📣 WinBox 4 is here 📣

Tue Sep 03, 2024 1:31 pm

Example about dark mode scrollbar ?
yes, dark mode warnings will be added to list

Tue Sep 03, 2024 1:33 pm

Screenshot 2024-09-03 at 10.36.49.jpg
@normis: where/how to open that view ?!? i have no comment column to select/show ?

when saving a new entry, using save button, did you add a comment?
and check if that column is enabled in the column settings

lutze · Tue Sep 03, 2024 1:42 pm

First, thanks for the Linux and MacOS versions! Very appreciated!

And now, how to improve. Some items are repeating what was already written, but I consider it important enough to justify repeating ;)

Linux:

support for Wayland -- Qt already comes with it! Just enable it! Without support for Wayland, the application is going to be blurry on HiDPI displays with fractional scaling.
consider packaging in Flatpak; this would support many Linux distributions, with OOB support for things like desktop icon, launcher and update mechanism (including getting - or not - admin permissions for that).

(Not going into discussion why flatpak and not deb/rpm/appimage right now. Also not static binaries -- there's no such thing as static binary with glibc, at least not if you want it non-broken. It will certainly not fix brokeness on musl systems, just add a new brokeness on glibc ones).

UI:

flat design: there's no distinction between actionable UI controls and data in data widgets. In the old UI, it was obvious, what is a button, what is a link, what is an editable text box. With the new design, not so much. Some playing around with borders, its contrast and maybe the old-school 3d embossing would help.
dark color scheme issues: the difference between (inactive) titlebar color of the internal windows and data row is too similar. In light mode, these two are easier to distinguish (if you did the colors in linear rgb and inverted, that may be the reason; the 'V' in 'HSV' is not linear, but goes by gamma (or other transfer curve for non-srgb))
the tabs vs dropdown was already mentioned many times, just another vote here ;)
similarly for expandable sections replacing tabs; here I have one more point: if you save a window with expandable sections in a workspace, what is not saved is which sections are expanded and which are not, and where the window scroll position. I usually save the traffc tab of some interfaces in my workspace. With the new system, this doesn't work. It expands the first section, hides the graphing section and is scrolled to the top.
the actions: new (in the titlebar), remove, disable, enable, rowcount selected/total (status bar), other actions (sidebar). Is there any reason why the action in titlebar and status bar are not compacted into single bar? They logically belong together. The sidebar takes too much space, it could be in the same bar as all the other actions. Let's call that bar a 'toolbar' :-). Also being flat (see above) doesn't help. The status bar has the same color as the last row in data table too, making it less distinguishable.

Also, do not hide the buttons when nothing is selected. Gray them out. The less things move around or appear/disappear, the better.
no grouping in data tables.
no master/slave relationships (i.e. interface -> vlan) shown in the tables.
no tooltips for letter flags.
no list of open windows (already mentioned)
I understand what designers today want a lot of whitespace. Unfortunately, power users want a more dense UI. Maybe consider compact mode?

Login Page:

Grouping: already mentioned, but I want to add my opinion here: groups and comments are two entirely different things! Grouping allows for, ehm, grouping, the devices by some criteria, be it site or customer. Grouping also allow for visual separation by your criteria, so you don't have to scan a long list, just one grouping section. Comment could be hostname (because the device is defined by IPv4, IPv6 [because DNS might not work when needed] or MAC [definitely for ROMON]) or note of the device function, so that's something different. Showing a list of (address - especially MAC, user) is kind of useless if you have more than one device. Without groups, it is inpractical if you have more than handful.
ROMON doesn't work as it did before; now it is necessary to connect to rommon connection first, then to the target device. Previously, each device could have had defined ROMON server, so connecting was a single click affair.

atomicduck · Tue Sep 03, 2024 1:43 pm

On a Mac it works relatively OK. I see a fair number of crashes, and initial search of devices on LAN is slow.

Visibility is better than before, but I think the bg should be a bit lighter to increase contrast.

I liked the new status on the botton. It is very useful.

Header letters are very bad visibility. Needs to get fixed. Also element naming is bad. Winbows needs to be before device name. - Also it is necessary to have device bit/processor in the header.

Escape doesn't close the windows, which is bad.

Not beeing able to move windows left is a problem if a display size resizes.

The windows headers are transparent and do not appreciate level of window.

Dark mode is bad.

It is a very bad idea to put stuff that was tabbed in a dropdown menu. It slows working with the interface visually. - For me this is critical, and usage breaking point.

maigonis · Tue Sep 03, 2024 1:50 pm

AppImage and Snap are also mentoned here, but described as bad.
What is the "best way" to distribute linux apps, in your opinion?

Well, there is no best way to do it - pick one and roll the dice. I vote for flatpak for is multi distro availability and somewhat sandbox, or appimage, at least packages dependencies whit it. You can also still distribute like you do now, if distro used is new it should work fine. I assume you use at least qt5.

marsbeetle · Tue Sep 03, 2024 2:14 pm

Some really weird behaviour with regards to workspaces and commenting. Tested on both macOS + Windows Winbox4 beta3

To my mind and as used in many different applications, workspaces is used to group a set of connections, as in the case of Winbox. Or at least that is how it should be.

So e.g. you have Workspaces "Home" and "Work". You should be able to save multiple connections with comments under each workspace and then when you select that workspace it will only show the saved connections relating to that workspace on the right-hand side of the UI with comments(why this is not shown alongside with all the available space and instead on top is a bit silly). This is not happening and you just see everything irrespective of which workspace it is saved on the side with all connections from all workspaces. This is not how it should be.

litvcom · Tue Sep 03, 2024 2:15 pm

Finally, a utility is available for Mac and Linux without "crutches", personally I've been waiting for this for a long time. But I guess I'm the only one who can't understand why it's still called 'WinBox' on macOS or Linux? It's all small things of course, thanks for the work you've done.
From what immediately catches my eye after WinBox v3, it's just terribly inconvenient reading comments in firewall rules, takes up a lot of space.
Hopefully it will only get better with time. Thanks again.

Tue Sep 03, 2024 2:16 pm

No workspaces is definitely not that. Workspace saves arranged menus. Maybe you want a Wireless workspace, with Wireless Registration table open, the Log window, the Wireless scan window. Call it Wireless Debugging and save as a workspace. Then maybe you need a Terminal workspace with 4 terminals.

Tue Sep 03, 2024 2:17 pm

> why it's still called 'WinBox' on macOS or Linux?

inside the app there are many windows. I believe in all operating systems those are called windows.

clte19ax · Tue Sep 03, 2024 2:21 pm

I really miss the LTE graphs, it was easier to check connection issues visually than interpreting only the values:

Screenshot from 2024-09-03 14-20-37.png

Tue Sep 03, 2024 2:22 pm

LTE graphs are known to be missing, they will return

marsbeetle · Tue Sep 03, 2024 2:23 pm

No workspaces is definitely not that. Workspace saves arranged menus. Maybe you want a Wireless workspace, with Wireless Registration table open, the Log window, the Wireless scan window. Call it Wireless Debugging and save as a workspace. Then maybe you need a Terminal workspace with 4 terminals.

Thanks for the explanation and clarification. Not really the norm but at least I understand now. I would have just expected what you are referring to as window grouping or layout to save as default for each connection used.

GPMdP · Tue Sep 03, 2024 2:25 pm

Really loves the GNU/Linux native version!!!!

I have two things to ask for: ¿Where is the "SAFE MODE" button placed now? I can't find it (my vision is not like in my 20's hehehehe!!!) the other one is that at Debian 12 I can't download files from router to my computer, if I switch to an "oldie" Winbox 3.xx it works!

Good job guys!!!!

Tue Sep 03, 2024 2:34 pm

If anyone else is not seeing Comments column in the Saved routers interface, make sure this Comment setting is on Globally

Screenshot 2024-09-03 at 14.34.09.jpg

mszru · Tue Sep 03, 2024 2:35 pm

I was not able to connect by MAC to a router that was reset to factory defaults and then the default configuration was removed. The new WinBox just doesn't do anything (at least it seems to) when I click the “Connect” button.

If I try the same thing in WinBox 3, it opens and I see a prompt to change my password.

Windows 11, RouterOS 6.49.11, hAP lite

Tue Sep 03, 2024 2:35 pm

Really loves the GNU/Linux native version!!!!

I have two things to ask for: ¿Where is the "SAFE MODE" button placed now? I can't find it (my vision is not like in my 20's hehehehe!!!) the other one is that at Debian 12 I can't download files from router to my computer, if I switch to an "oldie" Winbox 3.xx it works!

Good job guys!!!!

As explained in the first post, it is not added yet

infabo · Tue Sep 03, 2024 2:39 pm

can't understand why it's still called 'WinBox' on macOS or Linux?

The application is the "box". You open/manage sub-windows inside the application workspace. That's why it is a box of windows. WinBox. See now?

But to be honest: I would get tired of always needing to explain and always hearing the same old (dumb) question. Why not just name the stable release "Router OS Management Utility" or something more generic. "WinBox 4" can still be kept as "working title" until final version is released. Are there any nostalgic reasons why to keep the name "WinBox"?

Tue Sep 03, 2024 2:43 pm

People are so gotten used to grey XP style interface, but are not used to the name? We call it winbox, because is easy to say and everyone knows what it is

ToTheFull · Tue Sep 03, 2024 2:46 pm

Example about dark mode scrollbar ?
yes, dark mode warnings will be added to list

@normis please let me know how fast you can locate the vertical scrollbar positon in the log window.

marsbeetle · Tue Sep 03, 2024 2:48 pm

What I see and an example application that uses actual Workspaces ;-) ...at least comments is displaying even though not showing a selectable option.

infabo · Tue Sep 03, 2024 2:49 pm

People are so gotten used to grey XP style interface, but are not used to the name? We call it winbox, because is easy to say and everyone knows what it is

Because it was a native Windows application until 3.x. Now it is cross-platform and people ask questions. My house has windows too, and it is not built by Microsoft. I don't even get questions regarding how long my house gets Windows updates and/or which version of windows it runs. Because my house has many windows.

Tue Sep 03, 2024 2:50 pm

Thank you, dark mode scroll bar problem acknowledged

Tue Sep 03, 2024 2:51 pm

People are so gotten used to grey XP style interface, but are not used to the name? We call it winbox, because is easy to say and everyone knows what it is
Because it was a native Windows application until 3.x. Now it is cross-platform and people ask questions. My house has windows too, and it is not built by Microsoft. I don't even get questions regarding how long my house gets Windows updates and/or which version of windows it runs. Because my house has many windows.

It was only native in Windows 95, all newer Windows used a completey different style of window and theme, and Winbox did not follow that.

infabo · Tue Sep 03, 2024 2:52 pm

Native in terms of: compiled to run on Windows OS only. Is that right?

