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Old 10-18-2017, 03:42 AM   #1
emarsk
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Default Please make all Reaper windows regular windows

By "regular" windows I mean manipulable as any other full-fledged windows (is there a specific name for that?).
It's already like that on MacOS (or at least on the OSX 10.7 I have at hands to test this), but it's not so on Windows 10.
Here are some basic interactions that are currently missing from any non-main window (mixer, video, fx, etc…) on Windows 10:
  • alt-tab
  • minimise
  • bring to another virtual desktop

I would find bringing windows to different desktops especially useful: I'd often like to have the editor in a desktop, the mixer in another one, a bunch of metering plugin windows in a third one…


PS: I found another old thread requesting a similar thing for the mixer. I think it would be a better idea to make the feature more general and applicable to any Reaper window.
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Old 10-18-2017, 10:03 AM   #2
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absolutely agree.
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mccrabney scripts: MIDI edits from the Arrange screen ala jjos/MPC sequencer
|sis - - - anacru| isn't what we performed: pls no extra noteons in loop recording
| - - - - - anacru|sis <==this is what we actually performed.
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Old 10-18-2017, 11:00 AM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by emarsk View Post
By "regular" windows I mean manipulable as any other full-fledged windows (is there a specific name for that?).
For a window being in the Alt-Tab list it usually means it's an application window (I may forget something but generally it should be so). Windows manages them. I don't know anything about MacOS but on Windows there used to be another "regular" type of window -- a document window -- with its own set of rules and shortcuts. So there were Alt-Tab, Alt-Space, Alt-F4 for applications and Ctrl-F6, Alt-minus, Ctrl-F4 for documents. Some application still respect this agreement.

Now, an application does not have to use all or any of the system window behavior. In fact, an application could be a far better manager for its own windows. So I wouldn't make the request literally as Emarsk put it. (In fact, I don't want all of the Reaper windows in the Alt-Tab list.) I'd request functions and features and leave up to the developers how to implement them.

My biggest gripe about Reaper windows is inconsistency. Routing and Track FX windows disappear on their own, Item properties doesn't. A window list (Windows submenu on the main menu) would be really useful to me, along with consistent shortcuts to switch between them. For example, I use the SWS Focus next window action a lot. Render dialog isn't modal but as soon as the action hits it it does not go any further. Also, I can't seem to make a resizable arranger window.

Is there a "windows requests" thread? I'll gladly sum up my wishes there.
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Old 10-18-2017, 11:05 AM   #4
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Don't forget this option as it may help 'some' but probably not for this specific issue...

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Old 10-18-2017, 11:10 AM   #5
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Don't forget this option as it may help 'some' but probably not for this specific issue...
It certainly helps me! Thanks a bunch. Didn't know this was possible. I've been manually resizing the MIDI editing window for years.
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Old 10-18-2017, 11:14 AM   #6
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-1. I don't want my alt+tab list cluttered with lots of Reaper windows at all.
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Old 10-18-2017, 12:19 PM   #7
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-1. I don't want my alt+tab list cluttered with lots of Reaper windows at all.
I don't see that here on Windows 7, Reaper is still shown as just one item in Alt-Tab. What OS you using?
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Old 10-18-2017, 12:27 PM   #8
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/as option, as always ... should that even need to be specified anymore?
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mccrabney scripts: MIDI edits from the Arrange screen ala jjos/MPC sequencer
|sis - - - anacru| isn't what we performed: pls no extra noteons in loop recording
| - - - - - anacru|sis <==this is what we actually performed.
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Old 10-18-2017, 12:30 PM   #9
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Originally Posted by Edgemeal View Post
I don't see that here on Windows 7, Reaper is still shown as just one item in Alt-Tab. What OS you using?
And I want it to stay that way, my -1 pertains to the FR at hand, not how it currently is. W10 here
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Old 10-18-2017, 12:38 PM   #10
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Totally a -1 on this.
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Old 10-18-2017, 12:39 PM   #11
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ugh. "-1 on things that don't necessarily impede my workflow"

classy
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|sis - - - anacru| isn't what we performed: pls no extra noteons in loop recording
| - - - - - anacru|sis <==this is what we actually performed.
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Old 10-18-2017, 12:45 PM   #12
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And I want it to stay that way, my -1 pertains to the FR at hand
Sorry was confused.
-1
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Old 10-18-2017, 01:33 PM   #13
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Quote:
(is there a specific name for that?).
As far as I know that's called an "Application" so I don't think it is possible to put window A from application A into one virtual desktop and window B from application A into another desktop - wouldn't be reaper specific unless it fired up secondary processes (that being said you could probably put a bridged plugin over there but is asking for trouble).

