Font changes on form...?

[Kenneth]

Howdy,

I thought that I was losing my mind, but...

A few minutes ago, I launched P9, and opened a form that I
use every working day.

I saw immediately that it was displaying with a font in many
fields that was different from the font specified in the
design of the form.

I then launched the form on another system, and it looked
fine.

The font that was supposed to display was Arial, but on the
machine with the problem it displayed with Courier New.

Next, I opened Microsoft Word to see if I could type
something using Arial, and indeed, I could.

Back in Paradox, I looked at the properties of the form,
and, as it should, it showed the font as Arial.

When I ran the form after looking at the properties, it
appeared as it should. And, with that, I thought the problem
solved...

But, about an hour later, it happened again.

I found that by relaunching Paradox, I could get the proper
font, but this does seem rather weird.

Might have any suggestions about what could cause such a
thing?

Many thanks,

[Liz McGuire]

How many fonts are installed on the computer? Installed any new fonts or
applications (which frequently install fonts without telling you) lately?

When was the last time you power cycled this computer?

Liz

Post by Kenneth
Howdy,
I thought that I was losing my mind, but...
A few minutes ago, I launched P9, and opened a form that I
use every working day.
I saw immediately that it was displaying with a font in many
fields that was different from the font specified in the
design of the form.
I then launched the form on another system, and it looked
fine.
The font that was supposed to display was Arial, but on the
machine with the problem it displayed with Courier New.
Next, I opened Microsoft Word to see if I could type
something using Arial, and indeed, I could.
Back in Paradox, I looked at the properties of the form,
and, as it should, it showed the font as Arial.
When I ran the form after looking at the properties, it
appeared as it should. And, with that, I thought the problem
solved...
But, about an hour later, it happened again.
I found that by relaunching Paradox, I could get the proper
font, but this does seem rather weird.
Might have any suggestions about what could cause such a
thing?
Many thanks,
--
Kenneth
If you email... Please remove the "SPAMLESS."

[Kenneth]

On 18 May 2009 16:29:35 -0400, "Liz McGuire"

Post by Liz McGuire
How many fonts are installed on the computer? Installed any new fonts or
applications (which frequently install fonts without telling you) lately?

~400

Post by Liz McGuire
When was the last time you power cycled this computer?

Today...

(and after the re-boot, the font substitution happened
again...

Thanks for any further thoughts,

[Kenneth]

On Mon, 18 May 2009 16:37:51 -0400, Kenneth

Post by Kenneth
On 18 May 2009 16:29:35 -0400, "Liz McGuire"

Post by Liz McGuire
How many fonts are installed on the computer? Installed any new fonts or
applications (which frequently install fonts without telling you) lately?

~400

Post by Liz McGuire
When was the last time you power cycled this computer?

Today...
(and after the re-boot, the font substitution happened
again...
Thanks for any further thoughts,

Hi again,

I goofed... There are 540 fonts.

[Liz McGuire]

That's too many fonts. Remove some of them. Try to get it down to 300 or
less. It's a registry issue. I don't remember the details, but fewer fonts
is better.

If you're like me and do publishing / poster type stuff and need lots of
fonts, copy the .TTF files into a separate directory and ue a font manager
(I use the Bitstream Font Navigator which came with WPO 8) to install and
uninstall them as needed. I have something like 4000 fonts, all living in
their own separate directory and subdirectories, so having them all installed
isn't an option.

Liz

Post by Kenneth
On 18 May 2009 16:29:35 -0400, "Liz McGuire"

Post by Liz McGuire
How many fonts are installed on the computer? Installed any new fonts or
applications (which frequently install fonts without telling you) lately?

~400

Post by Liz McGuire
When was the last time you power cycled this computer?

Today...
(and after the re-boot, the font substitution happened
again...
Thanks for any further thoughts,
--
Kenneth
If you email... Please remove the "SPAMLESS."

