Testing of new version 1.8.1 #623
Comments
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Some screenshots:
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Thank you for this new version of KeyNote. I will begin to use now! I will notify you any issue that could appear. |
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Will you release a complete install package anytime soon...? |
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Once these main changes have been made, the next thing I would want to do is, in fact, prepare a complete installation mechanism as well as include a proper help file. |
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Note:
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It is important to indicate that this new version 1.8.1 Beta 1 resolves one problem (described in history.txt as "* Improvement/correction to the RemoveKNTHIddenCharactersInRTF procedure") It never happened to me, but as I have been told, it has happened, and it is surely due to the error that I corrected in that method, where indeed, in a certain case, it could get stuck. |
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Today I have been using this latest version in a real situation, at work, taking notes in a training session. I have interspersed notes (text) with over 90 screenshots of several sizes and it has worked perfectly. I initially started with the usual mode (EmbeddedRTF), with a few images, then I changed to EmbeddedKNT and finally I continued with External mode, using a local folder as storage. One thing I've of course been doing, for safety, is making some backups from time to time. I want to point out that, in addition to the usual backup mechanism, it is also very easy to make copies using the File | Copy To... The copies generated in this way may or may not include the images depending on the following configurable option: Storage mode on Export: EmbeddedRTF, EmbeddedKNT, No export images. I say the sizes off the top of my head, but they were in that order, very little considering that multiple screenshots captured parts of an application that showed a background photograph. But in those cases the application has automatically been selecting the JPG format, since although I have selected PNG in the "Default format from clipboard option", I also have a value <> 0 set in the option "Ratio Size" (1.5) |
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Of course, there will surely be some issues that will arise and that I will have to correct, but for now I have a very good feeling. Until now I shied away from using images in my notes, due to the impractical file sizes, but now that has all changed. |
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WARNING: |
dpradov
changed the title
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I have uploaded a new version that corrects the problem I found yesterday. It could lead to exceptions on exporting (File | Copy To... or File | Export... with KNT format ) when including plaintext notes |
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Excited about the new image handling. But cannot get it to work. When I drag a jpg into the content area of my multi-level rtf file, the insert dialog pops up. But all I get is a new blank paragraph. No link or image visible. A subfolder with the name of the knt-file is created. But no image ends up inside. |
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While I guide you to see what may be happening, can you try other options? For example, try pasting a screenshot. And also try EmbeddedKNT mode. |
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Try also with different files and formats (gif, png, tif, other jpg, etc.). The idea: get more info to try to narrow down the problem. |
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Trying to inch closer: |
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More testing: |
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Hello @Stefanoko, I'm glad to hear from you and that you find what this new one offers interesting (another thing is the problems you may have encountered, which I'm going to look at now and respond to). I was surprised that there were hardly any comments on this version. This is a very big change for which I have spent (and continue to spend) many hours, as I have had to review many aspects of the application. |
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You began with these options: I'll surely have to take a look at the names, hints and layout of those options to make it clearer.
The changes are not persisted until the file is saved (as has always been the case) and this means that, if the images are saved to external storage, the corresponding files will only be created at that time. But of course, as you work with the KNT file, all the images that are inserted must be viewed. I keep checking your comments |
Do you drag and drop exactly the same way, from the same folder? It's strange
No, it isn't. And not happened to me. I'll check what can be happening.
KNT requires the name of the files in the storage to be unique, and to get it, it gives a name that starts by the ID of the image. The rest of the name comes from the source (clipboard, clipcap, etc), but if the file has been inserted (File | Insert Picture...) or dropped from the explorer, it should be the name of that file. I will check it
The field offered in the KNT options is the one that will be used by default unless otherwise indicated. If the image is inserted using File | Insert Picture... then it will necessarily correspond to what is established there, since nothing can be indicated about it from that screen. But if you drag a file, what KNT does is pre-check the Linked box if the option is set, since it is the default option, the preferred one. Of course, this does not prevent you from changing the criteria when dragging specific images, you just have to choose the desired option. |
I'll keep it in mind. My native language is not English, and I defend myself as best I can. Surely my text was not the most accurate ;)
All images can be shown or hidden at will and does not depend on whether they have been linked or not in the KNT file. The only implication of using linked files is that they are completely independent, and KNT does not incorporate them into the file's image storage, nor does it delete it if it is no longer used. Apart from that the treatment is identical to the rest.
This is what I indicated at the beginning, the storage to be used is a characteristic of the file that is established in 'File properties', in the same way that the file format (native, compressed or encrypted) is indicated there. |
The default path can be ok and in that case is normal not to click on Change. I hadn't realized the problem with the missing dot separator. It has to be something very simple that I will of course correct.
Of course, but we are talking about the beginning of thorough use of the new version. Surely there are some things that will show up soon and will be corrected. What has happened here is that although the image has been deleted, the hidden mark that identifies it has not, and that is what must have caused the problem. I also see that the image was (it seems) right at the exact beginning of the note, in position 0. Surely that case was not well handled and that is what caused the problem. It is easy to reproduce and correct. |
Right now the title of the images is shown in the viewer and in the corresponding link when the image is hidden
If we paste an image from a browser and it includes a title, that title is automatically incorporated into the image and as a link:
I'm still including more options in this version, and some of them are along those lines. One of the options that I am going to incorporate is to allow, through the button that allows you to show or hide the images, if the CTRL key is held down, to allow you to choose how to show all the images of that node, or of the current selection perhaps , selecting a value equivalent to 'Max.Auto Widht on Insert', set in the options. This will come in handy, for example, in the following situation: as I have indicated, I am using the application while I am following a training course. I'm keeping the application open in a small part of the window (using the recent function CTRL+Shift+F11...). In that situation I was interested in setting the 'Max.Auto Widht on Insert' property to -1, so that the images would fit in the small width visible while taking notes. But as soon as the course ends it will reset the size of all the images. Depending on my interest, I will place them at their actual size or limited to a maximum width, but much larger than the one I used while capturing them. |
My intention is that the images are added to a subfolder corresponding to the name of the note at the time it is saved. That same image can be copied or moved to other notes and will not be copied back to storage. Renaming the folder cannot, logically, cause us to lose access to it, but it does not seem reasonable to have to rename the folder every time we rename the note. There would be many implications that would complicate a situation that would normally be simpler. The normal thing will be that the note exists and we add images to it. If we have a file with multiple tabs, it is very likely that this classification is not arbitrary... it will respond to some criteria: projects, themes, etc. With that objective I have distributed the images in folders. I also considered the possibility of leaving it as something configurable, but at the moment I have not seen it as important and I have had quite a bit of work with what I have already done. What you have tried I had not contemplated, you have added the image to a new note ("New Note" at that time), and then you have saved both. |
You can delete that LOG file at any time. It is just a help to know what is happening, in case of doubts or problems. Internally KNT takes note of the original path, as additional information that could be of interest, when inserting images from existing files (linked or not), never when the image comes from a screenshot
It's a problem? I can always create an option configurable only from the INI file that controls whether or not to collect that additional information |
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Note that some of my captures corresponds to a version still in progress, that soon I will upload:
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Thanks a ton for taking the time to explain and clarify. I forgot that Config>Options refers to program settings. So ofc, it makes total sense that the actual storage method used, is a decision made per file, and will be set via file properties. Whereas the first 2 entries on the Options dialog define the default for NEW files in general. Same applies to the DEFAULT link method. I tried it a few more times, and it works flawless, brings up the insert-dialog with its link-checkbox enabled or disabled. The term "link mode" threw me off track. It seemed to indicate something else, especially in combination with "not owned". It all makes sense now.
Reassuring to know that I can simply click OK after changing the mode from embedded to external.
Not really. I press the space bar, sometimes twice, before inserting the next image next to it.
Neither. I right-clicked the image and picked Delete from the context menu.
Got it.
Agree. Not necessary.
Probably overkill and not necessary, since the app keeps track of the original tabname/ subfolder storage by its own — hopefully without too much overhead computing going on the background.
Wow. Did not expect that. Very convenient.
No problem at all. I was just concerned it might create problems in the future if an original path becomes obsolete or no longer reflects the same content. |
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Hello @Ulfff If what you wrote today is important and you need to recover it, do not delete the corrupt file. If you can open it, it is always possible to change the format to native mode and try to recover the information. I can tell you how to locate the text you wrote today (if it has not really been lost) That said, having a 75MB file doesn't seem like a good idea to me at all. At the very least, it should be taking unnecessarily longer than necessary to load and save. I recommend that you have multiple files with different tabs. I have had files for more than 20 years but with very smaller sizes. I use multiple files, which I also save in compressed format (the encrypted format does not compress, it only encrypts), so the size is reduced. At work I always have two instances of KeyNote NF open, usually one with a general file and then another instance from which I open more specific files, for different projects. I tell you this because I think you should tend to it. Additionally, I plan to facilitate the use of multiple files in future versions, which can be opened from the same instance. In a 75MB file, it would not be at all unreasonable that some physical error could occur that causes problems when opening it, or that it cannot even be opened. And it could be something not attributable to the application. You mentioned that with version 1.8.1 Beta 5 all worked ok. The fact is that between that version and the next the changes made are very minor and do not justify that problem:
Whatever happened should not be anything specific to 1.8.1 .06 but perhaps it has been present long before and is showing up in sporadic situations that are not clear at the moment. To try to narrow down the problem, do you use plain text notes or only RTF notes?
