Horror Story With Zombie Windows

Hi all,

        I have a small problem with my VW7.4. I wrote a simple application  
which is a subclass of HotDraw.Drawing Editor. When I open a  
previously saved image, I get many such application windows appear  
which were not there when I saved the image. They look like some  
zombie windows with which there is no interaction possible, and  
unfortunately for which the close button does not work. I suspect  
they are residues of windows I once closed but for some strange  
reason stayed around and showed up next time I opened the image.  
Moreover, if I look in the ProcessMonitor->Windows tab they are not  
listed there.

        Has anybody seen this problem before? What to do to close these  
windows?

Thanks,
Mircea.

You could try:
WindowManager allInstancesDo: [:wm | wm purgeDeadWindows].
ScheduledWindow purgeInvalidWindows.

2006/6/8, Mircea Lungu <[hidden email]>:

Hi Rob,

        Thanks for the prompt response. Unfortunately your code did not kill  
them but fortunately it gave me an idea :) I found out that my  
windows had NullWindowManagers (actually I am not sure that it was  
not me to remove them from their managers while hacking through the  
image for them... ) and what I ended up doing was closing all the  
windows that have a NullManager manager.

        (Screen default stackedWindows
                select: [ :w | w windowManager isKindOf: NullWindowManager])
                        do: [ :w | w close]

Have a nice day,
Mircea.



On Jun 8, 2006, at 11:30 AM, Rob Vens wrote:

Rob Vens wrote:
> You could try:
> WindowManager allInstancesDo: [:wm | wm purgeDeadWindows].
> ScheduledWindow purgeInvalidWindows.
Hi,

we have similar problem but with GF/ST related windows instead of HotDraw
ones. Unfortunately the code above deals with consequences. I would prefer
to hear the cause of this - any ideas/clues/hints?

Thanks,

Ladislav Lenart

Mircea

Zombie windows can occur for a few reasons. One of them
is a bug in the WindowManager. The attached fileIn should
fix that bug.

However, the other reasons are usually related to development
activity and debugging actions that leave the window or one
of its components in an indeterminate state. When this happens
you may need manually clean up the window, its controller,
or its window manager. If the window is mapped, i.e. it has
a handle, then do 'controller closeAndUnschedule'. If the
window is not mapped you will have to mess around with the
window manager or the ScheduledWindows collection. Others
have already sent messages showing how do to this.

Terry
 
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Terry Raymond       Smalltalk Professional Debug Package
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