, at 12:39 PM, Peter M. Brigham wrote: One of the biggest challenges I find in developing is thinking of all the ways things could go wrong, or what users may do differently than expected that will affect the data, and then covering all those options. Absolutely. Someone on this list (Richard Gaskin?) once observed that the difference between a tool and a product is that a tool only has to be able to be used properly, and a product must be unable to be used improperly. Unfortunately too much software gets released without the give it to users to see if they can break it testing. -- Peter Peter M. Brigham ___ use-livecode mailing list use-livecode@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode
