So we know which files are causing the message, and the bug seems to be that those files are somehow modified while they should not be modified at all.
What we still don’t know: Why is this happening for some people, and why is it not happening for other people while they are using the system setting to show “Save Changes?” warnings when documents are closed?
The fact that Panorama modifies library files when it shouldn’t has been a long running issue. In the past, this only caused a problem when running under certain permission configurations, for example if running under a different account than the one it was installed under.
The new alert appearing is almost certainly because in the past, Panorama wasn’t calling the canCloseDocumentWithDelegate method correctly. When the project was converted to Xcode 8, the newer version of Xcode flagged the problem so I fixed it. So the problem was really there all along but masked.
Figuring out how to 100% prevent a Panorama library database from ever being modified has been on my radar for a long time, and it is tricky. Last night I made a new build that tries some of the ideas I had listed in the bug issue below, but unfortunately they still didn’t prevent the files from being modified, so back to the drawing board.
I said before, that I am not having the problem with the 3 open (invisible) documents, but I am noticing a different behavior of some of my databases that now immediately when opened display the “… - edited” suffix. These files contain an .Initialize procedure that looks if four other files are already opened; otherwise it will open those files. Nothing else is happening when these files are opened.
Until the last previous version of Panorama X, these files were NOT modified at start. Now, Pan X thinks they are modified.
I think this is another part of the problem.
Well, I had to go back to the previous version of Panorama X because of a new problem that I just ran into with my Checkbook file. Once I opened the file and added a new record it automatically propagated my entire Credit and Debit fields. Made the file pretty useless to use so I grabbed the previous Pan X version from the site and replaced the current version. Hope this mess is straightened out and a new stable version is released. I know no one else has reported such a problem so maybe it is just me but going back to the previous version rectified everything.
Update: While trying to duplicate the above problem so Jim could troubleshot it, I reinstalled the current version of Panorama X and now the problem has disappeared completely. I can only guess my first copy of this version got corrupted some how and caused the strange anomalies. I’ll see if anything resurfaces over the next few days.
@gary Reinstalled it how? Did you run the updater again? — And which problem does this solve? Does it solve the “three dirty databases” problem?
I went to the download page and changed the link to the latest version (2361) to the previous version (2311):
http://www.ipodorganizer.com/downloads/sparkle/PanoramaX/2311/PanoramaX.zip
The problem that resolved itself was the one I experienced with fields self-propagating. The other problems remain.
Yes.
(Apparently, my post has to be at least 10 characters, so here are a few more.)
I think I have figured out the problem with databases immediately being marked as edited. Any database saved with Panorama X 0.1.032 will have this problem, so you’ll see the problem spread over time. I believe the three library files that are showing this problem are files that I recently edited. I’m working on the fix. It doesn’t involve any corruption or anything.
i know this is an old thread but the topic applies. “Unable to quit Panorama X.” Was unable to quit Pan X and was unable to close the open database document (not with clicking the red close button, not with selecting close database, not with selecting quit, not with command W, not with command Q.
I do have the database file in Dropbox to sync the document to my work mac. (I have been careful not to have the database file open at the same time on both computers and to allow Dropbox sync to complete before opening on the other computer.) Are there known issues with Dropbox? or other reasons that I can’t quit PanX or close a database? (Had to force quit.)
If you are attempting to have a working database be located in your Dropbox folder, I’m going to bet that that will not work. Dropbox is meant to be a repository for files, not a working directory.
There are presently numerous apps that either integrate tightly with Dropbox or at least “play nicely” with Dropbox by design. That aside, I concede Panorama X may not be designed for that at this point.
I have noticed that, when editing/saving a PanX database, a number of files sync within the Panorama X file package. It is usually when I see such activity, that I indeed become suspicious that Dropbox sync activity may be affecting file integrity.
Still, can anyone corroborate known/documented issues with Dropbox?
or might there be other reasons PanX refuses to quit?
The behavior is sporadic. I’m going to keep the database file out of Dropbox for a while and see what happens.
I actually keep all my databases in Dropbox and have had no problem. I’m currently using PanX daily.
It took specific collaboration between Microsoft and Dropbox to coordinate the Office documents and allow live work on documents in real time.
Dropbox Teams With Microsoft To Allow Anyone To Edit Documents Online • TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2015/04/09/dropbox-teams-with-microsoft-to-allow-users-to-edit-documents-online/
Box, Dropbox users can now edit Office documents together in real time | PCWorld https://www.pcworld.com/article/3027154/software-productivity/box-dropbox-users-can-now-edit-office-documents-together-in-real-time.html
Dropbox was designed for remote storage and also to allow multiple people to have access to documents from multiple locations. Dropbox is not a synching application. Thus, if a user has shared their document with multiple people and multiple changes are made at multiple locations, there is not inherent ability for Dropbox to synch the changes. MS has added the ability for a user who has opened a document stored in Dropbox to be notified in real time when another user has made a change. The user is offered an option to get their document refreshed to reflect the changes. This is a MS/Dropbox feature, not a Dropbox feature. What I am imagining with other non-MS applications is that the application has chosen to handle a re-upload of the new version when a user has edited the file. This is a specific additional task that a few other developers have added to their application, typically photo apps like ‘Photos’. As ProVUE has not undertaken the specific enhancements to do an ‘Upload’ to Dropbox when you are working on a document stored in Dropbox, I would imagine that you would be playing with fire to work on live documents in Dropbox. While some may say that it works for them, my experience says it will not work in the larger picture. Caveat emptor.
I hope I’m not getting my terms crossed here and that I’m understanding your points clearly. I believe your post focuses on collaborative work, where users on different computers can work on a file together at the same time. By “collaborative”, I mean: multiple simultaneous instances of a file loaded on different computers, where the file is being edited, and saved back to the same Dropbox storage location, within the same time frame.
I do appreciate your thoughtful and thorough response about the design of collaborative work using Dropbox. However, if I understand your post correctly, my use case is quite different in practice: one instance open of the file at any given time where the file is edited, saved to Dropbox storage location, and closed. Then, and only then (and only after Dropbox is “up to date” on both computers), may the file be opened on a separate computer with a similar use of the file.
I would like to hear from others who have had experience using Panorama X and Dropbox under these conditions. Is there anyone who has experienced issues with Panorama X file integrity or Pan X refusing to quit while using Dropbox in this manner?
Dear John, the real answer to your question, if I understand it right, is really hurry up and wait. Pan 6 had an excellent enterprise system in which many users could simultaneously use the same files without messing things up. Jim is right now working on bringing this to PanX; the hooks are already built into the program (whatever that means), so it shouldn’t take too long–i’ve recently heard something about 1st half of 2018. It was already a successful and robust solution; Jim’s brilliance as manifested in the new Pan leads me to have high hopes for new and wonderful things to come.
I believe John is not talking about an Enterprise use but simply his use of the file on two of his own computers at separate times and using Dropbox as the common depository. Only one copy would be taken from Dropbox at a time for use.
Even though I have two computers and Dropbox I have not used this scheme so I can not give any feedback as to problems that may be related to this Dropbox usage.
If that’s what he means, I do it all the time.
I was having the old problem of not being able to quit Pan if there were unsaved changes. I looked at this thread and found Chris’s suggestion to check the “Ask to Save” box in general preferences. When I did that, I did get the Ask to Save box, and almost everything worked. If I clicked Review and Quit, I got dialogs for all the open dbs and could save them and quit just fine. But there’s also a button in the resulting dialog that says something like “Save changes without reviewing and then quit.” When I clicked that one, nothing happened: no saves and no quit. Is that a Pan bug or an Apple one?