Clips bar empty - Page 3

doubleshuffle · 09-21-2017, 03:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Lots of people do/did. You right-click on the book in your calibre Library and select "Open with Sigil." It's handy. It's also been the bane of my existence when debugging Sigil issues.

Ah, I see. I'm not really a calibre user.

DiapDealer · 09-21-2017, 03:16 PM

Good to know. You'd be surprised how many people are so used to launching epubs in Sigil that way, that they forget to even mention it when providing the details.

Anyway... I've finally gotten it to happen (on two separate occasions now). So that's a start!

DiapDealer · 09-21-2017, 07:35 PM

I was able to get it to happen without calibre being involved at all. The only thing consistent that I've been able to nail down is that when it DOES happen, it's aways a giant epub that was opened in the last Sigil instance.

doubleshuffle · 09-22-2017, 12:26 AM

That's interesting. I've just done a very quick test with two epubs of a bit over 2MB. One killed the clips, the other didn't; but the one that did is a lot more complex than the one that didn't (far more .xhtml files, far more internal links.)

DiapDealer · 09-22-2017, 05:46 AM

That describes the big epub that I've been able to use as a "trigger," too: Lots of files, tons of internal links.

DiapDealer · 09-22-2017, 11:17 AM

I've not had much luck making it happen today. When it was happening yesterday, it seemed like it always took 4-5 Sigil instances to make it happen. Today I've had up to 12 Sigil instances running (with many of the same epubs I was using yesterday) and haven't been able to trigger it.

Turtle91 · 09-22-2017, 12:04 PM

just another data point:

It happened for me with only 2 files open and I don't use Calibre to open-with. I double-click on an existing epub file to open.

I'm not sure what you consider long/complex. I'd say on average 25-35 html files, maybe 1-2 links, 1-3 css files, 1-10 image files...

Oh, just thought of somethin'

The ePubs I was opening were in the same book series. I was checking how the previous book was formatted. They contained the exact same 5 image files - plus a different cover image. I have no idea if that has any bearing...

edit: Both books also had those 5 images set on individual html files with an svg wrapper.

DiapDealer · 09-22-2017, 12:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Turtle91

The ePubs I was opening were in the same book series. I was checking how the previous book was formatted. They contained the exact same 5 image files - plus a different cover image. I have no idea if that has any bearing...

At this point, I'm not turning away ANY suggestions/data.

I'll get it eventually. Randomness is unrecognized order.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Turtle91

I'm not sure what you consider long/complex. I'd say on average 25-35 html files, maybe 1-2 links, 1-3 css files, 1-10 image files...

For my part, it's epubs that Sigil seems to need to "chew on" for awhile before the gui becomes visible.

KevinH · 09-22-2017, 08:43 PM

Does Windows have an "strace" or "ptrace" or some other process trace that will let us see io being done on the clips file and what the syscall returns and what if any signals are sent when the clips file is first read?

PeterT · 09-22-2017, 10:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KevinH

Does Windows have an "strace" or "ptrace" or some other process trace that will let us see io being done on the clips file and what the syscall returns and what if any signals are sent when the clips file is first read?

Maybe procmon? https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sys...nloads/procmon

DiapDealer · 09-22-2017, 10:39 PM

ProcessMonitor (Sysinternals) should be able to give me real-time access to filesystem, registry and process/thread activity. But I'd need to familiarize myself with it. Not sure about getting any of the signals that are firing, though.

I'm pretty sure it's probably somewhere in the deep magic being done with QFileSystemWatcher in ClipEditorModel.cpp and SearchEditorModel.cppp. There's a lot of hoops being jumped through to ensure cross-platform compatibility there, and I'm assuming the ini files' visibility, or accessibility is falling through some crack on Windows under rare conditions. Like the fileChanged signal is firing but the file cannot be found/read, so only the example entries get loaded/synced for that Sigil instance. Same with Saved Searches. Seems like there's countless reasons why a particular path added to QFileSystemWatcher might stop being monitored under different conditions (on different platforms) and need to be added again (after waiting to make sure the path exists after a write/copy).

Perhaps it's simply a race/timing issue with the other Sigil instances and normal Windows file-locking/access.

