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Why Does Install Banner Close?


Jim Fogle

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When I opened Cakewalk a banner indicated an update was available.  After the update downloaded another banner appeared.  The second banner gave two choices, "Open Folder" and "Install Now".  I selected "Open Folder" and a Windows Explorer window opened.  When I closed the Windows Explorer window and returned to Cakewalk, the second banner was closed.

My expectation was the banner would remain open and I could select "Install Now".  Why does the banner not stay open until either the "Install Now" or the "X" button is selected?

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Edited by Jim Fogle
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I suppose the assumption is that you'll either open the folder to install from there OR install from in the program. So the pop-up is a fork in the path, not a hub, as it were.

"Take a look and then install from in the program" has never occurred to me, but I see what you mean.

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Foe me "Open Folder" is an invitation to open a folder, not install an update.  When I selected the "Open Folder" option and a Windows Explorer window opened I saw some files.  How am I supposed to know which one to run?

I don't want to come across as argumentative.  Little things like this can throw a new user an unexpected curveball and be a frustration.

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Edited by Jim Fogle
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2 minutes ago, John Vere said:

It is best practices that you close any software before you update. So wait until it says it’s ready, close Cakewalk  go to the download folder and then run the installer 

 

 

Then the Cakewalk installer doesn't follow best practices.  When you select the "Install Now" button the program updates.

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4 minutes ago, Jim Fogle said:

Foe me "Open Folder" is an invitation to open a folder, not install an update.  When I selected the "Open Folder" option and a Windows Explorer window opened I saw some files.  How am I supposed to know which one to run?

I don't want to come across as argumentative.  Little things like this can throw a new user an unexpected curveball and be a frustration.

Yeah, I totally get what you're saying. If you read it a certain way, it sort of sets you up to think "should I open the folder? Is that a thing that I need to do?" UI and workflow design is full of these kinds of things. 
 

Perhaps "update now / update later" is what this box should be asking. Or maybe it should just automatically update after downloading.

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I hope this is an area under development and I have highlighted some limitations.  I don't think inside the DAW updates is user friendly for newcomers.

I appreciate @John T and @John Vere comments.  They have helped highlight some of the limitations of the present way of updating from within the DAW.

Edited by Jim Fogle
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I think all the functionality is there; in that sense, it's not limited. But you're right that it could be made more friendly and intuitive. And I know Cakewalk of late are very keen to improve user-friendliness.

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I'm hoping they get a lot of users that are new to Cakewalk and new to offline DAWs.  But to keep them the software needs to be user friendly.   My thinking is if some thinks installing an update is complicated they will think learning Cakewalk is frustrating.

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Footnote: Sometimes the download/update process will close Cakewalk and Cakewalk will install/restart. Other times it will give a "close the app" dialog prompt.  I assume that this can be confusing to some people.  But I inferred (rightly or wrongly) that the process was smart and detected whether or not it was safe to update/reboot.

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Actually this is the problem. The first time I did the in app update it did not close Cakewalk and got all screwed up. I learned my lesson and now I make sure to close Cakewalk before I  run the install program. 
This is not abnormal at all most software works this way. 
 

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1 hour ago, John Vere said:

Actually this is the problem. The first time I did the in app update it did not close Cakewalk and got all screwed up. I learned my lesson and now I make sure to close Cakewalk before I  run the install program. 
This is not abnormal at all most software works this way. 

If this is a response to my comment, I am not prepared to say it is bug or not.  I would leave that up to the devs.  I just reported my observations. It is possible there are some set of circumstances that trigger the dialog and some circumstances that don't trigger it.

I did not do my usual testing of various scenarios to be able to narrow down the conditions. 

It might be that some of the times I got the "close the app" dialog were with the in-app update function AND I had a project loaded.  At least two times I did not have the dialog when I updated from a fresh boot of Cakewalk.

I do not doubt that your first experience with the in-app update happened and it caused you issues, and that you learned a lesson.  

BTW, there was a point where it seemed all my in-app/toaster message update efforts were met with the "close the app" dialog.  Personally, if the developers have built-in some smarts (enough to know whether or not it is safe to just close, install, update, and restart when I choose "Install now," I wouldn't not consider that a flaw, though I understand the two different paths can be confusing.

I have had plenty of hardware and some software that "knows" if some state exists and either proceeds or gives a dialog/warning based on that state. 

To be clear, if you had a project loaded and had changed it in some way, and the in-app updater did not detect the change, that would certainly indicate a flaw to me.

Edited by User 905133
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 The update notice is always on first opening Cakewalk. I almost always do it right away as it takes only a few minutes at most. 
Next time I’ll see what happens if I don’t close Cakewalk. But an IT friend of mine said even though things have gotten better he still is in that old habit of closing all apps before installing any software. And always run as administrator just in case   Old habits die slowly. 

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I got the feeling that manually closing the daw before installing update was something that happened as long as Bandlab Assistant handled the installation.

The latest updates, since disconnecting from BA, don't need you to close the daw manually.

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