Tue Sep 03, 2024 2:53 pm

What I see and an example application that uses actual Workspaces ...at least comments is displaying even though not showing a selectable option.

click on the comment column title. This button decides how to show them (see image)

Screenshot 2024-09-03 at 14.52.27.jpg

Tue Sep 03, 2024 2:53 pm

Native in terms of: compiled to run on Windows OS only. Is that right?

ran only on windows is not really definition of "native", but I guess it depends on definition

infabo · Tue Sep 03, 2024 2:54 pm

Random google link: https://www.techtarget.com/searchsoftwa ... native-app

Sob · Tue Sep 03, 2024 2:56 pm

Winbox3 didn't use any kind of font smoothing and ignored operating system settings.

Not exactly true. WinBox 3 uses ClearType, if enabled in system. And doesn't use it when not enabled. WinBox 4 has forced ClearType, regardless of system settings.

Tue Sep 03, 2024 2:56 pm

Bad link, misunderstanding how apps work.
If we make an Electron app and only publish the windows version, does it mean it's a native app? No.

infabo · Tue Sep 03, 2024 2:58 pm

No, the definition of native came up with mobile applications. I don't remember a term what it could have been named before that era.

Paternot · Tue Sep 03, 2024 2:59 pm

AppImage and Snap are also mentoned here, but described as bad.
What is the "best way" to distribute linux apps, in your opinion?

This is quite a hard one to answer.

The main gist behind Flatpak, Snap and whatnot is:
1) No more dependency hell (more on that later)
2) Compile once, run everywhere (Java feelings here)
3) Distro agnostic
4) User installable, no root needed

As I understand, the main problems with these arguments are:
1) You still have dependencies. It's just that now the software must be compiled against the Flatpak/whatever libraries. That, ok, are the same to everyone. But we could do it just static linking everything and using rpm or deb
2) One would still have to compile for x86, ARM, PPC and whatnot. Just like a good old rpm or deb
3) Distro agnostic up to a point. The Distro would need to have Flatpak/Snap/whatever installed, in order to use those packages. If they have it installed, then yes: the same package would work everywhere. Just like a static linked one, or one with the used libraries. That's exactly what these systems do: pack everything but the kitchen sink.
4) While a package like deb or rpm would need root permission to install, several of these others systems allow user installation. Not sure if it matters that much, since a tgz would be user installable too.

Because if Mikrotik goes the Flatpak way, it would alienate those who don't use it for whatever reason. If goes the Snap way, the same would happen - just to a different crowd.

Yes, You could deliver it through Flatpak/Snap/whatever. But it would mean one version for each of those systems. If You are willing to send the libraries and/or the static compiled binary, and are willing to make these many versions, why not make one deb and another rpm, static linked (or with the needed libraries included)? Those would be two packages. Ok, three: one tgz for corner cases.

Because people see the absurd number of Distros, and think we have to make one full version for everyone of them. This is not true. One way to distribute packages (deb and rpm) would be:
1) Compile static, or send the dependencies with it. The packages allow this, and it would run basically everywhere.
2) Create two packages: one deb an another rpm. This way more than 95% of the DIstros would be covered.
3) To get a 10/10, create repositories. Yes, one would have to create several indexes - but only this. And there is one more thing: these repositories indexes aren't exactly different for every Distro: they are different for every package manager - big difference. I remember (from memory, don't quote me on that), the Debian way, Yum (for RedHat and derivatives) and Zypper (for Suse and derivatives).

But, really, for something like this - and the public it caters for - I thing tgz would be the best way, with auto updates on startup. Exactly like You are doing.

marsbeetle · Tue Sep 03, 2024 3:01 pm

Finally figured out how to change the display of comments into a separate column DOH ! (thanks normis)

infabo · Tue Sep 03, 2024 3:01 pm

It was only native in Windows 95, all newer Windows used a completey different style of window and theme, and Winbox did not follow that.

And Winbox 4 is following Windows theme?

Let me quote first post:

- Apps are native!

;)

spippan · Tue Sep 03, 2024 3:26 pm

People are so gotten used to grey XP style interface, but are not used to the name? We call it winbox, because is easy to say and everyone knows what it is

why is this even a ef'ing thing? i do not get it

e.g. "rOSbox" would sound somewhat silly IMO

Jotne · Tue Sep 03, 2024 3:32 pm

AppImage and Snap are also mentoned here, but described as bad.
What is the "best way" to distribute linux apps, in your opinion?

For me it would be that I can use the installer in Ubuntu, like

apt get winbox

lutze · Tue Sep 03, 2024 3:53 pm

If You are willing to send the libraries and/or the static compiled binary, and are willing to make these many versions, why not make one deb and another rpm, static linked (or with the needed libraries included)? Those would be two packages. Ok, three: one tgz for corner cases.

Because people see the absurd number of Distros, and think we have to make one full version for everyone of them. This is not true. One way to distribute packages (deb and rpm) would be:
1) Compile static, or send the dependencies with it. The packages allow this, and it would run basically everywhere.

You wrote quite an elaborate comment, but you are coming with the incorrect premise: that it is possible to create statically linked binary on linux.

With glibc, this is not possible without breaking its functionality. Quite a chunk of glibc is dynamically loaded (including subsystems like nss);i if you ignore it, you might break things like hostname resolution or user database. This is the reason, why even golang (which otherwise doesn't need glibc) doesn't do statically linked binaries.

So by trying to go with static binary, you are opening a can of worms with bigger problems.

But, really, for something like this - and the public it caters for - I thing tgz would be the best way, with auto updates on startup. Exactly like You are doing.

Not really. On linux system the prevailing culture is not to do this; it is to package it (one way of another, deb/rpm//flatpak/etc), so unprivileged users can get updates (and do not run them out of their homedir).

gigabyte091 · Tue Sep 03, 2024 4:01 pm

Does anybody else have a problem with winbox not remembering password ? I check remember password but everytime i start winbox password is not saved.

wfburton · Tue Sep 03, 2024 4:02 pm

AppImage and Snap are also mentoned here, but described as bad.
What is the "best way" to distribute linux apps, in your opinion?
For me it would be that I can use the installer in Ubuntu, like

apt get winbox

Mikrotik would need to setup a ppa repository. Then you can add it to your apt source list.
Would also need a gpg key

infabo · Tue Sep 03, 2024 4:05 pm

Does anybody else have a problem with winbox not remembering password ? I check remember password but everytime i start winbox password is not saved.

Passwords remembered on my machine. Linux client. Maybe you hit an UX trap. You probably need to enter your password and hit "save"-button before you hit "connect"-button.

edit:
just tried it out. Saved a wrong password. closed application. launched winbox, entered correct password and use connect straight away: password was saved. So maybe a local bug?

Larsa · Tue Sep 03, 2024 4:08 pm

Maybe you expect something to happen, that was never intended to happen? This is what is SUPPOSED to happen. As designed: https://imgur.com/a/RwZRKRH

Yes, that could absolutely be the case but I suspect there might be some confusion here regarding the terminology. As I tried to explain previously and what I was asking for was the ability to detach a window from the workspace that is limited by WinBox and move it freely around on the screen (ie. on the root window), not detaching a window from the new workspace submenu system as shown in the video (which btw is a pretty wierd and cumbersome process IMO).

The reason behind this request (i.e. the ability to detach a window from the WinBox workspace) is to place windows side by side in the NOC for various types of connections on a computer with multiple large screens without needing to start a new instance of WinBox for each new window.

Regarding the confusion about terminology and expressions related to an application's workspace and windows, this is easily explained in the first paragraph of the link below. For example, in the context of Microsoft’s MDI applications, WinBox 3 functions as an MDI application where the workspace is the application’s main window, and any windows that are opened are "MDI child windows," which are normally locked to the main application window (frame window). This issue can be addressed in several ways and is fairly straightforward if one is somewhat experienced with GUI development.

Link: Microsoft MDI applications

Tue Sep 03, 2024 4:10 pm

Yeah, sorry, but that is not planned at this stage, Larsa.

Larsa · Tue Sep 03, 2024 4:14 pm

Got it! Please add it to the list for Customer Enhancement Requests. Thanks!

Tue Sep 03, 2024 4:17 pm

The detached window feature would make sense if there is only one Winbox instance running at a time. Since mostly several Winbox instances are running, detaching windows would create even more usability issues.

Paternot · Tue Sep 03, 2024 4:23 pm

With glibc, this is not possible without breaking its functionality. Quite a chunk of glibc is dynamically loaded (including subsystems like nss);i if you ignore it, you might break things like hostname resolution or user database. This is the reason, why even golang (which otherwise doesn't need glibc) doesn't do statically linked binaries.
So by trying to go with static binary, you are opening a can of worms with bigger problems.

Well, whatever You can use an standard interface to doesn't have to. Because, You see, Flatpak and whatnot get the same problem.

Not really. On linux system the prevailing culture is not to do this; it is to package it (one way of another, deb/rpm//flatpak/etc), so unprivileged users can get updates (and do not run them out of their homedir).

Were You talking about Flatpak, that put them on "~/.local/share/flatpak" for user installations? System wide instalations would be no better than a package - since would need root password for install and update.

And good old tgz IS quite common. Installing it on user directory - for something like this - is acceptable too. One need to worry about things like /opt only when installing system wide packages. For something that doesn't use the package system and is just for one user - or portable - there is no need.

Larsa · Tue Sep 03, 2024 4:31 pm

The detached window feature would make sense if there is only one Winbox instance running at a time. Since mostly several Winbox instances are running, detaching windows would create even more usability issues.

Well, maybe for inexperienced people who don't work with networks and aren't familiar with the term NOC. WinBox isn't exactly designed for the average Joe. Most of our other mangement and monitoring tools but WinBox have that feature and it works perfectly, especially with Virtual Desktops which makes it super easy to switch views for different purposes like geographically separate locations etc. Welcome to the 2000s! ;-)

infabo · Tue Sep 03, 2024 4:34 pm

The detached window feature would make sense if there is only one Winbox instance running at a time. Since mostly several Winbox instances are running, detaching windows would create even more usability issues.

What kind of issues? Like closing main window/instance which kills detached windows as well? Could be solved by modal confirmation dialogs (known from e.g. Microsoft Word): "Hey user, really like to close? There are these other detached windows still open. <list of open windows>". Like a web browser application supports tabs and new-windows (=detached) since like decades. Never read "omg, these detached browsers windows make me going crazyyyy"

Larsa · Tue Sep 03, 2024 4:36 pm

Exactly my point!

infabo · Tue Sep 03, 2024 4:58 pm

I think I’ll leave this topic for a while - at least until the first "Known issues to be addressed" have been implemented and further feedback is actually meaningful. This reflexive attitude of rejecting suggestions as soon as they are made reminds me too much of how politics in democracies works in reality. Don't want to participate in that game right now.

Dic94 · Tue Sep 03, 2024 5:10 pm

Thanks to the entire Mikrotik team for Winbox 4, I was awaiting the native version for Linux.

I have found a bug in the way IPs are sorted, which only affects RouterOS 7.
In RouterOS 7, the order is incorrect and varies from one session to another. If I disable and enable the rules, their order also changes, and sometimes they are arranged correctly.

RouterOS7.png

In RouterOS 6, the order is always correct.

RouterOS6.png

In the tests I show, I used CHR routers and static routes, but the same happens with real routers and OSPF.

