| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| swongu |
Posted - Nov 25 2008 : 3:24:05 PM
I have the latest build of visual assist (10.4.1649.0), but for the last few builds, I have been getting black tooltips.
Restarting Visual Studio 2008 does not help. It seems as though I would have to restart my computer (Vista) in order for regular tooltips to re-appear.
The black tooltips do not appear right away - only after prolonged usage of Visual Studio. I am talking about perhaps a day of usage.
If anyone else has experienced this issue as well, please share how you managed to solve it!
Thanks!
Stephen |
| 30 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| sean |
Posted - Sep 03 2009 : 8:40:23 PM
case=25244 was fixed in build 1731 |
| sean |
Posted - Jun 12 2009 : 9:34:16 PM
Build 1727 has some preliminary changes for this problem. The changes are disabled by default. To enable the changes, exit all instances of Visual Studio, save the following as a registry script and run the saved script. Please let us know if these changes address the problem. Thanks.
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\Software\\Whole Tomato\\Visual Assist X\\VANet9]
"BlackTooltipsFix"=hex:01
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\Software\\Whole Tomato\\Visual Assist X\\VANet8]
"BlackTooltipsFix"=hex:01
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\Software\\Whole Tomato\\Visual Assist X\\VANet]
"BlackTooltipsFix"=hex:01
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\Software\\Whole Tomato\\Visual Assist X\\VA6]
"BlackTooltipsFix"=hex:01
|
| feline |
Posted - May 19 2009 : 5:14:48 PM
Very clear, thank you. It is good to know it effects both types of listbox.
Can you please turn on VA logging, produce a couple of listboxes that show these invalid tooltips, and then send me both the VA log files and screen shots of the listbox and tooltip? Please turn off VA logging, or close the IDE once you have done this test, to stop the log files getting to large.
I am hoping the logs will give us some clues as to what is going wrong here.
Please see this FAQ for details of turning on VA's logging, and sending us the log files
http://docs.wholetomato.com?W305 |
| swongu |
Posted - May 19 2009 : 11:59:26 AM
> Do you see this tooltip problem with both suggestion listboxes and member listboxes? If you trigger a
> suggestion listbox by just typing on a new line what happens with the tooltips? What happens for a
> member listbox?
When Visual Assist reaches the state of the "bad tooltips" it doesn't matter which listbox triggers it - all tooltips go wonky. In both suggestion and member listboxes, the actual text in the tooltip contained stays the same no matter which item I select in the listbox, like the screenshot.
If that is not clear please let me know, thanks! |
| feline |
Posted - May 18 2009 : 3:39:45 PM
Apologies, I did not explain myself clearly.
Do you see this tooltip problem with both suggestion listboxes and member listboxes? If you trigger a suggestion listbox by just typing on a new line what happens with the tooltips? What happens for a member listbox?
The fact you are getting the wrong information in the tooltip is almost good news. Hopefully this is something we can try and pin down and then fix. |
| swongu |
Posted - May 15 2009 : 1:42:34 PM
> swongu when you get this listbox tooltip problem does it effect both member listboxes and suggestion listboxes?
>
> A suggestion listbox should have a small "A" icon under the bottom left hand corner.
> A member listbox appears after typing dot or -> on a class or variable name.
>
> Are you seeing this on both monitors, or only the second monitor?
The actual suggestion and member listboxes are fine, as you can see by the screenshot. But the tooltip accompanying it is misdrawn. Like I've mentioned, when these listboxes appear I was able to move the selection up and down and if I do it enough times, the tooltip is restored (with no black areas).
Only see this on the secondary monitor. |
| feline |
Posted - May 15 2009 : 1:26:36 PM
swongu when you get this listbox tooltip problem does it effect both member listboxes and suggestion listboxes?
A suggestion listbox should have a small "A" icon under the bottom left hand corner.
A member listbox appears after typing dot or -> on a class or variable name.