In many cases this data has not been lost. Something has been recorded incorrectly and is not allowing the node to be read correctly, but the data is there (of course, if it is saved again the it is definitively lost, because couldn't be loaded) It is essential to know what may be causing these problems, to solve it. Any details you can give me could help. If you recorded a few minutes before it was corrupted (and that backup was correct), perhaps you may remember what note/node you were modifying, what to insert that could have caused the failure. If you can save copies of the files, before and after corruption, in native, unencrypted format, you could compare the two to see what difference there is that could be causing the problem. For example, there should be no #0 characters in text notes. Check if you see anything strange. |
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In version 1.8.1 Beta 5 I fixed an issue that could have been problematic, but would have only arisen when dealing with certain images, and as you indicate, your file contains only text, isn't it?
It is much safer to use version 1.8.1 Beta 5 or later than any version 1.8.1 before them. |
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@Ulfff, Can you help me with more details? What kind of tables, from where do they originate? Microsoft Excel? |
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@dpradov,
Now that you mention it, I probably did rename it myself. To keep a copy of keynote.fvr that I edited manually, to get rid of the hard-wired drive-letters and make my favorite links portable. Went ahead and deleted settings.ini. Who knows where the heck it came from. Everything works fine without it. Good riddance.
No objections at all. Let's forget about plugins for the time being. |
You are meticulous and that is good and helps me. To begin, I am reviewing some texts based on what you have told me. For example: Profiles.txt I will also modify the setup program to correctly locate "dateformats.txt" and "timeformats.txt", since right now KNT it will be ignoring the ones placed in the profile folders. |
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Thanks for taking the time for the comprehensive answer, Daniel! have lost only a few hours work from today and rewritten already half of it. That wasn’t very funny, but I was aware oft he risk I took. I have of course many copies oft he file on different media and in different places and do backups on a daily basis on different drives, but only once a day. I do like the internal backup-system of keynote and changed the settings yesterday to save the last 8 backupfiles (in ordert o be as cautious as I can), but these automatic backup files from today already seemed to have the problem, so they were useless. I started using Keynote like you recommend with many smaller files, but about 10 years ago I reduced them (for different reasons, e.g. to enter a password for encrypted files only once) to only three files, one main file, one with a different application and a third which I use as an advanced scratch for the main file, where I clone notes from the main files (or the whole file) to be able to see different notes (from the same file) at once. That would also be a nice addition : being able to open two windows of the same file. I never had a single problem with the large main file all the time and was very impressed by the stability of the file, especially when taking into account that it is an encrypted file. Back to the problem with my file: I did some experiments in order to replicate the problem and was at least 20 times successful with it. Like I assumed, it has to do with my tables, which I create (and then copy and paste) in MS Word, before I fill in the text in Keynote. Eventually I was able to provoke the problem (=file does not open with the mentioned error message) with a newly created (uncompressed and unencrypted) file with just one note (with tree) in it and a table with some text in it. What I did was mostly adding some random text somewhere in the table, saving the file and reopen it again. At first (and with a table with a lot oft ext in it) I need only about 5 trials to provoke the the problem, but I wasn’t able to replicate the problem with the same or similar entered text the next time. It felt somehow random. Then I deleted more and more text in the original table with the result, that I needed more trials to provoke the problem. In my last trial I used a calendar-like table from a word-file that I can attach here. I pasted the table in the note, then I selected the whole note (STRG+A), pasted the table from the clipboard again, entered a few letters in one random cell, saved the file and closed Keynote. When I tried to open it again I got the error message. I will attach also the broken keynote file, this should give you a good I idea of what might have happened. Are you (or Stefanoko: thanks for your offer!) able to replicate it? It may be that you have to do something else with the file (entering text, pasting the table again, etc.) and always save the file, close keynote and reopen everything, up to maybe 20 times. My range to get the error varied from 1 to 30 trials. Interesting: before uploading the knt-file here I tested it again with an older Keynote version ( 1.7.9.9) on another computer and was able to open it without an error message, but not with 1.8.0. beta 6, 1.8.1 beta 3 and 6 for example. Even better: with this older version I was able to open my broken work-file from today! :) Before, I tried to open it only with 1.8.0 beta 6, but not with 1.7.9.9. |
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Hi, everyone! I just downloaded beta 6, and everything seems to be working fine. I also tested it with my old primitive method for linking images, a link starting with "file:///", and that seems to work fine, too. Thanks again. |
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@Ulfff, |
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Hello @DrownedStarfish |
I'm glad to know it. You take a weight off my shoulders.