[Kenneth]

On 18 May 2009 17:02:38 -0400, "Liz McGuire"

Post by Liz McGuire
That's too many fonts. Remove some of them. Try to get it down to 300 or
less. It's a registry issue. I don't remember the details, but fewer fonts
is better.
If you're like me and do publishing / poster type stuff and need lots of
fonts, copy the .TTF files into a separate directory and ue a font manager
(I use the Bitstream Font Navigator which came with WPO 8) to install and
uninstall them as needed. I have something like 4000 fonts, all living in
their own separate directory and subdirectories, so having them all installed
isn't an option.
Liz

Many thanks Liz...

I will prune 'em down as you suggest.

All the best,

[Kenneth]

On Mon, 18 May 2009 18:24:22 -0400, Kenneth

Post by Kenneth
On 18 May 2009 17:02:38 -0400, "Liz McGuire"

Post by Liz McGuire
That's too many fonts. Remove some of them. Try to get it down to 300 or
less. It's a registry issue. I don't remember the details, but fewer fonts
is better.
If you're like me and do publishing / poster type stuff and need lots of
fonts, copy the .TTF files into a separate directory and ue a font manager
(I use the Bitstream Font Navigator which came with WPO 8) to install and
uninstall them as needed. I have something like 4000 fonts, all living in
their own separate directory and subdirectories, so having them all installed
isn't an option.
Liz

Many thanks Liz...
I will prune 'em down as you suggest.
All the best,

Hi Liz,

I got a copy of Bitstream Font Navigator, and moved about
100 fonts out of Windows/Fonts into a new folder called
Windows/Fonts-2, but the problem with Paradox remains.

That, of course, raises a few questions:

Would the location of the folder containing the "overflow"
fonts matter? Or, might there be another issue I should
consider?

Many thanks, as before,

[Liz McGuire]

The font problem is fuzzy. It varies from computer to computer. I'm not
sure if RAM matters or if it's strictly a case of how many registry entries
you have total or if the limit is on "font" entries in the registry.

I would knock it down to a hundred or even fifty installed fonts initially
- just because it's easy to take them out and put them back later - and see
if that makes a difference.

Verify, when you do this, that an application like Word or WordPerfect only
shows 50 fonts installed when you drop its font list down. If it still shows
all of them, they're not correctly "uninstalled". Try rebooting, perhaps.

If this doesn't fix the problem, you can put the fonts back (though I still
recommend no more than 300 and fewer if you can get by with fewer). And
we'll have to go back to the drawing board...

Liz

Post by Kenneth
Hi Liz,
I got a copy of Bitstream Font Navigator, and moved about
100 fonts out of Windows/Fonts into a new folder called
Windows/Fonts-2, but the problem with Paradox remains.
Would the location of the folder containing the "overflow"
fonts matter? Or, might there be another issue I should
consider?

[Kenneth]

On 21 May 2009 15:42:21 -0400, "Liz McGuire"

Post by Liz McGuire
The font problem is fuzzy. It varies from computer to computer. I'm not
sure if RAM matters or if it's strictly a case of how many registry entries
you have total or if the limit is on "font" entries in the registry.
I would knock it down to a hundred or even fifty installed fonts initially
- just because it's easy to take them out and put them back later - and see
if that makes a difference.
Verify, when you do this, that an application like Word or WordPerfect only
shows 50 fonts installed when you drop its font list down. If it still shows
all of them, they're not correctly "uninstalled". Try rebooting, perhaps.
If this doesn't fix the problem, you can put the fonts back (though I still
recommend no more than 300 and fewer if you can get by with fewer). And
we'll have to go back to the drawing board...
Liz

Post by Kenneth
Hi Liz,
I got a copy of Bitstream Font Navigator, and moved about
100 fonts out of Windows/Fonts into a new folder called
Windows/Fonts-2, but the problem with Paradox remains.
Would the location of the folder containing the "overflow"
fonts matter? Or, might there be another issue I should
consider?

Hi Liz,

I am currently down to 220 (and yes, the dropdown in Word
shows the trimmed down list), and could certainly pull more
out for the sake of experimentation but...

I don't think that this is a "number of fonts" issue.

