HelpFile issue with Protracker 2.3E

Rednael · 03 January 2019, 10:40

So, I've been doing some composing again on my beloved A500 and I'm using ProTracker 2.3E for that. <3

It comes with a helpfile (PT.help) but PT doesn't seem able to open it. It should have opened when you press the help key from within PT, but instead it gives you the eror: "unable to open helpfile!"
The helpfile itself is not written in a regular multiview-able format, so I'm also not able to open it in an other meaningful way.

Looking at the source-code, it seems to me the PT.help file should reside in the same dir as the executable itself. And it is also provided in that way too (in the .lha file).

So, what can a man do to view the darn helpfile from within PT?
Anyone?

daxb · 03 January 2019, 15:10

You can load the helpfile into any text editor/viewer because it is a text file with a binary(?) header and some control characters.

There shouldn't be a general problem with 2.3E and helpfile loading. PROGDIR: or S: is a good place for the helpfile. Maybe you need to change the current directory (cd) to the place where 2.3E is. You can start SnoopDOS first, then 2.3E and press HELP key. SnoopDOS will show where the helpfile is searched for.

Rednael · 03 January 2019, 23:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by daxb

... You can start SnoopDOS first, then 2.3E and press HELP key. SnoopDOS will show where the helpfile is searched for.

Ah yes, thank you for pointing that out.

So, results: PT2.3E is CD'ing to SYS: at the start of the program. Then it first reads its config file from there. And, after pressing Help, it's also trying to load the PT.help from there.

I've copied the file to SYS: and tadadaa... it works!

Too bad to have both the config- and the helpfile on the SYS: root. A bug to be resolved perhaps.

Rednael · 04 January 2019, 00:30

Ha ha, Ok...

So I found out about the PTDIR config setting in PT2.3E. With that setting you can change the dir that PT tries to find its config- and helpfiles. But there's a chicken-and-egg issue here.

When I configure (in PT) DH1:SomeDir to be my PTDIR, PT actually writes the new config to a file in that folder... but when PT is quit and run again, it changes its default dir back to SYS: and tries to read its config file from SYS:.
If the old config file is pressent there, it reads that one. And if no config file is pressent at SYS:, it simply fails in loading the config, as it can't find its new config. PT can't know what the location of the new config is (PTDIR setting), without reading the PTDIR setting from its config first.

StingRay · 04 January 2019, 09:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rednael

When I configure (in PT) DH1:SomeDir to be my PTDIR, PT actually writes the new config to a file in that folder... but when PT is quit and run again, it changes its default dir back to SYS: and tries to read its config file from SYS:.

Assign SYS: "YourProtracker Directory" add

8bitbubsy · 04 January 2019, 11:02

I have no idea why PT would change the cwd to SYS: on runtime, I don't remember seeing anything in the code doing that, and that would also break normal config loading. The help file and config loads fine for me from the program directory on Workbench 3.1.

EDIT: It's possible that your OS is doing something special here.

daxb · 04 January 2019, 17:31

How do you start PT (from shell, WB, script, disk, ...)? To avoid foreign software problems, start without S-S, cd to PT dir and start it to see if it works or not.

Rednael · 05 January 2019, 00:47

Ok, so I've done some more research...

I tried two separate situations and used SnoopDos to keep track of the behaviour.

Situation 1
1. Open PT using click-on-icon
2. SnoopDos: PT does CD to SYS:
3. SnoopDos: PT fails loading PT.Config-00
4. SnoopDos: PT fails loading ST-00:PT.Config-00
5. PT falls back to default config

Situation 2:
1. Open shell CD to PT and start PT from shell
2. SnoopDos: PT does CD to DH1:Music (The same dir as the PT executable)
3. SnoopDos: PT reads PT.Config-00 (with success)

Obviously, the Help key works in situation 2, and fails in 1

What is causing this difference? I even made sure no ToolTypes are stored in the .info

EDIT:
I've copied the .info of PT2.3E to Cryptoburners' PT3.15, and opened that using situation 1 (click-on-icon). Result is that PT3.15 does not CD to SYS: (it doesn't do any CD), but simply reads S:PT.config-00

daxb · 05 January 2019, 13:09

If you double click the program icon then it is a workbench start. From command line it is not a workbench start (DOS start or how it is called?). The program behaviour depends on which start method it supports and how. There are command line programs that cannot start from WB (icon double click) and there are WB programs that cannot start from command line. Others support both. Because PT 2.3E is a very old program it might have problems. However, you can bypass it by creating a script containing "cd path:to/pt/" next line "PT2.3E" and give it an icon of type project with IconX as default Tool. Report if this works for you.

Rednael · 06 January 2019, 17:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by daxb

However, you can bypass it by creating a script containing "cd path:to/pt/" next line "PT2.3E" and give it an icon of type project with IconX as default Tool. Report if this works for you.

Yep, works fine this way!
Thanks for that.

Still, as version 2.3E is actually not that old, but a new build from 29 Nov 2017, would be great to see this working in a next version (if there will ever be one, that is

)

As @8BitBubsy himself doesn't experience this issue, would probably be hard to fix for him.

Thanks again everyone.

daxb · 06 January 2019, 18:26

Yes, I know that 2.3E is not very old but it is based on very old version and I guess that 8bitbubsy hasn't changed everything.

8bitbubsy · 07 January 2019, 18:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rednael

Still, as version 2.3E is actually not that old, but a new build from 29 Nov 2017, would be great to see this working in a next version (if there will ever be one, that is

)

The latest version is from 22.09.2018: https://16-bits.org/other.php

Quote:

Originally Posted by daxb

[...] I guess that 8bitbubsy hasn't changed everything.

