Missing Notebook Entries?

[Steve]

Summary: If you leave a Storyist file open for more than three days, an Apple bug (introduced in Leopard) may cause older notebook entries to be deleted. This bug affects Storyist 1.5.2 and earlier. A work-around is included in version 2.0 and later.

 

What does the "Missing Notebook Entries?" dialog mean?

 

When you open a file, Storyist performs a consistency check. If it finds a discrepancy between the files listed in the index and the files actually saved with the project, it displays a dialog with the title "Missing Notebook Entries?" and lists the files in question.

 

What happened?

 

If you haven't edited your project file outside of Storyist, the dialog is most likely the result of an Apple bug that affects Storyist 1.5.2 and earlier.

 

Starting in Leopard, Apple's "dirhelper" daemon began deleting files in temporary directories that have not been accessed in more than three days. These temporary directories are parent directories to the directory (which Storyist uses) that Apple encourages developers to use for temporary files and claims will available as long as the application is running.

 

This means that if you leave Storyist running for more than three days (e.g. you close your laptop and forget about it), some of your notebook entries--the ones you haven't touched recently--may be deleted.

 

Note: This bug is not specific to Storyist. It will affect other applications as well.

 

If you're interested in the technical details, read the two posts in this thread.

 

How can I retrieve the missing entries?

 

You can retrieve the missing notes from a backup.

 

If you're running version 1.5 or later, you can view your project backups by choosing File > Backups. A Backups window will appear listing the backups made with by the automatic backup feature and by the File > Back Up command.

 

If you're running a version prior to 1.5, you can find the backups made using the File > Back Up command in the ~/Library/Application Support/Storyist/Backup directory. Make a copy of these backups before opening them.

 

When will the bug be fixed?

 

I have filed a bug report with Apple and am waiting for a response. I the mean time, I and am preparing a work-around for Storyist 1.5.3 that doesn't use the directories in question.

 

How can I prevent this from happening to me?

 

Please close Storyist before closing your laptop or leaving your computer for more than 3 days.

 

-Steve

[Steakpirate]

While I prefer not to beat a dead horse unless It's a zombie, wouldn't the simplest solution/workaround be to make the changes to the notes concrete upon saving a storyist file? That way even if the temporary directory is lost, Storyist can refer to the notes folder in the Storyist Zip?

 

 

Or is this already the case, and this problem only affects people who don't save often?