I have recently added the functionality to Launch an external application directly from PAC Display, the application being Canary data historian trends in a Microsoft Edge window. Over 95% of the time the MS Edge window opens in the foreground of Windows, but occasionally it is opening in a way that the PAC Display graphic is no longer showing, only the PAC Display Runtime base window (see attached screenshot). I have had this happen on multiple CPUs, on Win 10 and Win 11, I have changed the “Show Options” in the “Launch Application” window from Normal to Minimized to Maximized, I’ve opened multiple Edge windows or had none open when I clicked the PAC Display object, but none of these are consistent in how they open the new MS Edge window with the Canary trend. Has anyone had this happen? Any tips on how to get the MS Edge window to always display in the foreground? Thanks in advance for any tips.
Hi Robbie,
I’d like to help if I can.
How long does it take between attempting to launch Microsoft Edge, and for the browser to appear in front of PAC Display Runtime when things are working normally? Is there any variation where Microsoft Edge sometimes takes longer to open than other times?
It may be that a click or some interaction is getting sent to PAC Display while Microsoft Edge is loading up. If that is the case, then PAC Display would come to the foreground while Edge appears to load behind it.
Can you try something for me? Are you clicking a button or graphic to launch Microsoft Edge? Try launching Microsoft Edge how you’re doing it and then wait for it to Edge to fully load before doing anything else. Does that make any difference?
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Thanks for your response Chris.
Edge opens in a fraction of a second, so there really isn’t time to click anything else unless you were double-clicking, which I haven’t been. As a test, I did start double-clicking the text object that is launching Edge and that does cause PAC Display to remain visible and Edge to open in the background, for what that may be worth. Any other thoughts are appreciated.
My pleasure, Robbie.
Thanks for running that double-clicking test for us.
I’m afraid that was my best hypothesis to explain what’s happening here. I can say with certainty that the way PAC Display launches applications does not vary as long as the launch settings remain the same. So unless I’m missing something (which I surely am) the variability you’re seeing when launching Edge is either coming from Edge itself, the Windows OS, or perhaps some other process. And that all sounds unlikely too since you’ve tested on different machines and are seeing the same thing.
It’s a long shot… but does this behavior still occur if the URL in Edge is for a different website? Or if you try to launch a different application from PAC Display? Like notepad.exe perhaps?
