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nsimeonov
Junior Member
23 Posts |
 Posted - Nov 01 2013 : 11:34:37 AM
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I like the feature "local symbols in bold", but in VS 2013 i notice too much flickering when I type. In the entire function each time I press a key the text refreshes twice - once all symbols are normal and then again making local variables in bold.
I can turn it off, but this really helps to improve code readability.
And to make things worse - with my favorite font VS renders bold symbols a little bit wider, than normal so entire text goes a bit to the left then a bit to the right. I'm getting seasick :)
PS: I can attach a video if you want. |
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feline
Whole Tomato Software
United Kingdom
18947 Posts |
Posted - Nov 01 2013 : 3:00:28 PM
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That's not supposed to happen, and I am not seeing any sign of this here, VS2013, VA 2001, running under Windows 7 64bit.
Are you running the IDE locally, or connecting over remote desktop, or something similar?
What do you have:
IDE tools menu -> Options -> Environment -> General -> Enable rich client visual experience
IDE tools menu -> Options -> Environment -> General -> Use hardware graphics acceleration if available
set to, and do changing these settings make any difference?
Can you please go to:
VA Options -> System Info -> Copy Info
and paste the details (from the clipboard) into your reply. This will give us the basic information about your setup. |
zen is the art of being at one with the two'ness |
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nsimeonov
Junior Member
23 Posts |
Posted - Nov 01 2013 : 3:18:22 PM
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>> IDE tools menu -> Options -> Environment -> General -> Enable rich client visual experience
>> IDE tools menu -> Options -> Environment -> General -> Use hardware graphics acceleration if available
Both are off, because all fonts are blurred if I turn them on. I will give you the info tomorrow when I get back in the office.
btw. Same thing happens with FireFox so I had to turn off hardware acceleration there as well. Not sure if my video cards (two NVidia GTX260 cards) or the 4 monitors attached to them (main one being a 30" DELL on 2560x1600) are the problem, but when I turn hardware acceleration on firefox or visual studio all fonts look like rendered on a much lower resolution and upscaled. Either this or too blurry but my eyes hurt trying to focus on such fonts, so I turned them off and this solved my problems.
I use Monaco font (tried also Meslo which is good too), which looks much clearer than consolas on my monitor. Believe me I spent so much hours playing with fonts and options until I found the optimal ones.
Operating system is Windows Server 2013 with some tweaks to use it as workstation. The reason is that SQL server and IIS are slightly different (at least they used to be when I first started using servers around 10 years ago). This shouldn't be the problem however. |
Edited by - nsimeonov on Nov 01 2013 3:25:49 PM |
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feline
Whole Tomato Software
United Kingdom
18947 Posts |
Posted - Nov 01 2013 : 5:47:32 PM
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The blurry fonts sound like you might be dealing with ClearType. Personally I dislike it as well, since on my monitors, for my eye sight, it just makes the text fuzzy, rather than clear. As an aside you might want to run Regedit and look for the setting:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\Control Panel\\Desktop\\FontSmoothing = 1
Under Windows 7 I found, after some searching, that setting this to 1 and then rebooting turns off most if not all font smoothing and ClearType. Setting it to 2 turns this on. I could not find any way to actually turn off ClearType in Control Panel, the closest I got was the ClearType tuner.
I don't currently have a Windows Server 2013 test system here, so it will take me a day or two to get one set up... do you actually mean Windows Server 2013, or Windows Server 2012 R2? I am not seeing Server 2013 in my MSDN, but I am seeing Server 2012 R2.
Looking at VS2013 under Windows 8 64bit, I am not seeing "Monaco" or "Meslo" in the font list for the editor in the IDE options dialog. Do you know if these font's came with your OS, or if you installed them manually? If you installed them manually, do you know where from?
Some searching is throwing up these links:
http://www.fonts101.com/fonts/view/Uncategorized/51239/Monaco.aspx
https://github.com/andreberg/Meslo-Font
We have occasionally had bugs with custom fonts people have downloaded and installed, so if you did download these, this could well be a factor.
I don't like that first link as a font source, it installed unwanted software, despite me saying no.
One interesting observation, the zip file I finally got for the Monaco font only has a single font file in it. I am used to seeing 3 or even 4 font files, for the bold, italic, and bold italic forms of the font. Still, I have now set VS2013 to use Monaco as the editor font, turned on Local symbols in Bold, and still no sign of any flashing.
Where did you get your Monaco font from, and did you get more than one font file?
Can you please export your VA and IDE settings and send them to me:
VA Options -> Performance -> Export Settings
IDE tools menu -> Import and Export Settings -> Export selected environment settings
I can then import them here and see if I can reproduce the problem.
Please submit the files via the form:
http://www.wholetomato.com/support/contact.asp
including this thread ID or URL in the description, so we can match it up. |
zen is the art of being at one with the two'ness |
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nsimeonov
Junior Member
23 Posts |
Posted - Nov 02 2013 : 08:40:04 AM
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You're right - it's Server 2012 (not R2). I misspelled it.
