Andy Maskell

I have a problem that I can't find a satisfactory answer to. In my top-level patch, I have an embedded (not on disk) bpatcher that contains a mixture of controls, code and another embedded bpatcher. That second bpatcher has a few bits of code as well as some display elements. Both bpatchers open in presentation mode, and so between them, they just show a combination of controls at the bottom and display elements (the clock face) at the top:

image.png

Now, I can open and close this in a separate window using pcontrol just fine...:

...but if I put the following on the receiving end of that input within the bpatcher, it basically doesn't work as it does with a normal patcher where I have used exactly the same technique:

] in a separate window but whilst the window worked fine, because I now had two copies of the embedded [

] code running, they functioned in a combination of partly-linked/partly-independent ways with undesirable results.

The documentation suggests that what I'm trying to do won't work according to the explanations of [

] and there are some mutterings about using a (

) message instead but, quite honestly, the explanation makes no sense to me whatsoever and despite trying every idea that I can think of, I simply cannot get the [

] window to open with the required configuration.

Any suggestions would be very welcome! If I dis-embedded the [

] and loaded it from disk, would my second method work or would it still generate two separate instances of the [

I did get it to work by copying the [bpatcher] into a normal [patcher] object and using that to display the [bpatcher] in a separate window but whilst the window worked fine, because I now had two copies of the embedded [bpatcher] code running, they functioned in a combination of partly-linked/partly-independent ways with undesirable results.

The documentation suggests that what I'm trying to do won't work according to the explanations of [thispatcher] and [bpatcher] and there are some mutterings about using a (script - replace) message instead but, quite honestly, the explanation makes no sense to me whatsoever and despite trying every idea that I can think of, I simply cannot get the [bpatcher] window to open with the required configuration.

Any suggestions would be very welcome! If I dis-embedded the [bpatcher] and loaded it from disk, would my second method work or would it still generate two separate instances of the [bpatcher] code?

I have a problem that I can't find a satisfactory answer to. In my top-level patch, I have an embedded (not on disk) bpatcher that contains 

how-to-control-a-bpatcher-window

P.S. I have trawled through the forums and find that this a constantly recurring theme that never appears to result in any sort of solution hat I can get to work. It’s been a problem for a least 15 years but along the way there are few glimmers of solutions but without anybody appearing to want to give away their secrets!

it might be me (using mostly older versions of max), but what do you expect from 

"window flags title nomenu nogrow nominimise close" 

and embedded bpatchers? never understood their purpose.


it might be me (using mostly older versions of max), but what do you expect from "window flags title nomenu nogrow nominimise close" to do?

and embedded bpatchers? never understood their purpose.


Thanks Roman, that wasn't really the sort of answer I was looking for!

window flags title nomenu nogrow nominimise close

 configures a window that has a title bar but no menu, can't be resized but can be closed. In other words, it's a user interactive window for my clock that can be positioned anywhere on the desktop but can't be messed up!

 window flags title nomenu nogrow nominimise close configures a window that has a title bar but no menu, can't be resized but can be closed. In other words, it's a user interactive window for my clock that can be positioned anywhere on the desktop but can't be messed up!

Hi Andy, it sounds like you want to open a second view of a bpatcher. A patcher can have multiple views, the view holder is a window or in the case of bpatcher, a box in another view. [thispatcher] only allows access to the firstview of a patcher. In a bpatcher it will ignore "window ..." messages because the firstview is in a box, not in a window.

Hi Andy, it sounds like you want to open a second view of a bpatcher. A patcher can have multiple views, the view holder is a window or in the case of bpatcher, a box in another view.  [thispatcher] only allows access to the firstview of a patcher. In a bpatcher it will ignore "window ..." messages because the firstview is in a box, not in a window.

So is there a way that you can think of that would allow me to achieve what I would like to do - have my clock interface visible in both my top level patch and in a tightly constrained window?

make a copy of only display elements and open them in another patcher window.

You can also add gates to stop receiving messages from original patcher if it is closed.

make a copy of only display elements and open them in another patcher window.
You can also add gates to stop receiving messages from original patcher if it is closed.


I was beginning to think along those lines myself - bit of a nightmare though when you look at the code behind this. Perhaps it’s a good opportunity to re-work some of it!

Well, that's what I've had to do and it works:

Seems a bit of over-kill to have to duplicate everything but hey-ho!

How to control a bpatcher window?