Re: Almost dead widgets

[davidf(at)dfanning.com (David Fanning)]

Ben Tupper (tupper@seadas.bigelow.org) writes:

> I have an embarassing problem... I can't seem to sweep this one into the
> dustbin.

I'm looking into how to get this Kill File thingy working on
my news reader. Let's see, "Ben Tupper + problem"...  :-)

> I have a blocking widget application that calls a modal widget
> application.  Carefully planted bugs (not planted by me, of course) in
> the second application crash the application.   I can clean up the
> second (crashed) widget but not the first.  Even the system control
> button with 'QUIT' doesn't quite do it.  It is, as David F describes,
> almost dead but not entirely dead.   So far, my solution involves brute
> force and ignorance, which works but is messy:  I ignore the widget
> carnage until my desktop looks like a checkerboard, then I exit IDL when
> no one can see what I'm doing.   I have never bumped into this before,
> so I'm not sure what I've done to cause this mess.    I'm not even sure
> what info would be helpful to identifiy the problem.  Any suggestions
> greatly appreciated.

Oh, my Gosh. :-(

Do you have access to the IDL command line when everything
goes to hell in a handbasket? If so, have you tried typing
Widget_Control, /Reset? But that "checkerboard" thing makes
me think the window manager is corrupted somehow. I'd try
a .Reset_Session, just for grins, before I reached for that
IDL Quit button, but that may be your own recourse.

But I'm becoming intimately familiar with the Control-Alt-Delete
buttons this morning myself, as I can't figure out where this
infinite loop is coming from. :-(

Cheers,

David
-- 
David Fanning, Ph.D.
Fanning Software Consulting
Phone: 970-221-0438 E-Mail: davidf@dfanning.com
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