TextPad Fails to Restore Workspace

[woho]

@jaz
When you close Textpad it saves the current workspace.
So when TP was unable to load your files because you didn't reattach a drive try to CLOSE the WORKSPACE from the menu WITHOUT SAVING.
Only then close TP.
So the workspace is not changed to zero files, you can reattach your drive(s) and open TP again.

Have been using using workspaces for many years (pre 4.7.3 - 5.4 versions). One may like it or not that they are saved automatically at TP closing but I never experienced any odd behaviour.

[lrichardlewis]

woho

Do you add or delete bytes from files with non-TP software after closing TP?

[woho]

sometimes I edit textfiles opened in TP in another editor.

[lrichardlewis]

woho

That deepens the mystery. When I regenerate a TP-window file after closing TP, I often get the "cannot completely restore workspace" message. When I keep TP open while regenerating files outside TP and then touching all affected windows, I very seldom (perhaps never) get the message.

The explanation could be more subtle than I had thought. Maybe the restore failure occurs when TP cannot fit a revised file into the geometry it had allocated to the window. This explanation might be consistent with what both woho and I have observed.

I would appreciate hearing from anyone who has insights regarding this mystery.

[mrbrightwork]

I have had a 50% success rate with WorkSpaces. It would be cool if there were an error message to let me know what failed and why. Or just a detail about which file could not be opened.

Also for what it's worth, it seems like if I close Textpad and then immediately run 7zip or something on that folder to compress my work, then when I reopen the workspace, then Textpad will be unable to restore the entire workspace.

[lrichardlewis]

Since my last post, I upgraded to version 6.1.3. Unfortunately, the restore-failure problem continues at about the 10% rate, no matter how careful I am about touching all windows updated outside TP.

However, I just used a method that successfully overcame the most recent failure. (The method was available to me because I always maintain many levels of file backup.) After the failure, I went to my second backup level and restored the .tws file. When I reopened TP, the workspace loaded OK.

I did not try my first backup level because that would have restored the .tws that TP failed to load.

The general solution, pending bug correction, might be to maintain at least two backup levels of the .tws file.

[lrichardlewis]

For the second consecutive day, TP failed to load a workspace. Yesterday I overcame this by restoring a workspace from my backup system. That trick worked again to overcome today's failure! The steps in this apparently successful procedure are:

* After a workspace-open failure, immediately exit TP.
* Restore the workspace from the second level of your back system. This would be the latest backup of a workspace that TP successfully loaded.
* Reenter TP in the same manner as step one. The workspace, one should hope, will load successfully.
* Go to the file open dialog and highlight and delete the .tws file.
* Go to the file workspace dialog and save the workspace under the same name as before.
* Be sure to touch just before exiting TP the window of every file that might have been changed outside of TP.
* Exit TP.

I would appreciate all relevant comments.

[lrichardlewis]

I currently use Version 6.1.3 and still experience the 10% failure-to-restore issue (which I overcome by reverting to my 2nd-level backup of the .tws file). Does Version 7 process workspaces differently from 6.1.3?

[pseakins]

I am trialling TP. I don't generally need multiple workspaces though this could be handy on occasion. I can't get even one to work properly. Say I have two files open in TP and in preferences I have "Reload last workspace at startup" and "Dockable log windows" checked. I close TP and then reopen via the Start Menu. It comes up with no windows open - my last edit session is forgotten.

Undaunted, I reopen the files, and now I goto File/Workspace/Save As and create a workspace file. I close and then reopen TP. This time it comes up with "search results" and "tool output" open along with my two files. The dockable log windows options has been unchecked. In fact, it cannot be made to stick over subsequent sessions.

Ok, so I open another file, close and reopen and all three files are present. Good. I finish my edit session and close.

Later, I need to edit a fourth file. I RT click it and select TP from the context menu. It opens with my new file but the three files from my previous session have been dropped. From now on TP no longer remembers my workspace files. Seems to me this is completely unintuitive. I would expect TP to remember all files I have open for all sessions until I specifically close them.

[woho]

hint 1: in the Textpad window title the workspace - if there is any - comes first
e.g.
MyWorkspace - Textpad - [C:\MyPath\MyFile.txt]
otherwise
Textpad - [C:\MyPath\MyFile.txt]

hint 2: preferences: [X] allow multiple instances to run
maybe you have checked this ?
if you uncheck, new files should be opened in the same Textpad window

hint 3: I have it unchecked, but edited my windows shortcut, I added -m as startoption: C:\Program Files\Textpad 5\Textpad.exe -m
so when I open Textpad from the startmenu I get a new Instance of TP (the 1st I open nevertheless is a new instance !) , when I open a file from contextmenu (right click) or by doubleclick it is opened in the instance that was latest active (in the front)

[pseakins]

@woho I assume you were replying to me. Item 1 is useful info. 2. multiple instance is unchecked. 3. You are describing desirable behaviour. However, if you carefully read my post you'll see that this is not the way it behaves. When I open a file from context menu TP does not open the last instance. It starts fresh and ignores previous workspace. However, if TP is already open then the new file is added to the workspace.

I described a definite software bug re dockable windows settings not sticking. Is this forum read by the developers, will my bug report be actioned?

[woho]

'Is this read by developers...' not sure about that
'..be actioned' pretty sure that it takes some time

[Mike Olds]

Any file that is changed outside of TP must be reopened in TP. Only then can TP finally be closed.

This is not my experience. In fact I often close a workspace precisely to avoid having to reload if a lot of files have been changed from outside.

I can then go back to the workspace and open it up with all the files that were in it previously now updated.

[sosimple]

EDIT: I should mention that my workspaces gets cleared to zero files often, and I believe it happens when, after I've rebooted and FAILED to reattached a shared drive, I load the workspace. So the issue is that when TP can't load the files listed in the .tws file it removes them and saves the workspace.

This sort of thing happens to me sometimes... usually when I have renamed a file or folder outside of Textpad. Then when I open a Textpad ".tws" workspace and hear the familiar "ding" sound indicating one or more files for the workspace were not found.

Now, when this happens, if you simply close Textpad, it will update the workspace file to not include the missing file(s).

What I do to avoid this, is before I close Textpad, I click File->Workspace->Close. Then I am prompted, and I answer to Not update the Workspace, and then I close Textpad. Doing it this way, the Workspace file is not modified or updated in any way.

At this point, I make a copy of the Workspace file (.tws) and give the copy a ".txt" extension. Then I can open the copied workspace file to view (not edit) which files the Workspace expects to find. The file is not entirely clear text, but the names of the files in the workspace are in plain text.

Granted, this is a little tedious if there 100 files, but for me, I usually have no more than 20 or so files in a workspace, and I can easily verify which files and folders do/don't exist. Once I find that, I can decide if it's OK that the missing file will not be in workspace anymore, or I can restore the missing file to the proper path and name. Then when I re-open the workspace, all the desired files are successfully loaded.