Xara PGD 9 not able to draw ANYTHING when using on a tablet pc!

[Hypervox]

Hi everyone,

I've got a strange issue. I've used Xara Xtreme 5, PGD 6, PGD 2013, all on the same tablet pc (a futitsu St5112) with no problems - I've been able to create lines, draw objects, everything, for years, and I use almost nothing else to create my cartoons.

I installed PGD 9 yesterday, and although I can use the menus, I CANNOT create / select anything on the canvas! I've made sure that the layer is editable, and I can drop items onto the canvas from the libraries, but once they're there, I cannot do anything with them - it's as if the canvas is ignoring the pen input.

Anyone had anything similar? I don't want to change drivers, because I don't beleive it's a driver issue (not when the other versions of xara work correctly), so please , no suggestions along those lines.

I'm a PC Enginneer by trade, so I know the PC is quite healthy.

TIA

Shaun (hypervox)

[PhilM]

The relevant difference in this context between PGD9 and previous versions is that PGD9 supports the "Windows Touch API".

It's possible that your version of Windows on your device is attempting to implement the Windows Touch API but maybe not completely or maybe not ni a way that PGD9 is expecting.

What version of Windows are you running and do you know whether it supports the "Windows Touch API" completely or partially?

FYI: See similar problem report in the comments to this post http://blog.qt.digia.com/blog/2013/0...-kick-started/

Phil

[Hypervox]

I'm using windows xp (whch shouldn't support windows touch) - the tablet uses a wacom digitizer, so it should be using just the plain wintab interface. There should be a way in Xara to choose which interface to support, but I can't find it...

[PhilM]

No, usually the input interfaces don't interfere with each other so there's no need for any UI to select between them.

However, in hindsight we should perhaps have provided a way to disable touch support in case it didn't work on unusual systems, like yours ;-)

I'll push this issue on to the development team. In the meantime you'll have to stick with PGD2013, I'm afraid.

Phil

[amoore]

Thanks, Phil.

Allison

[Michael]

unusual sytem? A plain Fujitsu Stylistic ST5112 unusual? Well hear this; at my company we use TabletPC's with Windows XP sp3 and Xara as our workhorse for architectural sketching and illustrating. The tabletPC's we choose are Toshiba's PM200, PM400, PM700. All used with Wacom digitizers (touch disabled) and the latest Wacom drivers. Now we are contemplating on switching to either Toshiba wt310 or Lenovo Helix because our good experience with the former setup. On the PM700 we installed W7 and Xara DP8 which work flawless (apart from an occasional non responsive tablet driver after waking up from standby)
So, with the availability of Xara Design Pro in the near future, we are looking at new possibilities.

Before we go any further and order our first copy of XDP9 (of the 10 in total) we need to have some clarification about this new way XDP9 will work with Wacom hardware. Please elaborate on your remarks about "unusual setup" for which seems to be a very usual setup from our point of view. And more precise: will Wacom pen enabled tablets be compatible with your new flagship?

[PhilM]

Yes, "unusual" in that first gen tablet computers are much less common than standard desktop or laptops with or without optional tablet digitisers plugged in. What would you guess? One in ten? one in a hundred?

I suspect that the problem arises from the overlap of the capabilities of that first generation of "tablet" with the latest generation of Windows 8 tablet computers.

But that's not to say that the program should not run successfully on first generation tablets and that's exactly why we're taking this problem seriously and looking into it.

Wacom tablet support has not changed and that's why I suspect that it's the new touch support that is "getting in the way" for some reason. We will sort it out.

Phil

[Hypervox]

Thanks Phil - your efforts are appreciated, and I look forward to the fix...

[Hypervox]

For anyone following this issue, still no luck at present - technical support still looking into the problem, but I'm hopeful...

[slavelle]

For what it's worth, I can verify that I'm having the same issue with PGD9 trial on my laptop.

I have a Lenovo X61 tablet. It's a 2007 model, but it's running Windows 8 Pro with the latest drivers for a Wacom pen-abled system. I've got every other aspect of the tablet functions working, including with XDP X - really hoping to upgrade to the new version when it arrives, but if this doesn't work, it would be really unfortunate. I don't use my pen THAT much for XDP, but for some things, it's indispensable.

I will be following this topic as my PGD trial expires in 2 days and I don't yet know when the XDP trial for the new version will come out. I will definitely be downloading the trial to be sure that this works.

I have a Wacom Graphire tablet at the office that I use a good bit as well, so I will definitely get the PGD9 trial on there to see if that tablet works properly.

Please update with what comes back from development!