That's because I just realized started having the problem
about a week after restoring a months old image of this
system. When running the system at the time that this image
was created, I never had the problem I have described. The
image had about 400 fonts by the way.

So, in effect, I went from a 400 font system with no problem
to a 220 font system with the problem...

Removing more of the fonts is certainly easy enough, but
based on what I have just added, would you agree that it may
be "drawing board" time?

Many thanks,

[Liz McGuire]

Well, if the problem happened after a system restore, I'd certainly say that
could be the problem. Honestly, I don't know what to do other than to recreate
the form from scratch. Copy and paste the code, but don't copy and paste
objects.

The only other thing I can think of is to reassign the font - change it to
Courier, apply, change it back to Arial, apply, save and test. (If you haven't
already done that.)

FWIW,

Liz

Post by Kenneth
Hi Liz,
I am currently down to 220 (and yes, the dropdown in Word
shows the trimmed down list), and could certainly pull more
out for the sake of experimentation but...
I don't think that this is a "number of fonts" issue.
That's because I just realized started having the problem
about a week after restoring a months old image of this
system. When running the system at the time that this image
was created, I never had the problem I have described. The
image had about 400 fonts by the way.
So, in effect, I went from a 400 font system with no problem
to a 220 font system with the problem...
Removing more of the fonts is certainly easy enough, but
based on what I have just added, would you agree that it may
be "drawing board" time?
Many thanks,
--
Kenneth
If you email... Please remove the "SPAMLESS."

[Kenneth]

On 21 May 2009 17:36:56 -0400, "Liz McGuire"

Post by Liz McGuire
Well, if the problem happened after a system restore, I'd certainly say that
could be the problem. Honestly, I don't know what to do other than to recreate
the form from scratch. Copy and paste the code, but don't copy and paste
objects.
The only other thing I can think of is to reassign the font - change it to
Courier, apply, change it back to Arial, apply, save and test. (If you haven't
already done that.)
FWIW,
Liz

Hi Liz,

Hmmm... I had not thought of the font "re-assignment" idea,
and will certainly give it a try.

I also had not thought to try restoring another image of the
form itself. I have a ton of 'em available.

I'll experiment further and will report back if anything
exciting happens.

Many thanks, as always,

[Kenneth]

On Thu, 21 May 2009 18:31:20 -0400, Kenneth

Post by Kenneth
On 21 May 2009 17:36:56 -0400, "Liz McGuire"

Post by Liz McGuire
Well, if the problem happened after a system restore, I'd certainly say that
could be the problem. Honestly, I don't know what to do other than to recreate
the form from scratch. Copy and paste the code, but don't copy and paste
objects.
The only other thing I can think of is to reassign the font - change it to
Courier, apply, change it back to Arial, apply, save and test. (If you haven't
already done that.)
FWIW,
Liz

Hi Liz,
Hmmm... I had not thought of the font "re-assignment" idea,
and will certainly give it a try.
I also had not thought to try restoring another image of the
form itself. I have a ton of 'em available.
I'll experiment further and will report back if anything
exciting happens.
Many thanks, as always,

Hi again Liz,

This situation just got a bit more interesting:

I decided to restore a copy of the form that I was using a
few days before the problem started, and the easiest way to
do that was to sit down at our server. (Which, by the way,
runs Win 2000 Pro, and is run peer to peer. It is a "server"
in the sense that it is not used as a workstation.)

The screen looked as it should but when I grabbed the mouse
there was no cursor motion.

It was a USB mouse, so I unplugged it, and set it in again.

Still it could not move the cursor...

Then I discovered that the keyboard was also seemingly
"dead."

So, at that point, I had no way to input to the system, but
it was working, in the sense that it provided access to its
networked drives.

I then powered it down (with the power button because I had
no other option) and when it booted up, I launched Paradox
on the system that was having the font problem.

With that, the fonts were fine...

So, this is still very recent, but as of now, it does appear
that the problem was caused by the server having put itself
into some sort of suspended animation.

I'll know more over the next few days.

