Subject: Re: [Butler Talk] Losing newly created preferences, pasteboards and engines

From: Rob Griffiths <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 1 Feb 2012 06:00:14 -0800

On Feb 1, 2012, at 2:17 AM, Bucozar wrote:

> I've noticed that when I have created some new preferences and later
> Butler crashes, I have to force quit it, or force boot the machine, I
> lose the new preferences, pasteboards and engines.

Can you give me an example of exactly what "preferences" you are creating, as specific as possible? I just did a test, with Butler running:

1) I created a new Container called 'Fleebubdeggriz,' just to make it unique to search on. One image at the end of this email shows it in my Butler configuration.

2) With Butler still running, I opened my user's Library > Application Support > Butler > Configuration.butleritems file in BBEdit.

3) I searched for 'Fleebubdeggriz,' and found the entry in the file (as seen in the second image at the end of this email).

4) I closed the file, then used Activity Monitor to Force Quit Butler, to simulate a crash.

5) I re-opened the configuration file, searched on 'Fleebubdeggriz' again, and found that the entry was still there.

6) I launched Butler again, and confirmed that the container was still present in the config file.

So at least here, with Containers (and a variety of other commands), Butler is writing the file as soon as the command is added, that command stays even if Butler quits unexpectedly, and it works again after relaunching Butler.

Can you try the same experiment on your machine, and provide exactly what type of changes you're making that don't seem to be written?

regards,
-rob.

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From: Bucozar <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 1 Feb 2012 02:17:27 -0800 (PST)

Hi,

I did a bit of digging and noticed that ~/Library/Application Support/
Butler/Configuration.butleritems gets saved when ever preferences
change, but strangely it does not contain the new/changed preference.
When Butler quits naturally the preferences get saved to .butleritems
correctly.

Might there be a bug in saving preferences in ~/Library/Application
Support/Butler/ when changes are made or is this intentional ?
Where does Butler get the actual content if not from .butleritems -
are they loaded to memory ?

This might also be the problem with this:
http://groups.google.com/group/butler-talk/browse_thread/thread/f3c831ad75523b04
(where do my abbreviations/ triggers keep going?)

I know I can save a copy of the preferences, but that's more like a
backup and I don't want to do that every time I make a new preference.

As I might go weeks without booting the machine it can be frustrating
to see that my superb super-commands I worked hard to create has been
removed. For now I quit and restart Butler when creating important
preferences (if I remember).

- Jami