can't minimize execute or creating archive copies dialogs

[pb]

For vv pro 2b2014 under win2000sp4, when started from vv scheduler with full user interface, clicking the minimize button in the top bar does not minimize the dialog, for either the execute dialog, or the creating archive copies dialog. This is also true if selecting minimize from the context menu from right clicking on the top bar.

However, when right clicking the vv job on the task bar, minimize is not offered as an option. If I first click 'restore' in this case, then the minimization options above work. Note that this happens after I have previously minimized another dialog by clicking the minimize button in its window title bar.

This seems to be a bug. Either the minimize options should be grayed out the way they are when using the context menu from the task bar, or they should actually work (my preference). I suspect the reason for this bug is the profusion of different windows whose state, handles, and parent-child relations you need to keep track of.

In general, I don't like the way vv pro handles the user interface when run in full interface mode from the scheduler. Windows pop up all over the place and steal focus. Among other things, this means that they steal mouse clicks, often ending up targeting them to the default button, which is "cancel" (there should imho be no default button on these dialogs). Then even if I minimize the first dialog, new dialogs pop up and require being minimized again. (The application itself -- implying and including all dialogs -- once minimized, should stay minimized, except for serious error conditions which stop execution.)

To remove many of these problems in the scheduler scenario, I suggest another option: run minimized. (You would presumably implement this as a command line argument.) (You might also consider redesigning the interface to run in a single window with subareas for the different operations that may happen. This is a little tricky for optimizing the use of real estate, however; so you can end up in hairy options like docking and undocking components, a complication which I would discourage despite its flashiness.)

I should add that I'm aware that I can run a scheduled job entirely without the user interface. However, having the user interface present allows me to check the state of execution, as well as a much better way to see the results of execution than looking at the log file.

--peter