I will try this registry setting. FontSmoothing used to be just fine before introduction of ClearType. Once they did this it drives me crazy on a daily basis.
Here is the system info:
VA_X.dll file version 10.8.2001.0 built 2013.09.20
Licensed to:
VA X: [email protected] (1-user license) Support ends 2014.05.28
DevEnv.exe version 12.0.21005.1 Ultimate
msenv.dll version 12.0.21005.1
Comctl32.dll version 6.10.9200.16578
Windows Server 2012 6.2 Build 9200
8 processors (x86-64;
WOW64)
Language info: 1251, 0x402
Platform: Win32
Stable Includes:
C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\\VC\\include;
C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\\VC\\atlmfc\\include;
C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Windows Kits\\8.1\\Include\\um;
C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Windows Kits\\8.1\\Include\\shared;
C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Windows Kits\\8.1\\Include\\winrt;
Other Includes:
Stable Source Directories:
C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\\VC\\atlmfc\\src\\mfc;
C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\\VC\\atlmfc\\src\\mfcm;
C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\\VC\\atlmfc\\src\\atl;
C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\\VC\\crt\\src;
-------------------------------
Monaco font: Not sure where I got it. Maybe this URL:
https://raw.github.com/todylu/monaco.ttf/master/monaco.ttf
or this:
http://www.gringod.com/wp-upload/MONACO.TTF
Meslo is the one you found on github.
Yes the font is just one, but this is enough. There were times when we had smaller hard drives and I used to remove bold and italic versions of fonts to free some space without any noticeable performance impact, nor font quality.
PS: I also have Text Sharp Plugin installed and settings on Grayscale.
PS2: I just tried to make a good example and can't get all the local symbols turn regular and then bold again. Just a line or two which isn't all that annoying. I turned on "Enable rich client visual experience" and "Use hardware graphics acceleration if available" without any change. It doesn't stop the "flickering", but I need to find a good code example, where literally half the screen is affected, not just a line or two.
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Edited by - nsimeonov on Nov 02 2013 08:41:41 AM |
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feline
Whole Tomato Software
United Kingdom
18947 Posts |
Posted - Nov 04 2013 : 11:56:04 PM
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I have your IDE settings, thank you for these. When I imported them I received the following error:
Warning 1: Keyboard: The command 'OpenRelatedFile3.Connect.OpenRelatedFile3' does not exist. The keyboard shortcut bound to this command has been ignored.
do you have any other IDE extensions installed? I had already installed Test Sharp before importing your settings. This command must come from somewhere, since it is mapped on your system.
Can you please export your VA settings and send them to me:
VA Options -> Performance -> Export Settings
These might make a difference. Still no sign of the problem you are seeing, so I will set about setting up a Server 2012 test system.
Any code sample would be a good start, even if the flickering is only effecting a line or two, so I know I am typing the same thing you are, doing the same thing you are.
If this is proving to be file specific that will be a very interesting clue. Thinking of this, can you please turn On the IDE setting:
IDE tools menu -> Options -> Environment -> Documents -> Check for consistent line endings on load
this is turned Off with your imported settings. I don't expect mixed line endings to be a factor here, but its possible. |
zen is the art of being at one with the two'ness |
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nsimeonov
Junior Member
23 Posts |
Posted - Nov 05 2013 : 08:59:28 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by feline
I have your IDE settings, thank you for these. When I imported them I received the following error:
Warning 1: Keyboard: The command 'OpenRelatedFile3.Connect.OpenRelatedFile3' does not exist. The keyboard shortcut bound to this command has been ignored.
Yes, Microsoft stopped supporting macros and neither Alt+O nor F7 (ToggleDesigner) works for Website projects (they work but only for Web Applications, and I have a few website projects, that I support on a daily basis). So I had to write a simple add-in myself. I can post the source if you're interested here. It's no more than 50 lines of code anyway - really simple, but works fine for me.
quote:
do you have any other IDE extensions installed? I had already installed Test Sharp before importing your settings. This command must come from somewhere, since it is mapped on your system.
All extensions that I have (tools -> extensions and updates):
Behaviors SDK (XAML)
Microsoft Advertising pubCenter Service
Microsodt Advertising SDK for Windows 8.1
Microsoft Visual Studio ASP.NET MVC5 Scaffolding
Microsoft Web Developer Tools
NuGet Package Manager for VS 2013
TextSharp
Visual Assist
Visual F# 3.1
Visual Studio Extensions for Windows Library for JS
VSCommands for VS2013
Workflow Manager Activities
I believe most of them come with Visual Studio, I recall adding VisualAssist, VSCommands and TextSharp only.
quote:
Can you please export your VA settings and send them to me:
VA Options -> Performance -> Export Settings
OK. I will send them via the contact form.
To ease you I'll try in the next couple of hours to make a project where I see flickering with more instructions.
