Texpad 4.7.1 Unexpectedly quits

General questions about using TextPad

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talleyrand
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Texpad 4.7.1 Unexpectedly quits

Post by talleyrand »

Has anyone else had this happen to them? I am working in TextPad (4.7.1) and I believe it occurs as I switch between panels, it will shut down fast. No prompts to save, does not save current files, they don't show up in the Most Recently Used space, anything I changed in the Preferences doesn't take. It acts like it was killed and did not perform whatever tasks it does when it shuts down normally/gracefully. I don't see any entries in the log viewer nor do I see any coredumps or anything like that in the directory TP is installed in.

It doesn't happen often but I'd wager that it happens maybe every other week. I've experienced it on two seperate machines but I'm never really sure what triggers it. The only common denominator is that I'm pretty sure I've been switching between panes (either ctr-tab or ctr-shift-tab) when it happens. I can't recall if it there is any specific type of file that I was editing. This last time it was SQL files.

Am I alone in this or has anyone else seen anything bizarre like this? I believe this happened in 4.7.0 as well.
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mo
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Post by mo »

I have had this happen to me once or twice. I related it to the "garbage at end of file" problem I was having.

Using W2KPro
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Mike Olds
mo
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Post by mo »

This happened to me again just now. I allow this could be my computer, but this morning made me think this is not the case.

I am working in a TextPad file created and saved by MacroScheduler, after having closed Macro Scheduler and made changes carefully saving each set of changes.

I am creating a list of key words from the body of an html page that has been copied and pasted into this file and is then edited down to a comma separated list. At this point I have reduced the page to this list, save the last line, which has some material at the end which needs to be deleted (this problem always happens exactly in this way at this point). When I delete this material, what looks like machine code is inserted in it's place.

This time that happened and I deleted it, used ctrl+A to select everything, and sorted the list, then used ctrl+home to go to the front of the first line and used ctrl+shift+j to bring everything together into one line. Here another repeting problem occured: when the problem of the garbage at the end of the file happens, often, but not always, I am unable to use ctrl+shift+j to do this...nothing happens and I must use ctrl+j to bring the lines together individually. This time I did that and about half way through the list the whole list in back of the ctrl+j was converted to machine code.

Then, to back out of this mess I used undo. I pressed undo one time passed the first word and ZAP textpad is gone. No saving no nothing.

I don't think I missed a step; and this is a recurring problem but cannot be duplicated on demand. It does not happen every time.


EDIT, PS: I think that this is related to another problem I am having with TextPad (I believe since the upgrade): when I use CSE to validate a file that is open in TextPad by using Tools>CSE to bring up the CSE editor and validate using that editor, often, but not always, upon closing CSE i get an error attributed sometimes to CSE and sometimes to TextPad. "...is causing errors and will be shut down".

2nd EDIT: One more thing I see. I checked the saved file and what is there is the original save by MacroScheduler without ANY of the intervening saves made to the saved file while in TextPad after MacroScheduler has been closed.
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Mike Olds
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helios
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Post by helios »

We are very keen to find out what is causing this problem, but in order to do so, we need you to find a reproducible pattern. We will be grateful for any further input you can provide.
Helios Software Solutions
mo
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Post by mo »

Just a word to tell you that I may not be too responsive here...Nobody told me that you needed to delete all your hardware devices if you are going to change motherboards! So I'm going to be a few days...weeks? putting back three years worth of tweeks.
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mo
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Post by mo »

Hello...back from the abyss...but this problem remains. Now we are talking about W2kProsp4 (Clean Install) with a new motherboard, new processor and 2G of RAM.

Again this is associated with a file created this way:

A normal HTML page is opened in TextPad.
Copy is selected from this page, and copied.
MacroScheduler is opened and a macro which does this is run:
The macro opens up a new instance of TextPad.
It Pastes the copied text into a new file.
It runs two TextPad macros on this copy (strip tags and delete empty spaces).
It then saves the file.

I then close MacroScheduler, do some editing on this file, saving as I go. When I reach the end of the editing process there is usually a bit of text that needs to be deleted. Selecting this text and using the "Delete" button, the line is deleted but replaced with what looks like machine code. Attempting to delete this material deletes it and replaces it with new machine code. Attempting to get back to the state before the deletion of the last line using the "undo" button several times deletes the new code then closes TextPad without opportunity to save and sometimes the file that was previously saved is altogether gone, or, as in the case just now, with only half the changes that were saved.

I do not understand how this is even possible...how can a saved file just disappear?
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Mike Olds
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Bob Hansen
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Post by Bob Hansen »

Trying to get a better picture of actions. It sounds like these "bad" actions are happening in the New TP file, but the original one with the HTML code is still open and not affected?

