Al's Adjustor problem

[johndigi]

I was using Al's Adjustor on a laptop while I was working out of town. I find it extremely useful. Thanks, Al!! Now that I am back home, I tried to use it on my desktop PC but I am having problems. When I put in the path to the PTE file, I get an error message that Excel encountered a problem and needs to close. If I manually drop & drag the pte file, rename the new spreadsheet to ptesource.xls, then press Ctrl-Shift-G to get the data, it works. But then when I try to create thumbnails (I have Easy Thumbnails installed), I get the same Excel error. The 1st time, I got a run-time error, but now, no matter what I do, Excel has an error and closes. I even manually created the thumbnails after renaming the original folder and creating a new folder with the same name as the Adjustor notes indicate. But then, when I click on the Dark Table button, Excel has the same error and closes. I can use other spreadsheets with no problem. I am sure the problem is with my PC, not Al's spreadsheet, but I am realy stumped as to how to fix it. I have downloaded a fresh copy of both the spreadsheet and Easy Thumbnails, but still have the problem. I made sure the Visual Basic settings were checked as per the instructions. I am running Excel 97 and Win XP. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

John L

[alrobin]

John,

Sorry about all the problems you are having. I'm afraid I don't have any more suggestions to offer.

Now that I have my new pc up and running in XP, I'll try it out using Excel 97 and let you know if I have the same problem. Might take a few days, though, as I am still attempting to clean the old files off my old HD's after my old pc decided to pack it in. (it was jealous! )

It worked OK on my laptop in XP, but as you indicated, different pc's react differently. The only solution might be to upgrade to Office 2000.

[johndigi]

Thanks, Al!

[johndigi]

Al,

I just noticed that on the "Variables" tab in the Adjustor spreadsheet, the value in cell B2 is "D:\PTE_Adjustor\Demo\black.jpg". That value was there in a fresh copy downloaded a couple of days ago. What should be in that cell? Since my D: drive is my DVD drive, I deleted that cell. Excel no longer hangs! I now can do everything until I try to use the "Create Thumbnails" button. I have the correct path to easy thumbnails in the dialog box, and exthumbs.exe shows in the "Available .exe files:" box. But when I double-click on ezthumbs.exe I get the following error message: "Run-time error '75'; Path/File access error". Excel does not hang, though. Any ideas what may cause this message? I wonder if it may be related to the now empty cell B2 on the Variables tab.

Thanks!

John L

[alrobin]

Hi, John,

the value in cell B2 is "D:\PTE_Adjustor\Demo\black.jpg".

I have that reference in my version too - must be a "vestigial remnant" left over from some early fiddling with the program. I don't think it affects the operation of the program though, and I don't even remember why or how it got there!

I am also having problems loading Adjustor into Excel 97 in my new machine - might have something to do either with the new "hyperthreading" memory system, or the dual-monitor setup, or even XP, itself. I am also experiencing problems with the thumbnail feature in Adjustor on my new machine, even in Excel 2000. However, the "dark-table" feature seems to work OK, so I would recommend that those with fast high-end P4 machines not bother with it and just stick to the regular images, even though loading-up takes a bit more time. Or else, create the thumbnails and rename the temporary folders manually.

I just resolved a conflict with my sound card and Cubase SX, my new audio-editing/MIDI program. I found some new drivers for the sound card that seem to work better with hyperthreading.

All these new technologies are posing serious design challenges, some of which I may not be able to resolve! Sorry, guys and gals! I think I can sympathize with Igor a little better now! It's called the "bleeding edge"

[johndigi]

Thanks again for the help, Al. Maybe it wan't so much the value that was in cell B2 in the Variables tab, but just saving the spreadsheet in my version of Excel before running any macros. At any rate, it did work fine after I did that by manually creating the thumbnails. I also tried your suggestion to just use the dark table with full sized images. It took a few seconds to load but then worked just fine.

ANY support for freeware is great, and I really appreciate all your efforts in building the Adjustor model in the first place, and then supporting it after. It's a GREAT tool!

John L

[alrobin]

John,

Thanks for being so patient with this, and also thanks for the kind words! It's always encouraging to receive indications that one's efforts are being appreciated. I apologize again for those who, for whatever reason, are frustrated by the model, but in this game, without the resources of Mr. Gates, it is difficult, if not impossible, to please everyone. Even Mr. Gates has trouble doing this!

I do appreciate any feedback, positive or negative, however, as that is the only way to discover possible improvements to the system. Will let you know if and when I get around to version 4.0. Now, if Igor would add some of these features into PTE, then I wouldn't have to update the Adjustor model at all!