3DS Max submitter dialog focus issue

Deadline
1

We have a big problem where the deadline submitter dialog somehow messes up the window focus for deadline.
If the submitter is open, the vray VFB keeps losing focus and can sometimes be very hard to get back. You have to do a bunch of alt tab shenanigans to get it back.

If the submitter is closed, everything works normally.

This has been happening for a while since deadline 5 on 2011

now using deadline 6.1 on 2014

R

2

Hello,

You mentioned this was a big back in Deadline 5. Was this a reported bug? I might need to check our bug tracker on this one.

3

Can you clarify with step by step description what you are doing and what you are getting?
WHEN exactly does the VFB lose focus? Or do you mean it closes and disappears when during a submission and you cannot get it back?

4

Sorry, have been away for a few days.
repro is pretty simple:

1: Open the submitter.
2: start a render in Vray with the Vray VFB turned on (using F9 key)
3: The vfb opens for a millisec then disappears below Max.
4: the only way to get it to come back in focus is to alt+tab to another application then back again.
5: When it comes back, I can click on the VFB ok, but if I open a child window of the VFB such as the history menu, it disappears again, and I need to alt+tab x 2 to get it back.

This only happens when the submitter is open.

It happens on most of our machines here. All windows 7-64
Vray 2.x
Max 2014

5

There appears to be a (not very well known) problem with toolstips and dotNet controls. Mike Owen made me aware of it, and it seems to plague other dialogs and other scripts, too.

I will investigate whether disabling tooltips in SMTD would fix this.

The most obvious place to start is the line

SMTD_MainRollout.dn_tabs.showTooltips = true

in the file “SubmitMaxToDeadline.ms” located in the Repository\Submission\3dsmax\Main
You could also try remarking it with – and testing if it solves the problem.

6

Yep, commenting out that line or setting it to = False, fixes it for me in Max2014/2013 + VRay 2.3 / 2.4. :slight_smile:
Maybe just live without tooltips for the tabs or query if current renderer == VRay then disable tooltips?
or work out why the hell .NET tabControl tooltips conflicts with Vlado’s .NET VFB form?!

7

I don’t think the tooltips on the tabs are mega-important. I added them for new users, but existing users know pretty well what’s where. So I think it is OK to just disable them for the next build…

8

Thanks guys! Great to finally have a solution. I should have posted about this ages ago. :slight_smile:

R