I have used SiteSpinner for years, when a problem showed up recently: The tabs can no longer be set or moved; Tabs from old files remain but frozen.
Only a broken bar shows up on the left when clicking to set a tab.
Tried to reinstall but no change.

Using Vista Business
Never had a problem on win98se

Any ideals?

Steve

When you reinstalled, did you use the latest version: V2.70f?

Do the tabs work with the tutorial project -- Help > Tutorials?

Reinstalled the latest version V2.70F

Tabs do not work in tutorial project or on a new page.

I have tried everything I can think of, I don't know how it got messed up.


Steve

I am fairly sure we have had a problem like this in the past. Last time it may have been some corruption of the Windows Registry. If so, a complete un-install followed by a re-install may do it.

I seem to remember Harpo (from VM) came up with a fix last time -- let's hope he is reading this....

Just did complete uninstall and reinstalled, problem remains; must be some setting I'm overlooking.


Steve

Harpo has come to the rescue with these suggestions:

Try ‘Clear all tabs’ (from the guide/display options)? That might do it.

Some previous problems with tabs are described here (3 pages):
http://virtualmechanics.infopo...106013462#8106013462

I tried to clear tabs, which it did off that page; but I can't add new ones. I also tried changing screen resolution , I guess this problem is common with Vista users.


Steve

I've been using Vista Home Premium (32-bit) for over 2 years without the problems you're having. And I do not see this problem with Win 7 64-bit either.

Can you make a little demo project that shows the tab problem? Email it to me if you like -- address in my public profile, or uplpoad it to your site and post a link to it here. If I also see the problem, I'll pass it on to VM.

The problem does not get passed through the ims file. I save a file made on the Vista, with the non working tabs. Loaded up on the old Win98SE PC, and sure enough the tabs set and still work.

I have a feeling this is a problem with the registry on the Vista unit. Vista, might be like the old ME in more ways than one: If you installed a program on ME; it would burger up another program.

By the way, the Tabs still work on MS Word etc.

I dread having to mess with the registry!

Steve

If you have done a complete uninstall, that should clean out most of the Windows Registry settings for SS. It does not clean out all, as your SS registration details survive an uninstall/reinstall.

I would have thought that things to do with tabs, however, should be cleaned out. Another option is to use a registry cleaner after the uninstall. However unless you have one you trust, I wouldn't recommend these -- my experience is that they create more problems than they fix

Harpo has come to the rescue again. Following are his thoughts with a little editing from me:

There is no registry setting for tab positions. The tabs are cleared at SS start-up and then stay like you set them (through ‘New Project’s) unless a project is loaded, in which case the project’s tabs are used.

I wonder if you are seeing a mouse issue or other failure to receive the clicks rather than a tab problem per se.

Here are some questions that may (or may not) give us a clue:

Does the ruler button work (top left between rulers)?

Do you have an unusual workspace size? (i.e. other than 2047x6143)

Can you change the ruler width in the text editor’s ruler?

What is your display font DPI?

Do you have zoom on? (Try turning zoom on and off.)

Try these for both vertical and horizontal rulers:

Do you see the dashed black tab line when pressing the mouse button in the ruler? Does it follow the mouse?

Do you see the mouse position marker moving in the rulers?

Are all the tabs cleared when you first start SS?

Do the tabs re-position correctly when zooming or scrolling the work window?

Do the green tab guides appear at the correct positions?

Maybe one of those will uncover something.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Bruceee,

Here are answers to your questions
# Does the ruler button work (top left between rulers)?
Yes

# Do you have an unusual workspace size? (i.e. other than 2047x6143)
NO

# Can you change the ruler width in the text editor’s ruler?
Yes

# What is your display font DPI?
where would I find that info? I have not changed it.

# Do you have zoom on? (Try turning zoom on and off.)
Tried that, it's normal now

Try these for both vertical and horizontal rulers:

# Do you see the dashed black tab line when pressing the mouse button in the ruler? Does it follow the mouse?
Yes
No stays on left at the first mark

# Do you see the mouse position marker moving in the rulers?
Yes

# Are all the tabs cleared when you first start SS?
Yes

# Do the tabs re-position correctly when zooming or scrolling the work window?
Yes

# Do the green tab guides appear at the correct positions?
Yes

I have also done an uninstall, reinstall too.

Thanks for answering those questions, Steve. (and thanks for posting them Bruceee)

To check your font DPI setting in Vista: Right-click on the desktop and select ‘Personalize’ then under ‘Tasks’ select ‘Adjust font (DPI)’. That will take you to a section that shows your current setting.

Can you clarify something?
For “Do you see the dashed black tab line when pressing the mouse button in the ruler? Does it follow the mouse?”
You say “Yes” “No stays on left at the first mark”

Do you mean the dotted line appears at which ever tab you click but stays put there if you try to drag the tab?
Or do you mean the dotted line always appears at the left of the ruler no matter which tab you press?

If the latter, what happens when you mouse down on a tab in the vertical ruler? where is the dotted line then?

Hopefully this will reveal something. The other answers show everything is working as expected.

BTW have you considered trying the new SiteSpinner beta? It is due to be released soon and may have eliminated the source of this problem. Either way (whether tab work or don’t), it will tell us something about what is going on. You can request the beta here.

DPI is set to default 96

Dotted line stays on left, and only shows up in the horizontal ruler on top. Nothing shows up in the vertical rule when it is clicked on.

The black line does follow the mouse in both rulers.

Thanks for all your help and I will request the Beta in the morning.

For the record I have used 2.70f for years on my win98se and found it nearly flawless. I have also run it on ME & XP without a problem. When I first loaded it on Vista, it was fine; the problem just suddenly showed up for no known reason.


Steve

Without doing anything other than taking a weeks vacation; the tabs suddenly started working again.

I know another user with the same problem, had the same experience using Vista; suddenly the tabs started working again.

Interesting bug!

Steve
Radio Brandy

Can you look at your Control Panel->Windows Update history and see if any Vista patches were made in the interim period?

Probably just that SiteSpinner needed the time off too

Actually, we have found something that looks like it may be the source of the problem. Deep down in the ruler code there is a variable that is not uninitialized under certain conditions (variables should always be initialized before use).

Uninitialized variables are often left at zero but they will contain whatever was in memory at that location when the variable is created. If this particular one is set to a negative value it will make the ruler think that a click is always on a non-tab object even when it is.

So ... the odds are very low but if, because of the particular arrangement in memory based of the loading and unloading of objects, the top bits of that variable are set, you will see the problem.

You may never see that bug again but we will fix it for the next update in any case.

No Vista updates ever.


Steve
Radio Brandy