Version 1.150.0 - Can't Export as .LYL

[mickdastick]

Untitled design 3-bug-report.zip

Can't export a design as .lyl in MSEdge or the Windows app. It goes through the process, but there is no file saved in the target folder. I tried a OneDrive folder as well as a local folder.

UPDATE:
I tried a different PC with the same results. I also tried both Edge and Chrome on each PC.

Bug report attached of a design with two simple objects.

[uninteressant2026]

I'm doing it with chrome, no problems at all.

[uninteressant2026]

there's a funtion to export a complete bug-report in the bottom left corner.
I think it might help, if you add it to your request.

[henmedia]

@mickdastick Thanks for the report. I can't find anything wrong yet: in Chrome and Edge, Export > LYL opens a save dialog and writes into the file you pick there, and that part has not changed in the last versions. Three questions so I can narrow it down:

1. After you click Export, what does the message at the bottom of the editor say? "Saved to …", "Saved editable layerling design (.lyl)" or "Could not write to …"?
2. Is the file perhaps in your Downloads folder instead? If the save dialog can't open, layerling falls back to a normal download.
3. Did the save dialog open at all, and did you pick a folder and a name in it?

[mickdastick]

Question: After you click Export, what does the message at the bottom of the editor say? "Saved to …", "Saved editable layerling design (.lyl)" or "Could not write to …"?
Answer: There is a blank white rectangle at the bottom right of the screen.

Question 2: Is the file perhaps in your Downloads folder instead?
Answer: No it is not.

Question 3: Did the save dialog open at all, and did you pick a folder and a name in it?
Answer: Yes. It goes through the normal process except at the end, there is no file there and there is the blank white message box at the bottom of the editor.

This is so weird. It has been working perfectly until this morning.

[henmedia]

@mickdastick Thanks, that helps. I tried 1.151.0 in Edge the same way, with the same software graphics your bug report shows ("Microsoft Basic Render Driver"). Saving went through, and layerling's message appeared at the top left: "Saved to …". The white box at the bottom right is not one of layerling's messages. I think it is your browser asking something, and it stays blank because the PC has no graphics driver. layerling then waits for that answer, which is why the Export panel stays open.

A few things to try:

1. When the white box shows, press Enter, or click on it. Does the file appear then?
2. Do both PCs run in a virtual machine or over Remote Desktop? Both reports show no graphics driver, which is unusual for a normal PC.
3. As a way round it for now: in Firefox, Export > LYL is a normal download, so the file lands in your Downloads folder.

[mickdastick]

Both of my PCs are fairly new. I got them in April. They have Intel Core Ultra 7 CPUs. One is a Dell ECT1250 and the other is an MSI laptop. I use Intel's driver update utility to keep them updated.

When I click on the blank box nothing happens. If I press Enter, it actuates the "Save Layerling Design" button again which prompts me for a download destination and filename.

I do use remote desktop sometimes for work, but not for Layerling.

I did notice that the bug report zip folder includes the .lyl file. So at least I have a backup copy of the file that way.
I will be so bummed if I can't find a way to backup my files. It's such an amazing program.

[henmedia]

@mickdastick Thanks, and sorry: my guess about the white box was wrong then. Your bug report gives one more clue, though. The ZIP reached you, and layerling saves it as a normal download. So downloads work on your PCs; only the save dialog that Chrome and Edge use for .lyl fails to write the file.

I'd like to stay on this until we find the cause, but I need a bit more information for that:

1. Right after you confirm the save dialog, does a short message appear at the top left, next to the view cube (for example "Could not write to …")? It goes away after a few seconds, so look there rather than at the white box.
2. Does it work if you save into a new plain folder, for example C:\layerling-test? Some security settings, like Windows "Controlled folder access", stop browsers from writing into Documents, Desktop or OneDrive.

Until we find it, two ways to keep your designs safe:

• In Firefox, Export > LYL is a normal download into your Downloads folder.
• The .lyl inside the bug report ZIP is the complete design, so a bug report also works as a backup.

[geoffis-coder]

It may or may not be connected, but with the installed version, when you hover over the "Export step" it alwys shows STL regardless of what you have chosen. It defaults to Gallery folder on laptop and saves as the chosen file OK I guess this is just the HoverrText not changing.

[henmedia]

@geoffis-coder Thanks for checking. Good to know that saving works for you in the installed version, so it doesn't seem to be the same problem mickdastick has.

About the hover text: I can't find it yet. In the Export panel, neither the format buttons nor the Export button has a hover text with a format in it. Could you post a screenshot while the "STL" text is showing? Then I can see where it comes from and fix it.