If I can record a movie I'll add it in the zip too.
quote:
These might make a difference. Still no sign of the problem you are seeing, so I will set about setting up a Server 2012 test system.
I don't think it would differ from Windows 8. Server has just a few components more and most UI options were disabled by default.
quote:
Any code sample would be a good start, even if the flickering is only effecting a line or two, so I know I am typing the same thing you are, doing the same thing you are.
If this is proving to be file specific that will be a very interesting clue. Thinking of this, can you please turn On the IDE setting:
IDE tools menu -> Options -> Environment -> Documents -> Check for consistent line endings on load
this is turned Off with your imported settings. I don't expect mixed line endings to be a factor here, but its possible.
A wild guess could be the project type being Website not code library or other type of application. Explaining today - I realized, that most of my problems with the IDE are more or less related Website projects :) |
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nsimeonov
Junior Member
23 Posts |
Posted - Jan 12 2014 : 08:56:35 AM
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Follow-up: Latest version still has this issue. Monospaced fonts aren't so bad but with any proportional font or Monaco in my case, when bold letters are wider than regular ones it's easily observed.
PS: Not sure if you got the files you asked me to send you. Maybe I should put them on my web server and share a download link here. |
Edited by - nsimeonov on Jan 12 2014 08:59:31 AM |
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nsimeonov
Junior Member
23 Posts |
Posted - Feb 04 2014 : 03:41:23 AM
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| Any luck with this issue? |
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feline
Whole Tomato Software
United Kingdom
18947 Posts |
Posted - Feb 05 2014 : 6:10:34 PM
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Many apologies for the slow reply here.
I have started over, and created a Windows Server 2012 test system with VS2013 installed, since I never was able to reproduce this problem, and the OS might be a factor.
I have imported your IDE settings, set the IDE to use the Monaco font, size 11, and I still cannot reproduce this flicker, using VA 2023.
Going over your IDE extensions list I spotted one difference, which is that you have "VSCommands for Visual Studio 2013" installed, so I have installed this extension as well, but still no sign of the flicker.
Do you know if its possible to export the VSCommands settings? Looking at the config page for this extension I am seeing a "Sync Directory Location" field, I am wondering if having the right settings here, as well as in VS2013 and VA is a factor. There has to be something I am not doing, which explains why I cannot reproduce this, if we can just figure out what it is. |
zen is the art of being at one with the two'ness |
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nsimeonov
Junior Member
23 Posts |
Posted - Feb 06 2014 : 6:10:40 PM
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Hi, I don't think it's the server or VS Commands. Maybe something about web site projects? I installed a new computer with Windows 7 and it's still flickering. Turning off local symbols in bold solves the problem but I really like this option
btw. did you get the movies I sent?
PS: Will it help if I install a VMware player machine? It's Win 7 and VS 2013 from my MSDN account so it really shouldn't matter, but if this can help I will do it. |
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feline
Whole Tomato Software
United Kingdom
18947 Posts |
Posted - Feb 06 2014 : 10:03:51 PM
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Eliminating the OS is something, I just wish it was moving me forward more quickly.
I have the movies you sent, thank you. I can see the problem, I just cannot reproduce it so far. I have a test website, called "VAFlickeringTestProject", but the files inside the project don't actually contain any bold variables.
Can you please send me a test website project or file that shows the problem? It makes sense that this is somehow project or file specific, but what?
Hopefully there is no need for you to install VMware player, since this will take a certain amount of time and hard drive space. |
zen is the art of being at one with the two'ness |
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nsimeonov
Junior Member
23 Posts |
Posted - Feb 09 2014 : 08:00:13 AM
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I must be your favorite customer. Who else is using Visual Studio on servers via remote desktop? :)
I had hard time reproducing it with a simple project too. I guess it flickers more if the project is bigger and current file contains a few big classes. This actually makes sense if the system has to analyze more code before it figures out which variables are local to make them bold.
I will try to make a sample solution of a few projects - a few DLLs and a Website project, which flickers on my machine and will send it to you.
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feline
Whole Tomato Software
United Kingdom
18947 Posts |
Posted - Feb 11 2014 : 1:34:58 PM
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Remote desktop? Are you only seeing this problem under Remote Desktop? This is a factor I was not aware of. Are you able to edit the same project locally, and see if Remote Desktop is a possible trigger? I have been testing this locally, since this is the way most people work.
We have quite a few users who work under Remote Desktop, and depending on the speed of the connection this can effect the display, obviously, but on its own this should not produce this flickering. I do quite a bit of work under Remote Desktop myself, it is very useful 
Project size makes some sense, so it would be interesting to know if you are seeing heavy CPU load on a single core on the server where you are doing the editing. This is just a wild guess, but in theory, if one CPU core is maxing out while editing then this could well make things worse, and slow down screen updates. |
zen is the art of being at one with the two'ness |
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Flickering while typing (local symbold in bold)
