Menus and Sub menus

[jevans]

I have a standard Version 5 Master show. This consists of a set of slides which call up various PTE shows. Each slide calls up a show group, e.g. UK shows, French shows, German Shows etc. Each show is called up via a button which runs the particular show. All this works well with no problems. When a show finishes it returns to the menu page which called it and you can continue with another show.

Recently I have completed a further show which is in three parts. There is a master show which has its own menu and this menu calls up each part of the show in turn, again using buttons to run application". By itself, this new show works fine.

Now I insert the new show into my overall master show. On the relevant slide, I call up the menu show of the latest new show (the one with three parts). Again this works fine.

However, when the sub show finishes it does not return to its own menu slide, but to the main menu slide. This is incorrect. In other words it is not returning to the slide which called it up.

Has anyone experienced this action, and if so, did you find an answer? I attach a small jpg file which might help to explain this problem. In this last line, the return is going back to the main slide page and not the sub menu.

Jeff

[alrobin]

Jeff,

I have just created a complex set of menu shows as you describe, and have found no problem returning to the appropriate menu.

Perhaps you have inadvertently failed to set the option in one of the menu shows to "When show ends, keep last slide in show on screen" in Proj Ops.

[jevans]

Al,

The chaining of exe shows still does not seem to work, even if I use your suggestion. I have created three one slide shows. Show 1 calls up Show 2 which calls up Show 3 using buttons on the screen. Shows 1 and 2 have their transitions turned off. When you run Show 1, you get a slide with a button saying "Go to Show 2". Click on this and Show 2 slide appears. This has a button saying "Go to Show 3". Click on this and Show 3 runs. When it is finished it returns to Show 1, not Show 2. Then the buttons and slides seem to get in a complete mixup.

The slides for Shows 1 and 2 are set to "keep last slide on screen when show ends", whereas Show 3 has "close show after last slide"

I have overcome my own problem another way, but this seems as if it is a fault in PTE and that you should be able to chain more than two shows together.

Jeff

[nobeefstu]

Jeff,

Im not aware of your current filenames used in your slideshows.

Try this:

If your slideshow name is Show 1.exe ... use Show1.exe or Show_1.exe

Best to avoid any spaces or - in the filename. (esp true if they end up on a CD Disc).

I always use the 8.3 format rule when filenaming any shows ... this way you know whatever system ( old or new or CD Disc ) it will always run.

[jevans]

Hi Nobeefstu,

Thanks for reply but the problem is not with the file names. I was only using "Show 1", "Show 2" etc. as an illustration. The actual file names are conventional standard file names.

Jeff

[nobeefstu]

Jeff,

I dont know if this will work/help you in your current Menu/s configuration ... but have you tried using the "Run application" action with a slide parameter to see if it accomodates your Menu/s needs ?

Example v5 new format:

"Show2.exe" -slide 4

Example v448 old format:

"Show2.exe" 4

[jevans]

Hi Nobeefstuu,

Thanks again for response but don't think your suggestion is the answer. Just to say I have found a work around to my problem and now it is just a matter of interest that PTE does not work as I think it should.

To try to explain further. Show1.exe has 1 slide. On this slide there is a button whose action is to run Show2.exe. If you try this, when Show2.exe ends, it returns to the Show1.exe slide whose button called it up. So far so good.

Now add a button to the slide in Show2.exe. This button action calls up Show3.exe. Now when Show3.exe runs and completes, it should return to Show2.exe. However it does not, it returns to Show1.exe, Slide 1. I am sure that this action is not correct.

Jeff

[alrobin]

Jeff,

The problem may lie with the setting for show 2. It should also be set to "keep last slide in show on screen" at the end. If not, it will end while you are away looking at show 3, and so there is no show 2 to go back to at the end of 3.

I think the only way to get this to work the way you want is to add a button or action to show 2 which closes it and returns the viewer to show 1.

[jevans]

Al,

That is exactly how Show2 is configured. Also with a button to return to Show1. Still does not work properly.

Jeff

[alrobin]

Jeff,

I guess I misunderstood your previous post where you said:

"Show1.exe has 1 slide. On this slide there is a button whose action is to run Show2.exe. If you try this, when Show2.exe ends, it returns to the Show1.exe slide whose button called it up".

If when show-2 ended it automatically returned to show-1, then that would be the reason for the problem with show-3. However, since that is not the case, then, as you indicated, the problem lies somewhere else.

[alrobin]

Hi, Jeff,

I created a set of three linked shows as you described, and lo and behold, you are right - I am finding the same problem. I discovered one additional anomaly - when the link skips back to the first show, if I click on the image with the mouse, the second show comes back. ( I have the shows programmed to advance on pressing the left mouse button, and reverse with the right button).

I went back and checked my other example where I thought everything was OK, and sure enough, it behaves the same way. I had thought it was OK, but had checked the return from the second show in the chain by mistake.

However, if one disables hardware acceleration for the second and third shows, the action returns to the second show as desired.

[jevans]

Hi Al,

Thank goodness you have confirmed my results. I was beginning to think that I was missing something obvious. There is a flaw in the program somewhere but there are work around ways of solving it. My example was a new show that I was adding to an exiting library with the new show having three parts, all called up separately from a single opening page. However I have incorporated the starting show into my library directly and this has solved the problem.

Thanks for your assistance.

Jeff

[alrobin]

Jeff,

I've done the same with my complex AV presentation. However, I am using a few example sub-shows which were created in v4.48, and after these have played, I notice that control does return properly to "Show 2".

I then created a new version of one of the "mini-shows" in v.5, with hardware acceleration turned on, and the problem recurred, with control reverting improperly to Intro show #1 after playing the "mini-show". However, when I pressed "Esc" to close the main "Intro" show, "Show 2" reappeared, at the same place it had called in the v.5 "mini-show".