ExamWritePad

[ass17]

At the moment in not sure how long this will take as I’m getting the new 2.1 version ready for release within a few weeks.

 

I will keep this forum informed as and when I get underway and whether it can be done or not.. :-)

[Garacesh]

Used it today, seems well received, but we had two kids somehow (no idea how) get stuck on the software with the details prompt not having focus. Easily fixed with an alt+tab, so not a huge problem, but perhaps it might be worth making the info prompt either always on top or part of the primary window rather than its own separate one?

 

Overall though, lightweight and useful piece of software. Much better than giving them WordPad and expecting them to follow instructions about header-ing their work with the right details. Would recommend.

[ass17]

Hi, any window that pops up from the main window always gets focus and is top most above the main window.

 

Each window has the following code on form load:

 

Me.TopMost = True

Me.BringToFront

 

 

 

That seems very strange but the user has done something to inadvertently send it back. But if you try to replicate it you can’t, so would need a step by step account to reproduce.

 

But glad to like it [emoji1303][emoji1]

[Garacesh]

I can't say how they did it, all I can say is two laptops ended up in a situation where the details prompt was behind the main window. I'll have a play with one of the laptops later and see if I can reproduce it. I didn't want to test it at the time since it was needed for an exam. I know, I know, least helpful bug report ever I'll post if I figure it out.

[mavhc]

Can you just make it a modal window, so you can't click anything else until it's OK'd?

[ass17]

Can you just make it a modal window, so you can't click anything else until it's OK'd?

 

Yes of course, and it’s what I should have done from day one but it was the least of my issues but now having a solid product means I can now go back in the code and tidy it all up and make it more efficient [emoji1303][emoji1]

 

I’m the type of programmer that learns by examples rather than study a course [emoji1]

Edited December 10, 2017 by ass17

[tinkerbotsict]

Does exam pad work on Mac?

[ass17]

Does exam pad work on Mac?

 

No sorry

[Garacesh]

Went to collect our exam laptops earlier today, bit of a weird one.. A bar across the bottom of the screen had appeared with a big red X in it. Didn't impede the functionality of the program in any way. Doesn't appear related to the file as when I loaded the file to print it, the bar wasn't there.

 

[ass17]

That is a strange one, and yes it’s just a status bar that does a word/character count and displays the time. It won’t impact the final work in anyway so not to worry.

 

I wouldn’t know where to start with this one? Could be a form paint error or something similar...

[ass17]

Announcement tomorrow. No, not macOS/Linux/Win10 Metro App sorry.

[ass17]

Merry Christmas and Happy Near Year!

 

As always with an software release test it before putting into a live environment as I cannot be held responsible for any issues arising. I can only try to fix programmatical issues :-)

 

Now with the disclaimer over with, please enjoy! (Download link at the bottom)

 

 

• Fixed - Minimise to Tray Menu Button was causing the software to crash when the clock timer thread was trying to update while minimised.
  
• Fixed - Additional Form windows now open as Dialog Modals to force them to the front and be top most, thus stopping them from going behind the main form window.
  
• Changed - Candidate Information screen has be re-arranged to allow a better flow when filling in.
  
• Fixed - Stopped AutoSave prompt window from appearing if you have either the Candidate Info/Previous Version/Screen Options/Insert Key/Password On Exit screens open.
  
• Added - Ability to print off the JCQ Word Processing Cover Sheet if using either AQA, Pearson, WJEC, OCR, CCEA or CIE boards. Option to turn it on is in the config file. Page 2 of the Cover Sheet will not print off as it is not necessary.
  
• Added - New ExamWritePad icon for 2018 (one reason why the EXE has grown in file size).
  
• Added - Password to exit Software can be initiated via the config file.
  
• Added - Filename by default on first save will include Candidate Name, Candidate Number, Candidate Unit Code.
  
• Added - Ability to encrypt ExamText files. You need to set config options "EncryptFiles" to 1 and "EncryptionKey" to a 40 character key using the ExamWritePadKeyGenerator.exe, if you plan on using this feature please test it extensively before deploying in a live environment. If you have any issues with this feature, then the Previous Versions are not encrypted and can be rolled back to recover.
  
• Removed - "PrintBackColour" in config as the colour of the richtext control cannot change from white while printing. If you wish to print please use coloured paper of your choice.
  
• Added - You can now turn on Double Line Spacing at startup as default. Set the config option "DoubleLineSpacingAtStartup" to 1. If you are using an older config file and wish to continue to use it, please see the example config and modify yours to suite with all new options released with version 2.1
  

 

 

Download here https://drive.google.com/open?id=1fHOxuhOeBtUA-Em2yj_qzocncrq3Afjl

 

On my TODO list so far are:

 

Text Highlighting when in extra time (not sure how feasable this is at the moment but will take a deeper look soon).

[Garacesh]

Bug? Even with "DoubleLineSpacingAtStartup" as 0, it uses double-line spacing. Once you print it reverts to single-line spacing.

Doesn't seem to be doing it any more. Wut.

Not sure if that's related to me already having printed. Will continue testing.

Yep, confirmed. Double-spacing lines from the get-go even with DoubleLineSpacingAtStartup as 0.

 

Edit: Also, if you're running 2 screens and doing something on screen #2 when the save prompt appears, the save prompt is permanently stuck behind the ExamWritePad window because ExamWritePad has forced focus. Unlikely to be an issue in an exam since they only have one screen and shouldn't have other software running.

