Adding an MDI interface?

Hi

Are there any plans to add an MDI interface, such as what’s found in a word processor or image manipulating software, meaning you can have multiple windows open with different files? I’m used to (and sick of) AutoLaser, but I’m used to moving between different sheets for different usage, perhaps copying parts to one sheet to burn that or sometimes just having a scratch sheet.

roy

I often work with multiple Lightburn windows open. What’s the problem?

Firstly, I can’t find a way to open more sessions. Secondly, the question was if there was an MDI interface, that is, more documents in a single session, with LightBurn. Having several independant sessions open will eat lots of memory and is unpractical compared to using MDI, and since MDI has been around since the dawn of times, I don’t see why it can’t be used in lightburn.

Ah, OK. I didn’t fully understand.
To open more sessions, just click the same icon you did to open the first one.

on my mac, that only takes me back to the open session.

Hmm. That’s interesting. On Linux & Windows it opens another.

That’s usually how it works on a mac. Anyway - again - the good solution isn’t to open a bunch of separate sessions, but to use MDI like most other programs do.

I have not tried it as I don’t use LB but I found this on Google:

Trying to use the Finder to open multiple instances of an application on Mac OS X will simply cause the first instance to come to the foreground. To get around this, use the open command from the command line with the -n option. The -n option opens a new instance of the application even if one is already running.

I can confirm that multiple sessions does not work on Mac. It’s a limitation of Mac OS and the programming framework we use.

And yes, @royk there are plans to allow multiple documents to be open at the same time. But I have no ETA for that at this time other than: it’ll be awhile.
That is a relatively large amount of restructuring that needs to be done to the code-base so it’s a major change.

Yes, but once again, it shouldn’t be very hard to change the from SDI to MDI in the code. This will make life a lot easier for quite a lot of people.

How are you able to determine the effort required? I tend to trust the developers guesstimates. :wink:

We understand. We plan to provide a solution. Timing is the issue. Thank you for the suggestion. You can add your support for this feature on our feature suggestion site here: Multiple Pages within a work session · LightBurn

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IIRC I and others have asked for this in more than a year. It should be prioritised. I don’t know if I want to purchase this nor recommend it to my local makerspace unless this is fixed.

If you sort the suggestion site, you will see that this request is not the only high-priority item on the wish list. :wink: Here is the list sorted: LightBurn Most Wanted Features

Interestingly, #2 on the list is “To thank you for light burn :D”

Also, the two related ones mentioned on that list, are Multiple Pages within a work session and Multiple tabs inside of one window and summed up, they’d be in the top. :wink:

Multiple pages within a single document would be quite different than multiple documents open in the app. Multiple pages would all share the same cut settings and undo buffer, and be saved as a single file. Multiple projects open would require a distinct undo system and cut setting bank for each one. Neither are going to be “simple” to implement, as LightBurn wasn’t originally authored intending to allow this, so there will be some cleanup to do first.

Sorry you don’t seem to have what you want in LightBurn. I among many others think Oz and the gang do a fabulous job. The old saying is similar to this: If you are so dissatisfied why not air your grievances somewhere else ?

It’s not an unreasonable request, but I’ll grant that it was worded a little combatively.

“Fixed” implies that it’s broken. :slight_smile: It will be added, it’s a matter or priority and difficulty, juggling against other development commitments, support, and so on.

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Have you asked Apple to more easily support opening more than one instance of the same program? That should be trivial for them to implement seeing as how Linux and Windows have no problem doing it.