All the best,

[Liz McGuire]

Isn't Windows fun? :)

Liz

Post by Kenneth
Hi again Liz,
I decided to restore a copy of the form that I was using a
few days before the problem started, and the easiest way to
do that was to sit down at our server. (Which, by the way,
runs Win 2000 Pro, and is run peer to peer. It is a "server"
in the sense that it is not used as a workstation.)
The screen looked as it should but when I grabbed the mouse
there was no cursor motion.
It was a USB mouse, so I unplugged it, and set it in again.
Still it could not move the cursor...
Then I discovered that the keyboard was also seemingly
"dead."
So, at that point, I had no way to input to the system, but
it was working, in the sense that it provided access to its
networked drives.
I then powered it down (with the power button because I had
no other option) and when it booted up, I launched Paradox
on the system that was having the font problem.
With that, the fonts were fine...
So, this is still very recent, but as of now, it does appear
that the problem was caused by the server having put itself
into some sort of suspended animation.
I'll know more over the next few days.
All the best,

[Kenneth]

On Thu, 21 May 2009 21:24:14 -0600, Liz McGuire

Post by Liz McGuire
Isn't Windows fun? :)
Liz

Hi Liz,

I had been having some trouble with fonts "changing
themselves" in P9.

I thought I had it licked, but the difficulty is back, but
with an additional wrinkle:

Now, then I type into certain fields, the blinking cursor is
not located at the point of text entry. Instead, it "lags
behind" the point of entry, and the more I type, the further
back it lags.




So, suppose I slowly type this line:

"The rain in Spain"

On screen, it starts by looking like this (with the "^"
marking the cursor):

"T"
^

with the cursor "splitting" the single character rather than
just after it.

And if I then continue to type, it would look like this:

"The rain in Spain"
^

and then like this:

"The rain in Spain is mainly on the plain"
^


There is nothing I can do to get the cursor to appear at the
point of entry. But, if I stop typing, and tap the backspace
key, the "lag" decreases until there is only one character
visible. At that point, the cursor appears cutting through
the single character, rather than after is as it should be.
There is some sort of proportionality calculation happening
because the position of the cursor is precisely the same at
each point as I type, and remove characters.

Now, I tend to touch type, but when I do glance at the
screen, this situation is rather difficult.

And, no, I have not seen the problem in any app other than
Paradox, and though we run Paradox on other machines, only
one system has the problem.

Have you ever seen this sort of thing, and might you have
any thoughts about how I might correct it?

Many thanks,

[Dennis Santoro]

Are you using a zoom factor? That sound like a bug with zooms. Check out
Bertil's bug list for more on that.

Denn Santoro
President
Resource Development Associates
http://www.RDAWorldWide.Com
Offices in the United States and Germany
Providing solutions to health care, business, governments and
non-profits since 1982

Post by Kenneth
On Thu, 21 May 2009 21:24:14 -0600, Liz McGuire

Post by Liz McGuire
Isn't Windows fun? :)
Liz

Hi Liz,
I had been having some trouble with fonts "changing
themselves" in P9.
I thought I had it licked, but the difficulty is back, but
Now, then I type into certain fields, the blinking cursor is
not located at the point of text entry. Instead, it "lags
behind" the point of entry, and the more I type, the further
back it lags.
"The rain in Spain"
On screen, it starts by looking like this (with the "^"
"T"
^
with the cursor "splitting" the single character rather than
just after it.
"The rain in Spain"
^
"The rain in Spain is mainly on the plain"
^
There is nothing I can do to get the cursor to appear at the
point of entry. But, if I stop typing, and tap the backspace
key, the "lag" decreases until there is only one character
visible. At that point, the cursor appears cutting through
the single character, rather than after is as it should be.
There is some sort of proportionality calculation happening
because the position of the cursor is precisely the same at
each point as I type, and remove characters.
Now, I tend to touch type, but when I do glance at the
screen, this situation is rather difficult.
And, no, I have not seen the problem in any app other than
Paradox, and though we run Paradox on other machines, only
one system has the problem.
Have you ever seen this sort of thing, and might you have
any thoughts about how I might correct it?
Many thanks,

[Liz McGuire]

You have the zoom level on the form set to something other than 100%. Change
that and you'll be fine. There is no other way to fix it that I've ever
heard.

