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Technical Note 05
The On-Screen Manual Appears Instead of the Program

 
Some users have reported that when they try to run Eminence Designer 1 that all they see is the on-screen manual and they never seem to get to the main program. This indicates two things:

  1. The program's initialization process has not been completed.
  2. The on-screen manual is filling the entire screen or desktop of the computer and covering other windows of the program.

To understand what is happening, we must understand Eminence Designer's initialization process. This process is centered on the program's "Welcome" window.
 

"Welcome" Window
The first time that Eminence Designer is run after being installed, it will display a "Welcome" window. This window gets its name from the "Welcome to..." statement at the top as shown below.

Welcome window

The Welcome window is provided to help the user initialize the program. Once the initialization process is complete, the Welcome window will no longer appear when the program is launched.

The Welcome windows's "Next" button is used to move through the following steps:

  1. Select a default acoustical environment.
  2. Select the way numbers and their units are displayed.
  3. Select "Normal" or "Expert" mode for the driver parameters.
  4. Select the Eminence Designer or "Classical" box models.
  5. Read selected portions of the on-screen manual to learn about the program.

The contents of the Welcome window will change as it advances through each step. Before Step 1 begins, the Welcome window displays the "Welcome" message. Then it will explain its purpose and function. Next, it will describe how to get technical support. Step 1 describes the acoustical environment options and asks for your choice (architectural or automotive). Steps 2-5 follow.

After Step 5 has been completed, a "Finish" button will appear so that the user can conclude the initialization of the program. Step 5 is where the confusion occurs, preventing the user from reaching the "Finish" button. If the "Finish" button is never clicked then the choices made in Steps 1-4 will never be saved and the Welcome window will continue to open each time that Eminence Designer is launched. And, since the purpose of Step 5 is to introduce the user to the on-screen manual, the on-screen manual will also continue to open each time the program is launched.

Let's examine the contents of the Welcome window after Step 4 has been completed:
 

Welcome window

After the box model (designer or classical) has been selected in Step 4 and the "Next" button clicked, the Welcome window will display the message shown above. The second and third paragraphs are important and they state:
"Now its time to open the on-screen manual and learn a few things about the program. When you click on the 'Next>' button the Welcome window will be moved to the side and the on-screen manual will open. Please adjust the position and size of the on-screen manual and/or the Welcome window so that you can see both of them at the same time. (To move the manual, drag it by its title bar. To resize the manual, drag an edge or corner. To move the Welcome window, drag any part of the window. 'Dragging' is accomplished by first positioning the mouse pointer, pressing and holding the left mouse button and moving the mouse in the desired direction. The mouse button is released when the desired position has been reached.)
 
"The Welcome window will continue to provide instructions to guide you through relevant portions of the on-screen manual. You will need to continue to click the 'Next>' button after following the instructions."

An example is shown below:
 

Welcome window (left) and on-screen manual (right)

Notice that the Welcome window was moved to the left edge of the screen and the on-screen manual was opened. This is where the problem occurs. On some computers, the on-screen manual may entirely cover the Welcome window so that it is no longer apparent that it is still open and is still waiting for its "Next" button to be clicked again. This is why the preceding instructions said to move or resize the on-screen manual so that you can continue to see the instructions and buttons of the Welcome window.

If the on-screen manual is not maximized, it can be resized by dragging one of its borders as shown below:
 

Resizing the on-screen manual.

The left edge is about to be dragged in the illustration above. Notice that the mouse pointer changes to a left-right arrow when it is over the left border of the on-screen manual window. If the on-screen manual is maximized, you will need to click the resize button in the upper right portion of its title bar before it can be resized.

Each time you click the "Next" button of the Welcome window, it will introduce you to a different portion of the on-screen manual and provide a brief explanation. The "Finish" button will appear when you finally get to the last topic of the on-screen manual introduction. This is shown below:
 

Welcome window

Clicking the "Finish" button will cause the initialization settings to be saved and the main window of the program will open. In the future, the program's normal title window will open when the program is launched and you will not see the on-screen manual unless you specifically open it with the program's "Help" menu or the F1 key.

 


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