Disapearing CSS

[pete6055]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

@pete6055 - the Comodo Firewall has caused file i/o problems in calibre, example =->> Calibre will not add books to Library (Windows Vista SP2)

And IIRC Comodo Security s/w also created problems with one of the better known Windows Explorer alternatives.

If you could get a repeatable scenario it could be worthwhile pulling the plug on it and the 'net.

BR

Thanks Red, I didn't know this. I'd be willing to give it a try, but would like to hear what firewalls other users with missing css are using. If more than one is using comodo, then we have likely found the culprit, though comodo was in place when Sigil 6.2 was installed and missing css never occurred back then.

I'm not suggesting a line by line comparison now, but when we get more info and a clear picture, it may become necessary to know what changed. I hope not because it is a lot of work for a non-critical glitch.

[alecE]

I have occasionally seen this problem, not frequently enough to pin down the exact cause regrettably.
Currently running Sigil 0.8.2 on Windows 7 64-bit.

I have only seen this problem when creating an epub from a scanned pbook which has then been edited and cleaned up in an external editor. I have a number of template html files which define standard elements of an ebook (front cover, title page, colophon...) and a number of pre-defined chapter layouts. I have separate stylesheets for each pre-defined element.
The workflow process I have been using when this problem occurs is:
- Import some pre-defined html files into a new Sigil document;
- Import the corresponding pre-defined css files into the document;
- Link the stylesheets to the html templates;
(At this point, the styling applied to each html template is visible and working)
- Select which of my pre-defined html files I will use as a chapter template for the current document;
- Delete the unwanted html and the unwanted css files.

Sometimes, the css files which I have retained are still present in the epub, but the content has been deleted - opening the stylesheet reveals a blank page. This is of course discovered when the formatting for a particular template suddenly reverts to bog-standard.
I have not been able to consistently reproduce the behaviour. I don't find it to be a showstopper - I just copy/paste the missing css back into the blank stylesheet and save the epub pdq.
I have a suspicion that this may occur, inconsistently, if a new Sigil document has css files deleted from it before it has been saved for the first time, however the frequency of occurrence is so low that the little b*****d of a problem has defeated my efforts to trap it.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by pete6055

Thanks Red, I didn't know this. I'd be willing to give it a try, but would like to hear what firewalls other users with missing css are using. If more than one is using comodo, then we have likely found the culprit, though comodo was in place when Sigil 6.2 was installed and missing css never occurred back then.

I'm not suggesting a line by line comparison now, but when we get more info and a clear picture, it may become necessary to know what changed. I hope not because it is a lot of work for a non-critical glitch.

Problem is that the Comodo s/w is also changing.

If you read that post I sent carefully, I think you'll find that the OP was able to overcome the problem by reinstalling and reconfiguring the Comodo Firewall. And the OP did have a repeatable scenario.

IIRC The Windows Explorer replacement instance was also solved with a reinstall & reconfigure.

BR

[theducks]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

So, from what I see it seems some Windows/Sigil users don't run antivirus packages - can this be true?

If a 3rd party program is involved in the problem, it's unlikely to be something you run from a shortcut on the desktop or a pinned item in the task-bar/start-menu. More likely to be something that is run at Windows start up.

Could be a program you don't even realise you have - aka Potentially Unwanted Program (PUP) - a malwarebytes scan will find most PUPs.

BR

What do you think AVG, Comodo and Avast are?
Run Windows bare on an open (to the outside) network

[BetterRed]

@theducks - at the time if writing - off line on a bus - Comodo & Avast hadn't been posted, only your AVG. Would have thought my phrasing indicated I didn't believe what I saw - mayhap too subtle for literalists

[PeterT]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

@Hitch - I was making an observation - I assume everyone runs some sort of security - especially you - stark raving nuts you're not


BR

I think the jury is out on that one....

[Turtle91]

OH NO!!!

It just happened again. CSS blanked.... I Guess I can go back to my workaround again!

Working with Sigil 8.4... yadda yadda (Windows 8.1, Firefox, windows explorer, and skype)

I was almost done with the book...already had styles.css imported and edited...I "Generated the table of contents" then realized I had not imported the sgc-toc.css so I did that. Then "created HTML toc".

The toc appeared formatted correctly per my imported sgc-toc file. I went in and manually edited some of the titles in the toc.html, then manually edited some of the titles in the toc.ncx (to match the toc.html).

In the preview pane the formatting for the toc appears as I had formatted it...but it was just a stale view. The toc file had closed itself from the code view and the sgc-toc.css file was still in the book browser section...but completely blank.

I re-opened the toc.html and all my manual edits were still there...and the file was still properly linked to the sgc-toc.css....just no formatting since the css file was blank.

I had not saved the book from the point right before importing the sgc-toc.css file.

Here's my sgc-toc.css template if anyone thinks that will help:

Spoiler:

div.sgc-toc-title {
font-size: 1.5em;
font-weight: bold;
margin-bottom: 1em;
text-align: center;
}

div.sgc-toc-level-1 {margin-top:1em;
margin-left: 0em;
}

div.sgc-toc-level-2 {
margin-left: 2em; padding-left:4em; text-indent:-4em
}

div.sgc-toc-level-3 {
margin-left: 2em;
}

div.sgc-toc-level-4 {
margin-left: 2em;
}

div.sgc-toc-level-5 {
margin-left: 2em;
}

div.sgc-toc-level-6 {
margin-left: 2em;
}

.I {font-style:italic}
.spc {margin-top:1em}
a {color:inherit; text-decoration:none}

-- Hope that helps!

