WB Border z-order problems

Another interesting one - just fired up my PC, and the Dock background is in front of the icons, until I click and start one of the apps...

This is a bug in XP I am afraid.  It gets confused about the order it should paint semi transparency in.  Usually this happens after a screen resolution change and its believed to be more common on dual head setups.

The best known cure is to reboot, though changing the resolution a few times can fix it sometimes.

Thanks for the prompt response Neil. It's certainly very random how this behaves and I can imagine the frustration factor for the dev team.

My frustration was borne out of the IconPackager creating multiplying Network Setup Wizard icons in my Control Panel (fixed by rolling back to the non beta), frequent painting errors in WB with WinFX (borders, z-ordering as described), and then problems with ObjectDock Plus and the z-ordering as well. I was sitting there thinking... does any of this work 100%? Harsh I know but then I'd just outlayed a fair bit of cash in pursuit of some cool stuff.

Anyway I trust Stardock will nut these hassles out.

Of course I'm also having one hell of a problem posting this and any other reply to threads amidst all too frequent exceptions on the webserver. Takes me half a dozen goes just to get a reply to take and most of the time Submit simply takes me back to the thread with no new post visible so I try and try again until eventually it takes.

Here's why "Timeout expired. The timeout period elapsed prior to completion of the operation or the server is not responding."

I suppose WinFS filesystem to be a really interesting one. If you feel yourself also interested in it you might give this source a look http://www.ntfs.com/

*sniff

*sniff

If you're gonna serve up Spam, you could at least fry it!

Meh, bacon is better.

Back on topic...

Neil Banfield Wednesday, May 03, 2006 4:50 AM This is a bug in XP I am afraid. It gets confused about the order it should paint semi transparency in. Usually this happens after a screen resolution change and its believed to be more common on dual head setups. The best known cure is to reboot, though changing the resolution a few times can fix it sometimes.

Neil (and Stardock team), is there any chance these issues will be resolved?

With the latest WB and non-beta Iconpackager (beta was generating mulitplying control panel icons!) running things have been fine - all except ObjectDock 1.3 continuing to mispaint its translucent background in front of the icons on the dock (not shown in shots above).

I've just installed the latest WinFX and it IS running better than before, but again, I'm seeing the same borders (and not window contents) painting over the top of ObjectDock, occasional title bars left behind, and the ObjectDock stuff mentioned above. I've yet to see a window body left behind when a window is minimised which is good.

I'm running the latest ATI Catalyst drivers on an X800XTPE with dual screens... and surely this isn't an unusual combination, with presumably the resolution changes being generated by DX9 e.g. via GalCiv2, so I'm curious whether this is going to get fixed in WinFX 3.0 and maybe an update to OD1.3?

I'm very very happy to supply examples screenshots and machine configuration information if it would help at all. It's just that this isn't an unusual hardware combination and if Windows is to be blamed and no fixes are forthcoming then people with these configurations need to be warned before they buy that not everything will work as advertised... or has the focus moved onto the Vista versions?

Nevertheless, I remain hopeful that SD can sort these niggles.

I'd just like to add that I've had my PC running on the end of a TV (sole screen) and have seen exactly the same problems. Therefore I cannot believe this is a multi-screen Windows bug as was asserted above.

Menus mispainting, borders painting over things they shouldn't etc. Fortunately OD+ seeeems to be behaving.

AARGH.

Downloading latest WB beta in the (forlorn) hope that it fixes the problems.

Why don't my replies bump this thread like any other forum system???!!?

Ahh spoke to soon - worked this time.

I am sorry to say it is a bug in the OS and not in WB and I believe it is more common on multi head setups and is triggered 9/10 times by a resolution change that causes the OS to get confused about z-order.

It can be reproduced with OD+ and CXP (so not even using WB)

We have prevented the startmenu from now painting under frames when the OS decides to glitch as well as most menus now so we have been working on it as best we can.

The problem will only show when 3 things happen

1) The OS glitches (usually after a resolution change)

2) There is an always on top semi transparent window overlapping

3) a normal level semi transparent window.

The OS will then paint the normal semi transparent window over the alwas on top semi transparent window.  This is incorrect and the app has no idea that it has happened.  Mouse events work as normal, only repaints are being handled incorrectly.

The OS will then paint the normal semi transparent window over the always on top semi-transparent window. This is incorrect and the app has no idea that it has happened.

If a theoretical application was aware that layered windows were being drawn in an incorrect z-order, could it take steps to remedy the problem?

I mean, could an ObjectDock docklet, or CursorXP additional function (just throwing out names) "re-establish" the correct order?

As a typical user I have no way to say, "set focus" on the CursorXP layered window or region (not sure) it uses, but would such a message to CursorXP bring it to top? Could apps like DesktopX, WindowBlinds and ObjectDock (Docks and content) have their "focus" set in a particular sequence to reset the proper z-order?

If the problem indeed is an XP issue, such a workaround may be the only solution --if the issue cannot be prevented, perhaps it can at least be easier than a reboot to fix.

No.  Even if the app knew there was a problem, we have yet to find a reliable method of forcing the OS to reset itself.

Again thanks for the feedback Neil. I guess what puzzled me the most was that I was seeing all these same problems on a single head configuration (TV).

I'm still seeing a few artifacts, but this latest version of WB does seem better so far. I guess I can only try to be patient as you work this stuff through.

I'll keep a close eye on how things are performing and report back on the latest developments.

If you are running ATI Catalyst Control Center then disable Adaptive Anit-Aliasing and the problem will be solved.

UPDATE: Spoke too soon. Z-Order gets screwed up once you reboot. Please ignore my comments here..