Audacity 2.1.0 can't open new projects using a shortcut

[steve]

So you say it's not the same to open Audacity twice from a shortcut and open it once and then press "ctrl+n"?

Yes, that's what I'm saying.

Ctrl+N creates a new project within the same instance of Audacity. In other words, there is only one "Audacity" program running, and it is running multiple project windows. I'm reasonably confident that that is working correctly.

I'm not a Windows expert (I usually use Linux), but it looks to me like opening Audacity twice from a shortcut opens two separate "Audacity" programs - and that is dangerous. I may be wrong about that, but it's on our bug tracking system now so that it can get attention from one of the Windows developers. As Gale wrote, there are platform differences to how applications are launched, so for a definitive answer we need a Windows specialist, but it certainly looks like this change in 2.1.0 was purposefully created by one of the Windows guys.

and I've been doing this since 2010.

Perhaps you are lucky - do you do the lottery?
The nature of data collision is not that it is bound to occur, but that if it does occur the result is likely to be catastrophic.

[Gale Andrews]

So you say it's not the same to open Audacity twice from a shortcut and open it once and then press "ctrl+n"?

Yes, that's what I'm saying.

Ctrl+N creates a new project within the same instance of Audacity. In other words, there is only one "Audacity" program running, and it is running multiple project windows. I'm reasonably confident that that is working correctly.

I'm not a Windows expert (I usually use Linux), but it looks to me like opening Audacity twice from a shortcut opens two separate "Audacity" programs - and that is dangerous. I may be wrong about that

Sorry but you are wrong about that, Steve, as I wrote in the bug report. Take a look in Windows Task Manager in the "Processes" tab after executing 2.0.5 a second time - there is still only one "audacity.exe".

Or were you testing in a virtual machine and you're saying you see two "audacity.exe" processes?


Gale

[steve]

Sorry but you are wrong about that, Steve, as I wrote in the bug report. Take a look in Windows Task Manager in the "Processes" tab after executing 2.0.5 a second time - there is still only one "audacity.exe".

No need to be sorry
As I wrote in the same bug report the "evidence" that I was citing actually turns out to be a different bug.

The developer looking into this wrote:

I think this falls under the whole multiple instance, multiple project
conundrum. Solving that will be a whole project in itself and we're going to
have to "forget" past behavior and precisely define how it should all be
handled.

I fear it will not be a quickie problem to solve either.

[Gale Andrews]

The developer looking into this wrote:

I think this falls under the whole multiple instance, multiple project
conundrum. Solving that will be a whole project in itself and we're going to
have to "forget" past behavior and precisely define how it should all be
handled.

I fear it will not be a quickie problem to solve either.

Nonetheless, we should try in resolving our multi-project issues to respect the expected OS behaviour if it is safe for us to do so.

Gale

[waxcylinder]

Nonetheless, we should try in resolving our multi-project issues to respect the expected OS behaviour if it is safe for us to do so.

But doesn't Microsoft running its own apps on Windows like Word, Excel etc. only gave one instance of each app - multiple documents and spreadsheets yes, but surely only a single instance of the app?

Peter

[Gale Andrews]

Nonetheless, we should try in resolving our multi-project issues to respect the expected OS behaviour if it is safe for us to do so.

But doesn't Microsoft running its own apps on Windows like Word, Excel etc. only gave one instance of each app - multiple documents and spreadsheets yes, but surely only a single instance of the app?

I tested numerous apps including MS Excel (I only have a 2003 version) and MS Visual Studio 2013. Audacity was the only one that did not open a new window when re-executing the app.

In the case of Excel and VS 2013, it's a second process, not a second window in the same process.


Gale

[rambomhtri]

I tested numerous apps including MS Excel (I only have a 2003 version) and MS Visual Studio 2013. Audacity was the only one that did not open a new window when re-executing the app.
In the case of Excel and VS 2013, it's a second process, not a second window in the same process.
Gale

Yeah, that's why I reported it, because it's what's supposed to happen when you click on a new shortcut or ".exe" file. There are some exceptions, like Anti-virus programs, some music players (actually you can change that in their respective settings, for example VLC only allow one instance by default, but you can change that in VLC settings and open a new instance/window each time you open a new multimedia file), and pretty much every piece of software where it's senseless to open more than one instance.

So yeah, Audacity 2.1.0 should behave in this aspect the same way Audacity 2.0.6 does.

[phantasm777]

i was going to complain about not being able to open another audacity while one is open.
it cannot be done by clicking the icon on my desk top.
i use the additional audacity to listen to my recording as a wav file while having the master recording in audacity open in the first audacity open.
this way i can change vol.s or whatever and go back and forth.
now with the newest version of audacity, by clicking audacity again, it will not open a new audacity as it has been since i started using it in 2010.
luckily if you do control N it does open another audacity and as long as i can have it open another, i no longer have a complaint.

[rambomhtri]

i was going to complain about not being able to open another audacity while one is open.
it cannot be done by clicking the icon on my desk top.
i use the additional audacity to listen to my recording as a wav file while having the master recording in audacity open in the first audacity open.
this way i can change vol.s or whatever and go back and forth.
now with the newest version of audacity, by clicking audacity again, it will not open a new audacity as it has been since i started using it in 2010.
luckily if you do control N it does open another audacity and as long as i can have it open another, i no longer have a complaint.

Yeah, it's a useful thing to open new projects by just clicking 1 icon, instead of mess around Audacity's menus (yeah, I know it's in File-new project, or ctrl+n, but anyways). And If you have Audacity right in you quick access bar, it's just 1 click, no matter where you are, to open a new project, cause the quick access bar is always visible since it's in the taskbar. 1 click, 1 project. It's not even a feature of a program, it's what every program should do, as already said one admin here.

[rambomhtri]

Nice, Audacity is without a doubt one of the softwares I have that when there's a new version of it, I get most excited.

Now, xD, this problem has not been solved, and it was solved in the version before the 2.1.0 one.

If there's a window opened of Audacity, if you click on a shortcut, it does not open a new window, as it's supposed to do, and as older versions did, and as every program that's supposed to have more than one window opened does. I have a quick shortcut in the taskbar cause I use Audacity a lot, and I find it very useful to click once on that quick shortcut and a new window of Audacity gets opened. And the advantage of that is that I can always open a new window, since the taskbar is always visible.