Missing features in 5.1

[Lshiny]

I just updated from 4.8 to 5.1 for the Vista compatibility, and created a couple of new shows. Two features I use seem to be missing or moved somewhere I cannot find them. "Show first transition effect from desktop" formerly under 'Project Options/Screen', and in a show using the Navigation Bar, the ability to use the previous button to go to the end of the show from the first slide.

Am I missing something, or are these features missing?

[Ken Cox]

desktop see

http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index....tion+to+Desktop

nav bar

not likey what you want but

http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index....amp;#entry46058

i tried a 4.48 show c/w nav bar and could not get it to do what you want

ken

[Lin Evans]

In the old versions before 5.0 if you were on the first slide and pressed the backspace or back arrow the program would go to the first slide. It doesn't do this any longer, but it's very easy to program it to go to the first slide or last slide, etc. or any slide.

You can set an invisible "button" or program a slide to go to any slide from any other slide in a couple ways. Go to Objects and Animations screen then "Common Tab" then click on the Down Arrow next to "action on mouse click". You can choose from a number of choices one to go to any slide number. Put in the last slide then a mouse click on the first slide will take you to the last slide.

You can also click on the "Add Button" icon on the top-left of your screen (next to far left icon) and add a button and put it anywhere on the screen or make it very large, set the opacity to zero then set the "Properties" to go to a particular slide, etc. Lots of options.

Lin

[rogereld]

I am also struggling to solve this problem. Each week I produce two identical slideshows, one using colour images and the other using the same images in black and white. They are usually between 200 and 300 images in each slideshow. In all previous versions the slideshow could be scrolled quickly through an auto-running show by rolling the mouse wheel or clicking the mouse several times on the navigation bar arrows. This could be done in forward or reverse. I have managed to get the same action set up in v5, but I cannot get it to reverse backwards past slide 1 to go in to the end of the slideshow. This is very annoying for the user who may want to view images towards the end of the slideshow but now has to click the mouse over 200 times to get there. Previously you could navigate in forward or reverse, choosing whichever direction was quickest. So if I had 275 images in a slideshow and wanted to look at image 270 I only had to click the mouse 5 times and I was there. Now it needs approx 270 mouse clicks!

It does seem to work once a slideshow has run right through and started again, then you can go back past slide 1 and in to the end of the show, but not when you start the show for the first time.

If I have to set up a special setting that needs a slide number entering to go from slide 1 to the last slide in the show, so that I can then navigate in reverse to go back in to the show from the end, that is a lot of work because it will be a different number of slides in the show each week.

The slideshow is used to preview images, with a navigation bar bottom right and the file number bottom left.

I have it saved as a template and then drop the files in each week.

That is another issue. How do I import all the settings for the templates I have been using in v4? I have been rebuilding them all so far because they do not seem to retain all the settings. For example I produce 600 pixel wide images. I do not want them to stretch to fill a larger screen because they will pixellate, and I do not want to use larger image files that can be copied and printed from. I have had to change the settings in each of my imported templates to set this.

At the moment I wish I could go back to v4 but now it says my templates are not supported there. I have been using pics to exe for several years and not had any difficulties until now. Have I missed something, or is this an accidental bug that can be fixed?

[Ken Cox]

MY VER OF 4.48 SAYS

it will still create templates

get ver 4.49 install it

http://www.wnsoft.com/download.htm

make yor shows in 4.49

save pte

then if you want some of ver5 featuresopen the 449 pte with ver 5 save as the pte under a diffent name

5 can open 4 series but 4 cant open 5 series

ken

[nobeefstu]

rogereld,

How do I import all the settings for the templates I have been using in v4? I have been rebuilding them all so far because they do not seem to retain all the settings.

PTE v5 has many new options, settings, and different Screen configurations ... and are not all imported from version 4. Version 5 made many changes to be best compatable for exe and dvd productions.

You need to open Project Options | Screen tab for new changes in settings. Also enable the checkbox Disable Scaling of Main Images for the images to display their actual size.

[Hartmut Scherer]

rogereld,

I am not sure whether I understand your problem. If I hit the "end"-key, I will jump to the last slide of the running show.

[Lshiny]

rogereld,

I am not sure whether I understand your problem. If I hit the "end"-key, I will jump to the last slide of the running show.

Thank you, This is the simple solution I was looking for. I had never tried the "End" or "Home" keys before. They work as expected and are easy to instruct for users.

As for the "Show first transition effect from desktop"; I liked it and will miss it, but it is not critical to the use of the program.

[rogereld]

rogereld,

I am not sure whether I understand your problem. If I hit the "end"-key, I will jump to the last slide of the running show.