On the other hand, I found a detail that was clearer in Winbox 3.
When you had routes with the same destination, the inactive route would be displayed in blue, making it easy to distinguish. Now you can only rely on the flags.
Winbox3:

Winbox3SameDSTRoute.png

Winbox4:

Winbox4SameDSTRoute.png

Institor · Tue Sep 03, 2024 5:26 pm

Detached windows are, for now, the least of it's problems. Very least.
Judging by developers attitude in this forum, i very much doubt any meaningful design enhancements (or i should say corrections) will be implemented. I suspect it's year 2024, can't have nice things anymore.

For now it's unusable:
- Information density (margins, paddings)
- contrast (rows/columns visual separation, and, for god's sake, not alternating row colors)
- usability (tabs, etc.)
- overall sluggishness - webfig works approximately the same if not faster.

Technically it is webfig. Same round buttons/indicators, same margins, lack of tabs. But less contrast. No need to download "native linux app", all you need is a browser.
Ok, slight exaggeration there. Not "unusable". More like - as usable as webfig.

ilpastore · Tue Sep 03, 2024 5:47 pm

Yo guys

from Dude server, if i will right click on device (obv Mikrotik :D ) then Winbox, i will open new Winbox 4 but i don't have anymore IP field well compiled, no user, and no pass (like before in 3)

On the tool setting from Dude Server i have:
"C:\winbox.exe" [Device.FirstAddress] [Device.UserName] [Device.Password]

(nothing changed from me)

any mode to solve?

thx guys, enjoy your 4!

Swordforthelord · Tue Sep 03, 2024 5:52 pm

50MB is too big in 2024?

It definitely is not too big. However, 16mb of storage on 2024 routerboards is definitely too small.

nmt1900 · Tue Sep 03, 2024 6:04 pm

- overall sluggishness - webfig works approximately the same if not faster.

Interesting... It looks like Winbox 4 works better on old Macbook than on any Windows machine(?)

I have used it for a few days on Windows and Mac - and yes it is blurry and lacking contrast on Windows, but Windows 10 and later are not good in that sense anyway so blurriness is not surprising. This probably exaggerates current color choices as a problem - but that on Windows. Contrast is about the same on Mac, but text appearance is crisper and that makes this color palette completely usable.

Mac users had to put up with Wine and all the hassle, but now Windows users end up complaining about lagging and blurriness - which are absent even on Mac from 2015.

marioclep · Tue Sep 03, 2024 6:06 pm

If I create a Tool from DUDE, Winbox4 loads but it doesn't include device's password. Should I use another syntax?

BRCnet · Tue Sep 03, 2024 6:30 pm

Forgive my ignorance but I don't see how to import the list of .cdb addresses according to the text of the first post.
I already have the Addresses.cdb file but I don't know where to leave it or import it in WinBox 4

dvreshta · Tue Sep 03, 2024 7:11 pm

Will mouse over option be again possible on winbox 4?

pekr · Tue Sep 03, 2024 7:23 pm

Many users request return of the Tabs to the top bar. One of my colleagues has nice idea - most of the time, you only work with few selected tabs. So what about an icon in the drop-down list, to open a Tab in a new Window, would in fact pin the Tab to the top bar instead?

Whatever way brings tabs back, is good :-)

jaxed7 · Tue Sep 03, 2024 8:37 pm

Great job I'm gonna really like this new look moving forward however there are some issues to be addressed (Apology if there are already being pointed out by other users):

1. Colors and also fonts for different entries of a table in both dark mode and light mode is a bit hard to read and follow specially on a hug screen with high resolution and zooming in is not really helping either since it'll zoom in everything whereas I would like to just increase the font size not the window size or anything.

To remedy this I would suggest adding visual customization options like: Change colors (So someone like me can have totally black dark mode) & font and text size individually based on user preference.

2. Click and hover over graphs used to show values of that graph now it's gone.

Maybe can be added again without the need to hold the mouse button down and we get to see the data and values by only hovering mouse on different areas of the graph

Larsa · Tue Sep 03, 2024 8:46 pm

Many users request return of the Tabs to the top bar. One of my colleagues has nice idea - most of the time, you only work with few selected tabs. So what about an icon in the drop-down list, to open a Tab in a new Window, would in fact pin the Tab to the top bar instead?

But of course! That way, everyone can customize their favorite toolbar in the header. The dropdown menu should be moved to avoid wasting unnecessary space.

mt-winbox-new-tabs-idea.png

jriera · Tue Sep 03, 2024 10:04 pm

Is there any option to run Winbox with ip, user and password arguments for "autologin" like version 3? We use it with a Handler that allows us to access with the url format: winbox://user:password@ip_router from our CRM in web browser.

Now I see that the new executable doesn't seem to allow login arguments.

kajikoffo · Tue Sep 03, 2024 10:56 pm

I'm sorry, this thread is so TL;DR :/..

I know it was a lot of work, but..
First rant (apart form things to be addressed in the original post):
- too much graphics, I could live with Winbox3 with darkmode forever; content is getting lost for the cause of fancyness
- windows cannot be closed by 'Esc', comments can't be edited with Ctrl + M, no 'New item' with Insert.. That's really pain in the ass, I suppose more people like to work preferably on keyboard
- I came accross issue, that windows can't be positioned in negative X position. So when you open window in fullscreen, it's big, you make 'Winbox window' smaller, X - close isn't visible and internal window can't be moved to get to it, you have to resize Winbox to a bigger window so you can see it and close internal window (as Esc isn't working)

realmark · Tue Sep 03, 2024 11:22 pm

This looks lovely, and I'll check it out. Windows, MacOS, and Linux.

However, one killer bit I'd love to see added to Winbox: public key auth. We have an ongoing war internally about killing off winbox because it means our techs are storing passwords in their laptops. Personally, I use SSH at least 80% of the time, and just don't store creds in winbox. Making Winbox capable of using public key auth like SSH would eliminate the issue. Joe would just have his private key imported to winbox and we'd be done.

KiwiBloke · Tue Sep 03, 2024 11:47 pm

Hi @normis, here's the url path for copying address.cbd list to v4. You used another url at the top of this thread which doesn't work, at least not on my distro (LMDE6, which is based on Debian 12). This may also apply to other distros too.

cp ~/.wine/drive_c/users/$USER/AppData/Roaming/Mikrotik/Winbox/Addresses.cdb ~/.local/share/MikroTik/WinBox

Please feel free to update if applicable.

Now having seen the effect that not having groups have, I definitely believe they need to return. How I use groups is to arrange them into sections of active clients, inactive clients, stock items, etc... That way I can see at a glance the group (or section) I'm most interested at the time and then easily find the device in question. Another reason we use groups this way is so we can identify at a glance which device is used where, which in turn helps dramatically for inventory purposes and helps keep on-hand stock levels sane. Also by having groups, it creates line breaks so you can easily identify each group section, rather than have all the devices bunched together in an incoherent manner. Comments are used to identify customers names for easy reference. So, yes groups have a hugely important role for us, as do comments. It'll be this one thing that'll keep us locked on to v3 for the interim - that and the lack of graphing LTE signals.

BTW... I'm assuming the workaround to export is to save new devices and then copy the address.cbd file to where ever you want it exported to? Are there plans to include import/export options in a subsequent release? It would make things far more intuitive and convenient.

Great work, this is going to be an awesome release once the teething issues have been sorted.

PS: as a Linux user, I have no issue at all with the way you're currently distributing the package. It just works, which is what most non-power users would expect IMO.

spippan · Wed Sep 04, 2024 12:25 am

This looks lovely, and I'll check it out. Windows, MacOS, and Linux.

However, one killer bit I'd love to see added to Winbox: public key auth. We have an ongoing war internally about killing off winbox because it means our techs are storing passwords in their laptops. Personally, I use SSH at least 80% of the time, and just don't store creds in winbox. Making Winbox capable of using public key auth like SSH would eliminate the issue. Joe would just have his private key imported to winbox and we'd be done.

wishing for such a feature for years !
hopefully this is the chance we get it.
i hope MT is making WB4 very modular "under the hood" to bring in new features relatively quick and easy - but we sometimes know how those things end up at MT ;-P cheers

boingolover · Wed Sep 04, 2024 5:23 am

First, thanks for the Linux and MacOS versions! Very appreciated!

And now, how to improve. Some items are repeating what was already written, but I consider it important enough to justify repeating ;)

Linux:

(Not going into discussion why flatpak and not deb/rpm/appimage right now. Also not static binaries -- there's no such thing as static binary with glibc, at least not if you want it non-broken. It will certainly not fix brokeness on musl systems, just add a new brokeness on glibc ones).

You can reliably link musl statically though. musl is also MIT licensed. Assuming the app works well with musl, statically linking against musl is a really nice idea for portability.

nichky · Wed Sep 04, 2024 5:28 am

@normis,

what is the purpose of Workspace.

It doesn't look similar to v3.

Wed Sep 04, 2024 8:42 am

Workspace saves arranged menus. Maybe you want a Wireless workspace, with Wireless Registration table open, the Log window, the Wireless scan window. Call it Wireless Debugging and save as a workspace. Then maybe you need a Terminal workspace with 4 terminals.

it is exactly as was in v3

Wed Sep 04, 2024 8:43 am

overall sluggishness

This only affects Windows users running 60Hz and is a known bug in the "Qt" framework, a fix is in the works. macOS and linux should be fast for most people.

baragoon · Wed Sep 04, 2024 8:57 am

one small thing on MacOS, Enter key is no more acts as "OK" button, now I need to click mouse instead of just pressing Enter like in v3.

nichky · Wed Sep 04, 2024 9:22 am

@normis,

it is exactly as was in v3

i got what you are saying, but in the v4 i can't see the session with the ip/mac

Wed Sep 04, 2024 9:27 am

Functionally it is the same. You previously did not save "session" or "workspace" with a name, so it was given the IP as the temporary name. Even in Winbox3 you had to give a name to the "session", but you did not do it, ie. you did not use the sessions correctly.

Right now, if you use <own> session, it will open the same windows, as preiously ON THE SAME IP. So you can achieve the same result. Use <own> and it will remember your layout.

Normally you should never use the "ip address as session name" list ever in winbox3. Ther was never any reason to do it. <own> did the same thing anyway

karlisi · Wed Sep 04, 2024 9:34 am

one small thing on MacOS, Enter key is no more acts as "OK" button, now I need to click mouse instead of just pressing Enter like in v3.

The same on Windows.
Also, pg-down and pg-up not working. I hope, these will be added later. Normis said, they are working on keyboard shortcuts.

Wed Sep 04, 2024 9:36 am

Workspaces save the list and locations of open windows, that you will see when connecting to a router

<none> - nothing is open
<own> - the same windows are open, that you saw last time, when connected to this same IP

You can make new workspaces, just give them meaningful names. Like "Debugging", where only Terminal, Log and Sniffer are open. Or "WiFi" where only all the WiFi related windows are open.

What's best, you can switch between these window templates or workspaces, real time, while connected to the router.

roe1974 · Wed Sep 04, 2024 9:49 am

If anyone else is not seeing Comments column in the Saved routers interface, make sure this Comment setting is on Globally

Screenshot 2024-09-03 at 14.34.09.jpg

@normis: that was the hint ;-)

Wed Sep 04, 2024 9:52 am

I'm sorry, this thread is so TL;DR :/..

