GUI Feedback Popup windows opening in topleft corner is not ideal.

[tiera3]

I am not really sure what the best alternative is, but I find when playing, popups opening in the topleft corner to be uncomfortable positioning.

For example, there might be multiple triggers that I need to select which one to put on the stack first, so a box opens in the topleft corner and asks me to select which trigger to put on the stack first. I move the box to a more comfortable location, select my first trigger - then the box is back in the topleft corner asking me to select the next trigger. (It is probably a new box. I haven't looked at the code to verify, but that would make sense.)

Similar things happen when needing to order blockers for damage distribution. The box opens in the topleft corner covering the opponents creatures and the opponents stats (health, cards, mana, etc), so I need to move it out of the way to get a good look at the battlefield before making my choices. And each time, the next box is back in the topleft corner.

Off the top of my head, top-right of the battlefield (ie just before the chatbox) would probably be a better default location, though still not ideal.

[PurpleCrowbar]

This is actually a regression from a while ago, there was a time when the boxes you described would maintain their position after being interacted with. So if you moved it to the centre of the screen and selected a card (or what have you), it would flicker for a second, presumably to draw a new box, but that box would be in the same position as the previous one.

[JayDi85]

Some tech details:

• xmage had a feature to auto-save and restore windows position (depends on windows types);
• it’s not used for all windows types due some bugs:
  • rare nowadays: buggy cards was able to raise multiple windows (e.g. wrong choose call in applies method);
  • fixed nowadays: buggy modal system raise some modal dialogs behind another windows, so users can’t find it and can’t move the bigger one (e.g. game freeze by client side)
  • rare nowadays: user can open multiple dialogs and it must have some randomize position, so user can see all windows (hint tools fixed it);
  • actual nowadays: if user change a desktop resolution, use multi monitors or move dialogs too far then new window can be hidden forever for him due wrong old position “out of the screen”. It’s a most critical problem. There are some code to detect such use cases and put a component (window panel) inside another component correctly but it un-tested and can be buggy.

[tiera3]

Thanks for the information. Now I understand why topleft is used (and why my suggested topright is not a good choice).

Edit: I am wondering, if just to the right of the player stats block would be an option (but suspect that might still be a little complicated due to possible varying resolution size).

[JayDi85]

Little more details:

• there are window position (x, y) and size (width, height) -- xmage can save and restore all of it;
• window position related to game panel/pane (game panel = player panels + battlefields + feedback panel + hand + stack + chats + card hint);
• many windows can be resized by user;
• some choose card dialogs uses auto-size to keep cards fully visible (auto-height);
• there are two types on windows:
  • shared window (same window called on needs, it keep same location and size until app working);
  • dynamic window (new window on each call, e.g. user can see multiple windows);

Standard use case for auto-save and auto-restore position and size:

• on opening new window;
  • if it's a first time then show in default location like 200, 200 and size like 100x300;
  • if it's a second+ time then show in saved location like 1500, 200 and size like 500x300;
  • apply auto-size to window's height for cards dialog;
  • here: must be location and size fix to make sure it will be visible on current screen;
• on moving or closing current window:
  • save current location like 212,200
  • save current size like 110x300