Odd behaviour of Calibre in Windows 7

[bmeddings]

Yesterday (April 11/2010) I was using Calibre 0.6.47 on my Windows 7 computer. Calibre was in windowed mode when the window suddenly widened in the left to right direction. Effectively the width of the window was now about three screen widths wide. Screen resolution was 1280 x 960 but changing this to 1856 x1392, then 1024 x 768 and finally back to 1280 x 960 did not alter the huge window width. I could move the window around the screen, I could resize the window in either vertical direction, but I was unable to pull in either the left or right sides with the mouse. Using the resize arrows at the four corners only changed the vertical dimensions, not the horizontal. Tried a couple of other programs, e.g WORD but those all behaved normally in windowed mode.

Finally uninstalled Calibre and re-installed. Initially the window was of normal size. But as I continued to work with Calibre the window size gradually widened, left to right until it was more than one screen width wide. I was not particularly paying attention but I now think the window may have been widening every time the GUI changed sizes. I was going through a library of about 800 books altering, removing and adding tags on a per-book basis.

Again, I finally uninstalled and re-installed Calibre. Window size is now back to normal and has remained so.....but I haven't been changing tags today.

Has anyone got any ideas about what may have caused this ?
Any suggestions that it may be related to user incompetence or excessive age would be acceptable although the latter is not alterable.

All suggestions welcome.

Basil

[Zipr]

Yes, I had the same thing after upgrading to the latest version. I uninstalled and reinstalled but the problem persisted. I had to go into the config directory and delete one of the settings file. Sorry, I'm not at home to check it but the file had "gui" in it's name. You can locate the config directory through one of the buttons in Calibre's preferences section. Again, Calibre is not in front of me but I think it was in the Advanced section.

For some reason, after the upgrade, that file got corrupted or something. I had the exact same sympton as you did.

For safety's sake, I made a backup of that entire folder before I started deleting files. I suggest you do the same.

Now that I see it wasn't just me, I opened a bug ticket on it.

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by Zipr

after the upgrade, that file got corrupted or something.

Did you shut down Calibre completely before the upgrade? By default, Calibre leaves processes running when you close the library interface.

[Zipr]

Originally Posted by Starson17

Did you shut down Calibre completely before the upgrade? By default, Calibre leaves processes running when you close the library interface.

I always close using the standard red X button on the window interface. That's the way I've always done it before an upgrade. And, I've never noticed any Calibre related process running after closing the gui. I don't have mine setup as a server.

In any case, I can't see how the gui config file would be corrupted when the gui has been closed. Heck, maybe I did do something wrong, that's why I didn't post the problem myself. I thought it was just a fluke or something I did. But, now I see someone else report the exact same problem after 6.47 came out. I'm also on Windows 7 x64, but, I'm not sure that's a factor.

[kovidgoyal]

Its not a problem with the config file, its a bug related to having long search expressions. Will be fixed in the next release.

[Zipr]

Okay. But, I don't have any search expression longer than "format:epub and not format:lrf" and deleting the gui config file was the only thing that worked for me.

[kovidgoyal]

deleting the config file deletes the search history as well.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by Starson17

Did you shut down Calibre completely before the upgrade? By default, Calibre leaves processes running when you close the library interface.

Not that it matters but IIRC, by default, closing the Calibre window shuts down all processes. You have to select enable system tray icon and restart Calibre for the closed window to shrink down and remain running in the system tray.

I have had this selected for so long that the default install setting may have changed since I last did a completely clean install.

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by dwanthny

I have had this selected for so long that the default install setting may have changed since I last did a completely clean install.

I've had this selected so long, I thought it was the default

[kovidgoyal]

It used to be the default but I changed it to not have a system tray icon around 0.6.17 as a lot of new users get freaked out when closing the main windows doesn't sut down the application...apparently that behavior is not so common.

[bmeddings]

Thanks to everyone and my apologies for not replying sooner, I was just "busy" with other things and didn't login to Mobileread.

It's a relief to know it wasn't my fault.....as it so often is <Grin>
I'll cheerfully wait for the next release.