Are you seeing this on both monitors, or only the second monitor? |
| swongu |
Posted - May 14 2009 : 12:51:51 PM
> VS2008, Vista 32-bit Professional.
I should mention that I am on the same setup.
I found a weird way of temporarily restoring this - when an autocomplete box appears, I pressed up and down many times, changing the autocomplete selection. Each keypress produces a new tooltip, and if I do it enough times the correct tooltips is restored.
Of course this is usually short lived and I eventually get black tooltips again. |
| mackeyar |
Posted - May 14 2009 : 03:21:23 AM
I got the same with 1715 and upgrading to 1724 didn't help.
VS2008, Vista 32-bit Professional.
I've seen this before (1-2 years ago), but I don't remember what I did to fix it then. :( |
| swongu |
Posted - May 13 2009 : 3:21:46 PM
Attached is another screenshot that is a little bit different from the previous cases.
(http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=aV1zpaXi)
In this one, Visual Assist was working and it looks like it's starting to "break down" on the tooltips.
The size of the tooltip is correct - the tooltip is supposed to say:
static QString tr(const char* sourceText, const char * = 0){...}
Accept with: <TAB> or <ENTER>
But the tooltip displayed displays content that is irrelevant to the content where the cursor is. In fact the content ("FilterType type") is something I pointed to previously. Since the content is smaller than expected, the rest of the tooltip is black. |
| feline |
Posted - Apr 25 2009 : 2:04:36 PM
I have asked our developers to see if they have any ideas, I am not sure what to make of all of this:
case=25244 |
| swongu |
Posted - Apr 23 2009 : 6:25:07 PM
> Next test, can you make a new default C++ application please and see if you get the black
> tooltips in this new test project.
>
> If you do can you please Enable IDE intellisense in this test application. Since the test
> application will be tiny this will be very fast. I want to know if the black tooltips only
> effect VA tooltips, or if it also effects IDE tooltips from default intellisense inside the
> code.
>
> The best way to check this will be to disable VA and then show / trigger some tooltips and
> see what happens.
The intellisense tooltips are not black, while the visual assist ones are. Here are the two screenshots:
1. No visual assist (http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=aV3xQEA) - the intellisense tooltips are working normally.
2. With visual assist (http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=aV3yozA) - the visual assist tooltips are still black.
> I am also interested in the effect, if any, of the option:
>
> VA Options -> Advanced -> Fonts and Colors -> Apply Colouring to -> Tooltips
They're off, but with them on I still see black.
> It is also possible that VA tooltips will work correctly in this tiny project, even with IDE intellisense disabled.
Unfortunately they don't. Well, I only started a new IDE when I already have black tooltips in another IDE. |
| feline |
Posted - Apr 23 2009 : 1:13:09 PM
Next test, can you make a new default C++ application please and see if you get the black tooltips in this new test project.
If you do can you please Enable IDE intellisense in this test application. Since the test application will be tiny this will be very fast. I want to know if the black tooltips only effect VA tooltips, or if it also effects IDE tooltips from default intellisense inside the code.
The best way to check this will be to disable VA and then show / trigger some tooltips and see what happens.
I am also interested in the effect, if any, of the option:
VA Options -> Advanced -> Fonts and Colors -> Apply Colouring to -> Tooltips
It is also possible that VA tooltips will work correctly in this tiny project, even with IDE intellisense disabled. |
| swongu |
Posted - Apr 22 2009 : 2:30:03 PM
> Do you still get black tooltips while UltraMon is closed, so it is not running at all?
Yes, I tried closing UltraMon and restarting the IDE - it still gave black tooltips. I also tried restarting the IDE after restarting UltraMon, and it still had black tooltips.
> While UltraMon is closed, if you move the IDE between the two monitors do the tooltips work and break, depending
> on which monitor the tooltips are on?
Yes, it still exhibits this behaviour.
