Quitting Subform does not close out app on Mac

#1

Hi @kevin,

I am currently using the latest build of Subform on a MacBook Pro running macOS Sierra v10.12.6 and have noticed that Subform does not completely close out when I select Quit from the menu or hit Command Q on the keyboard. When I do any of those commands, a pop-up window loads asking me if I “…want to save changes to this document?” but whether I chose to save or not, the document closes but Subform is still running and I have to quit a second time in order for it to actually close out the application.

Basically, it looks like the Quit function is behaving like a Close Document function (which actually doesn’t exist in the menu). Not a major issue but just brining it up since it’s been happening in all of the versions released so far. :grin:

Keep up the good work!

#2

Hi @Benzo,

I’ve been using Mac for a decade and had no idea there were different semantics for “Quit” and “Close document”.
Makes sense, though = )

Totally agree that the current behavior “feels weird”, but it’s a low priority for me to design/fix because it’s not keeping folks from doing good work in Subform.

If you are interested in the problem as a design challenge, here are some dimensions that would need to be covered in a “flowchart” or other precise specification document outlining the behavior:

  • how many windows are open? Is the behavior different between 0, 1, >1

  • what happens when windows have unsaved changes? what counts as an “unsaved change”?

  • what are the states that someone moves through when quitting? E.g., “using the app”, “closing windows”, “choosing a save location for the current document”, etc. Once someone moves into the “closing windows” state, can they ever get back into the app, or does every action they do move them closer to quitting? Are they allowed to open a new window when in this state? If not, what prevents them from doing so? Disabled menu items?

  • how much of this logic can be shared between mac/windows, given their platform specific conventions?

Anyway, just sketching some questions out in case you like thinking about this stuff.
Ultimately it’s on Ryan and I to implement this kind of polish, but for the near term we think other features would be more exciting and useful for ya’ll = )

#3

Hi! Sorry for the slow response.

I think that the “app quit” flow has been standardized in most/all document creation tools by now but to answer your questions please see this Sketch app quitting demo.

The video shows the flow for quitting the app while having three different files opened with unsaved changes, these are the options presented to the user:

  1. “Discard Changes” - Close all documents without saving changes and quit the app
  2. “Cancel” - Cancel the “Quit” action and return to the last state the app was in without closing any documents
  3. “Review Changes” - Before quitting the app, let user choose what action to take for each document:
    a) “Don’t save” - Close this document without saving changes and move to the next document
    b) “Cancel” - Cancel the “Quit” action and return to the last state the app was in without closing any documents (same functionality as in step 2)
    c) “Save” - Save the changes made to this individual document only and close it before quitting the app

I believe this flow should cover all scenarios you had questions about, and regarding what counts as an “unsaved change”, I think that any change that was made to a document since the last save constitutes as one. Let me know if you have any other questions about this flow.

#4

Thanks for the detailed overview and video.
Re:

would you want to include changes to selection and pan/zoom?