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by PeterT

I think the jury is out on that one....

Peter, Peter, Peter...

Ahhhh....bite me, sweetie. ;-)

Hitch

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by Turtle91

I "Generated the table of contents" then realized I had not imported the sgc-toc.css so I did that. Then "created HTML toc".

Now that's interesting. Perhaps there are certain conditions where the auto-generation of the sgc-toc.css file (when auto-creating an HTML toc) will unsuccessfully try to overwrite a pre-existing sgc-toc.css file (when it exists in an unsaved state).

Can I ask why you do that the way you do (importing a css file named sgc-toc.css)? If you want to use a template for the sgc-toc.css file, I suggest either 1) placing your template sgc-toc.css in your Sigil preferences directory: which will then automatically be added to your epub whenever generating an HTML toc ...

... or 2) saving your template css file under a name other than the name used by the the auto-generation routine. You can then link the new css file and remove the link to the sgc-toc.css file.

The first method seems custom tailored to your needs. That's exactly why, in fact, the ability to have a template sgc-toc.css in the Preferences directory (which gets autoimported) was added to the Create HTML ToC feature in the first place.

It doesn't excuse the bug, but I believe you're probably tempting fate by having a pre-existing sgc-toc.css file (in an unsaved state) in a Sigil epub when running a routine that also wants to create an sgc-toc.css file -- under certain situations that may be causing race conditions.

[theducks]

A side note: ( I do not always Generate a HTML TOC)
Generate HTML TOC was (?) a problem for me in that it it almost always CRASHED Sigil just as it was painting the screen with the TOC file.
(Stock operation, no custom CSS on Windows 7 and XP)

Conditions for a 99.9% no crash: Fresh session, no edits/deletions/adds (or splits)

Conditions for a crash: unknown combination of file splits/deletions/adds

[Turtle91]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Now that's interesting. Perhaps there are certain conditions where the auto-generation of the sgc-toc.css file (when auto-creating an HTML toc) will unsuccessfully try to overwrite a pre-existing sgc-toc.css file (when it exists in an unsaved state).

The blanking doesn't appear on toc creation...all the formatting is there and linked properly as seen in preview. But I don't know the inner workings of the file handling algorithms. Maybe a good place to start looking?

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Can I ask why you do that the way you do (importing a css file named sgc-toc.css)? If you want to use a template for the sgc-toc.css file, I suggest either 1) placing your template sgc-toc.css in your Sigil preferences directory: which will then automatically be added to your epub whenever generating an HTML toc ...

....ummmm

....

....

I'm a creature of habit and hadn't thought about that...

Although I did it for my "add cover" template....OK...done now. Thanks for the prod...lol

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by Turtle91

The blanking doesn't appear on toc creation...all the formatting is there and linked properly as seen in preview. But I don't know the inner workings of the file handling algorithms. Maybe a good place to start looking?

Not to mention that others have mentioned it happening to other css files with different names. Still ... it's something to look at, I guess.

Another reason I may have never experienced this before is that I almost never import/add css files to a Sigil epub by themselves. I typically only add (x)html files. Those (x)html files already have linked-in resources (css and images) that automatically come along for the ride. Or I create blank css files and paste contents to it from somewhere else (that, and I tend to save like a maniac )

[KevinH]

I have now recreated this on current Sigil master.

1) Open Sigil (default document is present)
2) File->Add->Existing Files
- Move to any existing .css file and add it
3) Right Click on only file (Section0001.xhtml) and choose Link to Stylesheets and choose your newly added stylesheet
4) Tools->Table of Contents -> Generate HTML Table of Contents
5) File -> Save As
save to junk.epub

Now leave Sigil and go and unzip your new junk.epub and look at the css file you added, it will be blank and have size zero bytes.

This is 100% percent repeatable for me.

Will someone else please verify they can recreate the exact same issue. If so, I will try and track down what is actually going on here.

Thanks,

KevinH

[DiapDealer]

I can recreate the exact same issue (following your steps) with Sigil v0.8.4 on Windows Vista 32-bit. Same results every time. The newly added css file ends up blank.

EDIT: Recreatable using your latest git master branch of Sigil on Linux 64-bit as well.

Originally Posted by KevinH

I have now recreated this on current Sigil master.

1) Open Sigil (default document is present)
2) File->Add->Existing Files
- Move to any existing .css file and add it
3) Right Click on only file (Section0001.xhtml) and choose Link to Stylesheets and choose your newly added stylesheet
4) Tools->Table of Contents -> Generate HTML Table of Contents
5) File -> Save As
save to junk.epub

Now leave Sigil and go and unzip your new junk.epub and look at the css file you added, it will be blank and have size zero bytes.

This is 100% percent repeatable for me.

Will someone else please verify they can recreate the exact same issue. If so, I will try and track down what is actually going on here.

Thanks,

KevinH

[Turtle91]

I'm not able to get it to recreate with those steps...

HOWEVER!!

I went in and removed the sgc-toc.css file that I had stored in the preferences folder this morning....and then it DID confirm!!

So, somewhere between creating a new sgc-toc.css file vs. using a templated one??

Is this a good summary of what we've seen reported here?
-creating a new sgc-toc.css blanks an existing stylesheet
-linking to an existing sgc-toc.css blanks the existing sgc-toc.css
-adding a template sgc-toc.css keeps everything normal