Cant open *.livecode

[DavJans]

After the last time I saved and closed my livecode project now when I double click on the *.livecode file it opens livecode but not the stack. if i am in livecode and click file/open it never opens either. No error messages, just nothing. If i try to open a backup from a few weeks ago they open just fine. Is there a way to fix my up to date broken file? I the past when a file got broken I was able to send it to support and they fixed it. Is that still an option or maybe is there anything I can try to fix it myself? I tried uninstalling and renaming all the runrev folders in appdata and renaming the my livecode folder as suggested in another post, but due to the fact that only 1 stack wont open leads me to believe that solution wasn't going to work and it didn't.

[FourthWorld]

Which version did you create the stack file with, and which version is being launched when you double click it?

Also, which OS version are you running?

When you submitted the earlier stack file to support, did they note a particular object that was causing the issue? Is a copy of that object in the new stack file?

[DavJans]

The stack was originally created 6 years ago, I don't remember what version. I am currently using version 9.5 Windows 10 x64, it has been working for since I upgraded from windows 7 x64 a few weeks ago just stopped working the last time I rebooted and had to close livecode and the stack. I only have version 9.5 installed that that is what launches when I try to open it.

[dunbarx]

Hi.

Have you tried opening in v8 or v7?

Craig

[DavJans]

Tried 8.1.10 and it behaves the same. No error message, just doesn't open.

[DavJans]

I opened the .livecode files I have the backup from 10/18/2019 that works and the broken 1 in Notepad++ and it looks like the broken file is missing thousands of lines of code at the end of the file. I copied the missing data from the backup and put it into the broken file and saved it as a copy and it still doesn't open all my hopes and dreams of that fixing it didn't work. looks like ill be figuring out what all I did in the last month and redoing it.

[dunbarx]

This is disheartening. I have never subscribed to the belief that LC is as stable as, say, Hypercard was.

Do send the broken file to the team. They need to see what can happen to someone.

Craig

[FourthWorld]

I agree that if we can't resolve the issue here we should send it to the team. But given how rare true file format corruption is, and this user has experienced it once before, I'm most interested in figuring out why this is happening on his system.

I've worked closely with the team to try to track down the two cases of file format corruption I've seen over the last dozen or so years. It's not an easy thing to pin down. In some cases they can repair a file, in others not, and without a recipe there's very little they can do to resolve any bug that may lead to it, because without a recipe the bug remains invisible.

@DavJans:
You mentioned NotePad. Have you ever saved a stack file that had been opened in NotePad? Even accidentally?

And have you looked at the file in a binary editor? Sometimes NotePad will display only textual data reliably, with binary data causing incomplete displays. When in doubt you can read a stack file with LC, just make sure to use the "binfile" option, e.g.:

Code: Select all

answer file "Select your stack file:"
if it is empty then exit to top
put url ("binfile:"& it) into fld 1

[MichaelBluejay]

Sorry for asking, but I hope you did more to verify that the stack didn't open beyond that you can't see its window. Maybe it's open but the window is hidden or off the screen or something. What happens when you enter "put the name of this stack" into the message box?

[dunbarx]

Michael makes a point. From msg, ask if there is a stack "yourStack". If there is, see what its rect is.



Craig

[DavJans]

FourthWorld:
I never used notepad until the stack was already broken out of curiosity. only saved it once using save as to make a new copy

I did the other thing you mentioned to look at the code that way but there is so much of it scrolling down just locks up over and over and there are 570,000 lines of code according to notepad++ also the End keyboard button doesn't work.

The last time my stack got corrupted was a long time ago and if i remember right it did throw an error message back then. it was also a different system.

MichaelBluejay:
stack "revMenuBar'

dunbarx:
answer openStacks()

Message Box
revTools
com.livecode.palette.autocomplete.completions
revMenuBar


Thank you all for the suggestions.

[FourthWorld]

I did the other thing you mentioned to look at the code that way but there is so much of it scrolling down just locks up over and over...

When viewing in a LiveCode field? What is the file size of the stack file?

At this point we've covered the obvious things, so maybe a good time to send the stack file to support to see what they can do.

I'm more interested in figuring out how to prevent this in the future. Having two corrupted stack files in a relatively short time window (it took me 15 years to see a second corrupted file after the first one I encountered in '99) is rare, and if we could pin down the root cause we should be able to prevent or at least avoid corrupting circumstances.

What is the SMART status of your hard drive?

[mwieder]

One more thing: lock messages from the IDE or the messagebox, then open the stack from the menubar. See if the stack loads without triggering any messages. It's possible that a misbehaving openstack handler or something similar is misbehaving. Or something that used to work no longer does now that the recent compilers are being more strict about things.

[MichaelBluejay]

DavJans, seeing stack "revMenuBar' means conclusively that your stack didn't open, not that it's open and you can't see it.

I'm wondering if there might be some problem with your IDE, plugins, OS. Try opening the stack on another computer, or post it here or send it to one of us to see if we can open it.

It does sound like the stack is probably corrupted, but I would still exhaust all other possibilities before deciding that it's definitely corrupted.

[DavJans]

FourthWorld:
The backup that works is 30MB
The broken file is 26MB
Makes me feel like as it was saving the last time LC crashed at the end explaining the missing script at the end of the file while viewing in Notepad.

Smart status is OK

mwieder:
I don't know how to do that

MichaelBluejay:
Ill try it on another computer and report back, I can't post it online as I have hard-coded user names and passwords and IP addresses in it.
(on my list of things to change)