Liz

Post by Kenneth
Hi Liz,
I had been having some trouble with fonts "changing
themselves" in P9.
I thought I had it licked, but the difficulty is back, but
Now, then I type into certain fields, the blinking cursor is
not located at the point of text entry. Instead, it "lags
behind" the point of entry, and the more I type, the further
back it lags.

[Kenneth]

On 2 Jun 2009 17:45:45 -0400, "Liz McGuire"

Post by Liz McGuire
You have the zoom level on the form set to something other than 100%. Change
that and you'll be fine. There is no other way to fix it that I've ever
heard.
Liz

Post by Kenneth
Hi Liz,
I had been having some trouble with fonts "changing
themselves" in P9.
I thought I had it licked, but the difficulty is back, but
Now, then I type into certain fields, the blinking cursor is
not located at the point of text entry. Instead, it "lags
behind" the point of entry, and the more I type, the further
back it lags.

Hi Liz, and Denn,

I removed any occurrence of the string ..zoom.. but the
problem persisted.

Might you know of any other possibilities?

(Also, I just checked again, and when I run the form on
other machines, I don't have the cursor problem.)

Thanks again,

[Dennis Santoro]

If you are zoomed to 100 % (or no zoom at all and explicitly sized and
you have a display problem then your most likely next candidate is a
video driver problem or a bad font file. But I'd be certain about the
zoom first since it is a known cause of what you describe. Also be
certain that you do not have "Large fonts" or "other" set on your screen
display.

Denn Santoro
President
Resource Development Associates
http://www.RDAWorldWide.Com
Offices in the United States and Germany
Providing solutions to health care, business, governments and
non-profits since 1982

Post by Kenneth
On 2 Jun 2009 17:45:45 -0400, "Liz McGuire"

Post by Liz McGuire
You have the zoom level on the form set to something other than 100%. Change
that and you'll be fine. There is no other way to fix it that I've ever
heard.
Liz

Post by Kenneth
Hi Liz,
I had been having some trouble with fonts "changing
themselves" in P9.
I thought I had it licked, but the difficulty is back, but
Now, then I type into certain fields, the blinking cursor is
not located at the point of text entry. Instead, it "lags
behind" the point of entry, and the more I type, the further
back it lags.

Hi Liz, and Denn,
I removed any occurrence of the string ..zoom.. but the
problem persisted.
Might you know of any other possibilities?
(Also, I just checked again, and when I run the form on
other machines, I don't have the cursor problem.)
Thanks again,

[Kenneth]

On Wed, 03 Jun 2009 09:47:38 -0400, Dennis Santoro

Post by Dennis Santoro
If you are zoomed to 100 % (or no zoom at all and explicitly sized and
you have a display problem then your most likely next candidate is a
video driver problem or a bad font file. But I'd be certain about the
zoom first since it is a known cause of what you describe. Also be
certain that you do not have "Large fonts" or "other" set on your screen
display.

Hi Denn,

The font setting is to "Normal."

And, I have searched the code twice looking for any
occurrence of the string "..zoom.." finding nothing.

I will re-install the video driver, but am also intrigued by
your comment about a "bad font file."

That's because this thread started when I started to see
that on one system, Paradox was "replacing" my chosen font
with Courier New.

In any case, I'll continue to experiment, and very much
appreciate your help,

[Liz McGuire]

I can't explain the other machines part*, but: It's not about a string, it's
a setting. Forms can be displayed at different zoom factors.

From the View menu, choose Zoom (either in design mode or run mode). Ensure
it's set to 100%. From your response, it seems unlikely you're setting it
in code.

* If the zoom setting doesn't fix it, I'd say you have a computer which needs
to be wiped and everything reinstalled. IMO, restores are garbage and just
restore the system to a less stable state.

