Notes app creates multiple notes when creating a new one

[yostral]

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Describe the bug

When I create a new note, and going back to the notes list, it has created multiple notes. They all have the same title, the one I gave, and the title is followed by (1), (2), (3), etc. Inside each note, there is the text I entered, but just the title in the first note, the first few words in the second note, a bit more words in the third, etc, until the last one with everything.

It's like if there was a incremental backup creating a new note each time, instead of backing up to the same note.

When I want to delete all the useless ones, so not the last one (which I have to rename), I have an error :

App Version: 3.4.1
App Version Code: 3004001
App Flavor: fdroid

Files App Version Code: 30150190

---

OS Version: 4.14.190-perf+(2104052320)
OS API Level: 30
Device: OnePlus7Pro
Manufacturer: OnePlus
Model (and Product): GM1910 (OnePlus7Pro_EEA)

---

com.nextcloud.android.sso.exceptions.NextcloudHttpRequestFailedException: La requête HTTP a échoué avec le statut HTTP :423
	at com.nextcloud.android.sso.api.AidlNetworkRequest.performNetworkRequestV2(AidlNetworkRequest.java:172)
	at com.nextcloud.android.sso.api.NextcloudAPI.performNetworkRequestV2(NextcloudAPI.java:171)
	at it.niedermann.owncloud.notes.persistence.SSOClient.requestFilesApp(SSOClient.java:27)
	at it.niedermann.owncloud.notes.persistence.NotesClient.requestServer(NotesClient.java:178)
	at it.niedermann.owncloud.notes.persistence.NotesClientV1.deleteNote(NotesClientV1.java:57)
	at it.niedermann.owncloud.notes.persistence.NotesServerSyncTask.pushLocalChanges(NotesServerSyncTask.java:126)
	at it.niedermann.owncloud.notes.persistence.NotesServerSyncTask.run(NotesServerSyncTask.java:72)
	at java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Executors.java:462)
	at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:266)
	at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1167)
	at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:641)
	at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:923)
Caused by: java.lang.IllegalStateException: {"errorType":"OCP\\Lock\\LockedException"}

	at com.nextcloud.android.sso.InputStreamBinder.processRequestV2(InputStreamBinder.java:429)
	at com.nextcloud.android.sso.InputStreamBinder.performNextcloudRequestAndBodyStreamV2(InputStreamBinder.java:125)
	at com.nextcloud.android.sso.InputStreamBinder.performNextcloudRequestV2(InputStreamBinder.java:108)
	at com.nextcloud.android.sso.aidl.IInputStreamService$Stub.onTransact(IInputStreamService.java:158)
	at android.os.Binder.execTransactInternal(Binder.java:1165)
	at android.os.Binder.execTransact(Binder.java:1134)

But not everytime... sometimes it deletes them without the need to restart the Notes app.

I can see every notes synchronize on my NC.

I have deleted the app data, re-signed in, no change, same behavior.

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Go to Notes Android app
2. Click on the '+' to create a new note
3. See the multiple notes and the error when you want to delete them.

Expected behavior

When creating a new note, it should create only one note.

Screenshots

https://nextcloud.yostral.me/s/jeStQ2grewZiXbr

Smartphone (please complete the following information):

• Nextcloud Notes-Version (android app): 3.4.1
• F-Droid or Play Store: F-droid
• Android-Version: 11
• Device: OnePlus 7 pro

Server

• Nextcloud version: 21.0.1
• Nextcloud Notes version (server app): 4.0.4

Stacktrace
Here is everything I have in my NC logs :

{"reqId":"tGUs7lwOp9hBW9HsQvhT","level":1,"time":"2021-05-04T22:35:21+00:00","remoteAddr":"xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx","user":"user1","app":"workflowengine","method":"POST","url":"/index.php/apps/notes/api/v1/notes?","message":"Flow handling done for event \\OCP\\Files::postCreate","userAgent":"Mozilla/5.0 (Android) Nextcloud-android/3.15.1","version":"21.0.1.1","id":"6091cc29582b6"}

{"reqId":"tGUs7lwOp9hBW9HsQvhT","level":1,"time":"2021-05-04T22:35:21+00:00","remoteAddr":"xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx","user":"user1","app":"workflowengine","method":"POST","url":"/index.php/apps/notes/api/v1/notes?","message":"Flow handling done for event \\OCP\\Files::postWrite","userAgent":"Mozilla/5.0 (Android) Nextcloud-android/3.15.1","version":"21.0.1.1","id":"6091cc2958282"}

