Some feedback on FM 2018 beta

[Mark]

Hi Djobydjoba,

Thanks for the report. I wasn't able to reproduce it somehow. Does it happen for you consistently? Can you give me more specifics on what you're doing to cause it? Is there some certain way that you move an investment?

[Djobydjoba]

Hi Mark,

Yes, I've reproduced it in a virtual machine (Windows 7 X64) with a fresh install of FM 2018 (beta 4), a new master portfolio, only one subportolio and 800 investments in it. Then in an investment based graph, menu Investment > Order, check Show Investments from all Portfolios and move some investments through the whole stack with drag and drop only. You have to do some movings for a while and it should end up occurring.

[Mark]

Hi Djobydjoba,

Thanks for the help. I re-created the same situation you describe, with 1,000 investments in a single subportfolio underneath a Master Portfolio. I still wasn't able to get it to happen here. Can you tell me where you are moving the cursor? Are you moving it outside the listbox when it happens, or are you keeping the cursor inside the listbox? Does the problem happen when you are moving and the mouse button is held down, or does it happen when you drop an investment into a new position?

[Djobydjoba]

Hi Mark,

The goal is to reorder the investments, so I click on an investment for example on the top of the list and drag it to, let's say, the middle or bottom of the list. Then I release the cursor, and select another investment and do the same thing: move it at another place in the list. Then I do it again, and again,... and again and... bug.
To be precise, when I have tested in the virtual machine, I have reordered several investments as described with no bug. Then I've closed the "Rearrange Investment Order" window (with OK), reopened it and done another reordering, and this was at this moment the bug occurred.
The bug occurs during an ongoing reordering (scrolling) of an investment, so the mouse button is held down. Suddenly horizontal lines appear in the list: this is it.
When I drag an investment, the cursor can be outside the listbox, because maximum speed of scrolling is wanted. But the bug occurs too with moderate speed, after several investments have been moved (I would say less than 10).

[Mark]

Hi Djobydjoba,

Thanks again. I'm not sure why, but I'm not able to reproduce this. There must be some other dependency. A further question on this:

The bug occurs during an ongoing reordering (scrolling) of an investment, so the mouse button is held down. Suddenly horizontal lines appear in the list: this is it.

At the moment this happens, is your cursor inside or outside the bounds of the list box? When it is inside, the list will not scroll. Only when you move your cursor outside the bounds of the list box will the list scroll. It sounds like it is happening when the cursor is outside the bounds of the list box, and there is scrolling happening? Is this correct, and is it always happening during the scrolling while the cursor is outside the list box?

[Djobydjoba]

it is happening when the cursor is outside the bounds of the list box, and there is scrolling happening? Is this correct, and is it always happening during the scrolling while the cursor is outside the list box?

Yes, correct.

I have uploaded a video on YT for you to see the bug! I will deleted it after.
You have to play quite a while with the drag and drop in fact.
edit: link to video deleted

[Mark]

Hi Djobydjoba,

Thanks for the video. It looks like the list box itself is getting corrupted, as the labels go blank as you are scrolling. Unfortunately, I still am not able to reproduce this for some unknown reason. I have tried extensively.

I'm wondering if it is specific to your data/settings somehow. Could you try this:

1) Make a bunch of copies of the sample *.dat files that come with FM, so you have around the same number of investment files you are using now.
2) Create a new portfolio file with these *.dat files, and not your existing ones. Can you reproduce the problem with the sample files? If so, can you do a "File / Backup..." and email me this *.FMB file, so I can restore, and use your same settings/files?

[Djobydjoba]

Hi Mark,

I've done as you said: copied 90 times the investments samples files to create more than 1000 investments, created a new portfolio and opened them in it. And yes the bug is here too. Strange you can't reproduce it. What I do to reproduce it: I move 4 or 5 investments in the stack (big movements), then close the reorder window with OK. Then reopen it, move 4 or 5 investments, then close it. If you do that 6 or 7 times you should be able to reproduce it??
I'm Ok to send you a backup, but it's a fresh install, new portfolio, so... Tell me If you can't reproduce with the method above, I will send you the backup. Currently I can't backup the portfolio I haven't saved, because the program is down.

