Reporting Metacard Bugs

[Bob Warren]

Thank you all very much for what was really a very warm welcome to the 
List. I hope that my reports of Metacard's behaviour under Ubuntu Linux 
will contribute towards its continuing development. As a non-techie, I 
can perhaps provide a view of things that normally escape the experts.

I am relieved to know that it is a small group and that I am not likely 
to be bothered by the formalities (and distortions in my opinion) of the 
dreaded Bugzilla. And if I make a mistake, I can easily and directly 
correct it, i.e. through this very List.

The tips you have given me are great. Thank you.

When I first ran the IDE under Ubuntu and tried messing around with the 
creation of a stack and a few widgets, some peculiar things happened. 
For example, when I minimized the stack window I was working on, the 
icon for it didn't appear in the task bar at the bottom of the screen, 
and there was nothing I could discover to get it back again. Whatever I 
minimized, only a single icon representing the Menu Bar appeared at the 
bottom of the screen, which meant that I had to abandon my project and 
re-load the IDE. This happened every time. However, at this moment (a 
day later) I have Metacard loaded and a new project started, and the 
situation is totally correct, i.e. an icon for every window appears in 
the task bar at the bottom of the screen, and I can minimize/restore 
with no trouble. What's the difference between today and yesterday? 
Well, I believe that yesterday I did not re-start Linux after using 
Metacard for the first time. Today, since I turned the computer off last 
night, the situation is different in this respect. However, I wouldn't 
like to affirm that the old Microsoft trick of getting out of the car 
and then getting back in again cures the problem. Nor am I in the 
position where I can do something for the first time twice! All I can 
say at this moment is that I will look out for the phenomenon and let 
you know if it happens again.

Ah! It just has! I went to the computer and minimized the main stack 
window. The only icon appearing in the task bar at the bottom of the 
screen now is that of the Menu Bar. Everything else has disappeared. And 
if I maximize it, that's the only thing I get back. That's not what it 
did 10 minutes ago! Nor does the use of ALT+TAB to switch between 
applications help at all. It shows only the Menu bar. The only thing I 
can do now is to try to discover under what exact circumstances it 
happens...

The situation (today) about managing to close the Code Editor window via 
the File menu might also have been a temporary lapse, but it could also 
be the lapse of a blind old man. I found the "Apply Script" option in 
the File menu, so why didn't I also see "Close Script"? I remember 
looking very carefully at the options on more than one occasion, and I 
could have sworn that "Close Script" was not there. However, I would be 
more prepared to believe that the explanation on this occasion was 
psychological rather than physical, since "Close" appears before "Apply" 
on the list and not vice-versa as perhaps would be more conventional. 
Anyway, I'll let you know if the "Close Script" menu item disappears 
ever again.

What perhaps needs to be remembered in all of this is that Ubuntu Linux, 
above and beyond other Linuxes, could be problematic. But don't get me 
wrong, Ubuntu is perhaps the most reliable Linux produced to date, and 
for this reason I have chosen it. But I do know that other programming 
software developers may not find it particularly easy to deal with. For 
example, Carl Sassenrath of Rebol says:

"We've just released a new REBOL/Core and REBOL/View for Ubuntu Linux 
5.10 for x86. Building for Ubuntu proved to be a challenge (so much so, 
that you begin to wonder if anyone actually develops software on Ubuntu, 
or perhaps they use Debian to cross develop. Ubuntu is certainly not a 
Linux system for developers.)"

RealBasic support Linux, but not the Ubuntu distro (yet), since their 
embedded Internet browser (like altBrowser) apparently works only on 
Linuxes (how many, I don't know) other than Ubuntu.

It also occurs to me that some of the difficulties of Revolution I have 
experienced could also be related especially to the Ubuntu distro, but 
since nobody at Rev appears to have the time or inclination to discuss 
the matter, I am just left hanging in desperation, hoping for a better 
situation in the next release (whenever that will be).

How all of this reflects on the future development of Metacard is for 
you to judge. For my own part, I just need to find some reliable system 
through which I can develop my apps, better sooner than later.

Best,
Bob