5 replies to this topic

[ajmexico]

In RM Version 7.2.1.0 and the previous version for Macintosh, I have experienced situations in which RootsMagic becomes unresponsive -- no click anywhere in the window has any effect. I'm not sure if there is anything I may be doing to help cause this. This may be happening on wake from sleep or when RootsMagic has been idle for a while.

 

I use two monitors on my mid-2011 iMac under Mac OS X El Capitan 10.11.4. I also run RootsMagic as a full-screen app in its own space under Mission Control, if that matters.

 

I have ended up using Force Quit a couple of times.  Command-option-esc brings up the force quit window where RootsMagic shows up as "wineloader". It doesn't say in that window that the app is unresponsive.

 

There may be a workaround. A couple of times I have regained responsiveness in RootsMagic by playing around with the window controls. Most recently, I double clicked the Mac title bar, which minimized the window. When I restored the window from the dock, it was working again.

 

Roots Magic allows multiple windows within itself. I have been opening the same file in two windows to have two views of the same database. Is this okay, or is it a "bad thing" that I shouldn't expect to work? It's a great feature if it doesn't cause problems! 

[J P]

In RM Version 7.2.1.0 and the previous version for Macintosh, I have experienced situations in which RootsMagic becomes unresponsive -- no click anywhere in the window has any effect. I'm not sure if there is anything I may be doing to help cause this. This may be happening on wake from sleep or when RootsMagic has been idle for a while.
 
I use two monitors on my mid-2011 iMac under Mac OS X El Capitan 10.11.4. I also run RootsMagic as a full-screen app in its own space under Mission Control, if that matters.
 
I have ended up using Force Quit a couple of times.  Command-option-esc brings up the force quit window where RootsMagic shows up as "wineloader". It doesn't say in that window that the app is unresponsive.
 
There may be a workaround. A couple of times I have regained responsiveness in RootsMagic by playing around with the window controls. Most recently, I double clicked the Mac title bar, which minimized the window. When I restored the window from the dock, it was working again.
 
Roots Magic allows multiple windows within itself. I have been opening the same file in two windows to have two views of the same database. Is this okay, or is it a "bad thing" that I shouldn't expect to work? It's a great feature if it doesn't cause problems!

I see this sort of problem from time to time. Usually it is because of some hang in the interaction with Family Tree, but occasionally because the active window end up behind an inactive one. I THINK using ESC often gets me out of the latter. Force quit is needed in most cases, twice yesterday afternoon as it happens.

I'm not sure what the implications of having the same database open in 2 windows would be, but I don't think the results might be too good unless you are very disciplined and one is definitely really read-only.

I usually use full screen, with multiple open desktops and switching between them, so don't think that is an issue.

[Renee Zamora]

On the Mac menu under RootsMagic>About RootsMagic is it version 7.0.1.

[ajmexico]

Yes - version 7.0.1 as seen in the Mac About RootsMagic menu item.

[Renee Zamora]

I know using the Mac menu for RootsMagic will cause the program to freeze. So make sure when using the program to access the RootsMagic menu. Also make sure that one window hasn't gone behind another causing it to appear to freeze.

[Jerry Bryan]

Also make sure that one window hasn't gone behind another causing it to appear to freeze.

 

This problem is not specific to the Mac version. It can also happen on the PC version. RM uses modal windows and if a pop-up window goes behind a regular RM window, it feels like you are locked up. And you really are locked up unless you can persuade Windows (or maybe the Mac?) to display the pop-up window. If you recognize what has happened (and it's hard to recognize), sometimes you can get around the problem by various and seemingly random and unrepeatable maximizing and minimizing of windows from the Windows level (and maybe from the Mac level?) until your pop-under window once again becomes popped-up.

 

Another variation on the theme is that sometimes an RM modal window really hasn't gone behind another window. Rather, it's still on the screen but it has become so small you don't even notice it's there. If this situation occurs it makes the rest of RM appear to be completely dead. As an example, be in any typical RM view with RM maximized and look at the upper right hand corner of the screen. The following is for Windows, but I think it's very similar on a Mac. You will see two sets of maximize/minimize/exit icons right next to each other. The "outer" set of such icons is for RM itself. For example, clicking on the X will cause RM to terminate and clicking on the minus sign will cause the entire RM program to minimize. But clicking on the the "inner" X will cause the current database to close and clicking on the "inner" minus sign will cause the current view to be minimized while the overall RM window remains maximized. You can see the minimized sub-window for the current view in the lower left hand corner of the screen. It's easy to see if you look for it but it's hard to notice if you don't know it's there. If you do notice it, it's easy to fix. But if you don't notice it, you might find your self rebooting your computer or something else nearly as extreme to get out of RM being hung - or really, seeming to be hung. But really being hung and seeming to be hung amount to the same thing if you can't fix it.

 

There are other and less obvious ways to get into the "RM sub-window minimized to the lower left hand corner of the screen while RM itself is still maximized" problem. So just look for it by looking for the minimized sub-window in the lower left hand side of the screen. This one can always be fixed easily if you notice it. But the pop-up window that pops under can be much trickier to recover from.

 

Jerry