Nor can you treat those windows differently in the way you want because the difference is the process, not the window itself. don't have time to test right now but if my thinking isn't wrong, what you are asking is per process not per window "in" a process.
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Old 10-18-2017, 03:12 PM   #14
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alt tab midi editor / arrange screen... please don't forget / ignore the vast majority of users who aren't using multiple monitors

and shit, /fr, if you are going to be preferring those who use multiple monitors, give them a better option for opening their projects on single monitor situations

i have spent a lot of frustrating time converting previously multimonitor projects into something that isn't hateful on single monitor usages

use case: a fatcat has like, 3 monitors at home (laptop monitor, hdmi output, and plugable usb->~monitor output) but then goes to play live on 1 laptop monitor -- their window assignments get absolutely fucked...

this is why i have abandoned using REAPER on a multimonitor setup and only use my laptop's LCD. even though i have ample monitors laying unused.
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mccrabney scripts: MIDI edits from the Arrange screen ala jjos/MPC sequencer
|sis - - - anacru| isn't what we performed: pls no extra noteons in loop recording
| - - - - - anacru|sis <==this is what we actually performed.
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Old 10-18-2017, 04:16 PM   #15
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Originally Posted by mccrabney View Post
alt tab midi editor / arrange screen... please don't forget / ignore the vast majority of users who aren't using multiple monitors
.
The use cases are perfectly valid but Alt-tab relies on top-level window per process and there can be only 1 top-level window per process. I'd call it a given that cockos isn't going to intercept that call via OS hook.
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Old 10-18-2017, 04:23 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mccrabney View Post
i have spent a lot of frustrating time converting previously multimonitor projects into something that isn't hateful on single monitor usages
I have separate screensets for multi-monitor vs single-monitor usage. In single-monitor screenset there's a greater reliance of toggling different windows (which are all mostly linked to Alt+letter kind of shortcuts, but I have the most often used ones in the default toolbar above the TCP), in multi-monitor setup, I have most often used things organized in several dockers, with tabs.
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Old 10-18-2017, 04:52 PM   #17
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yeah and how often are you switching between using those projects at home with your multiple monitors vs opening them live onstage with one laptop lcd? screensets are a bandaid without reaper detecting how many monitors are being used

i only use one monitor now due to a legacy of insufficient variable monitor handling, and still when i open ancient projects i get weird Windows opening in unexpected places
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mccrabney scripts: MIDI edits from the Arrange screen ala jjos/MPC sequencer
|sis - - - anacru| isn't what we performed: pls no extra noteons in loop recording
| - - - - - anacru|sis <==this is what we actually performed.
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Old 10-18-2017, 05:27 PM   #18
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you know what's faster than screensets etc? "winkey +/- (left/right/etc)" as per Windows os protocol since 7

i would hope for the same AS OPTION FFS for the myriad reaper screens
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mccrabney scripts: MIDI edits from the Arrange screen ala jjos/MPC sequencer
|sis - - - anacru| isn't what we performed: pls no extra noteons in loop recording
| - - - - - anacru|sis <==this is what we actually performed.
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Old 10-19-2017, 09:29 AM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by karbomusic View Post
As far as I know that's called an "Application" so I don't think it is possible to put window A from application A into one virtual desktop and window B from application A into another desktop - wouldn't be reaper specific unless it fired up secondary processes (that being said you could probably put a bridged plugin over there but is asking for trouble).

Nor can you treat those windows differently in the way you want because the difference is the process, not the window itself. don't have time to test right now but if my thinking isn't wrong, what you are asking is per process not per window "in" a process.
Tracktion T6 does that: I can open a plugin window and bring it on another desktop, and it shows in the Alt-Tab list as well.
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Old 10-19-2017, 09:35 AM   #20
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Originally Posted by emarsk View Post
Tracktion T6 does that: I can open a plugin window and bring it on another desktop, and it shows in the Alt-Tab list as well.
I'm curious if it is bridged then since bridging is actually a separate process (with a 'bridge' between the two) - That's why I made the brief mention that it would likely work in Reaper if you told it to always bridge plugins - I wouldn't bridge just for that convenience since it incurs a small CPU hit though.
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Old 10-19-2017, 11:38 AM   #21
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I checked the free versions of Studio One and Podium: Tracktion seems to be the only one implementing this.
Coming from many years of Linux, working in a single desktop feels extremely claustrophobic.

I also checked Chrome, just out of curiosity: browser windows are "first-class citizens" (alt-tab-able and movable) and dialog windows like the "open" dialog are not, of course; but I found interesting that the developer tools (ctrl-shift-c) can be docked or windowed, and when windowed it's in a first-class window.
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Old 10-19-2017, 11:45 AM   #22
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Quote:
Originally Posted by emarsk View Post

I also checked Chrome, just out of curiosity: browser windows are "first-class citizens" (alt-tab-able and movable) and dialog windows like the "open" dialog are not, of course; but I found interesting that the developer tools (ctrl-shift-c) can be docked or windowed, and when windowed it's in a first-class window.
Just an FYI... That's because almost all browsers at this point spawn separate processes for separate windows (instead of one process w/multiple windows) - some browsers it for tabs even (some of that is for security reasons). In windows, only one window in the process can be first-class which is the one with the lowest z-order.
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Old 01-28-2024, 08:14 PM   #23
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I sort of give a +1 to this as I'd like to use a second virtual desktop for some Reaper windows - screensets are nice but desktop switching is slightly nicer (for example, plugins in a separate screenset can take a moment to load).

At the same time I agree it would be annoying to have it clutter the alt-tab view.

What would be nicer is if Windows would just let us move sub-windows between virtual desktops in much the same as we can drag them between multiple real monitors.
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Old 01-29-2024, 03:56 AM   #24
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Iconizing or moving plugin windows out of the way without having to close them altogether would be wonderful. <3

+1
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