Great, that will help me see what's going on.
It is a useful information. Certainly from version 1.7.9.9 to 1.8.0 there was a very important jump, since I had to make a complete migration of the application from Delphi 2006 to Embarcadero Delphi CE 11.3, to a version with an important change related to text strings , so I had to review absolutely everything.
@Stefanoko, thank you for your help in trying to locate the problem. |
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From what I'm seeing, the problem is related to this other issue: #610 On that occasion there was a problem with the conversion to UTF8 from Delphi 2006, which was resolved in Delphi CE, but I also detected that the following happened with the new version: There are some texts, codified in UTF8, that can include some incorrect character conversions, that with the old method worked ok and only ignored the incorrect symbols, and now raises exception All of this stemmed from changes to the RxRichEdit library, which I have used since version 1.8.0. It is an evolution of the original library that I used at the time, with a series of improvements. It seems that the library is not as fault tolerant as the previous one, and is throwing an exception when it detects something strange, which the previous one probably ignored and continued. I have to review and compare both libraries in the method that is generating the exception. In this specific case I can verify that if I ignore the exception and make the application continue, the contents of the table appear to be displayed correctly:
But that doesn't always have to be the case, it could be incorrect and show nothing or display the content poorly. The application has always, when it detects an exception during the file loading process, communicates the exception and closes the file, to avoid greater evils. Why hasn't shown the error on some occasions and yes on others? The problem does not occur when loading and processing the content of the nodes, but when trying to display the content of the problematic node in the editor. If at the time of saving the file the node selected in the note is not the problematic one, nothing will happen when you open it, it will not give any error. It will be given at the time of selecting it.
Although I'll try to do some checking to determine this, I think it's not KeyNote NF's fault that the RTF content of that note with that table is (at least partially) incorrect/problematic. It's probably a bug in the RichEdit control. What happens is that with the previous version of KeyNote NF (and with WordPad itself, where I have tried to open the content you have passed) that error was being ignored and now it is not.
One thing you should keep in mind about all this: even if a file could not be opened with a previous version, this does not necessarily mean that the content is irretrievably lost. It is possible that something is causing an uncontrolled failure that prevents it from opening, but its contents could will be almost completely fine. Therefore, you should not delete it lightly. At least not if you can lose a lot of information and work done. |
Is not correct. If I ignore the error, the table is shown, but truncating rows from the end.
It's very weird. And certainly from 1.7.9.9 the initial file opens correctly (without the two spaces). I have to see with a magnifying glass what difference there is, because I don't understand it. |
I just tried installing kntSetup_1.8.1.7.2.exe . It did absolutely nothing. Didn't react at all. I'm running Win11 Pro as follows OS Name Microsoft Windows 11 Pro and was in an administrator account at the time. If it's relevant: I have two different versions of KN in two different folders. Thanks. |
Are you saying the setup-file did not react at all? Don't forget to copy your keynote.ini into the subfolder \Profiles\default before you start it up. Along with other ini- and config-files you may have (toolbar.ini, keyboard.ini ...) |
Well, honestly, I don't understand it, unless you have an antivirus or similar that is not allowing it to run. For the installation I have relied on a very stable program that is used as a setup program for many applications: Inno Setup (by Jordan Russell). I could have made a mistake in configuring what should be installed, which I don't think, but the program should start. Of course, first the user account control will ask confirmation. And depending on the antivirus you have, another confirmation requests can previously appear. For example, with COMODO, having HIPS (Host Intrusion Prevention System) activated, wich monitors everything in maximum detail, it asks me for confirmation with actions as the following (this appears to me with the installation of most applications)
Finally the setup begins: |
Exactly my experience: when I close the file while the table is visible and I somehow produced an error in it, the file won't open the next time. When I switch to another note after (unknowingly and without notice from the program) producing the error in the table, the file will open the next time without an error-message and in the non-table note where I left it; but as soon as I switch to the note with the table, I will get the error message and I can also see that the table is displayed incomplete. What I find really strange is the randomness of the error and the difficulty to reproduce it with the exact same actions (although I might have missed so far what the essential part of the error-producing action actually constitutes).
