Workspace, Laptop, and External Monitor Problem

[billtheia]

I run VW on a laptop and generally have and external monitor attached. Sometimes, however, I need to run VW on the laptop alone - without the external monitor.

Here's my problem:

I get my workspace all set up for two screens, then I open VW without the external monitor attached and my palettes get all screwed up. So, I fix them. Then, I open VW WITH the external monitor attached. As you might imagine, all of my palettes then need to be rearranged to allow for best use of the second monitor.

I've tried setting up separate workspaces for each condition (with and without external monitor) but if, after working in 2 screen mode, I open VW in single screen mode and change the workspace to single screen, the dual screen workspace is still messed up because VW saves the workspace on exit.

Does anyone else out there suffer from this problem?

Is there some way to choose the appropriate workspace as part of VW start-up so that I don't keep going around and around with this problem?

Any thoughts on this issue would be greatly appreciated.

[VectorGeek]

Not sure how the prefs are stored on VW12/OSX (i.e.: user or workstation based), but maybe could you create separate logins for "single monitor" and "dual-monitor" use? Certainly would work with VW2008 as I believe the prefs etc. are user-based.

V-G.

[Gytis]

I switch daily from single monitor, to dual, and back again. I "suffer" with the re-positioning of palettes, though switch workspaces (as you've done) to at least manage sizes. Best I could come up with. Switching users seems like even a bigger pain.

[Steve Barrett]

I too suffer from this, I would LOVE a solution.

[ccroft]

What happens if you close the file and switch the workspace before detaching the external?

I work on three different workstations, one being a laptop and one being dual screen. Since Vworks on the lap always starts up in it's own workspace, the palettes and drawing window are always the same regardless of the workspace the drawing was created in.

[billtheia]

ccroft, I don't usually know which mode (1 or 2 screen) I'll need next so switching before closing doesn't really help. Using multiple machines, you don't have any problem (as long as you don't change the number of screens that you use) because VW saves the workspace with the session/computer.

I tried opening workspaces from the finder but that didn't work - VW won't "Open" a workspace file.

[ccroft]

ccroft, I don't usually know which mode (1 or 2 screen) I'll need next so switching before closing doesn't really help..

I figured that would be a problem but I was wondering if it worked anyway. For some users under some conditions it might be a viable workabout....if it did the trick. I'm at the lap right now and don't have an external handy to try it.

Charles

[mclaugh]

Do as VectorGeek suggested and use fast user switching to toggle between single- and dual-display mode as necessary.

[billtheia]

Well, I did some messing around and figured out how to solve my problem (wanting to be able to control which workspace is used BEFORE starting VW.)

VW2008 stores a value for the default workspace in a file named VectorWorks Preferences.xml so I created an Automator application that runs a shell script (god bless OS X) to switch values and then open VW.

I created a workspace for my single monitor setup and saved it as "!Single Screen". I then set up a workspace for my dual monitor setup and saved it as "!Dual Screen".

Then, I used Automator to create a routine that runs the following shell script and launches VW.

sed -i.bak 's/\\!Dual/\\!Single/' '/Users/[uSERNAME]/Library/Application Support/VectorWorks/2008/Settings/VectorWorks Preferences.xml'

You'll need to insert your user name for [uSERNAME].

I saved this as an Automator application (so that I can double click to run) named "VW Open Single Screen". I made a similar Automator application to switch !Single to !Dual and named it "VW Open Dual Screen".

Now I just click on the correct Automator application icon to launch VW in single- or dual-screen mode.

I recommend saving a backup copy of your preferences file and doing a fair amount of testing before using the shell script on a "live" file because shell scripts can really run amok if you're not careful.

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like VW 12.5.2 stores workspace in a preference file so this solution won't work for 12 users.

Hope that this helps any of you out there that are "suffering" with this problem.

[Petri]

Very clever, Bill!

The problem with multiple user accounts is that accessing files is slightly inconvenient and permissions are not always correct - as I recently experienced.

[rDesign]

Good tip, Bill! I've been struggling with this as well.

Now if only the document window size were defined by your current User Workspace instead of being saved in the VW document - then you wouldn't have to resize your document window when switching between Workspaces (or between users with different sized monitor). Wish List item?

Thanks,

Tim