I know it was a lot of work, but..
First rant (apart form things to be addressed in the original post):
- too much graphics, I could live with Winbox3 with darkmode forever; content is getting lost for the cause of fancyness
- windows cannot be closed by 'Esc', comments can't be edited with Ctrl + M, no 'New item' with Insert.. That's really pain in the ass, I suppose more people like to work preferably on keyboard
- I came accross issue, that windows can't be positioned in negative X position. So when you open window in fullscreen, it's big, you make 'Winbox window' smaller, X - close isn't visible and internal window can't be moved to get to it, you have to resize Winbox to a bigger window so you can see it and close internal window (as Esc isn't working)

Sorry for TLDR, but those things are answered in the first post actually. Shortcuts are all removed, and will return. Window can be closed by ctrl+w like in web browsers, but that's the only shortcut for now.

eworm · Wed Sep 04, 2024 10:05 am

However, one killer bit I'd love to see added to Winbox: public key auth. We have an ongoing war internally about killing off winbox because it means our techs are storing passwords in their laptops. Personally, I use SSH at least 80% of the time, and just don't store creds in winbox. Making Winbox capable of using public key auth like SSH would eliminate the issue. Joe would just have his private key imported to winbox and we'd be done.

Well, we have public key authentication with SSH already. This brings me to feature I proposed earlier: Winbox connection via SSH tunnel.

That way you could connect via SSH and public key authentication, then connect Winbox via tunnel (all in one step automatically). You could make the Winbox port listen on a loopback address only, and use a more or less weak password as it's hidden anyway.

Sounds good and reasonable?

BTW, should be quite easy to implement this for Mikrotik with libssh: https://www.libssh.org/

marsbeetle · Wed Sep 04, 2024 10:19 am

I think client certificate authentication would work well with Winbox - probably easier to implement too because certificate support already exists.

3dfx · Wed Sep 04, 2024 10:50 am

Clipboard01.png

Do you plan to fix the encoding?

babelmonk · Wed Sep 04, 2024 11:02 am

Another slightly weird one. Mac (M1 14.6.1) Winbox 4 beta 3

If I copy and paste multiple lines into the Winbox terminal from the mac terminal, the last line doesn't execute, and doesn't show up in command history... For example:

<pasted from mac terminal>
[XXXX] /system/logging/action> /system logging
[XXXX] /system/logging> set 0 action=remote prefix=:Info
[XXXX] /system/logging> set 1 action=remote prefix=:Error
[XXXX] /system/logging> set 2 action=remote prefix=:Warning
[XXXX] /system/logging> set 3 action=remote prefix=:Critical
[XXXX] /system/logging> 
[XXXX] /system/logging> add action=remote disabled=no prefix=:Firewall topics=firewall
[XXXX] /system/logging> add action=remote disabled=no prefix=:Account topics=account
[XXXX] /system/logging> add action=remote disabled=no prefix=:Caps topics=caps
[XXXX] /system/logging> add action=remote disabled=no prefix=:Wireless topics=wireless

<typed manually>
[XXXX] /system/logging> export
# 2024-09-04 08:56:12 by RouterOS 7.16rc4
# software id = PDMF-PR2F
#
# model = cAPGi-5HaxD2HaxD
# serial number = xxx
<snip>
/system logging
set 0 action=remote prefix=:Info
set 1 action=remote prefix=:Error
set 2 action=remote prefix=:Warning
set 3 action=remote prefix=:Critical
add action=elastic topics=critical
add action=elastic topics=error
add action=elastic topics=info
add action=elastic topics=warning
add action=remote prefix=:Firewall topics=firewall
add action=remote prefix=:Account topics=account
add action=remote prefix=:Caps topics=caps

Wed Sep 04, 2024 12:44 pm

Clipboard01.png

Do you plan to fix the encoding?

Known issue, as mentioned in the first post.

Currently, new entries show correctly. Only old comments do not show correctly.

wlfz · Wed Sep 04, 2024 12:50 pm

If the skin supports translated non English characters, it would be great!

maigonis · Wed Sep 04, 2024 1:54 pm

A way how to know if you are connected. For example one Intel CPU test have flame that moves, like basic gif whit two pictures in it - if it stops moving you know you your CPU have hanged.

Sometimes one makes bunch of changes, but connection to ROS device is already lost, so you loose those changes. Yes, that time out is some seconds, but still this can slow you down and make you redo things. This is most important to unstable connections.

nmt1900 · Wed Sep 04, 2024 2:02 pm

It looks like every successful change pops up small green OK bubble in down right corner of Winbox workspace. I have already seen cases where this does not appear and "..." gray bubble appears instead - and these were the cases where connection was lost before applying change(s).

Maybe this is how it is thought to be in current form of UI? For some reason this reminds me of Fortinet web UI (Fortinet UI has "undo" option in that green bubble as well but that is super annoying - it would be better to do Undo fuctionality as it was in Winbox 3).

jaxed7 · Wed Sep 04, 2024 3:06 pm

Workspaces save the list and locations of open windows, that you will see when connecting to a router

<own> - the same windows are open, that you saw last time, when connected to this same IP

@normis

I think there is a bug regarding <own> workspace. Windows layout is not being saved.

3.gif

maisondasilva · Wed Sep 04, 2024 3:06 pm

@normis see ticket SUP-163798 rb433 7.16r4 ip bridge winbox 4 closed

3dfx · Wed Sep 04, 2024 3:13 pm

Clipboard01.png

Do you plan to fix the encoding?
Known issue, as mentioned in the first post.

Currently, new entries show correctly. Only old comments do not show correctly.

Sorry - I searched for "encoding" before posting and missed the statement in the first post.
Is a fixed planned or the workoround will be to rename all existing comments?

Wed Sep 04, 2024 3:33 pm

I think there is a bug regarding <own> workspace. Windows layout is not being saved.

works for me. maybe write permissions for the session file folder?

jaxed7 · Wed Sep 04, 2024 4:18 pm

I think there is a bug regarding <own> workspace. Windows layout is not being saved.
works for me. maybe write permissions for the session file folder?

Checked that and it's got full permissions to write and read (full control), also custom workspace is working only <own> have problem. Tested on win 10 and win 11.

genesispro · Wed Sep 04, 2024 4:27 pm

The first thing that I tried as well was to open it from Dude. I also tried from command prompt to run winbox _ ip _..... but it just opened the application. It seems that no arguments are expected or at least not in that order.
Now for the UI after using it for 2 minutes I think that my eyes hurt. After writing this post I paused and reused it for another 2 minutes. My eyes hurt more!
If someone is using winbox for the first time might find it cool. If one has been using winbox for the last 15 years will hate it. I don't know if new (shocking) features are there that didn't exist in the previous winbox yet but I believe that I will keep using v3 (as long as mikrotik will keep updating it)
Definately the feature with the arguments MUST return!!!
Guess what I just gave it another 2 minutes... ESC is not working as well to close the inner windows aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh and no inner tabs aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh
Mikrotik guys can you keep that version only for linux and mac and keep updating the good "old" winbox 3 for windows?

Wed Sep 04, 2024 5:02 pm

genesispro please read first post, before posting known issues

frayoshi · Wed Sep 04, 2024 6:20 pm

I would add to my previous suggestion to let the user choose the colors, so it could adapt to our work environment : )
Something like: "custom theme" or "custom color palette" in addition to light and dark mode :)

nkourtzis · Wed Sep 04, 2024 6:21 pm

First and foremost, thank you Mikrotik team for your great work. I had missed the original post and thus I downloaded and tested the new winbox just today. As a user of Mikrotik products for more than 20 years, I would like to share my view.

The way I see it, winbox is a power tool for configuration. In power tools, aesthetics do count, but they come very distant third to functionality and usability. Right now Winbox is a very mature, very capable and very usable tool. Thus I apologize for failing to see the need for a complete redesign. What are the needs behind all these hours of work you put and will continue putting into it? What do you envision that the new winbox will offer that the current one cannot? Because right now what I see is a better-looking application and that's pretty much it.

Don't get me wrong; I am all in for evolution and innovation - and I appreciate a nice design. I just do not feel that Winbox has much to benefit from such a complete overhaul. For example, I much more wish for a competitive SDN platform that will allow for centralized complete administration and monitoring of Mikrotik infrastructure. Of course, I may be missing crucial information that indicate otherwise and affected your priorities. If this is the case, please accept my apologies.

In any way, I would very much like to hear your vision for this much-loved and daily used tool.

donovanh · Wed Sep 04, 2024 6:50 pm

This is a massive thank you.
My biggest bain of using Linux was winbox was a hassle and slow under wine options.

Thanks SO SO SO much for a native linux option.
Your devs are now super stars

momentumz · Wed Sep 04, 2024 10:38 pm

I'm not sure that any of you know what beta means when developing a GUI application. Please, report bugs that you find while using the app and/or if something doesnt make sense or if you find something to have more sense to be in a certain way.

Its a beta for a reason, any missing features need to be ported to the new GUI before you can use them. Stop reporting missing features...
Also, dont complain about file size. Its no big deal and it needs to be this way if you wanna have the fancy Qt things in it :)

Only report how the current build of new GUI works, crashes, etc etc

Cha0s · Wed Sep 04, 2024 11:13 pm

I'm not sure that any of you know what beta means when developing a GUI application. Please, report bugs that you find while using the app and/or if something doesnt make sense or if you find something to have more sense to be in a certain way.

Its a beta for a reason, any missing features need to be ported to the new GUI before you can use them. Stop reporting missing features...
Also, dont complain about file size. Its no big deal and it needs to be this way if you wanna have the fancy Qt things in it :)

Only report how the current build of new GUI works, crashes, etc etc

:facepalm:

Beta, named after the second letter of the Greek alphabet, is the software development phase following alpha. A beta phase generally begins when the software is feature-complete but likely to contain several known or unknown bugs.

Winbox v4 is not feature complete. In fact it is missing basic functionality, so by definition it is not beta, and by that measure it's only logical that everyone is whining about key missing features.

Maybe, just maybe they should have brought v4 to feature parity with v3 before releasing a beta version to the public?

Sob · Wed Sep 04, 2024 11:54 pm

I would add to my previous suggestion to let the user choose the colors, so it could adapt to our work environment : )
Something like: "custom theme" or "custom color palette" in addition to light and dark mode :)

Yes, please. It could certainly help with making everyone happy. MikroTik can make defaults pretty according to their preferences, and anyone feeling that it could be prettier or anything (different contrast, etc.) could adjust it for themselves.

Good thing is that support for it should be already there. If there's light and dark mode, it's most likely just two sets of few colors for different elements defined in one place. So reading another set of colors from somewhere else shouldn't be anything difficult.

And if they added few more configurable things like padding of list items...

sinisa · Thu Sep 05, 2024 12:39 am

About packaging: I see no difference between using Wine now or being forced to use snap/flatpak/appimage with all of their dependencies.

I like it as it is now: a single downloadable executable, not zipped/gzippped/zstded/packed in any way. If it doesn't have an icon in Linux - never mind, just don't make me unpack it before every time I download it. When I download it "in the field" (possibly on someone else's computer) I probably have many more worries than WinBox icon...