I keep that in mind, thanks! (I forgot and remember now that a few years back I had a partly and silently corrupted file, where hundreds of notes got lost or where overwritten with text from others notes; the file as a whole worked fine and I detected the error only months after it must have occured, because it concerned only notes I seldom used. Luckily I had backups from the time just before the error must have happened; nonetheless it was a lot of work to find the missing notes and replace them without replacing newer notes; since then I find it even more important to keep old backups.) |
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@dpradov ,
I just tried it with my AV paused. No change. I'll try checking the hash file. Are you sure that it has nothing to do with my having two different knt program folders on my machine? I just looked at the Windows Event Viewer. Absolutely nothing there. Thanks. |
…ing part of the node content [IMPORTANT] Related to issues #662 (#622 ) and the problem described in #623 (comment) I have confirmed the error and its resolution in the second issue. And seeing what was happening, it most likely must have been the cause of what was indicated in the first one. It could affect RTF and plain text nodes It was caused by a bug in the new RxRichEdit library used by KeyNote NF since version 1.8.0
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@dpradov , Success!, sort of. As far as I can tell from a quick glance, the program itself runs fine. Remember you said something about my having a strange codepage, or something like that? Thanks. |
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Hello @Ulfff I think that it can explain also the issue #662 (#622 ), apart from yours (#623 (comment)) I have confirmed the problem and its resolution with your file, and seeing what was happening, it most likely must have been the cause of what was indicated in the first one. I have discovered that there was a bug in the new RxRichEdit library used by KeyNote NF since version 1.8.0 That library uses certain procedures from the Delphi code (from Vcl.ComCtrls), but an instruction was missing in one of the methods. Instruction that was not used in previous versions of Delphi. The error appeared in the execution of the procedure that adjusts the line break characters. Despite this, seeing the difficulties in reproducing the problem, it must be something that has happened on a few occasions, mainly in very long nodes. |
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I will generate a new version with the fix. Apart from that, I will also review the way in which these exceptions are treated when opening files (which I hope do not occur or occur as little as possible). At a minimum, apart from the error, I want to show some message that guides what to do in that situation. Maybe, instead of aborting the loading, let it open but warn of the problem and suggest that the native format be established (if it is not there) and save it without making modifications to another file (with Save As) in case was necessary and possible to recover the information. |
Great, thanks
I think that you used UTF8 as system codepage, if I remember. But it seems strange to me that this could affect the launch of an executable. |
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I have released a new version with the correction to the problem reported by Ulfff: 1.8.1 .08 Regards |
Your fix seems to work very good! I tried for an hour to provoke the error again with a file that took me only 10s to get a corrupted file with the last version - and failed. I also had saved about 10 more corrupted files like the testfile_7 I send you, but with different and more text. I was not able to open them in the last betas, but they open and display now without an error and not truncated. Great! :) |
…ode (or note) By default, navigation toolbar buttons will show previous or next image instance in the node (or note) where the selected image is inserted If click with Ctrl, then it will show image with previous or next ID (in the whole .knt file) As described here: #623 (comment)
Hello everyone
There is a new beta version, 1.8.1 Beta 1.
Update. New version: 1.8.1 Beta 6
It includes an important improvement in image management, and several other corrections.
Please, look at 'history.txt' for a list of changes. In 'Changes in 1.8.1 Beta1.txt' there is more information of each modificacion,
and a very detailed description of the new image management.
Please try it and tell me if you find any bugs or anything to improve.
Dont forget to make and conserve backup of your files, as always, in case you use it with your normal KNT files.
Once I can confirm that it does not have any major bugs, I will be able to release it as a new version.
I will generate new versions (Beta 2, ...) according to what you can find.
Regards
Daniel
history.txt
Changes in 1.8.1 Beta1.txt
Changes in 1.8.1 Beta2.txt
Changes in 1.8.1 Beta3.txt
Changes in 1.8.1 Beta4.txt
Changes in 1.8.1 Beta5.txt
Changes in 1.8.1 Beta6.txt
KeyNote_1.8.1 Beta6.zip
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