Edited December 13, 2017 by Garacesh

[jessica]

If set to A4 width it doesn't appear to be displaying correctly. On my widescreen monitor it is really thin and on my smaller monitor it sticks to the right hand side.

If I set it to full page width the bar at the bottom doesn't display at all.

 

[ass17]

Bug? Even with "DoubleLineSpacingAtStartup" as 0, it uses double-line spacing. Once you print it reverts to single-line spacing.

Doesn't seem to be doing it any more. Wut.

Not sure if that's related to me already having printed. Will continue testing.

Yep, confirmed. Double-spacing lines from the get-go even with DoubleLineSpacingAtStartup as 0.

Great thanks, fixed, I had labelled the setting as "DoubleLineSpaceAtStartup" and should have read "DoubleLineSpacingAtStartup". Will be released asap.

[ass17]

Edit: Also, if you're running 2 screens and doing something on screen #2 when the save prompt appears, the save prompt is permanently stuck behind the ExamWritePad window because ExamWritePad has forced focus. Unlikely to be an issue in an exam since they only have one screen and shouldn't have other software running.

 

This is strange as I dont get it, I develop on two monitor setup so I cabn live debug on one screen while running EWP on the other, I dont have any issues, very strange!!

[Garacesh]

This is strange as I dont get it, I develop on two monitor setup so I cabn live debug on one screen while running EWP on the other, I dont have any issues, very strange!!

 

Just tried it again, repeated behaviour.

 

ExamWritePad loads up fullscreen on the primary monitor, I put in bogus details and type a sentence or two and do not save the document. I then switch to Chrome on my 2nd screen and kill time until the 60s are up. I can see in the taskbar that the first Autosave prompt has appeared as it creates its own icon, and it shows up in the Alt+Tab switching, but it'll never bring the prompt to the front. I can alt-tab to it and then use the keyboard to accept and save my document, or cancel.

 

Like I say though, I don't see this as being a big issue since the exam laptops only have one screen and since EWP forces focus they're not going to be using any other software as they write. But the behaviour appears consistently repeatable for me.

[ass17]

If set to A4 width it doesn't appear to be displaying correctly. On my widescreen monitor it is really thin and on my smaller monitor it sticks to the right hand side.

If I set it to full page width the bar at the bottom doesn't display at all.

 

 

On a really wide screen it will look thin but prints perfectly for A4. See image below.

 

In terms of the smaller screen do you know what screen resolution you were running at? So I can test it further :-)

[ass17]

Just tried it again, repeated behaviour.

 

ExamWritePad loads up fullscreen on the primary monitor, I put in bogus details and type a sentence or two and do not save the document. I then switch to Chrome on my 2nd screen and kill time until the 60s are up. I can see in the taskbar that the first Autosave prompt has appeared as it creates its own icon, and it shows up in the Alt+Tab switching, but it'll never bring the prompt to the front. I can alt-tab to it and then use the keyboard to accept and save my document, or cancel.

 

Like I say though, I don't see this as being a big issue since the exam laptops only have one screen and since EWP forces focus they're not going to be using any other software as they write. But the behaviour appears consistently repeatable for me.

 

I would like to fix this, leave it with me :-)

[jessica]

Thanks, the wide screen is only for testing. The smaller screen is 1280 x 1024

[ass17]

Just tried it again, repeated behaviour.

 

ExamWritePad loads up fullscreen on the primary monitor, I put in bogus details and type a sentence or two and do not save the document. I then switch to Chrome on my 2nd screen and kill time until the 60s are up. I can see in the taskbar that the first Autosave prompt has appeared as it creates its own icon, and it shows up in the Alt+Tab switching, but it'll never bring the prompt to the front. I can alt-tab to it and then use the keyboard to accept and save my document, or cancel.

 

Like I say though, I don't see this as being a big issue since the exam laptops only have one screen and since EWP forces focus they're not going to be using any other software as they write. But the behaviour appears consistently repeatable for me.

 

This is now fixed :-)

[ass17]

Thanks, the wide screen is only for testing. The smaller screen is 1280 x 1024

 

 

OK i have it, the screen resolution is based on Primary screen resolution, secondary screens are not take into account.

 

I will see if I can get EWP to detect which screen it is on and set the parameters accordingly....

 

Thanks

[ass17]

Thanks, the wide screen is only for testing. The smaller screen is 1280 x 1024

 

This is now fixed for multiple monitor setups, will be released in new version tomorrow.

[ass17]

Hi Folks,

 

New version below for those few little fixes as of yesterday..

 

Inclusive of 2.1 are also the fixes below

 

2.1.0.3

Fixed - EWP can be run on multiple monitor setups with the correct screen dimensions, before it was using only the primary monitor resolution.

 

2.1.0.2

Fixed - "DoubleLineSpacingAtStartup" was incorrectly labelled as "DoubleLineSpaceAtStartup" so option never got applied.

 

2.1.0.1

Fixed - AutoSave prompt was sitting behind existing window on multiple monitor setups.

 

 

Download Now

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1uNpfjtxdFjnnwX8nakRmuMM0C7jbUSSe

 

 

Enjoy :-)

[RLR]

I've just started testing the new version and the Exit Passcode box is sitting behind the ExamWritePad software so I can't enter the passcode. I can press alt + tab to try switch but it always goes behind the software.