> Do you have a single graphics card in your machine with dual outputs or two graphics cards?
I only have one video card with two DVI ports. I tried swapping the two DVI plugs, keeping the monitors in the same position on my desk. This means that the #1 monitor, originally on my right, is now on my left. Even with this change, the black tooltips still reappeared.
Thanks feline for all the work in this investigation so far... getting closer to the cause... |
| feline |
Posted - Apr 22 2009 : 10:21:05 AM
Do you still get black tooltips while UltraMon is closed, so it is not running at all?
While UltraMon is closed, if you move the IDE between the two monitors do the tooltips work and break, depending on which monitor the tooltips are on?
Do you have a single graphics card in your machine with dual outputs or two graphics cards?
The effect of positioning the IDE across both monitors reminds me of something I saw years ago on a machine with two graphics cards, the monitor on the secondary monitor behaved differently to the monitor on the primary graphics card. |
| swongu |
Posted - Apr 21 2009 : 1:57:59 PM
> Next time this happens can you please close the IDE, then exit
> UltraMon, then re-load the IDE and see if you can still reproduce
> the problem?
The black tooltips still exist after an Ultramon restart ... :( |
| feline |
Posted - Apr 21 2009 : 1:01:37 PM
Next time this happens can you please close the IDE, then exit UltraMon, then re-load the IDE and see if you can still reproduce the problem?
I doubt UltraMon is a factor, but it would be good to eliminate it as a possible factor.
The IDE half way between the two screens... that is really odd. My first reaction is a graphics driver problem, but that does not make sense, since this problem takes a while to show up. |
| swongu |
Posted - Apr 20 2009 : 2:50:35 PM
> How are you moving the IDE from one monitor to the other monitor?
>
> If you are using a program like UltraMon it has a command to move a specific window to the next
> monitor, which can be triggered via a custom button it places onto the window title bar. Some
> utilities that come with graphics drivers offer similar features.
>
> Or are you simply manually dragging a non maximised window to the other monitor with the mouse?
I do use UltraMon, yes. I don't have the buttons but I usually drag a maximized window onto the other screen. I believe this is a feature of UltraMon as well (performs the same function as the additional button). When its on my primary monitor the tooltips appear. On my secondary monitor, the tooltips are gone.
I did a test and made my Visual Studio window non-maximized. I then brought it between the two screens, with the majority of the window on one screen, and moved it closer to the other monitor, and at each step checking the tooltip. At one point about halfway, where the Visual Studio window is split between the two monitors the tooltips become black. Not sure if this is useful, but just describing the symptoms. |
| feline |
Posted - Apr 20 2009 : 10:41:37 AM
These are low numbers. I often see VMware workstation achieve over 2000 GDI objects, when several virtual machines are running, without causing any problems.
How are you moving the IDE from one monitor to the other monitor?
If you are using a program like UltraMon it has a command to move a specific window to the next monitor, which can be triggered via a custom button it places onto the window title bar. Some utilities that come with graphics drivers offer similar features.
Or are you simply manually dragging a non maximised window to the other monitor with the mouse? |
| swongu |
Posted - Apr 17 2009 : 1:13:23 PM
> If you have any process that is using a lot, does closing it make any difference?
For me, devenv.exe (VS IDE) have the most USER/GDI objects at 680/860, followed by explorer.exe (374/790). There isn't anything that is in the thousands. |
| feline |
Posted - Apr 16 2009 : 4:59:53 PM
Thank you for trying, its one more piece of information.
Can you try running Process Explorer from Sysinternals:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx
and right click on the column headers and go into "select columns". On the Process Memory tab can you please turn on "GDI Objects" and "USER Objects" and then look for any processes that are using a lot of either. Anything over 2000 to 3000 is a lot.
If you have any process that is using a lot, does closing it make any difference? |
| swongu |
Posted - Apr 16 2009 : 2:32:23 PM
> Does this make any difference?
