PC Keyboard trigger fails after skip (cuelist widget)

The issues found when using the Virtual Console
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andrewh
Posts: 16
Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2016 8:35 pm
Real Name: Andrew Hallmark

Hi,

I've just run another successful theatrical production with QLC+. What a great piece of software, well done everyone involved.

However I have found a couple of bugs, the first of which is detailed here. It's a failure of the 'Go to next cue' PC keyboard trigger after skipping a cue, when using the cuelist widget to run a chaser.

I run the show using a single cuelist widget on the virtual console running a chaser. I have mapped the 'space bar' on the PC keyboard to trigger the next step and the 'Escape' key to trigger the previous step. They normally work fine, except for when I skip a cue. I click on the cue I wish to jump to with the mouse and then press the 'Enter' key and the appropriate cue runs fine. However, now the 'space bar' key is no longer recognised, but the 'Escape' key is recognised correctly.

If I now run the next cue using the mouse button for 'Go to next step' then the keyboard controls return to their normal, correct operation and work consistently again (until the next skip.)

I tried other keys for 'Go to next' and 'Go to previous' in case the particular keys in use were important, but the same issue appeared no matter what keys were used.

I hope I explained this well enough; if you don't understand then let me know and I'll try to give more detail.

My latest show was 'Bedroom Farce' by Alan Aykbourn and consisted of 68 cues in my chaser, made up of 12 scenes and 11 collections. The show was programmed offsite before the rig, so that we had something working for the tech rehearsal, despite limited time. I needed to tweak only those 12 scenes once the rig was in place for the whole cuelist to be correct - a superb feature.

I am using QLC+ 4.10.4 on Windows 10, in case this helps.

Thanks for your time, your efforts are greatly appreciated. It's a pleasure using QLC+
siegmund
Posts: 703
Joined: Mon Nov 02, 2015 11:03 am
Location: Germany
Real Name: Lukas

Hi,

please provide a workspace file to quickly reproduce the problem.
andrewh
Posts: 16
Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2016 8:35 pm
Real Name: Andrew Hallmark

Attached is the workspace file requested. Apologies for the delay, I didn't realise I had to enable notifications.

To demo the problem with this workspace, follow this procedure:
Switch to Virtual Console
Enter Execute mode
Start the cue list
Use keyboard N to go to next cue - success
Use keyboard P to go to previous cue - success
Use mouse to select cue 4 and press Enter - success
Use keyboard N to go to next cue - fail
Attachments
Faulty Keyboard Handling.qxw
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mcallegari
Posts: 4461
Joined: Sun Apr 12, 2015 9:09 am
Location: Italy
Real Name: Massimo Callegari
Contact:

That's most likely a focus issue.
Once you click on a step, the Cue List widget looses focus and stop receiving keyboard events.
I think you need to click the widget again (or an empty Virtual Console area) to give it focus back.
andrewh
Posts: 16
Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2016 8:35 pm
Real Name: Andrew Hallmark

Hi Massimo,

Thanks, yes, it looks like you are right.

I still class this as a bug, even though it has been explained. Explaining the concept of focus to an operator who is not confident about using a computer means that using the keyboard is not really sufficiently 'reliable'. It is too easy for a novice to make a mistake should they need to skip a cue. That limits the usability of the software somewhat, which seems a shame.
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