GoWrite - problems with dialog boxes getting overwritten - Windows 11

[JohnTilley]

I am now using (or trying to use GoWrite) on Windows 11 64 bit. When I try to do a SaveAs of a board position the dialog box can get overwritten - see attached. This also happens if I try the "About" command in GoWrite.

GoWrite 2 3.0.14
Java 1.8.0_b-0.9

If I resize the dialog box it can clear the problem but it comes back. I have tried to attach a JPG of a screenshot showing this but your Attachments "Add files" won't let me. How can we progress this problem? It is more than frustrating.

John Tilley

[lpaatero]

Your version of gowrite is already quite old. I would also recommend updating from java 8 to java 17.

So, as first thing, please update to latest (3.2.3) from https://gowrite.net/GOWrite2_download.html.
This version includes private java (at the moment version 17), so you do not need to update java anymore.

If problem persist after update, then we need to investigate it more.

Edit:
There seems to be number of java bugs open that cloud be related to this. for example.
https://bugs.openjdk.org/browse/JDK-8273468 and https://bugs.openjdk.org/browse/JDK-8272707.

Do you have dual screne or screen scaling in use?

regards
Lauri

[JohnTilley]

Lauri - You asked about screen scaling - which I am using - but not dual monitors.

I have done a brief test using my original GoWrite and Java. I am using Windows 11 with a 1920x1200 screen and the Windows display screen scale set to 150%. The separate setting to make text bigger is set to 150%. The problem I get is that the dialog boxes for "save" and "save as" get overwritten. Using snagit to capture this is tricky as if the cursor goes over the dialog box then it gets rewritten and a real mess occurs.

I used Windows 10 on my Surface Pro until early January for Go Write, but started to move everything across to my new PC with Windows 11 then.

If I now change the Windows scale to 100% and the text size to 100% I still get problems with the dialog box getting overwritten.

I can't use my computer unless I set the scale to 150%- eyesight and old age!

In order to help you resolve this I can do some experiments with the version of GoWrite you suggest and different Windows display screen scales. I can't attach a screenshot file of the problem as the forum won't let me - I could email it separately.

Regards - John

[lpaatero]

One additional test:

Change Options -> General Settings -> GOWrite Look&Feel to different values. You need to close gowrite after every change to see the impact.

If some of the look&feels work, it gives quite a bit information.

Edit: Is the machine Intel or ARM device?

regards
Lauri

[JohnTilley]

Lauri - My PC is ARM - it was bought in November 2022.

I have installed GoWrite2 3.2.3 and that has worked fine so far. I note that it contains a java jdk - so I don't need the standalone JRE. So at the moment I can't reproduce the problem. I am worried as my hand written notes tell me that in mid March I was probably running GoWrite 3.2.0 and that stopped working on 22nd March with the dialog box overwrite problem. I note that I was running 3.0.14 on my Windows 10 Surface Pro and initially on my Windows 11 Ryzen. I note that I updated Java on March 11th.

I made a number of changes to display screen scale, text accessibilty size and zoom for Firefox so it's possible finger trouble on my part.

I'll try and do some more tests this week - but not before Tuesday.

One point - your "About Box" just gives GoWrite2 3.2.0 rather than 3.2.2 or 3.2.3

Thanks for your help - John

[lpaatero]

I think the problem relates to machine being ARM. I do not know too much about Windows on ARM, but I think there are two ways it can work: Using interpreted Intel java executable, or using native ARM java executable.

Using Intel Java should work (in theory), but it seems to have problems, as you are seeing. Also it will be slower than native ARM would be.

Using ARM java would be faster, but for time being it will lack some feature in GOWrite (at least Windows metafile support). Also one library does not supporting ARM properly (https://github.com/JFormDesigner/FlatLaf/issues/443), so it is necessary to change the look&feel of GOWrite.

Java 17 for Windows ARM seems to be available in https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/java/openjdk/download.
If you try to use that, you will need to start GOWrite from command line (using command like "java --jar GOWrite.jar" in gowrite folder).

[JohnTilley]

Lauri - I am sorry I should have said my PC is AMD and NOT ARM. When you asked "is it Intel or ARM" - I answered ARM (as it's not Intel) without reading the question...... fyi - it's my first non-Intel PC in some 35 years.......

The next two days are busy but I will try and do some more tests, as given that there were problems I would like to understand why. I will separately mail you a screenshot that shows the problem.

Thanks for your help.

Best Wishes - John

[lpaatero]

No problem, thanks for correcting!

The pictures you sent look very much like display driver is misbehaving.
Could you try to update the display drivers in the PC to latest version available?

[JohnTilley]

Lauri - My graphics card is NVIDIA GeForce 3060 Ti - Windows tells me that it has the latest driver installed. (31.0.15.2698 is my current driver). My PC was custom built in November 2022. If I go to the NVIDIA website and look at drivers, I could update it for gaming. I have not tried this - to me it seems unlikely... However I still can't reproduce the problem.....

I tried five tests today. I entered a game into GoWrite and successfully did a SAVEAS each time. If I rapidly resize the dialog box then with the embedded Java all is well, with Java 1.8.0 if the size increases you see a larger window getting drawn which is black and then the dialog box gets redrawn to fill it. Not an issue - but mentioned. I also tried two different display scales and a third on the Surface Pro.

It seems that using the latest GoWrite with the embedded Java works. I'll try and look at text size as maybe a combination of that and display scale caused my original problem.

Thanks - John

GoWrite Tests 27th April 2023

PC GoWrite2 Java Level Display Scale Notes
1 Ryzen AMD Win 11 3.2.2 embedded 17.0.3+17 150% enter game and save = ok
2 Ryzen AMD Win 11 3.2.2 embedded 17.0.3+17 100% enter game and save = ok
3 Ryzen AMD Win 11 3.0.14 separate 1.8.0_361-b09 150% enter game and save = ok ; dialog box resizes in black window
4 Ryzen AMD Win 11 3.0.14 separate 1.8.0_361-b09 100% enter game and save = ok ; dialog box resizes in black window
5 Surface Pro Win 10 3.0.14 separate 1.8.0_361-b09 200% enter game and save = ok ; dialog box resizes in black window