Saduff · Thu Sep 05, 2024 4:39 am

WinBox v4 is great so far for a beta, except when it crashes a router. See my post here: viewtopic.php?t=210639

sri2007 · Thu Sep 05, 2024 7:21 am

Wonder if the possibility to select all (using ctrl+all) or even a button in the new inbox will be added in the future or even select some elements in the same tab using shift. that was very useful in the old winbox to disable / enable a bunch of firewall rules at once for testing.

KiwiBloke · Thu Sep 05, 2024 8:08 am

No auto reconnect or open in new window options.

In v4 whenever the device needs to reboot, changing frequency in an AP for example, v4 closes and requires a manual restart. This is wastes time that most field techs don't have. Please re-instate.

nmt1900 · Thu Sep 05, 2024 9:49 am

I have one question - how to delete the workspace in Winbox 4? New ones can be created and saved but there does not seem to be a way to delete them...

baragoon · Thu Sep 05, 2024 10:00 am

Mac version - unable to drag multiple items at once. Selected multiple items, drag, but only one was moved.

karlisi · Thu Sep 05, 2024 10:16 am

Mac version - unable to drag multiple items at once. Selected multiple items, drag, but only one was moved.

Same in Windows

Thu Sep 05, 2024 10:30 am

Will report, thanks

Thu Sep 05, 2024 10:31 am

No auto reconnect or open in new window options.

In v4 whenever the device needs to reboot, changing frequency in an AP for example, v4 closes and requires a manual restart. This is wastes time that most field techs don't have. Please re-instate.

There is auto reconnect with a countdown and it works.

Thu Sep 05, 2024 10:34 am

I have one question - how to delete the workspace in Winbox 4? New ones can be created and saved but there does not seem to be a way to delete them...

Like this (button next to workspace name. icon will be changed, current one is a bug)

Thu Sep 05, 2024 10:34 am

Wonder if the possibility to select all (using ctrl+all) or even a button in the new inbox will be added in the future or even select some elements in the same tab using shift. that was very useful in the old winbox to disable / enable a bunch of firewall rules at once for testing.

As multiple posts say above, currently all shortcut keys are disabled. A known thing. They will return

Thu Sep 05, 2024 10:38 am

A beta phase generally begins when the software is feature-complete but likely to contain several known or unknown bugs.

Chaos, read your own quote more carefully.
Also, what even is such a thing as "feature complete"? Winbox4 is a new software, which has not replaced Winbox3. It will evolve and evolve forever. When does this "complete" happen, when talking about new software? Is Photoshop feature complete already?

maxims60 · Thu Sep 05, 2024 10:46 am

Please add possibility to deactivate traffic through proxy when is activate in windows.

karlisi · Thu Sep 05, 2024 10:54 am

Winbox4 is a new software, which has not replaced Winbox3.

OK, you are the boss, new software, new experience, got it. But then, strange decision to name it almost as another your software, changing only the number on the end. Or this is temporary name and perhaps there will be TikBox at the end?

Thu Sep 05, 2024 10:59 am

Karlis, so Half Life 2 is same as Half Life 1, just with additional bugs? Very weird argument here.

Thu Sep 05, 2024 11:00 am

What's new in v4.0beta4:

*) added undo / redo / safe mode
*) added command line launch parameters ( WinBox <connect-to> <addresess> <password>)
*) fix auth via RADIUS on macOS
*) fix opening http url on Windows (for SwOS)
*) improved several icons

sxtlhglte · Thu Sep 05, 2024 11:04 am

Whoop!

mducharme · Thu Sep 05, 2024 11:05 am

This is coming along fast. Great to see a new winbox, even though there is still some work.

I find the "New" button at the top by itself a bit confusing in terms of UI - it looks to me like it is for making a new copy of the window itself or a new tab, not for adding a new item. It might be partially due to the icon (which looks like it should mean "new window" or something) but is also due to the placement, as it is up on the title bar by itself right beside the drop-down list of tabs.

Perhaps the "New" should be in the "Actions" sidebar instead? This would make more sense to me.

afshar · Thu Sep 05, 2024 11:28 am

Hi
I use linux version.
It seems wireless client status in quick set doesn't work.
Also ESC key of keyboard to close opened windows doesn't work. I should move mouse and click on close button for each window.

indnti · Thu Sep 05, 2024 11:33 am

To import an existing adresses.cbd on MAC OS you have to put addresses.cbd (or a link to it) here:

/Users/<user>/Library/Application Support/MikroTik/WinBox

indnti · Thu Sep 05, 2024 11:37 am

Need the "group" on the device overview in addresses back.

nmt1900 · Thu Sep 05, 2024 11:38 am

Update to beta4 on Intel Mac did not finish the same way as with last update (had to manually copy app from /Volumes/WinBox to /Applications).

If you are unable to implement this "automatically" then just make the new volume open in new Finder window so user can copy new app to proper location as in almost any other "installer" for Mac. For now it is not visible and user has to look for it manually after activating "show hidden items" in Finder to be able to do this. Just do it in a way most Mac users are used to "install" any other well known application!

Worst thing is that we don't know where the actual .dmg file is downloaded before it is mounted as this invisible volume. Make it simpler for yourselves and users as well...

bajodel · Thu Sep 05, 2024 11:44 am

my 2 cents:
- tabs are better than comboboxes (just 1 click)
- lack of contrast (in dark mode expecially)
- dx panels are a waste of space, maybe better a drop down menu from the top bar (which is almost empty by the way)
- in the initial connection form, the list of saved profile could be more compact (winbox3 style)

Anyway, winbox 4 is already quite good, nice job! .. now time to improve it ;-)

nmt1900 · Thu Sep 05, 2024 11:52 am

Torch still has a problem with initial/default setting in Port field - it should be "any", not "tcpmux"

snap 2024-09-05 at 11.48.26.png

Thu Sep 05, 2024 11:56 am

Update to beta4 on Intel Mac did not finish the same way as with last update (had to manually copy app from /Volumes/WinBox to /Applications).

This works for nearly everyone else, so something must be wrong in those computers, where it fails. Make a support ticket please, so we can investigate

Thu Sep 05, 2024 11:57 am

Everyone, please - those things that are listed in "known issues" and are not listed in the changelog, have not been changed. No need to report again.

KiwiBloke · Thu Sep 05, 2024 12:02 pm

No auto reconnect or open in new window options.

In v4 whenever the device needs to reboot, changing frequency in an AP for example, v4 closes and requires a manual restart. This is wastes time that most field techs don't have. Please re-instate.
There is auto reconnect with a countdown and it works.

@normis, you didn't say whether this should work out of the box, or if there was some setting to enable it and if there is, where to find it. Please advise.

Because, on my Linux box the app just closes when the connection is lost forcing a manual restart once the internet has been restored. There is no splash screen with option to try again nor a countdown as your image suggests.

Using LMDE6 (based on Debian 12) with v4 beta4.

Thu Sep 05, 2024 12:03 pm

This works out of the box on all operating systems. Closes the connection how, what do you see then? Winbox disappears? Mayebe it is crashing and closing

KiwiBloke · Thu Sep 05, 2024 12:15 pm

This works out of the box on all operating systems. Closes the connection how, what do you see then? Winbox disappears? Mayebe it is crashing and closing

Yes, like I said, if I make a change that requires the device to reboot (like, oddly enough, changing an AP frequency), once you hit apply WiFi the connection is lost (on reboot) and Winbox simply closes. Doesn't freeze, closes completely. Once the connection is restored, you need to restart Winbox.

infabo · Thu Sep 05, 2024 12:20 pm

My compliments! Winbox 4.x now survives all network interruptions and even the reboot of the ROS device with an active connection open! This is a really good improvement compared to the constant disconnect messages in Winbox 3.x.

indnti · Thu Sep 05, 2024 12:27 pm

If you reprogram everything, I would prefer if the navigation moved from the left to a top menu structure

Jotne · Thu Sep 05, 2024 12:29 pm

Release info still missing ; at end of lines, like this (to be equal RouterOS):

*) added undo / redo / safe mode;
*) added command line launch parameters ( WinBox <connect-to> <addresess> <password>);
*) fix auth via RADIUS on macOS;
*) fix opening http url on Windows (for SwOS);
*) improved several icons;

ironman820 · Thu Sep 05, 2024 12:32 pm

Everyone else is throwing in their wants/desires for the Linux distribution, so here's mine:

You are never going to make everyone happy in how you distribute a linux binary. Creating and maintaining packaging/repositories at this stage is a waste. The way you are distributing it now is fine. I agree with other sentiments here, keep distributing it the way you have and let the users create packages for their desired deployments if they are so inclined. The only thing I would change is distribute it in a tar.gz file instead of zip. Tar files are just more common on linux systems and sometimes environments don't have unzip installed. That is minor all things considered and it won't change my use of this amazing application at all if it never changed.

If you get past beta stage and want a simple single-file download-and-run application, I would focus on appimage. Almost all distributions support the format by default. Please do not remove the ability to download an archive with the stand alone application. As stated before, and goes doubly in the case of people running non-standard distributions like NixOS, appimage or any other distribution method is a waste of time currently and would only hinder our install options when/if put in place later on.

I'm trying out beta4 now and will keep commenting if I see anything breaking, but thank you once again Mikrotik team for all the work you have put into this application and for putting up with all of the feature request complaining from your users.

Thu Sep 05, 2024 12:34 pm

This works out of the box on all operating systems. Closes the connection how, what do you see then? Winbox disappears? Mayebe it is crashing and closing
Yes, like I said, if I make a change that requires the device to reboot (like, oddly enough, changing an AP frequency), once you hit apply WiFi the connection is lost (on reboot) and Winbox simply closes. Doesn't freeze, closes completely. Once the connection is restored, you need to restart Winbox.

