Some Eclipse Finder dialog box problems

[don]

Windows version 1.3.1 pre9.

Some Eclipse Finder dialog box problems.

* This dialog box works ONLY when you are positioned within one light year of the object you want to use. Which means if you are somewhere else, you must first select an object in our solar system and goto it.

* I just tried several "moon" (Pan) / "Saturn" events only to have the moon fill up the display and not show any eclipse (bad positioning?). When you Close the dialog after selecting an event, you may need to adjust the view in order to clearly see the eclipse because Celestia appears to not always position the camera to the best viewing angle. Using "*" helps in this process.

* If you open this dialog box with an object currently selected, the object remains selected, even though the display shows another object and the lower right hand text shows two other objects.

* Double-clicking a listed event does NOT perform the "default action" (highlighted button: Compute). Rather, it performs the "Set Date and Go to Planet" button action, which is the correct action, but the wrong button is highlighted.

* After selecting an event, you then try to go to some other star, Celestia displays an error in the star information, does not go to the star, and becomes unstable to the point where nothing works. You have to exit and restart.

* If the list displays "none" and you select that event, Celestia causes a GPF (hard program crash).

* With the dialog box open, you can select the main Celestia window and do anything you want.

[JackHiggins]

* I just tried several "moon" (Pan) / "Saturn" events only to have the moon fill up the display and not show any eclipse (bad positioning?). When you Close the dialog after selecting an event, you may need to adjust the view in order to clearly see the eclipse because Celestia appears to not always position the camera to the best viewing angle. Using "*" helps in this process.

Pan is like 10km in diameter- it's TINY!!! Only titan, iapetus and tethys (I think) are actually capable of casting noticable shadows onto saturn. Also pan (and any other object with a cms/3ds mesh) cannot yet cast shadows because of their non-spherical shape.

* With the dialog box open, you can select the main Celestia window and do anything you want.

Same with "go to", "star browser" etc- but that's handy...!!

[don]

Pan is like 10km in diameter- it's TINY!!! Only titan, iapetus and tethys (I think) are actually capable of casting noticable shadows onto saturn.

This is the other way around. I am looking at Pan, with Saturn behind me and Sol behind Saturn. Saturn is supposed to eclipse Sol onto Pan, which should be fairly easy to see <smile>.

* With the dialog box open, you can select the main Celestia window and do anything you want.

Same with "go to", "star browser" etc- but that's handy...!!

I mention it merely because it is not standard "Windows" dialog box behavior and could create problems.

[chris]

Pan is like 10km in diameter- it's TINY!!! Only titan, iapetus and tethys (I think) are actually capable of casting noticable shadows onto saturn.

This is the other way around. I am looking at Pan, with Saturn behind me and Sol behind Saturn. Saturn is supposed to eclipse Sol onto Pan, which should be fairly easy to see <smile>.

Eclipses where either the occluding or occluded body are irregular don't work yet . . . Something for me to take care of in a future release.

* With the dialog box open, you can select the main Celestia window and do anything you want.

Same with "go to", "star browser" etc- but that's handy...!!

I mention it merely because it is not standard "Windows" dialog box behavior and could create problems.

The dialog boxes are modeless--there's nothing at all nonstandard about it. In fact, it would be nonstandard (and counter to most UI guidelines) if these dialog boxes were modal.

--Chris

[don]

Eclipses where either the occluding or occluded body are irregular don't work yet . . . Something for me to take care of in a future release.

Ahhh, thanks Chris.

The dialog boxes are modeless--there's nothing at all nonstandard about it. In fact, it would be nonstandard (and counter to most UI guidelines) if these dialog boxes were modal.

Very interesting. I've been using Windows since version 1.0, have used hundreds of Windows programs, and don't recall a single one allowing me to access the main program window when a "dialog box" is open. Toolbars, Palettes, etc. are a different story. Must just be my choice of programs <smile>.

-Don G.