DiapDealer · 09-23-2017, 10:59 AM

An unfruitful morning spent clicking on epub files.

After getting ProcessMonitor set up and properly filtering for Sigil's clips file I/O, I can't get the issue to happen. I haven't been able to replicate it, in fact, since the day before yesterday. I feel like I'm missing something terribly obvious.

BetterRed · 09-23-2017, 06:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

An unfruitful morning spent clicking on epub files.

FYI - I've been having a vaguely similar problem with calibre, in the sense that it's intermittent, and goes away if you look at it (quantum effect). It has nothing to do with the editor or calibre functionality per se - Kovid has postulated some sort of timing issue - maybe in Windups. See ==>> https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=290494

Related? Probably not - but . . .

BR

JustinThought · 09-26-2017, 04:29 AM

Just to let you know, I'm sitting back here lurking on this issue. Although it happens for me--losing both my very few clips as well as my rawther extensive library of saved searches--there is absolutely no consistency to my experience. Sometimes I can open as many as 5 instances with no problem; other times, two instances will kill the libraries on either or both instances. Big files, little files--don' make no steenkin' difference.

I figure this is just something the fickle god of programming has placed in our midst to allow the wonderful maintainers of this jewel to save money on haircuts. Don't need a haircut when you're pulling it out manually.

For me, though, it's a minor inconvenience. It doesn't hurt to reload that file occasionally anyway.

KevinH · 09-26-2017, 10:30 AM

My guess is that there is a race condition in the Qt Windows code. When the second instance loads the clip library it sends a signal to invalidate the contents on the first instance and force a reload. But if that signal to reload comes before the second instance has dropped its file lock on the clips file, the first instance comes back with nothing (ala a race).

This is just a guess cause the code involved in Qt is quite complex and platform specific.

If this guess is true, then opening a third instance of Sigil and then adding something to the clip library should send a signal to the first two instances to reload. This should give it a chance of making the lost clips re-appear in the first instance.

Would someone who see this problem on Windows please try adding a couple of new instances of Sigil and then if one loads properly, edit the clips library to add something from it and see if that forces the other instances of Sigil to resync.

09-22-2017, 12:04 PM	#37
Turtle91 A Hairy Wizard Posts: 3,094 Karma: 18727053 Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: Charleston, SC today Device: iPhone 11/X/6/iPad 1,2,Air & Air Pro/Surface Pro/Kindle PW & Fire	just another data point: It happened for me with only 2 files open and I don't use Calibre to open-with. I double-click on an existing epub file to open. I'm not sure what you consider long/complex. I'd say on average 25-35 html files, maybe 1-2 links, 1-3 css files, 1-10 image files... Oh, just thought of somethin' The ePubs I was opening were in the same book series. I was checking how the previous book was formatted. They contained the exact same 5 image files - plus a different cover image. I have no idea if that has any bearing... edit: Both books also had those 5 images set on individual html files with an svg wrapper. Last edited by Turtle91; 09-22-2017 at 12:08 PM.

09-22-2017, 08:43 PM	#39
KevinH Sigil Developer Posts: 7,644 Karma: 5433388 Join Date: Nov 2009 Device: many	Does Windows have an "strace" or "ptrace" or some other process trace that will let us see io being done on the clips file and what the syscall returns and what if any signals are sent when the clips file is first read? Last edited by KevinH; 09-22-2017 at 09:12 PM.

09-22-2017, 10:39 PM	#41
DiapDealer Grand Sorcerer Posts: 27,549 Karma: 193191846 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD	ProcessMonitor (Sysinternals) should be able to give me real-time access to filesystem, registry and process/thread activity. But I'd need to familiarize myself with it. Not sure about getting any of the signals that are firing, though. I'm pretty sure it's probably somewhere in the deep magic being done with QFileSystemWatcher in ClipEditorModel.cpp and SearchEditorModel.cppp. There's a lot of hoops being jumped through to ensure cross-platform compatibility there, and I'm assuming the ini files' visibility, or accessibility is falling through some crack on Windows under rare conditions. Like the fileChanged signal is firing but the file cannot be found/read, so only the example entries get loaded/synced for that Sigil instance. Same with Saved Searches. Seems like there's countless reasons why a particular path added to QFileSystemWatcher might stop being monitored under different conditions (on different platforms) and need to be added again (after waiting to make sure the path exists after a write/copy). Perhaps it's simply a race/timing issue with the other Sigil instances and normal Windows file-locking/access. Last edited by DiapDealer; 09-22-2017 at 10:52 PM.