Changing the frequency does not require a reboot. Actually I can't think of any setting, that requires the reboot of a router, except upgrade. So several things are happening incorectly in your case, Make a support ticket pleaase, with more details.

infabo · Thu Sep 05, 2024 12:47 pm

*) added command line launch parameters ( WinBox <connect-to> <addresess> <password>)

Even though it's convenient to provide a password as a CLI argument, it's not a good idea to do that. Many CLI tools warn you when you still provide passwords via arguments. On Linux, all arguments can be seen in process viewers like ps or htop as long the process is alive. Any other software on the system can look at the process table and read/steal the password. It's safer to start a saved session using a stored password, so the credentials stay private.

nmt1900 · Thu Sep 05, 2024 1:20 pm

Update to beta4 on Intel Mac did not finish the same way as with last update (had to manually copy app from /Volumes/WinBox to /Applications).
This works for nearly everyone else, so something must be wrong in those computers, where it fails. Make a support ticket please, so we can investigate

I did that. It is only on Mac where this fails - in-place update works seamlessly on Windows and Ubuntu for me.

infabo · Thu Sep 05, 2024 1:21 pm

How frequently does Winbox check for updates? No notification until now.

tarikin · Thu Sep 05, 2024 1:33 pm

Screenshot 2024-09-05 at 17.27.56.png

Torch works with errors:
Polling error: object doesn't exists

Winbox 4.0beta4 / macOS 14.6.1 / M1 Pro
hexS RouterOS 7.15.3 / RouterBOOT 7.15

mozerd · Thu Sep 05, 2024 1:35 pm

running 4beta4
REQUEST for Winbox version 4 under Windows 11
Please improve the contrast when using default light mode ... dark mode does not work for me ... Thanks

tihovsky · Thu Sep 05, 2024 1:52 pm

I noticed certain things that I wanted to report:
- Inline Comments option is not available on the right-click anymore
- Columns cannot be moved (reordered), so for example long comments end up before the other columns by default
This is especially bad for keeping all port details in the comments (long comments) on a higher density switches
- Rows/columns are not separated by lines anymore so harder to find where to click to resize them
- Coumn options to minimize, extend (to a certain amount not sure what/why) and option to word-wrap exist, but seems no maximize option to fit all
- Row spacing is bigger than earlier winbox, thus fitting less info on the screen regardless of the font size
- Window title, header rows, window status bar are also bigger then earlier fitting les info on the screen regardless of the font size
- Buttons on the window right side panel are not bordered immetiately after the window is opened, but only after hoovering over them
- Still no data copy to clipboard for Windows machines (tab delimted, so to paste into excel for easier scripting)
- No Ctrl+M to add comment
- No Ctrl+Left click to select multiple items
- No Shift+Left click to select range of items
- No Ctrl+A to select all items
- No Find (search) option anymore just Filtering remains
- No import of previous Winbox sessions seem to exist or that both old & new winbox work from the same database of managed sessions/credentials
- Window tabs are now moved to the in pull-down list box, which makes them slower to select than earlier

Multiplatform & Dark mode seems to be the best changes, but with lots of tradeoff for Windows users.
I hope that old Winbox keeps maintenance and availability for a long time until the new version becomes better in all aspects.

Do note this is after 30 min. review without going through the changelogs and docs, so I might have missed some things but hope it helps.

ormandj · Thu Sep 05, 2024 3:22 pm

Everyone else is throwing in their wants/desires for the Linux distribution, so here's mine:

You are never going to make everyone happy in how you distribute a linux binary. Creating and maintaining packaging/repositories at this stage is a waste. The way you are distributing it now is fine. I agree with other sentiments here, keep distributing it the way you have and let the users create packages for their desired deployments if they are so inclined. The only thing I would change is distribute it in a tar.gz file instead of zip. Tar files are just more common on linux systems and sometimes environments don't have unzip installed. That is minor all things considered and it won't change my use of this amazing application at all if it never changed.

If you get past beta stage and want a simple single-file download-and-run application, I would focus on appimage. Almost all distributions support the format by default. Please do not remove the ability to download an archive with the stand alone application. As stated before, and goes doubly in the case of people running non-standard distributions like NixOS, appimage or any other distribution method is a waste of time currently and would only hinder our install options when/if put in place later on.

I'm trying out beta4 now and will keep commenting if I see anything breaking, but thank you once again Mikrotik team for all the work you have put into this application and for putting up with all of the feature request complaining from your users.

I agree with this sentiment, except flatpak seems like a much better fit for a desktop application that is regularly being updated.

Let the community handle packaging, that’s work we are happy to do. If source can’t be provided, then just ensure the builds are done against the latest stable release of the main distributions, and you should be fine. Perhaps do Debian stable, Ubuntu LTS, and CentOS stream. That’ll cover 90% of use cases. I use NixOS, for example, but I’m sure a binary from one of these will be possible to run and package.

I highly suggest just setting up your CICD platform to build using containers and avoid all the headache of managing a bunch of distributions. Not sure what build system you’re using but this should be trivial and if you are producing the binary artifacts you can just have them pushed to s3 or wherever you store resources for download.

Doing the builds in containers will make it easy to add new distro targets if you feel like being extra nice to the community. It takes 5-10 minutes for me to add new distributions as a build environment nowadays doing the same general thing for the software I manage.

Have the pipeline update the release page with the binary downloads and sha256sums and all of us packaging can automate the updates for our distributions.

Flatpak can handle all the rest.

msilcher · Thu Sep 05, 2024 3:45 pm

Hi There,

Other issue I found is that tools like ping/traceroute don't allow entering a FQDN like www.google.com. They always expect an IP address. This works in Winbox 3 and it is really useful for me!

Thank you!

baragoon · Thu Sep 05, 2024 5:17 pm

Hi There,

Other issue I found is that tools like ping/traceroute don't allow entering a FQDN like www.google.com. They always expect an IP address. This works in Winbox 3 and it is really useful for me!

Thank you!

+1

Atmis · Thu Sep 05, 2024 5:34 pm

Thanks a lot for this updated version of Winbox.
A made a quick search on the topic, and I don't think this was reported: it would be nice to have an automatic switch between dark and light themes, following the operating system setting. I use light theme during daylight, and my PC switches to dark mode automatically at sunset. I understand you have a lot to do, and this won't be a priority, but it would nice 😀
BTW, I second most of the other reports regarding contrast and readability.

ilium007 · Thu Sep 05, 2024 5:49 pm

I love the new app on macOS! But one thing that is really bugging me.... I can non longer hit the ESC key to close windows within the app. Someone times I have a stack open and now have to use mouse to click to close.

baragoon · Thu Sep 05, 2024 5:55 pm

Thanks a lot for this updated version of Winbox.
A made a quick search on the topic, and I don't think this was reported: it would be nice to have an automatic switch between dark and light themes, following the operating system setting. I use light theme during daylight, and my PC switches to dark mode automatically at sunset. I understand you have a lot to do, and this won't be a priority, but it would nice 😀
BTW, I second most of the other reports regarding contrast and readability.

already requested and added to TODO

I love the new app on macOS! But one thing that is really bugging me.... I can non longer hit the ESC key to close windows within the app. Someone times I have a stack open and now have to use mouse to click to close.

already requested and added to TODO

melectronics · Thu Sep 05, 2024 8:56 pm

I know it´s a beta version now, but I noticed that the "old" winbox is better for devices like laptops. Because in the "old" version all items need less space than in that new version. It is more compact which is good for devices with smaller screens...
But I understand the update to a more modern design / style...

oe5nip · Thu Sep 05, 2024 9:06 pm

first work is nice :-)

and a new update also out there :-)

Amm0 · Thu Sep 05, 2024 9:17 pm

Just don't be too harsh on us yet, first, let's celebrate that it's finally the day!

I'm sure it was an enormous effort to get it this good for a beta. It did come out great for an early beta!

While, I've not been a fan of this multiyear effort, because it is the Dude that needs a refresh... Now, I remain hopeful that this is first step to a "new Dude"/controller for managing/monitoring multiple Mikrotik devices. I just think that is bigger customer need IMO, than the existing management tool running on Mac/Linux. But also get this may be necessary step to Dude/controller since a new framework was I'm sure needed given Winbox's age, which is like the harder part of the effort than specific UI decision (which I'm sure are more readily fixable now).

On the "known issues"...

Most people prefer Tabs over Dropdowns

I actually like the dropdown for the top-level, or at least willing to give it a fair chance.... It uses less screen real estate than tabs. And the new "pop-out" window is great, especially when combined with new "workspace"/session. I think folks need to give it a chance...

In unmentioned issues, I'd add the following:

- In initial "Login" window, I like the new layout. But there should be some vertical split control between the login/password on left and the neighbors on the right. I get the whitespace looks nice, but that neighbors view is something I often use, including data in the columns which is seem to require resizing the window bigger to see (which also increase the space used by login too).

- In "Container", I'm not sure why "Start" and "Stop" are on the right-side as "Actions". While it correctly disabled start/stop button if a container is not selected/checked, other places in the new UI use the bottom to show "per item actions". Basically I expected to "Start" and "Stop" to be at bottom with Remove. i.e. If I understand the scheme, the right side actions generally either apply to all items or some sub-feature unrelated to an item. Similarly, it might be clearer if "Edit" was one of the "per-item bottom actions" in addition to double-clicking an item.

- In QuickSet dialog, the 3 buttons under "System" have no space in-between. All sections should by default be expanded (like webfig) – currently QuickSet everything collapsed which I think hides to much since you're likely using QuickSet to set something... And more broadly, still hoping from some improvements to make QuickSet as more usable for simple/common use cases – I'm think it now even harder to use than the single screen with all controls in winbox

- While webfig-like collapsable section works for some things better than "tabs" - not all things... Especially for "realtime" things like "Status" or "Traffic" sections — now buried at the bottom and require scrolling/more clicks to see. Since there is now the right-sidebar with Actions/etc, perhaps use that area to show the "status"/"traffic" or any of the realtime status? Scroll to the bottom to see if traffic/whatever is annoying in webfig. And there is a lot of whitespace on that new right-side...

-In general, the right-side "Actions" seem underutilized. In beta most of the right-side "Actions" work equally well as button on top-bar since often there is only 1-2 things there. As noted above, if it had the realtime status/traffic/monitor/etc stuff on the right-side it be way more useful. Just today, it seems an unnecessary waste of space where 1-2 buttons (or another 2nd dropdown) be better approach.

- My biggest grip is the lack of keyboard shortcuts/"tab navigation". For example, if the "controversial dropdown" was the set as the active control when a main window is opened, then they keyboard up/down let you pick the section with <enter>. Similar using <tab> to navigate control, that seems wonky in places... basically not sure the Qt-equivalent of Windows' "tab index" are correct everywhere. Overall, in ideal world, there should be some sequence of keys combos to get anywhere IMO. Basically if there was some "hotlock"-like approach to navigating winbox4 that be even better.

Still overall great job!

infabo · Thu Sep 05, 2024 10:09 pm

Jeez, just launched beta3 on my Macbook. "Update available" it greeted me. It downloaded beta4 and Winbox closed itself after reaching 100%. But it did not re-launch again. And also my Winbox Icon on Desktop (thats where I dragged it from DMG installer) is gone now. Good job, Mikrotik. Your builtin updater turns out to be an un-installer instead. ROFL

baragoon · Thu Sep 05, 2024 10:13 pm

Jeez, just launched beta3 on my Macbook. "Update available" it greeted me. It downloaded beta4 and Winbox closed itself after reaching 100%. But it did not re-launch again. And also my Winbox Icon on Desktop (thats where I dragged it from DMG installer) is gone now. Good job, Mikrotik. Your builtin update turns out to be an un-installer instead. ROFL

Update from beta3 to beta4 went smooth, Sonoma 14.5 (23F79) x86_64

infabo · Thu Sep 05, 2024 10:15 pm

Big Sur here. Error handling is apparently not the highest of priorities in this beta - it is ok - beta break idc. It would help to have some kind of log file which I could hand over to Mikrotik for inspection. But logging/debugging is apparently no top prio either. And I guess a "I hit the update button" is of no special help for developers. lol

Edified · Fri Sep 06, 2024 12:28 am

Winbox Beta 4 - Windows 11

I appreciate the zoom option...how about a compact option to reduce the whitespace waste while keeping readable sized text, even line-height would be a big improvement.
Darker Internal Window Border Pinstripes
Log Text Selection Please (with Copy)
Page Up/Page Down, Home/End for all scroll targets
Name (Comment) and IP in Saved List aren't aligned in Non-Inline Mode and isn't adjustable
Scroll Speed seems low on Windows 11 compared to other applications.
Some action are on top, some on the right and some on the bottom (For instance /firewall add is on top, Rest Counters on the right and Enable/Disable/Remove are on the bottom. Please just keep them all on the top, even if it sometimes wraps.
Context Menu should include [Enable | Disable | Remove | Duplicate | Comment]. Give each context menu some thought and make them useful :D
Remove Button should not appear if the user has no permissions.
User Re-ordering columns would be helpful

Keep up the good work!

spippan · Fri Sep 06, 2024 12:49 am

I'm not sure that any of you know what beta means when developing a GUI application. Please, report bugs that you find while using the app and/or if something doesnt make sense or if you find something to have more sense to be in a certain way.

