I really like the autosave feature, but I’m not a big fan of the “_autosaved”.
If I’m working on plot.4ui, I would likle ForeUI to autosave and then just save my plot.4ui without making a new plot_autosaved.4ui.
Maybe you could add an option in the Settings dialog to let the user define whether or not to create new files with the “_autosaved”.
Is there are good reason for creating a new file?
4 answers
Hi Ulrich, I guess you have the same requests with Ari. He suggested this feature in this thread: http://getsatisfaction.com/easynth/to…
Auto saving the plot file with the current name may be dangerous. Imagine this case: the user opens the plot for reviewing, he may switch pages and maybe drag and drop something without thinking too much. He assume that the changes will not be saved without his permission. He may discard all changes after a few hours. However, if ForeUI save the plot automatically, some unwanted changes may be saved and the plot could be messed up.
So we are currently using the “auto backup” instead of “auto saving”. Maybe an option to switch between these two modes will be more flexible.
I agree with Ulrich that the _autosaved can be a little annoying. And I agree more with Xavier that a true “auto-save” can be dangerous. I feel like other applications implement auto save generally in this manner, which I think would be awesome here:
Periodically, the application does an “auto-backup” to a *hidden* file in the same directory as the original. Under normal use, once the user saves and quits the application, and the hidden auto-backup is deleted. But if the application quits abnormally, then the next time you try to open the plot, the hidden auto-backup will still exist. The application can recognize this and ask if you want to recover your changes.
So this way, you have the safety of auto-save without the annoyance of the _autosave file. It seems like that would be a simpler solution (for the user anyway) than a switch in the settings panel.
We have made the improvements in V2.57, we still use the _autosaved.4ui file name and it is not hidden (because of technical reason). The enhancements include:
Enhancement: Do not auto backup the plot until it is modified.
Enhancement: Remove the auto saved file when manual save is finished.
Enhancement: Prompt user to open the auto saved file when loading the original.
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Awesome!
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The existence of the auto saved file should be for recover purpose only. And the recovery should be done by tool instead of user. I have some details in mind:
1. only auto backup the plot to hidden file when the plot is changed (has * mark in the plot tab)
2. delete the hidden file when user manually save the plot successfully.
3. ask user whether to open the hidden file if user try to open the original one and the hidden file is found.
The 1 and 2 can avoid most cases that user see the auto saved file. I think the 3 is more cautious since user may realize that he doesn't want the recovered data.
As for hidden file creation, it seems a little difficult in Java. We will have a look.