styles won't work

[Rene Kopietz]

Blair,

yesterday we tried to use a different style for an item. It simple didn't work. Regardless of the place (styles folder vs. experiemnt folder vs. both) ML did not find the style. That happened on two different machines. Also, ML did not save as... the way it was supposed to. It always saved the file into the styles folder, regardless of the destination I chose.

Best
Rene

PS: I believe I use the most recent version of ML.

[jarvis24]

Was the style being applied at the first item in one of your questionnaires? If so, try applying it in the experiment (.exp) file where you list the que file instead. I've heard of a problem like this before and it seems there is some reluctance on MediaLab's part to apply a style when it's requested on the first item of a que file.

[Rene Kopietz]

nope, it was applied on a later item. we tried to allign the scale horizontally (with the w.x parameter), but some items had very long anchors, that were cut of as a consequence. So we tried to use a smaller font (thus, my other request).

[jarvis24]

Mm. Will look at your other request. Would have to see the que along with the quickstyle file.

[eposea]

I followed every instruction and the quickstyle didnt work. I tried to get an item to show up with a black background, thus I left an "$black" in the parameter area with () and the appropriate file in the experiment folder, and nothing changed. Also the quickstyle (mlq file) did not save to the specified experiment folder as chosen; I could only see it thru the "save-as" window, although I did end up dragging it into the exp folder, and still, nothing.

[jarvis24]

If you run the que file by itself (i.e., with no .exp file) does it still not work? If so, could you zip and attach the que and quickstyle files? Will see if I can replicate the problem here.

[eposea]

Running the que on its own doesnt work either. I've attached the files. Please not that as I dont have winzip (only winrar), I've attached them seperately: the black.mlq file was renamed to black.que.

[jarvis24]

Sorry, I didn't notice you mentioned that you had renamed your .mlq file to .que (that explains a lot!). See the note below re zip files.

I tried your sample, and it does work on my machine here. If you apply the quickstyle to any other items in your que file (i.e., as opposed to the movie file), does it also not work? e.g., if you apply it to the subsequent thought listing instead?

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PS., With regard to .zip files, check this link out, you may find it helpful in the future if you are running XP or later (shows you how to make a free zip file with a simple right click of your mouse!):

www.empirisoft.com/support/showthread.php?p=4417

[eposea]

OK, I've figured out the problem. The mlq file will only work if it is saved to the "styles" folder of medialab; it did not work when I had it in the experiment folder. Thanks for the help.

[jarvis24]

Strange, it should not require that. I am wondering if there may be a permission issue with your experiment folder where the .mlq file is located. When accessed, the user account requires "full control" permission on that folder in order to generate and subsequently delete a temporary file. Perhaps you have that for the MediaLab folder. Hmm. In any case, I'm glad you have at least found a temporary solution.