[Mark]

Hi Djobydjoba,

I've seen you cause this problem in the video, and believe I am doing as you did, and are describing, but I cannot reproduce it. It might be worth trying using a backup you create. I somehow suspect it is more related to the computing/windows environment though. On that YT video I could see the list box item labels stop drawing at the same time those lines start appearing. It appears the list box control may be running into a resource issue. You mentioned you are running it on a virtual machine. How are you doing this exactly? Do you have a regular Windows machine that you've reproduced this on?

[Djobydjoba]

Hi Mark,

Yes, the bug has occured first on my regular computer (Windows 7 family x64 french, 8GB RAM). Then I've reproduced it on a virtualized OS (using VirtualBox, Win 7 Pro X64 french 3 GB RAM as guest OS).
Here's a link to the backup file: edit: link deleted
Anyway, this bug is not an issue for me (at least anymore). The whole stack of my investments is ordered now, and this bug occured only when I've played too much with the order. I guess I will not change as much the order in the future. But you might be interested with the info, even if you can't reproduce (and so can't fix) it.

[Djobydjoba]

Hi Mark,

In the kinds of improbable little bugs, in the Portfolio Editor, when the right part is entirely populated with investments, the scroll bar appears on the right of the window, but the little arrow at the bottom of the bar, to scroll down, doesn't work. At least when the program is maximized. More info to help reproducing (I don't know if it's useful to know): I have many columns displayed, so the horizontal scroll bar is displayed too (arrows of the horizontal scrollbar are OK).

[Mark]

Hi Djobydjoba,

On the "Investment Order" bug... Thanks for the FMB file. I used it to restore, and attempt to reproduce the bug, but still cannot. I think for now we can just keep an eye out for this, in case I am able to somehow reproduce it in the future.

I will also take a look at the Portfolio Editor bug you reported, and post back later on that...

[Mark]

Hi Djobydjoba,

I have seen this Portfolio Editor scroll bar bug too. It can be a bit tricky to reproduce, and I believe it happens only when the totals section is shown. If you turn off "Options / General Preferences... / Portfolio Editor Display / Show Totals in List View" I suspect it will work properly. I just reproduced it for a minute, where the down arrow would not respond, but then I couldn't make it happen again. We'll need to spend some more time to track this one down.

[Djobydjoba]

Hi Mark,

FYI, the bug described here (viewtopic.php?p=17367#p17367) and in the posts that follow still exists after these years. I can only drag up to 6-8 investments from the top to the middle of the list, then the program hangs. I have to completely close an restart it, then I can do more 6-8 investment moves before it hangs again. It looks like an overflow, a memory leak (I'm not an expert).
I've another desktop computer since (new hardware and Windows 10 instead of Windows 7). But I'm sure it doesn't depend on the computer anyway, because reproduced in a virtual machine, and on a laptop.

When the horizontal lines appear this means the bug is underway. Animated screenshot:
https://i.ibb.co/NSpVj2S/Bug-Reorder-Investments.gif

Thankfully it is then still possible to achieve the current ordering, to click on OK to close the dialog and to save the portfolio, even if the program GUI is then completely crashed (ie. it doesn't repaint anything properly).

[Mark]

Hi Djobydjoba,

I had some troubles viewing that GIF. I believe I got the idea though, but it wouldn't download completely for me for some reason.

I tried reproducing this, but wasn't successful. I suspect it has something to do with the number of investments.

1) If you look at the properties of your topmost sub-portfolio, how many open investments do you have?

2) If you use the keyboard or move buttons, can you reproduce this also, or is it specific to drag/drop? For example, if you select the top investment, and hold down Alt+D to move it down rapidly, does the problem happen?