File|Close shuts down software instead of project

[mbphvice]

Audacity ® 1.3.7 (Unicode)
WinXP
Have recorded a program; don't save my recordings,
so close them and create a new one; in previous stable
versions, clicking on Close kept program open; however,
in this beta version, the whole program Exits, instead
of closing the current project.

Rickey

[steve]

in this beta version, the whole program Exits, instead
of closing the current project.

That is the default action and is strongly recommended. While Audacity remains open, all temporary files and memory usage from previous projects remain and can cause your computer to run out of disk space or RAM prematurely. The only way to clear out old data is to close Audacity.

[Gale Andrews]

in this beta version, the whole program Exits, instead
of closing the current project.

That is the default action and is strongly recommended. While Audacity remains open, all temporary files and memory usage from previous projects remain and can cause your computer to run out of disk space or RAM prematurely. The only way to clear out old data is to close Audacity.

Click Edit > Preferences and uncheck "Closing last window quits Audacity". You would have made a similar change in 1.2. Clicking File > Close, ALT + F4 or {X} top right will then clear to a new project window if that window you're closing is the last (or only) one. Clearing the last open window to a new one will empty the Audacity temporary folder, and release any RAM used as a result of having "Audio Cache" enabled on the Directories Preferences. All other RAM will only be released when you exit Audacity (and only File > Exit will do that once you set Close actions to clear to a new window).


Gale

[steve]

Clearing the last open window to a new one will empty the Audacity temporary folder,

Thanks for the correction Gale.

Care still needs to be taken changing the "Closing last window quits Audacity" option - as long as any projects are open, the temporary files from all projects are still present and are not deleted until the last window is closed. Even when the last window is closed, RAM that has been used, for example, by a memory hungry plug-in is still not freed, and remains used until Audacity is completely closed.

[Gale Andrews]

Care still needs to be taken changing the "Closing last window quits Audacity" option - as long as any projects are open, the temporary files from all projects are still present and are not deleted until the last window is closed.

That isn't correct, I think, Steve. If you create some tones in one window, open another window and record something, then close the window that had tones, the .au files relating to those tones will be deleted. After all, you cannot actually undo that closure and you're asked to confirm "Save changes?". Admittedly in Audacity Beta, the folder for that closed window remains after you have closed the window, but the .au files in it have been deleted.

I agree the RAM issue is there - rather like rebooting, simply restarting Audacity might marginally help performance. However CVS HEAD as you know now has some improvements to help Nyquist plug-ins (the worst memory hogs) release memory after processing.

BTW - were you going to issue your updated Clipfix with support for inverted clipping and optimised code? I think anything better than that in mainstream Audacity is some way off yet.

Thanks


Gale

[steve]

If you create some tones in one window, open another window and record something, then close the window that had tones, the .au files relating to those tones will be deleted. After all, you cannot actually undo that closure and you're asked to confirm "Save changes?". Admittedly in Audacity Beta, the folder for that closed window remains after you have closed the window, but the .au files in it have been deleted.

You've got me checking, and (of course) you're right
I saw the folder was still present, but didn't pursue it to check the .au files so jumped to the wrong conclusion. In my defence, this is not an option that I use - partly as I never seem to need it, but mostly because of the RAM issue (specifically when using Nyquist effects).

The updated ClipFix I had temporarily put on hold while so many changes were going on with Nyquist. Trying to get round the memory issues (the old ClipFix is a terrible memory hog) has proved to be a tough cookie (with my limited experience). I've heard that there have recently been changes to improve memory issues, so I am hoping that these may help.

[wysocki]

So, it's been a year and with the new version at 1.3.12 and rising, what's the status of this issue? I'd like an easy way to wipe the slate clean and start a new project, but it's a pain to totally quit Audacity and restart the app again. I have the option set for "close" to NOT exit the app now, but now the "X" system icon on the app doesn't exit the app as I think it should.

[steve]

but it's a pain to totally quit Audacity and restart the app again.

Is it really that bad? On my machine closing Audacity and restarting takes about 5 seconds, which is about how long it takes me to decide what I'm going to do next.

If I'm just making small edits to a lot of small files, rather than starting a new project I just delete all tracks and re-use the same project. This will not be appropriate for some jobs, but for very small jobs when that 5 second wait would be significant it can speed up work flow. For large, memory intensive jobs I'd still recommend shutting down and restarting between jobs. Nyquist is now much better at releasing memory than it was a year ago, but with some effects it can still mount up.

[Gale Andrews]

So, it's been a year and with the new version at 1.3.12 and rising, what's the status of this issue? I'd like an easy way to wipe the slate clean and start a new project, but it's a pain to totally quit Audacity and restart the app again. I have the option set for "close" to NOT exit the app now, but now the "X" system icon on the app doesn't exit the app as I think it should.

Exit with File > Exit (CTRL + Q) if you have File > Close set not to exit. ALT + F4, [X] and any other system methods of exit will still only clear to a new project. We'll add yet another vote for these "system" methods to quit when used to close the last window.

The current behaviour is really historical as far as I can see to accommodate Mac. Bill/Koz may correct me, but I think the red close button on Mac will minimise the application to the Dock (something like the Taskbar on Windows, but you get a small "menubar" to work with). I assume if you right-click over the icon in the dock when the app. is not minimised, you get options to close the window (= minimise) or quit (= system close on Windows). I understand if the app. is minimised, you can't quit in one step with a right-click over the menu icon.

On Linux, behaviour seems to vary - OpenOffice.org behaves as a Windows app. would; GIMP seems to clear to an empty project when you [X] on the project window from the state of having a project with unsaved changes. If you [X] on the project window from an empty project, the app. quits.

Anyway, the behaviour seems plain wrong to me on Windows, and wastes a considerable amount of our time and users' time. I'll have another go at getting it changed, but don't assume that will mean it will happen...


Gale

[Gale Andrews]

Al Dimond has kindly worked on this problem and it will be fixed in 1.3.13 Beta. There will no longer be a preference "Closing last window quits Audacity" on any platform. On Windows and Linux, system close commands like clicking [X] on a window, using a taskbar command or invoking a system shutdown will always quit Audacity after closing the last window. File > Close will always clear to an empty workspace (though it isn't currently greyed if there is no project to close). Mac behaviour should be as before, except that you cannot now force File > Close to quit because there is no preference to do so; File > Close will always minimise to the menu bar.

These changes are in the current Nightly Builds. I don't have a Mac to test, but I now understand closing the window with the red button top left actually quits (and it should still do that now). If anyone can try it on Mac that would be very helpful.


Gale