[geoffis-coder]

[geoffis-coder]

Bottom right of this image

[henmedia]

@geoffis-coder thanks for the picture. The hover text of the Export button now follows its label, so with LYL picked it no longer shows the text of another format. This is out in layerling 1.152.1.

If layerling is useful to you, you can support the project here - every bit helps keep it going.

[mickdastick]

NEW INFORMATION: Small change with v1.152.1
When I started using Layerling, I created a folder in OneDrive for exporting .lyl files. OneDrive/Documents/Layerling.
As of this release,

1. I can now save new designs to that folder ONLY. But not subfolders in that directory.
2. Ctrl S will save changes if I have saved to or opened from that directory.
3. If I use Ctrl E or the export button for an already saved design, it will not allow an overwrite. I get the following message in the upper left corner.

4. If I choose any other directory on PC , including external USB drives, to save new designs or overwrite existing ones, I also get the same message.

[henmedia]

@mickdastick Thanks, this detail helps a lot. The message comes from layerling, but what it reports comes from the browser: Chrome and Edge tell a page "the dialog was closed" both when you press Cancel and when they could not use the place you picked. So on your PCs the browser accepts only that one OneDrive folder and turns everything else down before layerling can write anything. Nothing in layerling's saving changed around November 7, so I think something on your PCs changed that day, an update of Edge, Chrome or Windows, or a security program.

So you are not stuck meanwhile, the next version adds a Download instead button to that message. One click saves the design as a normal download into your Downloads folder, the same way the bug report ZIP got there.

Two things would help me find the cause:

1. Is there a security program on both PCs besides Windows Security (McAfee, Norton or similar)? And in Windows Security under Virus & threat protection > Ransomware protection, is "Controlled folder access" on?
2. Which version do Edge and Chrome show (edge://settings/help and chrome://settings/help)?

[henmedia]

@mickdastick the way around is out in layerling 1.153.0. When the save dialog hands back no file, the message "Nothing saved" now has a Download instead button. It saves the design as a normal download into your Downloads folder, the way Firefox does. This works for Export > LYL, Ctrl+S and Save as.

If layerling helps you, a small donation is a nice way to support the project. Thank you! 🙂

[mickdastick]

I do not have anything other than Windows Security.
Controlled Folder Access is OFF
Edge Version: 157.0.4341.42 (Official build) (64-bit)

I believe I was careless with my words earlier. I didn't test the save and export functions as intently on the versions where the troubles began.
While my findings were new to me, they may not have been new to v1.152.1

Anyway, thanks for the workaround. I'm thankful that I can keep working on my most recent project.

[henmedia]

@mickdastick thanks, and no need to apologise, that is useful to know. It rules out the usual suspects: no other security program and Controlled folder access off. So I still cannot say what makes Edge refuse every folder except the one in OneDrive.

One thing that would tell us whether it is Edge's setup: open a Guest window in Edge (the profile menu, top right) and try Export > LYL there once. A guest window has no extensions and none of your profile's settings. If it saves normally there, the cause is something in your Edge profile, and the next step would be switching extensions off one by one. If it fails there too, it is the browser or Windows itself.

Glad the Download instead button keeps you working meanwhile.

[mickdastick]

Well, I just found the exact same problem with .stl files. Every other extension prompts for a download. It looks like .stl needs the same treatment as .lyl

Would it be possible (and hopefully easy) to add an option to Settings for using the "Download Instead" option for people that encounter this problem? When I make changes and use Ctrl S or Ctrl E, it is two steps to save/overwrite the file. It has to fail first , then I have to use the Download Instead button.

[henmedia]

@mickdastick both are built and come with the next version of layerling:

• In Settings > Appearance there is a new switch, Save designs as a download, right below Save STL as a download. With it on, Export > LYL, Ctrl+S and Save as skip the save dialog and download the design straight away, so nothing has to fail first.
• For STL, the switch Save STL as a download is already there today and does the same for STL files. And if the STL save dialog hands back no file, you now also get "Nothing saved" with the Download instead button.

The settings belong to the design you have open. Click Make default at the bottom of the settings, and new designs get them too.

[henmedia]

@mickdastick it is out: layerling 1.155.0. In Settings > Appearance there is now the switch Save designs as a download; with it on, Export > LYL, Ctrl+S and Save as skip the save dialog and download the design. An STL export whose dialog hands back no file now says "Nothing saved" and offers Download instead too. layerling.com is on it already, and the Docker image follows within the hour.