Its a beta for a reason, any missing features need to be ported to the new GUI before you can use them. Stop reporting missing features...
Also, dont complain about file size. Its no big deal and it needs to be this way if you wanna have the fancy Qt things in it :)

Only report how the current build of new GUI works, crashes, etc etc
:facepalm:

Beta, named after the second letter of the Greek alphabet, is the software development phase following alpha. A beta phase generally begins when the software is feature-complete but likely to contain several known or unknown bugs.
Winbox v4 is not feature complete. In fact it is missing basic functionality, so by definition it is not beta, and by that measure it's only logical that everyone is whining about key missing features.

Maybe, just maybe they should have brought v4 to feature parity with v3 before releasing a beta version to the public?

must be fun hanging out around you.
wheter it is called "alpha", "beta" or "rc" ... it is a new version not finished yet and nobody forces you to use it over v3

Edified · Fri Sep 06, 2024 1:06 am

Winbox 4 Beta4: BUG: Keep Password behavior is unexpected messy and dangerous
(tested on Windows 11)
When a password is set on Saved connections, if you connect from the Saved list it will automatically choose "Keep Password", when you close Winbox and reopen, your encrypted password is available as password is persisted in the connect box, even if your Saved list was encrypted.

The login data is saved unencrypted in %appdata%\Roaming\MikroTik\WinBox\settings.cfg.viw2

Expected Behavior: The Keep Password option should only apply to keeping the password in the Saved file (encrypted or not) and should NEVER save the password to disk in an unencrypted last-used cache file. When Winbox starts, if there is a password on the last-used Saved file the keyboard focus should be on the "Saved List is encrypted" Password Field and the "Connect to" password field should ALWAYS start blank,.

Workaround: Check Keep Password and save your connection, then every single time you connect remember to uncheck Keep Password.

Edified · Fri Sep 06, 2024 1:15 am

Request: Please add a manual button "Check for Updates" and a setting "Automatically Check for Updates" that we can turn off if desired.

Edified · Fri Sep 06, 2024 1:18 am

Workspace Pulldown doesn't show full workspace name even if there is plenty of room. Example is "Test Workspace":

workspace.png

Edified · Fri Sep 06, 2024 1:48 am

There's no scrolling in the Settings pane which can result in the inability to see or interact with options for short window heights.

The Settings header could also be moved up to the top across from the close button and perhaps move the descriptive text into forthcoming hover Tooltips

Settings.png

nichky · Fri Sep 06, 2024 3:33 am

am i missing something, how to get in to --> *) added command line launch parameters ( WinBox <connect-to> <addresess> <password>);

boingolover · Fri Sep 06, 2024 5:22 am

am i missing something, where is?

*) added command line launch parameters ( WinBox <connect-to> <addresess> <password>);

on a mac, this works for me:

open /Applications/WinBox.app --args <address> <user> <password>

Buford · Fri Sep 06, 2024 6:09 am

i just upgraded to WinBox4.0beta4 for Linux. I believe i found a bug. I noticed that i cannot upgrade the RouterOS of my mikrotiks. i have tried uploading several times (all of which were successful uploads). but after the reboot, the RouterOS version was not upgraded. I defaulted to WinBox 3.41 and was able to upgrade RouterOS with no problems.

Moreover, when I click refresh on WinBox4.0beta4, it takes longer for it to detect recently powered up mikrotiks as compared to WinBox 3.41.

Parrot Security 6.2

mcdebugger · Fri Sep 06, 2024 6:12 am

Wow! Great news! I'm using CLI but it's good to see native client for macOS and GNU/Linux. Also the UI is looking far more fresh

m3das · Fri Sep 06, 2024 7:38 am

hope will add this small feature from v3 to v4.
easy to identify the parent and child.
v4

Screenshot 2024-09-06 122834.png

v3

Screenshot 2024-09-06 123304.png

Fri Sep 06, 2024 8:31 am

i just upgraded to WinBox4.0beta4 for Linux. I believe i found a bug. I noticed that i cannot upgrade the RouterOS of my mikrotiks. i have tried uploading several times (all of which were successful uploads). but after the reboot, the RouterOS version was not upgraded. I defaulted to WinBox 3.41 and was able to upgrade RouterOS with no problems.

Moreover, when I click refresh on WinBox4.0beta4, it takes longer for it to detect recently powered up mikrotiks as compared to WinBox 3.41.

Parrot Security 6.2

Do you mean that you manually upload the files and manually issue the reboot?
Did you try to use the built in self upgrade in RouterOS (menu System > Packages > Check for Updates) ?

Fri Sep 06, 2024 8:33 am

am i missing something, where is?

*) added command line launch parameters ( WinBox <connect-to> <addresess> <password>);
on a mac, this works for me:

open /Applications/WinBox.app --args <address> <user> <password>

1) you can use "

open -a Winbox

" and you will not have to specify the path to applications
2) if you don't want to use the "open" tool, you can also do the full path:

/Applications/WinBox.app/Contents/MacOS/WinBox 192.168.99.1 username password

Fri Sep 06, 2024 8:34 am

There's no scrolling in the Settings pane which can result in the inability to see or interact with options for short window heights.

The Settings header could also be moved up to the top across from the close button and perhaps move the descriptive text into forthcoming hover Tooltips
Settings.png

Is that an actual monitor resolution in your case, or just a small sized Winbox window?

Fri Sep 06, 2024 8:34 am

Workspace Pulldown doesn't show full workspace name even if there is plenty of room. Example is "Test Workspace":
workspace.png

Could not repeat the issue. What operating system are you using, and is this WinBox 4beta4 ?

Fri Sep 06, 2024 8:36 am

Big Sur here. Error handling is apparently not the highest of priorities in this beta - it is ok - beta break idc. It would help to have some kind of log file which I could hand over to Mikrotik for inspection. But logging/debugging is apparently no top prio either. And I guess a "I hit the update button" is of no special help for developers. lol

Can you clarify what you mean? Or make a support ticket. This type of general complaining does not help anyone, just spams the topic.

maisondasilva · Fri Sep 06, 2024 8:37 am

hAP ax2 vs hAP ac2

As there is no Hearth menu on it, the order is different in both, and this makes you have to look for the options, it would be good to follow a pattern, even if it does not have the sensor the option should appear just like it does with an rb433 or a hap mini, I noticed that it only occurs in the hAP ac2 but the same thing may occur in others!

and see
viewtopic.php?p=1095441#p1095441

Fri Sep 06, 2024 8:38 am

Some devices simply do not support health monitoring. It's not a winbox bug!

Fri Sep 06, 2024 8:44 am

Please do not suggest things that are already in this list

Known issues to be addressed (updated Sept 6.) :

Keyboard shortcuts missing (currently only cmd/ctrl+W works)
Improve contrast in both light and dark modes for old displays with low contrast ratio
Most people prefer Tabs over Dropdowns
Needs list of open windows
Comment column functionality is confusing for many people
Many UI buttons need Hover help text
Needs clear UI to import Winbox3 saved routers, and for saving the database to Cloud Folders
Some font legibility issues in some Linux installations, also in some cases where Windows OS has non standard DPI or scaling.
Special characters lost when upgrading from WinBox3, but work fine when entered via WinBox4
Side menu popup (IP etc) is lost too quickly, when moving mouse diagonally
Columns can't change order by dragging
Log, Ping etc. windows don't automatically go to end of entries
Log colors for severity levels missing
macOS trackpad does not scroll sideways
Can't Select All items with keyboard
Some drag and drop issues with files. Can't drag file to Desktop
Skins not supported
Quick Find missing
Vertical grid requested by several users
Vertical row height needs to be more compact, as requested by several users
Linux distribution users wish for better distribution methods (unclear, many say current way is OK!)
Windows version is sluggish when quickly moving around windows, lags behind mouse. Known bug and will be fixed.
Needs ability to "select many routers and connect to all" in Loader
Need auto light-dark mode setting based on OS settings
Missing tree view of sub-items in tables, like VLANs, Queues, etc.
LTE Interface graphs are missing
Can't ping DNS name
if you connect from the Saved list it will automatically choose "Keep Password"
should be some vertical split control between the login/password on left and the neighbors
a few people on macOS can't auto upgrade, winbox closes, no upgrade happens, as file can't be overwritten
router experiences load and possible crash, when workspace tries to load certain non existing windows (routerOS bug, not winbox)

mkx · Fri Sep 06, 2024 9:08 am

Some devices simply do not support health monitoring. It's not a winbox bug!

I can understand @maisondasilva where he'd like to have the "pull out" list of items invariant. So perhaps the items, not feasible for a particular connected device could be present on the list but inactive (and displayed, but in a very low contrast) so that it does consume space on the list and thus doesn't affect the place of other, active, items.

Saduff · Fri Sep 06, 2024 9:24 am

WinBox v4 is great so far for a beta, except when it crashes a router. See my post here: viewtopic.php?t=210639

@normis, what about this dangerous bug? Have you been able to reproduce it? I can't use WinBox 4 when it's that unsafe.

Fri Sep 06, 2024 9:28 am

Saduff, we managed to repeat the issue. It does not crash the router, but there is high load and a delay, when the Workspace tries to load certain non-existing switch related windows. We are fixing it.

Edit: Although it turns out, this is a RouterOS bug, not winbox. I also added it to the list.

marsbeetle · Fri Sep 06, 2024 9:31 am

Not seeing this in your list @normis - please show the most recent log entries at the top. You should not have to scroll to the bottom each time.

Fri Sep 06, 2024 9:32 am

new entries are added to the bottom

marsbeetle · Fri Sep 06, 2024 9:34 am

new entries are added to the bottom

Then that is where the focus should go first, not to the oldest log entry.

Fri Sep 06, 2024 9:43 am

Have you seen the RouterOS Log window? Same. New entries at the bottom.

lachim · Fri Sep 06, 2024 9:51 am

Please, will there be a feature to open connection in new Winbox?
I use many connections at time, and each time I connect to new router, I have to enter password for list of saved connections. In old Winbox, I could have just one windows opened with saved connections unlocked and routers launched in new windows.

Saduff · Fri Sep 06, 2024 9:52 am

Saduff, we managed to repeat the issue. It does not crash the router, but there is high load and a delay, when the Workspace tries to load certain non-existing switch related windows. We are fixing it.

