WAD Activate command with absolute coordinates does not place window consistently

[ClioCJS]

I have a pesky window (winamp's album art plugin) that tends to move "on it's own" far too often due to some weird glitchiness that no human being will likely ever solve.

So I use the activate command to put the window in the right place.
But there seems to be a bug in the activate command.
The absolute coordinates... are not absolute.

I've ended up alternating between two sets of absolute coordinates.
And then today, neither set puts it in the right place. Correct monitor, but wrong position on monitor.

so at different points in time, all 3 of these commands have had the exact same effect:

activate "album art" pos=1430,-800,410,410
activate "album art" pos=1926,-660,410,410
activate "album art" pos=1030,-800,410,410

But right now, none of those commands puts it in the right place. I just had to figure out new numbers. They were:

activate "album art" pos=1754,-798,410,410

Why, and how, can this be happening? why would coordinates suddenly be off but only by a few hundred pixels? It's always on the right screen, just not always the right part of the screen

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p.s. my 4 screens are all 1920x1080.

p.p.s. it's not just the album art window that gets misplaced. I also use this to place the MiniLyrics [another winamp plugin of sorts, tho it runs as an independent EXE file unlike most winamp plugins] and the same problem happened today with MiniLyrics - correct monitor, wrong placement. Same offset too -- a couple inches to the left.

 

[rconn]

This doesn't have anything to do with TCC - the coordinates are being passed as-is to the Windows API (SetWindowPlacement). Windows will change the coordinates if you change the scaling, or if you're running a screen manager. (Or possibly a third-party app that is hooking the API.)

 

[ClioCJS]

This doesn't have anything to do with TCC - the coordinates are being passed as-is to the Windows API (SetWindowPlacement). Windows will change the coordinates if you change the scaling, or if you're running a screen manager. (Or possibly a third-party app that is hooking the API.)

In that case.... I sure wish there was a way to reliably place windows.

I'm not changing any scaling, but I am using DisplayFusion.

So Rex, are you saying this is a DisplayFusion bug? I just got them to fix 2 bugs so maybe I could try to get them to fix this one.

I guess the real question is, how is the Windows API getting so perturbed as to make consistent window placement absolutely impossible? Is there any way I can find out what is happening?

 

[ClioCJS]

And also, I guess, how would I describe this bug to the DisplayFusion people?

 

[ClioCJS]

I went ahead and started a thread over there:

reliable window placement impossible • Discussions • DisplayFusion by Binary Fortress Software

DisplayFusion will make your multi-monitor life much easier! With powerful features like Multi-Monitor Taskbars, TitleBar Buttons and fully customizable HotKeys, DisplayFusion will make managing your multiple monitors easy.

www.displayfusion.com

 

[Charles Dye]

I'm not changing any scaling, but I am using DisplayFusion.

So Rex, are you saying this is a DisplayFusion bug? I just got them to fix 2 bugs so maybe I could try to get them to fix this one.

You might try disabling or uninstalling DisplayFusion, and see whether the problem goes away.

And note that windows scaling can differ from monitor to monitor, even if you haven't changed anything. (Windows can be plenty confusing even without add-ons.) You might go into Display Settings, click on each monitor in turn, and check the scaling. On my system, this is under "Change the size of text, apps and other items" -- on yours it may be called something different.

 

[ClioCJS]

Hmm. I feel like if the scaling doesn't change, the coordinates shouldn't change.

My monitors are always numbered the same, with the same resolution, and same scaling.

When this happens, it survives reboots and it survives closing DisplayFusion. I have to use the new coordinates. I have to edit my bat file.

And they are never off by more than about 20% of a screen.