Am I reading this correctly?
using the "undo" button several times deletes the new code then closes TextPad without opportunity to save
Pressing Undo closes TextPad? This is the second copy that was opened, first one is still OK?
and sometimes the file that was previously saved is altogether gone, or, as in the case just now, with only half the changes that were saved. I do not understand how this is even possible...how can a saved file just disappear?
Undo will also be reversing steps taken in the TP macros you ran. Since you have edited the file since running the macros, you may be seeing some unexpected actions. Is it also possible that the TP macro is using old information from the clipboard? that might result in files being saved in "wrong" locations. TP saved macros do not use current clipboard information. When they are recorded, they use the clipboard contents at that time and save it as hard code in the saved macro for future use.

Have you tried a Find for the saved file, perhaps it is in a different folder than you think. Also look in the "good" folder, sorted by date, to see if it may have been saved under a wrong" name.
Hope this was helpful.............good luck,
Bob
mo
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Post by mo »

Hey Bob!

(If I get you to answer again, can I say: "Hey Bob a Re-Bob!"?

Thanks for your response.

The bad actions are happening in the New TP file.
You are reading it correctly, Undo is closing TextPad (and with no opportunity to Save and no error message.
The First file is ok.

I thought of the idea that undo might be undoing the macro-steps, but they are way back in line of changes made and saved, this is happening after two or three undos.

This is all happening after all the macro action is long gone and MacroScheduler closed. I can close the file and open it again, prior to this problem happening and all the saves have been made.

There are no stray files in the folder where it is supposed to be saved, and there are no other files resembling that file elsewhere.
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Mike Olds
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MudGuard
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Post by MudGuard »

Where is that file with the "machine code" located?
Local disk or some network?

If network, what operating system is the machine running where the file is located?
What method is used to access that file?

Does this also happen if you do manually whatever MacroScheduler does?
mo
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Post by mo »

Hello,

The file is located in a local directory/local disk. The originals have been located in that directory and in another directory.

The method used to access the file: the file is created in TextPad when MacroScheduler creates it by opening TextPad.

Code: Select all

//Run program and wait for it to be active
Change Directory>E:\Program Files\TextPad 4
Run Program>E:\Program Files\TextPad 4\TextPad.exe
WaitWindowOpen>%WindowName%
SetFocus>%WindowName%
Wait>1

//Paste from Clipboard
Press CTRL
Send>v
Release CTRL
Wait>1
I was doing this manually for some time without the problem. The problem with checking that possibility now is that the problem is not constant. It happens once every two or three times I do it.
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Mike Olds
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MudGuard
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Post by MudGuard »

If you never had the problem when you did it without MacroScheduler, but you now have the problem with MacroScheduler might be an indication to which software is to blame...
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Post by mo »

Well I wasn't looking to blame, I was looking to solve the problem. Of course I relate this to MacroScheduler, and I have brought it up on their support forum, but the problem remains that MacroScheduler is out of the picture as this problem occurs, and this topic was raised with regard to two situations that do not relate to Macro Scheduler: end of file issues, and sudden closure. There must be an inter-action, perhaps relating more to Windows than to either of the two or more other programs involved, that is the real issue.
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Post by MudGuard »

But if you know which software to blame you can then start to look for a solution at the guilty software...
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Post by mo »

Guilt, Blame! My goodness this is software! haha...anyway I have succeeded in recreating part of the problem without any reference to MacroScheduler at all.

Take some html text and select it making sure to have a complete set of opening and closing tags.
Copy it to the clipboard.
Close TextPad or Open a new instance and open a blank page and past from the clipboard.
Run the TextPad Strip Tags macro (you need to start at the first character of the first line),
Select All and move all copy to the left margin
Run The TextPad Delete Blank Lines macro
Go to the last line of text but one and insert a comma after this last line, and enter, delete the blank line that results, delete the last line of text, and save the file as .txt (not sure if all of this is necessary but that is the routine I have used to recreate this much of the problem).
Close TextPad.

Open the file from within TextPad, look at the end of the last line and I, at least have been able to consistantly get those square characters that usually indicate a non-reproducable character. This is what I have been calling (probably mistakenly) "machine code" ...other characters occur as well but mostly these boxes.

This is what I have tried to "undo" out of that has been resulting in the sudden close syndrome...although in the above routine this is not happening...I believe because Bob above is correct, that what is being undone is the macro-creation of the file to begin with, which isn't being done here.

SECOND EDIT: ...which may point to where the problem is: somehow "undo" from within TextPad is crossing over into ...what? the beyond TextPad, the clipboard, or wherever there might be memory of the creation of the file; where it seems to me that the Undo in TextPad should stop at the boundries of TextPad. Normally I am not able to close TextPad from within TextPad by clicking Undo.
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Post by MudGuard »

Tried the procedure you suggested
(Take some html text ... open the file from within Textpad).
No extra characters at end of file...
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