Edit: Although it turns out, this is a RouterOS bug, not winbox. I also added it to the list.

Okay, glad to hear. Yes, I figured it's a RouterOS bug, but only WinBox 4 can trigger it.

On another note, I would like to be able to save devices together with a workspace like it used to be with sessions in v3. So when connecting to a saved device, it would open the saved workspace automatically. Using <own> for this is not a solution.

marsbeetle · Fri Sep 06, 2024 9:54 am

Have you seen the RouterOS Log window? Same. New entries at the bottom.

Apologies my mistake. I thought this was a new application with opportunities for improvements.

How do you read your emails in your inbox? Oldest first and back to front ?

Fri Sep 06, 2024 10:01 am

Please stop this nonsense.
This forum has new messages on the bottom.
Same with chats etc.

Fri Sep 06, 2024 10:01 am

On another note, I would like to be able to save devices together with a workspace like it used to be with sessions in v3. So when connecting to a saved device, it would open the saved workspace automatically. Using <own> for this is not a solution.

Why is not <own> the solution? It is exactly the same as it was in winbox3

Saduff · Fri Sep 06, 2024 10:12 am

On another note, I would like to be able to save devices together with a workspace like it used to be with sessions in v3. So when connecting to a saved device, it would open the saved workspace automatically. Using <own> for this is not a solution.
Why is not <own> the solution? It is exactly the same as it was in winbox3

Yes, it's the same in v3 and I don't use it there either for the exact same reason. I want to be able to assign named workspaces to devices like you can assign sessions in v3.

If you use <own>, it only applies to one IP. What if I need to connect via MAC, but want the same workspace?
Or, let's say I have multiple similar devices where I always want the same workspace. If I use <own> and change some windows around in one device, it's not going to update for another device. With named workspaces, it would update and stay in sync for all devices using the same workspace.

I'm not saying <own> is bad, I still use it sometimes. It's just not the solution for this use case.

Edit: Or, put another way. I want to be able to double-click on a device and have it open with its saved workspace without having to pick the workspace each time manually. <own> works for that, but does not allow sharing.

Fri Sep 06, 2024 10:33 am

But you can do that - create new workspaces and name them with meaningful names. You can have 10 or 20, doesn't matter. Select the needed one when connecting, or even change to another one while connected.

Edit: OK so you want winbox to remember which workspace you used last

Saduff · Fri Sep 06, 2024 10:41 am

Edit: OK so you want winbox to remember which workspace you used last

Yes. Well, WinBox already remembers the last used workspace globally, but I want it to remember per device.

Select the needed one when connecting, or even change to another one while connected.

I don't want to manually pick the right workspace for a device, I want it to be saved together with the device, so all I have to do is double click on it. It could be called a default workspace for the device.

adam234 · Fri Sep 06, 2024 10:57 am

Suggested improvements

keyboard shortcuts for disable/enable, search, repeat search, create new row, edit comment, create copy, open context menu, move row up/down, open new winbox
keyboard shortcut manual (and hints when mouse hover over buttons)
have option to connect to router without closing launch window (good for having prefilled password without necessity to "keep password" for ever)
change launch window title like: WinBox 4.0 - Launcher/Start/Addresses
possibilty to load passwords from keepass xc (or use ssh-agent)
little more visualy separeted active row (to seperate it from selected rows)
move copy button from within opened form into context-menu on active row or add "new from selected" next to "new" button (it is not good UX to have copy inside opened form because it can often end up by editing form instead of creating new one and then edit it)
add launcher or search through menu/commands (eg.: shift-ctrl-p will open quick search over command and writing something like "nat" will display ipv6/firewall/nat and ip/firewall/nat for quick opening of this tables)
add dashboard table (with possible customization: in first column user can add command to retrieve value or list of values like interface traffic or number of current wifi clients, and in other col,umns show this values with regular renewing)

infabo · Fri Sep 06, 2024 11:39 am

Big Sur here. Error handling is apparently not the highest of priorities in this beta - it is ok - beta break idc. It would help to have some kind of log file which I could hand over to Mikrotik for inspection. But logging/debugging is apparently no top prio either. And I guess a "I hit the update button" is of no special help for developers. lol
Can you clarify what you mean? Or make a support ticket. This type of general complaining does not help anyone, just spams the topic.

This quotes message from me is only to understand with my previous message.

In simple word:

I have Winbox 4 beta3 installed on my Macbook running Big Sur. I installed the Winbox app on my desktop (from DMG dragged to desktop). I opened Winbox beta3. I see the "Update available" info on right top of window. I click on the Update button. Then the download-progress dialog appears. When download-dialog progress bar reached 100% Winbox closed itself. It did not open again. The icon on the desktop was gone. No Winbox Icon in launcher either. Winbox was just removed from my MacOS system completely.

Now, with that experienced. What can I provide to support as hard-facts? Just my story-telling? I guess this story won't provide much debugging-info for support.

It would be a good idea to create crash-reports, debug-logs, etc. which can be accessed in a easy way. So one can take these files and hand them over to support for deeper analysis. Like we have supout.rif for ROS.

It is a beta version. It is expected to crash any time. And when it happens, there should be a evidence in log-files.

Kanzler · Fri Sep 06, 2024 11:41 am

I opened Winbox beta3. I see the "Update available" info on right top of window. I click on the Update button. Then the download-progress dialog appears. When download-dialog progress bar reached 100% Winbox closed itself. It did not open again. The icon on the desktop was gone. No Winbox Icon in launcher either. Winbox was just removed from my MacOS system completely.

The same issue on MacOS Monterey.

bajodel · Fri Sep 06, 2024 11:43 am

Yes. Well, WinBox already remembers the last used workspace globally, but I want it to remember per device.

Saved devices should save the linked workspace!! definitely!
Winbox3 works like that and we are used to it.

Zaesch · Fri Sep 06, 2024 11:49 am

Bugreport:
Sometimes the mouse pointer is off one item. e.g.: I point on the "Log" menu item and "Files" is highlighted. Dragging the window around "solves" the issue. Can't find a way to provoke it yet, but will try to further.
Edit: Windows Client with Windows 10 Pro 22H2 (19045.3803)

+ 1 for groups
I know they will get back in time, but I want to emphasize it.

Fri Sep 06, 2024 12:05 pm

I have Winbox 4 beta3 installed on my Macbook running Big Sur. I installed the Winbox app on my desktop (from DMG dragged to desktop). I opened Winbox beta3. I see the "Update available" info on right top of window.

Infabo, the macOS Apps should be located in the Applications directory, not on your desktop. I guess this is where the issue lies. Desktop is by default in the cloud (on new macs)

Fri Sep 06, 2024 12:14 pm

But well Infabo is not the only one, there is at least one other person with a similar issue. We are investigating (as seen in my known issue list)

infabo · Fri Sep 06, 2024 12:14 pm

But your DMG installer did not offer me a way to add the app to the App directory. Other installers look like a drag-drop window showing the application you want to install, besides a text like "drag to app directory". You drag the icon and it is installed. But the Mikrotik Winbox installer window is just a window with an icon. How to drag it to app directory? Must I open the Finder app and navigate manually to a system app folder and then drag it there? That cant be the way to go.

Thats how an 0815 installer should look like:

The one from Winbox is just the Winbox icon in an empty window. So I did not find a way to drag it to Application. So I dragged it to desktop instead.

riv · Fri Sep 06, 2024 12:19 pm

Must I open the Finder app and navigate manually to a system app folder and then drag it there? That cant be the way to go.

Yes it is

infabo · Fri Sep 06, 2024 12:20 pm

Well, I gonna try this and drag it to Applications folder instead. Re-install beta3 and see what happens on update.

Always thought MacOs is much more intuitive, but instead their DMG installers are cumbersome as hell.\

edit:
I installed Winbox to Application directory. Triggered update. But still Winbox get's uninstalled and is gone. Makes no difference whether it is on Desktop or in Applications folder.

infabo · Fri Sep 06, 2024 12:30 pm

How frequently does Winbox check for updates? No notification until now.

So basically 24h since release of beta4. My running Winbox instance still does not show update notification on Linux client.

Fri Sep 06, 2024 12:30 pm

If DMG installer "did not offer" it just means it's a Beta and trusts that user knows how to install apps. Sorry. We will improve in future.

Fri Sep 06, 2024 12:31 pm

How frequently does Winbox check for updates? No notification until now.
So basically 24h since release of beta4. My running Winbox instance still does not show update notification on Linux client.

On launch! Relaunch it.

infabo · Fri Sep 06, 2024 12:33 pm

Hm, but I assume that many professionals have Winbox running without closing for days or even weeks. They won't get notified

infabo · Fri Sep 06, 2024 12:39 pm

Have you seen the RouterOS Log window? Same. New entries at the bottom.

When you change sorting of "#"-column in log window from default ascending to descending -> new items are on top. When new items appear, they appear at top. So where is the issue here and why everyone so angry? It is possible already.

The only thing that has to be done: automatic follow (or automatic scroll or how one would name it correctly). Oh wait. This already works too.

So why there is a discussion about where new items should appear? It is fully customizable.

misiek · Fri Sep 06, 2024 1:11 pm

Thank you very much for all the hard work!

Ok first look is great. I'm a big fan of mikrotik and what I'll write about it is only a constructive criticism to help my favourite network equipment company. Not hating it and I understand it is qlways a process that gets us to perfection.
Not so good changes:
1. The more I dig into it the Winbox 4 the more my eyes hurts both modes really. I love the idea of dark mode, but I cannot use it without glasses or for extended period. Somethings not right. I spent hours with winbox 3 no problemo.
2. Undo and safe mode was crucial for new users like myself
3. The TABs were intuitive and current view with "+" is not something I would like to get used to - also does look like everything is brought to same interface scheme without putting too much thoughts on which option/section is used for. Just repeating same patent for all - looks rushed in that regard. Very confusing. When I started with winbox3 it is complex but navigating it was almost instant - feels natural.
4. I don't see the graphical representation of data transfers - it was kinda standing out for mikrotik and brought much joy.
5. Interfaces are not showing under (one another) for example VLAN or with Q in Q scenario.
6. Unable to move columns is a big downgrade

On the bright side:
1. I love the IP> drop-down menu that when it is longer, all options extend to right hand side instead of being always one under another.
2. Router connection menu (start menu) looks neat and up to 2024
3. Design (fonts, curved windows) all look nice
4. Dark mode rocks as an idea for option! - needs some contrast and colour plate adjustments though

Thank you very much for sharing it. MWGA! :) - Let's make winbox great again !

Best regards

Kanzler · Fri Sep 06, 2024 1:12 pm

@normis,

the macOS Apps should be located in the Applications directory, not on your desktop. I guess this is where the issue lies.

Unfortunately it doesn't matter. My Winbox is in "Applications" and it is also deleted when I try to update it

Fri Sep 06, 2024 1:27 pm

Kanzler, is your user account in macOS with full administrative rights?
Open the Console app from /Applications/Utilities, and see if there is any errors, when trying to upgrade. You can delete the new app, downwload an older one, and try the upgrade again.