> What about restarting the IDE after killing and restarting explorer.exe?
I have tried both, and still the black boxes remain. |
| feline |
Posted - Apr 15 2009 : 12:34:49 PM
Nothing solid yet. Part of the problem is that we have not found the cause / trigger.
It almost looks like some form of resource leak in one of the running processes. IF this is true, we still need to find the problem process. Just because it shows up in the IDE does not mean the IDE or VA is causing the problem *sigh*
Next time you encounter this problem can you please try the following test:
* load Task Manager
* kill the process "explorer.exe"
* In Task Manager use File menu -> Run to launch a new instance of "explorer.exe"
Does this make any difference?
What about restarting the IDE after killing and restarting explorer.exe? |
| swongu |
Posted - Apr 14 2009 : 8:59:29 PM
quote:
Originally posted by feline
I have the log files, thank you for these:
case=25244
I have asked our developers if they have any ideas, and if the log files offer any clues.
Hi feline, any updates from the devs about this? There are two other threads with similar issues nows (topic 8630 and topic 5473), with no solution thus far. It appears it could be a video card issue, but users who update their drivers seem to eventually get the issue again.
Thanks! |
| feline |
Posted - Mar 19 2009 : 6:18:18 PM
I have the log files, thank you for these:
case=25244
I have asked our developers if they have any ideas, and if the log files offer any clues. |
| swongu |
Posted - Mar 19 2009 : 3:26:42 PM
> Can you then close the IDE, to stop the log files from getting to large, and send me the log files. Hopefully
> they will offer some clues to this problem.
I have done this using the support form - please let me know when you receive them. |
| feline |
Posted - Mar 19 2009 : 10:46:30 AM
There is some good news here. Since other tooltips work correctly this is probably not a serious resource leak.
Next time the problem shows up can you please turn on VA logging, then get VA to show tooltips on both monitors. So some tooltips should work and some should be blank.
Can you then close the IDE, to stop the log files from getting to large, and send me the log files. Hopefully they will offer some clues to this problem.
Please see this FAQ for details of turning on VA's logging, and sending us the log files
http://docs.wholetomato.com?W305 |
| swongu |
Posted - Mar 18 2009 : 4:54:04 PM
> Next time you get the black tooltips can you please try hovering the mouse over toolbar buttons in the IDE.
> Do you get black tooltips here, or correct tooltips?
I do not get black tooltips when I move my mouse over the toolbar buttons. Actually, these tooltips look a little bit different than the ones that go black - they are rounded, slightly whiter, and have shadows.
> If you show VA Outline and place keyboard focus into the outline, and then hover the mouse over the lines,
> do you get readable tooltips, or black tooltips?
Tooltips are not black when I use VA Outline. These appear to be the whiter, rounded, shadowed tooltips, as describe above. |
| feline |
Posted - Mar 17 2009 : 1:48:31 PM
*ah* yes, you will not get any tooltips with VA disabled if you have disabled the IDE's intellisense.
Next time you get the black tooltips can you please try hovering the mouse over toolbar buttons in the IDE. Do you get black tooltips here, or correct tooltips?
If this is some form of resource leak then it might effect other tooltips.
If you show VA Outline and place keyboard focus into the outline, and then hover the mouse over the lines, do you get readable tooltips, or black tooltips? |
| swongu |
Posted - Mar 16 2009 : 2:41:14 PM
> If so next time this happens can you please the IDE's Add-in manager to stop VA from loading, as explained in this FAQ entry:
> http://docs.wholetomato.com?W306
> then restart VS2008 and see if you still get blank tooltips?
After seeing black tooltips, I restarted VS2008 with VA not loaded using the registry modification. I don't see any tooltips at all. I should note that I do not use the standard Intellisense and have disabled it using the macros described on the VCBlog page:
http://blogs.msdn.com/vcblog/archive/2007/11/19/controlling-intellisense-through-macros.aspx |
