Ovation

Problem Solving

Ovation has been very thoroughly tested and all 'bugs' discovered have been eliminated. Although much of Ovation's operation is intuitive, it is nevertheless a highly complex package following rules with which you may need time to become fully acquainted. This section outlines some of the problems you may encounter and shows how to overcome them.

Nevertheless, it is possible that there remain bugs or combinations of circumstances for which no allowance has been made. If you encounter problems of this sort, please contact the Software Manager at Beebug Ltd quoting the version number of Ovation that you are using. You can find the version number by clicking Menu on the Ovation icon and selecting the Info option.

Paragraph styles have no effect

Pressing the function key which you have assigned to a user paragraph style has no effect. There are two possible causes:

Using the Edit Style option on the Para. Style menu check that your user paragraph style definition is present. If not, you should define it anew or load it from another stylesheet (see Chapter 9).
Local styles over-ride paragraph styles (they must do or it would be impossible to over-ride individual words or phrases needing emphasis into bold or italic styles). If a local style has been applied to an entire paragraph, subsequent attempts to change the paragraph style using the function keys alone will have no visible effect. Instead, with the caret in the paragraph concerned select Edit Style from the Para. Style menu and click in the Reset option. This will cancel all local styles in the paragraph concerned and allow the selected paragraph style to operate normally. Note, however, that you will lose all local styles in the paragraph. If it contained passages in italics or bold or subscript, these will be converted to the default setting in the paragraph style being applied.

Picture frame/text frame/line won't move

You try to drag an object and find that it will not move. The most likely explanation is that the object is 'nested' inside a larger object, perhaps the Principal Text Frame. You cannot drag a nested object outside the bounding box of its parent. Instead, make the object concerned the currently active object and use the cut and paste options in the Object menu to reposition it. You can relocate the object anywhere in the document (or even in another document).

Cannot re-size frame

If you are attempting to reduce the size of a Picture or Text Frame and you find that you cannot drag one or more boundaries beyond a certain point, this may be because a nested object is in the way. Dragging the side of a frame does not move or re-size any nested objects; when the side of the outer frame reaches the nested object, you will simply be unable to drag it any further (because to do so would leave the nested object protruding outside the parent). You must move or re-size nested objects so that they will still be totally enclosed by the parent frame when it is at its intended new size.

Similarly you may find that attempts to increase the size of an object are unsuccessful. This can be especially baffling if you are using the Modify Frame dialogue box to enter exact dimensions. The most likely explanation is that new dimensions would cause the object to extend outside a parent object, which is not permissible. First relocate your object to a position where it has ample room to 'grow' (the growth takes place on its bottom and right-hand edges) and then change its dimensions. Then move it to its intended location.

Cannot paste object

The error message 'Item too big to paste' when attempting to paste a relatively small frame or line into a much larger frame may seem baffling at first, but there is a logical explanation. You probably moved the pointer to the intended location where you wish to paste the object, but you forgot to click Select. You can only paste an object into the currently active object, irrespective of the current pointer position. If, as is likely, the currently active object is the one which you copied on to the clipboard, Ovation will think that you are attempting to paste an object on to itself˜and clearly it is too big to fit inside itself.