{"reqId":"tGUs7lwOp9hBW9HsQvhT","level":1,"time":"2021-05-04T22:35:21+00:00","remoteAddr":"xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx","user":"user1","app":"no app in context","method":"POST","url":"/index.php/apps/notes/api/v1/notes?","message":"Deprecated event type for \\OCP\\Files::postWrite: Symfony\\Component\\EventDispatcher\\GenericEvent is used","userAgent":"Mozilla/5.0 (Android) Nextcloud-android/3.15.1","version":"21.0.1.1","id":"6091cc2958275"}

[korelstar]

The HTTP Status Code is "locked", i.e. the newly created file has been locked by someone. Therefore, the notes app can't write the content and on the next synchronization, it tries again (another empty note is created).

The server log indicates that a workflow (Nextcloud flow) was started. Maybe that workflow locked the file. Please try to deactivate all workflows on your Nextcloud.

[stefan-niedermann]

I think the root cause is that switching between edit and preview mode while creating a new note creates new notes on the server.

@yostral can you confirm that the behavior is correct if you do not switch between edit and preview mode until you have at least closed and reopened the note once?

This must have slipped while migrating from SQLiteOpenHelper to Room...

[yostral]

@korelstar : I deactivated the only flow I had, PDF conversion (not even working because no LibreOffice installed), but it is the same.

@stefan-niedermann : I don't switch from edit to preview mode. I create a note, so I'm in edit mode, and I directly go back to the list. If I create a note and close Notes without coming back, it's the same result after the next opening, multiple notes were created. If, when creating, I switch to view and then back to the list, it's the same as well.

I tried with another phone, a OnePlus 5 with Android 10, Android Notes 3.4.0, it's the same as well. So the problem may be on the server side? How do I find the last updated apps? Is it possible?

Edit : Now I sometimes see that in the logs :

[notes] Error: OCA\Notes\Service\NoteDoesNotExistException:  at <<closure>>

 0. /var/www/nextcloud/apps/notes/lib/Service/NotesService.php line 120
    OCA\Notes\Service\NotesService::getFileById(OC\Files\Node\Folder {}, 333228)
 1. /var/www/nextcloud/apps/notes/lib/Controller/NotesApiController.php line 205
    OCA\Notes\Service\NotesService->delete("user1", 333228)
 2. /var/www/nextcloud/apps/notes/lib/Service/Util.php line 28
    OCA\Notes\Controller\NotesApiController->OCA\Notes\Controller\{closure}("*** sensitive parameters replaced ***")
 3. /var/www/nextcloud/apps/notes/lib/Controller/Helper.php line 48
    OCA\Notes\Service\Util::retryIfLocked(Closure {})
 4. /var/www/nextcloud/apps/notes/lib/Controller/NotesApiController.php line 207
    OCA\Notes\Controller\Helper->handleErrorResponse(Closure {})
 5. /var/www/nextcloud/lib/private/AppFramework/Http/Dispatcher.php line 218
    OCA\Notes\Controller\NotesApiController->destroy(333228)
 6. /var/www/nextcloud/lib/private/AppFramework/Http/Dispatcher.php line 127
    OC\AppFramework\Http\Dispatcher->executeController(OCA\Notes\Contro ... {}, "destroy")
 7. /var/www/nextcloud/lib/private/AppFramework/App.php line 157
    OC\AppFramework\Http\Dispatcher->dispatch(OCA\Notes\Contro ... {}, "destroy")
 8. /var/www/nextcloud/lib/private/Route/Router.php line 302
    OC\AppFramework\App::main("OCA\\Notes\\Con ... r", "destroy", OC\AppFramework\ ... {}, {apiVersion: "v1 ... "})
 9. /var/www/nextcloud/lib/base.php line 993
    OC\Route\Router->match("/apps/notes/api/v1/notes/333228")
10. /var/www/nextcloud/index.php line 37
    OC::handleRequest()

DELETE /index.php/apps/notes/api/v1/notes/333228?
from xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx by user1 at 2021-05-05T06:44:35+00:00

And that :