Well I have used pics to exe for about 6 years and I never knew that. It is not an available icon for the navigation bar on screen so how can I make users aware of that facility. If I could add an "end" or fast forward button to the navigation bar that would be good. How do I do that?

The problem is how to move rapidly through 200+ slides in order to get to a particular slide. Going in reverse from the end can often be quicker than clicking through each slide from the beginning.

I can not rely on having to tell users about a function that is not obvious on screen.

Is it difficult to reintroduce the way it worked in all previous versions, or is there any reason for it not working the way it used to?

[rogereld]

MY VER OF 4.48 SAYS

it will still create templates

get ver 4.49 install it

http://www.wnsoft.com/download.htm

make yor shows in 4.49

save pte

then if you want some of ver5 featuresopen the 449 pte with ver 5 save as the pte under a diffent name

5 can open 4 series but 4 cant open 5 series

ken

Thanks for your reply Ken. I already had v4.48 installed, and also v5, and now v5.1. It was only because someone wanted a DVD to view on a television that I "upgraded" to v5 and paid a new license fee. To make the same slideshow templates work in v5 I had to change them - to fix all the image sizes at 600 pixel wide and to re set the background colours, menus and slide reference numbers etc because the templates from v4 did not carry them forward in to v5. That has stopped them working in v4.48. So now to go back to v4.48 I think I will have to re do the templates from scratch as I can no longer open them in v4.48.

[Limey]

rogereld,

The 'end' and 'home' keys are "Windows" functions, not specific tp PTE. However I agree that it would be good to have the capability in the 'navigation bar' functions.

Regards,

Limey.

[rogereld]

rogereld,

The 'end' and 'home' keys are "Windows" functions, not specific tp PTE. However I agree that it would be good to have the capability in the 'navigation bar' functions.

Regards,

Limey.

Yes I agree.

There is a home button available for the nav bar but not an "end" button.

For several years I have been asked if there is a quick way to scroll or fast forward through a slideshow and the best answer I know is to keep clicking the forward button on the nav bar or roll the mouse wheel if you have one. If I could put a ">>" button on the nav bar to advance or "<<" to reverse the slideshow as quickly as possible that would be really useful.

[Ken Cox]

Roger as i said in my entry

"make yor shows in 4.49

save pte

then if you want some of ver5 features open the 449 pte with ver 5 save as the pte under a diffent name

5 can open 4 series but 4 cant open 5 series"

series 4 cannot open series 5 templates but 5 can open 4

it will just take some time if you are using the same components

i start out with series 4 and use it till i am comfortable with it, then i open ver 4's pte with 5 and save it under a different name and use the enhanced features -- the only increase in size is the second pte

ken

[rogereld]

Thanks Ken.

I did read and understand your previous post. Your way of working looks good. It would have been very useful if I had read your comments before using v5.1, but I did not notice any instructions warning me of the backward incompatibility, and I did not expect to lose so many of the settings of my templates when I carried them forward from v4 to v5.

The problem is that I cannot undo what I have already done. And I can not re-live the time i spent doing them. I can start all over again and make new templates in v4, and then save them with new names in v5. It would have been better if I had known the problems in time to avoid them rather than having to take more time to correct things now.

It looks like I have v4.48 and v5 and now v5.1 on my computer. I have not found a copy of v4.49 yet but it could be there somewhere. I am not using vista so I think there is no significant difference for me between v4.48 and v4.49.

[Ken Cox]

yes the compatibility issue is a pain but now you know

when we started testing the beta's for ver 5 i had so many different version i would lose track

even to get to ver 4.48 the beta testing was horrendous -- much time was spent and i forget how many betas we did

so i soon learned to not write over a previous pte pretty quick

if people would learn all the features of 4.48 before tackling the 5 series they would have less problems with all the enhancements of ver 5

it is unfortunate that you only just joined the forum as you stated you have been using the program for 6 yrs

ken

[rogereld]

Ken,

I think I did join the forum years ago, but could not remember what user name or password I had then. I have changed computer and I think the forum has had a "re start" also in that time. Or I may have just been reading posts without registering. There is so much information in answers to questions already posted that I have not had any reason to post myself up to now. And most of the time once I have got a slideshow template up and running I just carry on and use it each week.

Roger.

[rogereld]

Another little feature I am missing.

I have some buttons on a menu type slide that used to turn my mouse arrow into a pointing finger when rolled over. In the new version I can not get that to happen. Is that another user setting I need to adjust somewhere.

Just to explain a little of how I use pics to exe:

I run a 4 slide introduction slideshow that stops on a menu slide from which two different slideshows can be selected from buttons. I have one button titled black and white slideshow and the other button titled colour slideshow so users can view proof images in colour or black & white. A third button is an email me link and the fourth button is an exit. The intro slideshow is automatically started by an autostart.inf file placed on the CD.

Roger.