I'm pretty sure I changed nothing related to changing the current working directory on runtime. As said, this never happens on my side.

Rednael · 08 January 2019, 18:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by 8bitbubsy

The latest version is from 22.09.2018: https://16-bits.org/other.php

Oh wow, thanks. I never knew multiple different versions (of version 2.3E) were released. Thanks for pointing that out.

Why keep using the same version number for different releases though? Might be confusing to other users too. Might be that they are also still on a lower release.

8bitbubsy · 08 January 2019, 18:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rednael

Why keep using the same version number for different releases though? Might be confusing to other users too. Might be that they are also still on a lower release.

Because it's a beta, as the intro scrolltext in the program says. This was a reverse engineering of PT2.3D, so I'm still not sure if everything is okay.

03 January 2019, 10:40	#1
Rednael Registered User Join Date: May 2018 Location: The Netherlands Posts: 30	HelpFile issue with Protracker 2.3E So, I've been doing some composing again on my beloved A500 and I'm using ProTracker 2.3E for that. <3 It comes with a helpfile (PT.help) but PT doesn't seem able to open it. It should have opened when you press the help key from within PT, but instead it gives you the eror: "unable to open helpfile!" The helpfile itself is not written in a regular multiview-able format, so I'm also not able to open it in an other meaningful way. Looking at the source-code, it seems to me the PT.help file should reside in the same dir as the executable itself. And it is also provided in that way too (in the .lha file). So, what can a man do to view the darn helpfile from within PT? Anyone?

04 January 2019, 11:02	#6
8bitbubsy Registered User Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Norway Posts: 1,710	I have no idea why PT would change the cwd to SYS: on runtime, I don't remember seeing anything in the code doing that, and that would also break normal config loading. The help file and config loads fine for me from the program directory on Workbench 3.1. EDIT: It's possible that your OS is doing something special here. Last edited by 8bitbubsy; 04 January 2019 at 11:08.

05 January 2019, 00:47	#8
Rednael Registered User Join Date: May 2018 Location: The Netherlands Posts: 30	Ok, so I've done some more research... I tried two separate situations and used SnoopDos to keep track of the behaviour. Situation 1 1. Open PT using click-on-icon 2. SnoopDos: PT does CD to SYS: 3. SnoopDos: PT fails loading PT.Config-00 4. SnoopDos: PT fails loading ST-00:PT.Config-00 5. PT falls back to default config Situation 2: 1. Open shell CD to PT and start PT from shell 2. SnoopDos: PT does CD to DH1:Music (The same dir as the PT executable) 3. SnoopDos: PT reads PT.Config-00 (with success) Obviously, the Help key works in situation 2, and fails in 1 What is causing this difference? I even made sure no ToolTypes are stored in the .info EDIT: I've copied the .info of PT2.3E to Cryptoburners' PT3.15, and opened that using situation 1 (click-on-icon). Result is that PT3.15 does not CD to SYS: (it doesn't do any CD), but simply reads S:PT.config-00 Last edited by Rednael; 05 January 2019 at 01:01.

06 January 2019, 18:26	#11
daxb Registered User Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Germany Posts: 3,303	Yes, I know that 2.3E is not very old but it is based on very old version and I guess that 8bitbubsy hasn't changed everything. Last edited by daxb; 08 January 2019 at 20:10.

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03 January 2019, 15:10	#2
daxb Registered User Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Germany Posts: 3,303	You can load the helpfile into any text editor/viewer because it is a text file with a binary(?) header and some control characters. There shouldn't be a general problem with 2.3E and helpfile loading. PROGDIR: or S: is a good place for the helpfile. Maybe you need to change the current directory (cd) to the place where 2.3E is. You can start SnoopDOS first, then 2.3E and press HELP key. SnoopDOS will show where the helpfile is searched for.

04 January 2019, 00:30	#4
Rednael Registered User Join Date: May 2018 Location: The Netherlands Posts: 30	Ha ha, Ok... So I found out about the PTDIR config setting in PT2.3E. With that setting you can change the dir that PT tries to find its config- and helpfiles. But there's a chicken-and-egg issue here. When I configure (in PT) DH1:SomeDir to be my PTDIR, PT actually writes the new config to a file in that folder... but when PT is quit and run again, it changes its default dir back to SYS: and tries to read its config file from SYS:. If the old config file is pressent there, it reads that one. And if no config file is pressent at SYS:, it simply fails in loading the config, as it can't find its new config. PT can't know what the location of the new config is (PTDIR setting), without reading the PTDIR setting from its config first.

04 January 2019, 17:31	#7
daxb Registered User Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Germany Posts: 3,303	How do you start PT (from shell, WB, script, disk, ...)? To avoid foreign software problems, start without S-S, cd to PT dir and start it to see if it works or not.

05 January 2019, 13:09	#9
daxb Registered User Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Germany Posts: 3,303	If you double click the program icon then it is a workbench start. From command line it is not a workbench start (DOS start or how it is called?). The program behaviour depends on which start method it supports and how. There are command line programs that cannot start from WB (icon double click) and there are WB programs that cannot start from command line. Others support both. Because PT 2.3E is a very old program it might have problems. However, you can bypass it by creating a script containing "cd path:to/pt/" next line "PT2.3E" and give it an icon of type project with IconX as default Tool. Report if this works for you.

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