{"reqId":"b0uOB7IdXvuMijHjHopu","level":1,"time":"2021-05-05T10:24:29+00:00","remoteAddr":"xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx","user":"user1","app":"no app in context","method":"GET","url":"/remote.php/webdav/","message":"Deprecated event type for {\"[object] (OCP\\SabrePluginEvent)\":{\"*statusCode\":200,\"*message\":\"\",\"*server\":{\"[object] (OCA\\DAV\\Connector\\Sabre\\Server)\":{\"tree\":\"[object] (OCA\\DAV\\Connector\\Sabre\\ObjectTree)\",\"*baseUri\":\"/remote.php/webdav/\",\"httpResponse\":\"[object] (Sabre\\HTTP\\Response)\",\"httpRequest\":\"[object] (Sabre\\HTTP\\Request)\",\"sapi\":\"[object] (Sabre\\HTTP\\Sapi)\",\"*plugins\":[],\"transactionType\":null,\"protectedProperties\":{\"...\":\"Over 20 items, aborting normalization\"},\"debugExceptions\":false,\"resourceTypeMapping\":[],\"enablePropfindDepthInfinity\":true,\"xml\":\"[object] (Sabre\\DAV\\Xml\\Service)\",\"*logger\":null,\"*listeners\":{\"...\":\"Over 20 items, aborting normalization\"},\"*wildcardListeners\":[],\"*listenerIndex\":[]}},\"Symfony\\Contracts\\EventDispatcher\\EventpropagationStopped\":false}}: null","userAgent":"--","version":"21.0.1.1","id":"609272a53a379"}

[korelstar]

I'm wondering why the Android is saying that the server sent a LockedException but you can't find a LockedException in the server log. Maybe you could search explicitly for that? It must be there!

In the past, there were some users that had problems with a LockedException. Most of them could fix it by deactivating a problemous app. A prominent example was the app ransomware detection, see e.g. nextcloud/notes#468 and nextcloud/notes#430

Therefore, please try to temporarily deactivate other Nextcloud apps, especially non-official ones. Maybe, you have a similar problem.

[IngoBelka]

I can confirm as following

Writing a note, going back to the notes list, everything is fine.

Writing a note "name", switching between preview and edit, new notes "name (x)", where x is an increasing number, are created. The note with the highest number contains the final content.

This only happens with new notes, not with existing ones.

I deactivated NC app version for testing, but without success.

All that behaviour came with the update 3.4.0 .

I reinstalled to 3.3.1 and all works smooth.

Btw, it occurs on different hardware and Android versions.

[yostral]

(the nextcloud/notes#430 was me :) )

So, I made few tests. I deactivated almost every app, all the 3rd party and many official ones. And the same thing happens. With absolutely nothing in the logs. Neither in the journalctl of the server.

I tried with another NC I manage, still NC20.0.8, with "old" official apps only. And it is the same, and nothing in the logs as well.

So then I reinstalled the Android Notes app v3.3.1, from F-droid, and it works normally, without creating multiple notes.

In fact, it seems to happens only when I change the title of the note. If I write in the body, and then the first line is taken for the title, it doesn't seem to happen.

[korelstar]

@stefan-niedermann this sounds like the Android app is doing the requests in parallel. This should not be.

[stefan-niedermann]

Root cause of the issue seems to be, that the sync status is set to LOCAL_EDITED (where it should be VOID) when creating a new note (probably during the updateNoteAndSync() call).
This leads to pushing the same note to the server everytime when the automatic save or switching between preview / edit is triggered. Then the note gets synced back to the device and we have the same note multiple times.

I'll investigate this further...

Update: Looks like after pulling the status of the pulled notes have been set to VOID (v3.2.0) which still works, but the status is set back to LOCAL_EDITED after the next change.

[stefan-niedermann]

New updates: Before Room we only updated a few fields (excluding remoteId) in updateNoteAndSync. After Room, we just put in the whole Note entity (including null as remoteId).
I will make a workaround and re-read this field from the database in updateNoteAndSync, which should™ solve the issue. If it works, we can optimize this in the long term to

• either push the remoteId back to the BaseNoteFragment, so it won't pass null as remoteId when saving again or
• only update the fields which have changed as in the pre-Room implementation

... will keep you updated.

[stefan-niedermann]

The workaround is in v3.4.2 - please test (as soon as available) and report whether the issue is solved for everybody 🙂

[stefan-niedermann]

The update is available on F-Droid now.

[IngoBelka]

I made the update right now and I can confirm, that in version 3.4.2 the bug is solved, as far as I can see.

[stefan-niedermann]

Thank you for the feedback 👍

Closing this for now - feel free to open a new issue in case the problem reappears 🙂