Possible Bug? Or Weird Preference I Can't Find?
Tue, 08/22/2023 - 10:29 am
I'm having some trouble with Legends on graphs. It appears to be computer-specific, but I cannot figure out what I did on the one computer that is causing the issue.
The issue is visible in the attached graph. The legend on the right was made with an Igor install on one computer. The legend on the left was made with the same version of Igor on a different computer. The one on the left is correct, the one on the right is not. Both are Mac. The legend code is identical (I did a copy-paste to verify). It's almost like the symbol weight is wrong.
I have dried dumping the ~/Documents/WaveMetrics folder and still have the issue. I have tried just opening a new file, making two two-point waves, graphing one vs the other, and making a legend. On the affected computer, the legend appears similar to the one on the right, where the symbol isn't visible (default: red line). I've also verified that all the graph-capture preferences are still set to Default, so that's not the issue, though it wouldn't be because again I can make the legend appear correct by using Igor on a different computer.
Ideas?
If you double-click the legend to show the Modify Annotation dialog, does the bad legend have the \s(wavename) tag at the beginning?
August 22, 2023 at 10:47 am - Permalink
They both do; as noted, they are identical.
I hadn't saved the file with the good vs bad after I made the original post. So I re-opened it to respond to you and double-clicked the bad legend to verify what I wrote in the first line. Then I went to make a new legend again. And now in this install on this computer, I can no longer make the "good" legend, they both look bad. Tried quitting, restarting Igor, didn't work. Opened another instance of Igor (I duplicate Igor Pro.app a few times so I can have multiple instances running sometimes), and same issue. So, it's like just looking at Modify Annotation screwed it up on this computer.
August 22, 2023 at 10:54 am - Permalink
Deleted the main Igor Pro 9 folder and dumped ~/Documents/WaveMetrics folder again, problem's still there.
August 22, 2023 at 10:59 am - Permalink
Okay, tried the reverse: had a file where the legend is correct. Opened that. Double-clicked on the annotation. Modified it by just adding a space. Made a new annotation, and it looks correct.
So … immediate issue is solved, BUT, what the heck did I do to get there in the first place and how do I prevent it from happening again? And why did just looking at the bad legend break everything, and then opening a good legend fix it?
August 22, 2023 at 11:26 am - Permalink
I just noticed that the bad legend has rendered the markers on the first three lines incorrectly, too.
You could send the experiment file to support@wavemetrics.com. We might be able to figure it out. No promises, of course.
August 22, 2023 at 03:07 pm - Permalink
Thanks, John. I'll just post it here if that works. In case others want to experience the wondrous joy of "wow, I've never seen that before." (Please forgive a bit of the file's disorganization, it's my student's and they're not quite as OCD-organized as I. The graph in question is on top.)
To reiterate: Open the legend on the right, make a tiny edit to it (like add a space at the end), save the revised legend. Then, any new annotation you make will have bad symbols/lines, even if you make it in a new file or completely dump Igor and start over. Unless there are hidden preferences that I don't know about that I didn't dump. To reverse, open the legend in a previously made file, edit it very slightly, save it, and then the issue is fixed thereafter. Very weird.
August 28, 2023 at 09:43 am - Permalink
In the legend on the right side of the graph, I notice that the Symbol Width of the Symbols tab of the Modify Annotation Dialog is set to 1. If I set it to 0 (auto), everything seems to work as expected in my limited testing.
This dialog setting is saved in the "Igor Pro 9.ini" file in Igor preferences under the keyword "AddAnnotationDialog\legendSymbolWidth".
August 28, 2023 at 02:31 pm - Permalink
In reply to In the legend on the right… by hrodstein
Interesting ... I have no idea how those values were altered. So, that said, where is that preferences file (Mac here)? I don't see it in the Documents/Wavemetrics folder (which I had tried deleting to fix this) nor do I see it in the Applications/Igor Pro [version] Folder/ (which I had tried deleting to fix this), and a search in my ~/Library shows nothing but a crash log for "Wavemetrics" or "Igor".
August 28, 2023 at 03:44 pm - Permalink
Press the shift key and choose Help->Show Igor Preferences Folder. This will display a folder in the Finder, but the "Igor Pro 9.ini" file is up one level.
That said, Igor will automatically change the legendSymbolWidth preference if you manually set the Symbol Width setting to 0 in the Add Annotation or Modify Annotation dialog.
Since 0 is the default value for the legendSymbolWidth preference, if you set the Symbol Width setting to 0, Igor will remove the AddAnnotationDialog\legendSymbolWidth keyword/value pair from the preferences file.
Igor updates the "Igor Pro 9.ini" file when you quit.
August 28, 2023 at 05:15 pm - Permalink
Huh! Who know? And odd that 's Spotlight didn't see it.
August 28, 2023 at 05:33 pm - Permalink