Dialogs Not Showing

[bsmither]

This seems to be a problem with a number of applications, but I wish to mention it here.

I wish to select Effect, Normalize..., but when I do, no dialog window is shown.

Further, clicking on the header bar of the Audacity window (and the "Welcome to Audacity" window) results in a 'bonk' Windows 7 system alarm sound. (Thankfully, I learned that pressing ESC will restore normal UI interactivity.)

It has been suggested that Windows is waiting for a response from a hidden dialog window - presumably a response to an Audacity dialog. The suggestions are to move the window (can't do that), or press ALT-TAB to cycle through the windows (ineffective).

In one experiment, I made the main Audacity window as small as possible - assuming the dialog window will be bigger than that.

I did not see any dialog window.

So, either the Normalize... dialog window is smaller than the smallest I could set the main window, or the dialog window is beyond the edge of the viewport, or there is a problem getting Windows 7 to render the dialog window, but gets as far along as it is possible to still cancel with ESC.

Running on a pair of ASUS PB287Q 4K monitors at 164% scaling.

File, Save Project, Save Project As... also does not show.

[steve]

This seems to be a problem with a number of applications

What other applications does this occur with?

Does this describe what you are seeing: https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Fo ... progeneral

[bsmither]

It's not precisely as described in that Technet article.

Using NirSoft's GUIPropView, this is the data regarding two instances of dialog windows:

Code: Select all

Instance #1:
Handle	003706B0
Title	No Audio Selected
State	Normal
Visible	Yes
Position	-514, -149
Size	514, 149
Class Name	#32770
Style	Popup
Process ID	00001A9C
Thread ID	00001268
Parent Handle	00050BA2
Process Filename	C:\Program Files (x86)\Audacity\audacity.exe
Instance Filename	C:\Program Files (x86)\Audacity\audacity.exe
Class Module Filename	C:\Windows\syswow64\USER32.dll
Style Value	96C80084
ExStyle Value	00010101
Instance Handle	00000000011B0000
Class Module Handle	0000000075540000
Class WNDPROC Address	0000000077932C54
Class Atom	32770	
Font Name
Monitor	\\.\DISPLAY1

Instance #2:
Handle	003A06B0
Title	Normalize
State	Normal
Visible	Yes
Position	-488, -193
Size	488, 193
Class Name	#32770
Style	Popup
Process ID	00001A9C
Thread ID	00001268
Parent Handle	00050BA2
Process Filename	C:\Program Files (x86)\Audacity\audacity.exe
Instance Filename	C:\Program Files (x86)\Audacity\audacity.exe
Class Module Filename	C:\Windows\syswow64\USER32.dll
Style Value	96CF0084
ExStyle Value	00010101
Instance Handle	00000000011B0000
Class Module Handle	0000000075540000
Class WNDPROC Address	0000000077932C54
Class Atom	32770
Font Name
Monitor	\\.\DISPLAY1

Using GUIPropView, I was able to "center" the Normalize... dialog (which moved it to 1674, 957 incorporating appropriate DPI scaling).

So, the actual problem is not the "Z-order", but rather position of the dialog window to be out of bounds of the viewport.

Being able to continue, when I got to Export Multiple and working through the MetaData dialogs, the position of the dialog was not remembered after clicking 'OK'. I had to have GUIPropView "center" the window each time.

[bsmither]

After having finished several projects, noting each time I work through a project as to where dialog windows open and whether I start a new project by closing the just finished project or closing down the entire application, I find that, eventually, the myriad dialog windows will open where they are supposed to only after starting Audacity cold (computer reboot did not occur).

It is as if Audacity does not accurately determine where to place the dialog window until after internal settings are saved in the registry on Exit (not confirmed).