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09-21-2017, 03:16 PM	#32
DiapDealer Grand Sorcerer Posts: 27,549 Karma: 193191846 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD	Good to know. You'd be surprised how many people are so used to launching epubs in Sigil that way, that they forget to even mention it when providing the details. Anyway... I've finally gotten it to happen (on two separate occasions now). So that's a start!

09-21-2017, 07:35 PM	#33
DiapDealer Grand Sorcerer Posts: 27,549 Karma: 193191846 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD	I was able to get it to happen without calibre being involved at all. The only thing consistent that I've been able to nail down is that when it DOES happen, it's aways a giant epub that was opened in the last Sigil instance.

09-22-2017, 12:26 AM	#34
doubleshuffle Unicycle Daredevil Posts: 13,923 Karma: 185041098 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Planet of the Pudding Brains Device: Aura HD (R.I.P. After six years the USB socket died.) tolino shine 3	That's interesting. I've just done a very quick test with two epubs of a bit over 2MB. One killed the clips, the other didn't; but the one that did is a lot more complex than the one that didn't (far more .xhtml files, far more internal links.)

09-22-2017, 05:46 AM	#35
DiapDealer Grand Sorcerer Posts: 27,549 Karma: 193191846 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD	That describes the big epub that I've been able to use as a "trigger," too: Lots of files, tons of internal links.

09-22-2017, 11:17 AM	#36
DiapDealer Grand Sorcerer Posts: 27,549 Karma: 193191846 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD	I've not had much luck making it happen today. When it was happening yesterday, it seemed like it always took 4-5 Sigil instances to make it happen. Today I've had up to 12 Sigil instances running (with many of the same epubs I was using yesterday) and haven't been able to trigger it.

09-23-2017, 10:59 AM	#42
DiapDealer Grand Sorcerer Posts: 27,549 Karma: 193191846 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD	An unfruitful morning spent clicking on epub files. After getting ProcessMonitor set up and properly filtering for Sigil's clips file I/O, I can't get the issue to happen. I haven't been able to replicate it, in fact, since the day before yesterday. I feel like I'm missing something terribly obvious.

09-26-2017, 04:29 AM	#44
JustinThought Groupie Posts: 171 Karma: 3517858 Join Date: May 2016 Location: Monterrey, Mexico Device: Samsung Tab-3 7"	Just to let you know, I'm sitting back here lurking on this issue. Although it happens for me--losing both my very few clips as well as my rawther extensive library of saved searches--there is absolutely no consistency to my experience. Sometimes I can open as many as 5 instances with no problem; other times, two instances will kill the libraries on either or both instances. Big files, little files--don' make no steenkin' difference. I figure this is just something the fickle god of programming has placed in our midst to allow the wonderful maintainers of this jewel to save money on haircuts. Don't need a haircut when you're pulling it out manually. For me, though, it's a minor inconvenience. It doesn't hurt to reload that file occasionally anyway.

09-26-2017, 10:30 AM	#45
KevinH Sigil Developer Posts: 7,644 Karma: 5433388 Join Date: Nov 2009 Device: many	My guess is that there is a race condition in the Qt Windows code. When the second instance loads the clip library it sends a signal to invalidate the contents on the first instance and force a reload. But if that signal to reload comes before the second instance has dropped its file lock on the clips file, the first instance comes back with nothing (ala a race). This is just a guess cause the code involved in Qt is quite complex and platform specific. If this guess is true, then opening a third instance of Sigil and then adding something to the clip library should send a signal to the first two instances to reload. This should give it a chance of making the lost clips re-appear in the first instance. Would someone who see this problem on Windows please try adding a couple of new instances of Sigil and then if one loads properly, edit the clips library to add something from it and see if that forces the other instances of Sigil to resync.

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