OK - I'll wait for the next build before I update again (although I now have a backup set of v26.6 executables that I can copy in if needed).

I'm assuming from your reply that the new version will cope with any chain issues so that the application can load / run correctly - and potentially raise an alert that it is necessary to run the integrity checker (or are you going to run the integrity checker directly on update)?

New Betas of v26.8 (Beta 6) are out:

Winstep Xtreme beta:
https://www.winstep.net/xtreme-beta.zip

Nexus Ultimate beta:
https://www.winstep.net/ultimate-beta.zip

Nexus free beta:
https://www.winstep.net/nexus-beta.zip

This is a beta and MUST be installed ON TOP of a full v26.6 OR LATER installation. Do NOT uninstall anything first, just exit all running Winstep applications and run the beta setup file.

There is no need to backup your settings first, but it does not hurt if you do either.

###

New features in this beta: Nexus and Insert Item submenus are now also available from the context menus of running applications in docks, New Clear Temporary Files internal command, Quick Launch items in the NextSTART taskbar can now be copied by pressing CTRL while dragging (previously could only be moved), added new "Test Exception Handler" option to the Troubleshooting dialog, added full keyboard navigation to a ton of panels.

Fixes: Manual wallpaper changes in Windows 10 were not being detected, Exception Handler not appearing at all or showing wrong nested information, PWAs not minimizing to their corresponding shortcut, hardened dock, Shelf and Grid Stack hierarchy routines against recursive parent relationships and expanded the Dock Integrity Checker to detect and repair indirect recursive dock and Grid Stack relationships.

It will cope with any chain issues, but it will not raise any alerts (you would be flooded with alerts if so) although I might eventually add a flag to raise a single alert.

For the time being, simply run the "Check Integrity of Docks and Shelves" troubleshooter once WorkShelf is up and running. It should find 3 recursive stacks and place them on the Recovery Shelf. Please note that you already have stuff in the Recovery Shelf, which is currently disabled on your system - the new check will add to what is already there so you might want to delete the Recovery Shelf from the Docks & Shelves tab in Preferences before performing an integrity check.

Please let me know how it went... and once that is out of the way, please also check all the other nice things in v26.8.

So, did the new update fix the problem?

Respected Jorge Coelho! Is it possible in the future to create a program that will automatically change themes? On the first day — one theme from the gallery, on the second day — another, and so on?

@JORGE

I guarantee we are not related and do not know each other bar a handful of conversations on here.

@PPETROFF60 - I asked for this once before a while back. Yes it would be great like a wallpaper auto-change. I'll let Jorge answer, but you are not alone in this idea

I've only just applied it, as I'm a bit busy at the moment.

It has fixed the problem of Workshelf being operational and using between 0%-0.9% CPU.

I did indeed find that the "Check Integrity of Docks and Shelves" troubleshooter stated that there were 3 recursive stacks, which it placed into the Recovery Shelf. What I was curious about was that these had nothing to do with my main 'Operational' shelf, but must have come from when I was testing Grid stacks and Launch Pads from our previous conversations - and these were done on my 'Test' shelf (which is normally disabled). I can only assume that all shelves must share the same data entity, or all of the shelves entities have to be correct for Workshelf to start.

Anyway glad it is fixed - I will endeavour to check out some of the other changes when I get a bit of time.

Several things were happening here.

One was that the previous Check for Integrity test was not catching circular references nested more than one level deep (e.g. A -> B -> C -> A), so those three recursive stacks were indeed a "leftover" from back when that sort of thing could happen without being caught by the integrity checks. They simply lay dormant there.

This only became a problem after I noticed that some routines were still running even though no module using them was present in any enabled dock, Shelf, Drawer or Grid Stack.

Winstep applications try to be as frugal as possible with system resources - for example, if there is no Battery module anywhere, then the routines that periodically check the battery state do not run.

In order to determine what needs to run and what does not, the application must check all the objects in every dock, Shelf, Drawer and Grid Stack for the presence of these modules. The mere existence of such a module is not enough, however - the application must also determine whether the container it belongs to is currently enabled or disabled.

Previously I was only checking the direct parent in the hierarchy, which was a mistake, since that parent container could itself be enabled while belonging to another container higher up in the hierarchy that was disabled.

So I changed the checks to travel all the way up the hierarchy, something they did not do before, but I forgot to add a safeguard against circular references.

In your case, somewhere in the hierarchy a container was referencing a parent that was actually one of its own descendants, causing the application to get stuck in an endless loop (e.g. A -> B -> C -> A -> B -> C -> A -> ad infinitum).

In the new build I added that safeguard to this particular routine, as well as to all the others that could eventually suffer from the same problem. If one of them encounters a circular reference, it now aborts whatever it is doing instead of getting stuck in an infinite loop.



Thanks! Your thoroughness when beta testing is really appreciated - you have a habit of uncovering exactly the kind of obscure edge cases that would otherwise slip through unnoticed, and I'm making a huge effort to make this release as bug-free as possible.

Ok, not in the latest beta, but if corruption is found on startup the user will now get a warning and the opportunity to make an integrity check:

Clicking Yes will perform an automatic backup with an automatically generated filename followed by an integrity check.

Just tested it here with the backup you sent me and it worked just fine. In the next beta or the final release you will be able to check this out too if you want by restoring from the same backup and then restarting the application.

I also added custom-drawn scroll bars to some interface elements (unfortunately not all, scroll bars in list boxes, etc, could not be changed as they are an integral part of the control, unlike these which are stand-alone scroll bars).

This was probably more trouble than it was worth it and given the complexity I hope it does not come back to bite me in the proverbial bottom, but I think the new scroll bars blend in much better with the custom UI themes. What do you guys think?

Here the before and after images:

Agreed, they do look much nicer and thank you for Clear temp Files Module I am making great use of it.

Great work

Thanks for the feedback, Dawn!

Putting the new IC to good use here too, Office Click-to-Run keeps creating MB upon MB of telemetry logs in the Temp folders, despite everything I already did to try and prevent that.

I am not convinced yet, especially because I know that, despite what you guys are implying now, you probably would not actually want every single theme on your system to be applied at random.

Just as with the Windows wallpaper slideshow, where you normally want to choose which wallpapers are included rather than cycle through every wallpaper on the system, the next request would almost certainly be the ability to select which themes should be included in this "theme slideshow."

And that is exactly how what initially looks like a simple request starts becoming increasingly complicated.

For sure, but you have already covered the bases of what any user might want which is that if there is a slideshow of themes, randomization without the ability to select which themes are randomized and timers would be necessary as nobody would like to have zero control over what is randomized.

But we do not know each other. I believe he is Ukrainian or Russian? - which is approximately 11,000 miles north of me

And a potentially dumb question, but I do not know the answer or I would not ask.

I ran version 9.11 as a test on a couple of themes in a VM. When I drag the submenu's away from the main menu in 9.11, they do not change into the main menu like the current versions do, and have done for quite a while. I am sure there is a good reason you changed this, I just cannot see why. For user convenience perhaps?

It severely limits skinner creativity on menus though due to vertical stretching being guaranteed with larger menus. If it is for user convenience, fair enough though a main menu graphic seems logical that this is where it should remain, in the Main menu, not on a Submenu, but that's only my opinion, one not necessarily shared.