JRR

BINGO !!!!! I ran an .avi file from a menu created in ver 6. If the D3D is ticked on, the avi runs behind the screen, if the D3D is ticked off, then it runs in front of the menu screen. Eric: To remedy the situation for now, see what happens with the launch of the other shows if you have D3D turned off. You might get a momentary flicker as the show starts (which Peter will certainly see :) ) but few others might. Or set them up using ver 4.49. again you might get a (even less) momentary flicker. Or run the show from a desktop shortcut, after you have shown the others that launch OK.

I don't have the knowledge that nobeefstu or Conflow have, but I thought I would chip in a couple of thoughts I have one show that I run off a menu that requires WMP to run. It is a .avi file not a wmv. The file type should not matter at all, but I have not had any issues with it when using a ver 4.48 menu. I will try it with ver 6 and see what happens. A second related issue re the issue of WMP opening behind the menu screen, reminds me of your tests Peter a few weeks ago. In some combinations you had shows running behind the screen, is this perhaps the issue here. While your tests were with exe files, maybe the wmv is reacting differently. The troublesome issue might be the HARDWARE ACCELERATION factor (or lack thereof in the wmv file). In an earlier thread Ed Overstreet and I brought up an issue we had at our club with (all exe) shows opening behind the menu screen, After discussion in the thread the issue was narrowed down to the D3D not being activated for the menu show. Maybe Ed will come along and refresh my memory if I have mis-spoken here.

Eric: Stu is right with his posting above, but just FYI what I was talking about was using the FILE > CREATE BACK-UP IN ZIP See pic below

Eric: I understand your concern, but zipping for back up does not copy the exe files. (Or at least doesn't for me) Do it for yourself, check what is in the zip file.

Xaver Depending on how it might actually would work, I think APLman's suggestion is a good one. However never for a moment am I dreaming that Igor will offer anything like that. Like you, multi-tracks with elementary editing was all I am hoping for. 95% of my shows use voice over so any EFFECTIVE automation of lowering the background would be welcome. Right now I am in the middle of a 22 minute show with 93 sound clips and it would be nice to say: "PTE do your thing". But as I say, I would only use it if it were truly effective.

Eric: Can't tell much from a screen shot, how about the zipped pte file ? I launch to WMP frequently using a menu show.

Johann: No need to worry about the path, PTE will look after it for you. If you want to open a pdf (or any file) from PTE, create an OBJECT with the ACTION ON MOUSE CLICK on the COMMON tab set to "Open application or file". The using the drop down box below that point to the pdf file. Include the pdf file in your folder that the other person will copy to their computer. I assume the tutorial is a manual show

Paul: I haven't tried it with ver 4.49 yet, (oldest version I have available), but in current version, when you put music on main show via PROJECT OPTIONS>MUSIC, that music stops when you go to one of the shows accessed via the menu page. It starts up again where you left off at when the show ends and returns to the menu page. Does this not work with 4.43? I can try it with 4.49 tomorrow if not

Andrew: There are a few variations that I know PTE'ers use, but if it is a single slide menu show, or if it is the last slide in a show, I use PROJECT OPTIONS > MAIN >when show ends keep last slide on the screen. Hope that fits your situation

Thx Peter Well that negates any findings that I had with regard to TASK BAR being "OFF", I will note that in my posting above. As Ken says, Igor has noted the issue and will I am sure resolve it in time. I am not surprised that you are menu'ed out !!!

Peter: I ran your sequences on the laptop with Windows 7. The results were mixed. Overall the Task Bar was in view more often. (By TASK BAR "off" I interpreted that as meaning turning off the LOCK TASK BAR when right clicking on the task bar) I also found that sometimes, very briefly, the hourglass showed before the sequence started. It was there for maybe half a second. I did not track that. There were a number of times that I got different results on the first run vs the second or third. I have attached my results with my different findings in red. I used your your VISTA test run pages as the "norm". EDIT PS: See Peter's posting #13 below. The results in the attached spreadsheet are not valid for TASK BAR = "OFF" as I did not turn it OFF correctly jrr_Test Results.zip

Peter: I got it downloaded tonight. Will find sometime tomorrow to work with it

Peter: Not sure what is going on, but I can't download the file. All MEDIAFIRE does is open up a bunch new ads when I click on DOWNLOAD ! Might be a glitch at MediaFire (I hope) I tried copying it to my MediaFire Accounts with no luck there either, although I can download my own files (or at least two that I tried)

Peter: Thanks for doing all the research. It will be of great benefit to many of us !!!!

