[wthalliii]

Until recently, if I had a song displayed on my Surface Pro 7, I could tap the center of the screen, and it would bring up a menu bar at the bottom and top of the screen where I could do lots of different things - annotations, print, crop, etc. Is this called the "overlay"? This has stopped working recently. Tapping the screen in the center either does nothing or it advances the page, if it's a multi-page document. I looked in the settings for some option for this, but if there is one, I don't see it. I did try changing the overlay option to long press and swipe diagonally, but that didn't help. Touching the screen with my finger or pen work great otherwise. I can bring up the audio player by tapping the bottom of the screen, for instance. And, oddly enough, I have the same version of MobileSheets, 2.9.6, loaded on my Surface Pro 4, and it still does this just fine. BTW, the touch options on both tablets are set to the default.

What have I done to screw this up?

[Geoff Bacon]

I suspect you have put MSP into performance mode (where the overlay is disabled).

Try tapping bottom right and see if the centre icon (a lock) is hi-lighted in orange.
Tap this icon to toggle it off

Geoff

[wthalliii]

Bingo! That's exactly what it was!

Thanks so much!

[Geoff Bacon]

You are not the only one that has been caught by this and you won't be the last.

I have previously suggested than MSP detect when someone is frantically trying to get the overlay screen and that it pops up a dialog asking if it should be reenabled (if someone is pressing the screen "many" times in a "5/10 second period", say,  then they obviously ain't performing!)

Geoff

[wthalliii]

That would be a nice feature.

MSP has so many features, that I am still learning about it, though I have been using it for a number of years.

[Zubersoft]

I'm not sure that just detecting multiple presses in a short period is sufficient. If the user is just tapping several times to turn to the right page before starting, that would then pop up a message that would bother/irritate them. If I allow them to disable it in the future, then they won't be warned about it in a future situation where they may forget. Perhaps I need to add status somewhere on the library screen that makes it more obvious that performance mode is enabled. The problem is that many users don't understand what performance mode is, so even if I say that it's enabled, they may not understand what that means. Perhaps I should pop up the performance mode message just once if they started up the app, it's enabled, and they load a song?

Mike

[Geoff Bacon]

Hi Mike

A message when the user starts up the app would be something (is performance mode remembered between sessions?) but is probably not sufficient e.g. if the user keeps the app open, they won't see any message because the app is already started.

Could you detect multiple presses that would normally trigger the overlay i.e. the centre tap? You could then display an expiring message along the lines of "Overlay mode disabled whilst Performance mode enabled"; that should be enough to jog most memories and/or give the user something to look for in the manual.

Cheers
Geoff

[Skip]

How about display the warning as a quick transparency at the top of the page when each song is loaded in performance mode. I also think the word 'overlay' should be changed to 'edit' or 'management' since that is essentially what is being done [and not 'computerese'].

[Zubersoft]

I could certainly show a small popup from the top or bottom of the screen that says, "Performance mode enabled" when a song or setlist is loaded, but I'd like someone who regularly uses performance mode to provide feedback on whether this would be a welcome change or not. If users rarely turn pages quickly in performance mode, then I can also add code that detects three taps in quick succession and display a popup in that case as well. I'd need to hear some feedback from users that regularly use that mode as to how often they turn pages in quick succession.

Thanks,
Mike

[McAroni]

I personally use that mode, had this too, that I could not enter the overlay, but this happend a few times then you already know what the problem is. For users that by mistake activate that mode this could be helpful

[Geoff Bacon]

A quick popup near the bottom right would probably work (as this is where the "performance mode" is enabled). The user is probably immediately concentrating on the top of the screen so it would be out of the way.

Having said that, detecting the clicks and displaying a quick popup in the middle of the screen would probably be better; when a user has tapped several times it probably mans they want to edit (if they are trying to change pages then they are not interested in this page anyway). I suggest a "disappearing" transparent popup rather than a dialog that requires a response.

I don't think you need both of the above.

As McAroni says, after you have experienced this a few times, you can make a good guess at why you can't get overlay mode. However, beginners tend to select options to "see what they do" and it is quite easy to leave it set because nothing instant happens on the screen. The problem happens later because they don't remember that they have selected this mode.

I agree with Skip that it would be better to say "editing" rather than "overlay" but this might not help the user find the correct place in the manual (for those who might read it!)

Cheers
Geoff

[InstrEd]

Big font type warning user should read this PDF text document on the few quirks of MobileSheets. Also maybe put this up in the forum a read-me file about these topics so users can have a place to point others to look to

I know most don't read the manual, me too at times, but I usually try to find some information before posting a question.

[BRX]

I'd rather not have a warning, pop-up ot touch detection implemented for a mistake a user makes usually only once if at all. 

I could slightly warm up to a popup which turns up only the first time performance mode is activated with a tick box not to show up again.

I still think it would suffice to make a sticky here in the forum with a troubleshoot FAQ with this problem as the first entry. You would save quite some time with just linking to such a FAQ, Mike.

[DonC]

I'd rather not have a warning, pop-up ot touch detection implemented for a mistake a user makes usually only once if at all. 

+1

I see the whole idea of performance mode as to have nothing get in the way of the score during a performance. Please don't water that down.

Don

[Geoff Bacon]

I think that tapping the centre of the screen 5 or 6 times is extremely unlikely to occur in performance mode so that should allay your fears.
Using a transparent, disappearing message should also minimise any impact.
I know I spent several minutes trying to fix this when I encountered it and I've also seen other people experiencing the same problem.

Currently, when toggled, a message is shown at the centre of the screen. Perhaps this would be better placed just above the dialog at the bottom right corner (that is where the user's eyes are focussed). When enabling, a more explicit expanded message could be displayed (and left on the screen for an extra 2 seconds say) so that new users might better understand what the lock symbol is doing. They are then less likely to accidently enable it and, if they did require it, are more likely to understand how to disable it.
Moving/changing the message probably means you don't need tap detection as well.

Geoff