NOTE: Have you copied the form from a machine that works to the machine that
doesn't, or shared a drive and opened the exact .FDL - so they're really
opening the same form?

Liz

Post by Kenneth
On 2 Jun 2009 17:45:45 -0400, "Liz McGuire"
Hi Liz, and Denn,
I removed any occurrence of the string ..zoom.. but the
problem persisted.
Might you know of any other possibilities?
(Also, I just checked again, and when I run the form on
other machines, I don't have the cursor problem.)

[Kenneth]

On 3 Jun 2009 10:01:13 -0400, "Liz McGuire"

Post by Liz McGuire
I can't explain the other machines part*, but: It's not about a string, it's
a setting. Forms can be displayed at different zoom factors.
From the View menu, choose Zoom (either in design mode or run mode). Ensure
it's set to 100%. From your response, it seems unlikely you're setting it
in code.
* If the zoom setting doesn't fix it, I'd say you have a computer which needs
to be wiped and everything reinstalled. IMO, restores are garbage and just
restore the system to a less stable state.
NOTE: Have you copied the form from a machine that works to the machine that
doesn't, or shared a drive and opened the exact .FDL - so they're really
opening the same form?
Liz

Hi again Liz & Denn,

I believe that I have the thing fixed, but before explaining
that, allow me to ask what you mean "restores are garbage?"

I ask because one of the very few computer related things I
am disciplined about is the generation of regularly
scheduled images, and that is what I used to solve the
problem...

Denn had suggested the possibility of a damaged font, and
the easiest way for me to check that was to restore an image
of the Windows/Fonts folder that I had from about a month
prior to the start of this problem.

I had the problem in Paradox, shut Paradox down, restored
the earlier Fonts folder, re-launched Paradox, and saw that
I no longer had the problem I have described...

Is that the sort of thing you meant when you expressed your
concern about "restores?"

Very sincere thanks to you both for your kind help,

[Liz McGuire]

Post by Kenneth
Hi again Liz & Denn,
I believe that I have the thing fixed, but before explaining
that, allow me to ask what you mean "restores are garbage?"

I don't mean restoring data/files from backup - that's highly valuable.
I mean "restoring" an entire computer back to some saved state. Some methods,
like LANDesk's imager (whatever it's called) which allows you to roll out
a corporate image onto new computers (so long as the hardware is identical)
and Norton Ghost seem to do this well. The methods built into Windows ("System
Restore") and sometimes added on by PC retailers (Dell and Gateway2000 do/did
this), are, IMO, garbage.

Post by Kenneth
Denn had suggested the possibility of a damaged font, and
the easiest way for me to check that was to restore an image
of the Windows/Fonts folder that I had from about a month
prior to the start of this problem.

This sounds to me like restoring files from backup, not "rolling back Windows".
And, IMO, "image" is the wrong term for backups, though programs may well
use it that way.

Just my opinions. Do what works for you.

Liz

[Kenneth]

On 3 Jun 2009 12:02:52 -0400, "Liz McGuire"

Post by Liz McGuire

Post by Kenneth
Hi again Liz & Denn,
I believe that I have the thing fixed, but before explaining
that, allow me to ask what you mean "restores are garbage?"

I don't mean restoring data/files from backup - that's highly valuable.
I mean "restoring" an entire computer back to some saved state. Some methods,
like LANDesk's imager (whatever it's called) which allows you to roll out
a corporate image onto new computers (so long as the hardware is identical)
and Norton Ghost seem to do this well. The methods built into Windows ("System
Restore") and sometimes added on by PC retailers (Dell and Gateway2000 do/did
this), are, IMO, garbage.

Post by Kenneth
Denn had suggested the possibility of a damaged font, and
the easiest way for me to check that was to restore an image
of the Windows/Fonts folder that I had from about a month
prior to the start of this problem.

This sounds to me like restoring files from backup, not "rolling back Windows".
And, IMO, "image" is the wrong term for backups, though programs may well
use it that way.
Just my opinions. Do what works for you.
Liz

Hi Liz,

I really appreciate those comments...

All the best,