Peter: I don't get the corrupt message on ESC if I have created a EXE version of the Menu. It is only if I am working on the menu show, not having created the exe version yet. (which I normally don't do until I am happy with my "production")I have checked when this happens that I am pointing at the exe version of the individual show. xxxxxxxxxx Regarding the other aspect of launching non PTE shows. I have always used ver 4.48 to create my menu shows and I have over the years launched PTE, PSG, .avi files, ppt, and PhotoShop from, there with no problems. Yes once ver 5.6 came along and I launched a show from a 4.48 menu page, I sometimes noticed a very minor flicker when starting that 5.6 show. Few others noticed it. I have converted all my shows to ver 6 now and am using a ver menu page (RUN SLIDESHOW AND RETURN) and it is very smooth. I have launched non ver 6 shows from the ver 6 menu page with the RUN APPLICATION AND RETURN option and things seems to go OK. I'll be interested to hear your results.

I should mention that I do a virus check with every show I download from anywhere. I admit I have not done a spybot (or whatever it is called) search for a while on my computer, But I have done them since this issue started happening and nothing turned up.

Geoff Not in my case, I just get a dialogue box that comes up in the middle of the screen and I have to tell it to go away. The PTE show carries on throughout the "interruption". If I can tell it to take the same action next time before closing the dialogue box, then I don't think it comes up again. But often my patience level is such that I opt for the one click to close the dialogue box rather than the two clicks. As I say, mine tends to be random and does happen wth other softwares at times

Is it normal that when setting up a menu show in Ver 6 (in my case that means a single screen show with OBJECTS that are used to launch other PTE exe files) that you can not ESC normally out of one of the shows started from within the menu in PREVIEW? I am told the file is corrupt. However so long as I have created an exe file, then I can ESC normally normally running in PREVIEW mode.

Peter: No this on my PC system. Windows XP. Sygate Firewall Haven't had the issue on the new laptop with Win 7, or either of the other two laptops with WinXP (none of the laptops have a specific firewall installed)

Geoff: I do get the same thing happening on my own PTE shows. It also happens sometimes with other programs. It has been happening on a random basis ever since I got my present computer. My techie has looked at it and said don't worry about it.

Joy: I don't have an easy answer for you, but have you got the grid turned on in the O&A window? That should make it much easier if you haven't. If you don't, the grid is the little square in the centre (well a little to the left)at the top of the O&A screen. Click on it and a grid will come up across your screen. It can be adjusted size wise by then clicking on the down arrow. Hope that helps a little I am sure someone will come along with a better way for you.

I think you might have tried using PROJECT OPTIONS > COMMENTS to put your titles in ? (see picture below) I can come up with two possible solutions for you (one of which is along the lines of Peter's comment above): 1. If you use Project Options > Comments, ensure the photographers submit their images with the file names as you want to display them. But that is too late now (unless you RENAME them all) and they still can not be edited in PTE 2. Use a Directory to Print utilty such as Karen's Directory printer (which is free) and save the directory listing as .txt file (or whatever format you want that is allowed within the utility), then you can copy-paste the file name into PTE via PROJECT OPTIONS > COMMENTS (don't use the TEMPLATE section) or OBJECTS and ANIMATION and edit them as you see fit. If I have understood what you are after, hope one of those two suggestions might work

Mary: Yes as time consuming (and mind boggling) as it was to link all the AVs to each other, putting together the Family Tree slides in PhotoShop was very time consuming. Ken: Thank goodness I am more than a "pretty face" as it ain't that pretty.... (I keep thinking I should use my profile shot as my avatar - but that would be overdoing it :D ) Andrew: Hope the pte files help you somewhat

Another example of how to handle different sized, oriented pictures. These are Olag Boritsch's images in a presentation produced by her husband a few years ago, This show was on Beechbrook for a long time and one of the heavier downloaded shows at the time. You will find the production here

Andrew (and all) Esc (Lennart)and I have been e-mailing back and forth for the past little while re my family tree "production" and he has asked that I make my template/pte file available. An explanation first: The "production" was done in 2003, using ver 2.x or maybe 3.x of PTE. It involved over 100 individual .exe files that were linked by OBJECTS. Back then, OBJECTS did not "stay in place" as they have since ver 5.0. If the show was presented on a different screen resolution than the one it was made on, the OBJECTS did not maintain their position (and in my case I used transparent buttons) and would not line up where they were supposed to. The transparent buttons appear as rectangles around various family names etc. Screens were smaller back then, so the production was aimed at a screen size 1152x863 and I used WINDOW MODE to keep everything in place. (I had to use a few other tricks too, but I won't go there now) As mentioned in an earlier post in this thread, it was a lot of work and has not been viewed by the family as much I would have hoped. If I were to do it again, I would do a printed version in book publishing service (see above postings). I have created two versions of the pte file: - one was created as a template in ver 4.48 - second one was created as a zipped back up in ver 6 This was the main show from which most other things linked off. The two zips are contained in one zip file here Hopes this is of some help to someone, if only to get a feel for just how much work is involved.......