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#96 Ongoing issues with Max Launcher
Alright - where do I begin...... I've been using MaxLauncher for a long time now (since its inception) and absolutely love it (when it is functioning). I say this because periodically, in particular, after a Windows Update (which I just did by the way), all of the program icons I had on my MaxLauncher, disappeared.
Yesterday I updated to your latest 1.27 version - no issues there. However, after doing a Windows 10 update this morning (version 21H1), when it went to reboot and I tried to bring up Max Launcher, I received an error message (with no icons showing). I've attached the error message as a JPG image (see attached).
In the past, the first thing I would do is to click "open" to find my default MaxLauncher file so the icons could load again. Sometimes it would work, but most of the time I was forced to completely uninstall Max Launcher, and then reinstall - and then doing the open file scenario to bring the icons back into play.
But not this time. I uninstalled and reinstalled Max Launcher twice now, and I am unable to reload the many icons (over 75) that I had on that launcher.
Why is this doing this? I am not doing anything differently, but periodically, this occurs and it is so frustrating because as I said, when functioning, it's the best launcher on the market.
So as it stands now, I am now forced to one-by-one, having to reload each and every icon, which is time -consuming.
Thanks for listening...
Ben Herrmann
I forgot to add that I'm unable to create new icons on the launcher because of the fact that when you first bring up the program now, a window pops up on top that gives you just 3 options - that is, open file, create file, or exit. When you go to your default file (which shows all the icons), that doesn't work as shown in the error file I attached. If I click out of there, the program just exits - so in essence, I am unable to do anything with this.
First, we can try to see if we can salvage your Default.xml file if you haven't overwritten or deleted it. It looks like the error is near the end of the file. You can send it to me if you want at madproton@gmail.com. If you don't want to send the entire file, I understand. You can send only part of the file starting at line 2780 to the end of the file.
FYI, if the mld file is corrupted(the file that contains the tabs/buttons), you will be unable to open it. You would need to create a New File and start over.
Also, may I recommend to add to your backup scheme(if you have one) your *.mld files, where ever you saved them. And app.cfg, favorites.cfg, Themes directory and Shortcuts directory; locations can be found in Help -> Program Information.
I will write more about the issue in about an hour since it is quite long.
Read the whole thing if you want but most of it is only for developers' reference.
This issue was the very first occurrence of corruption of an mld file. The previous problems you had was with the app.cfg file.
Background information:
app.cfg - contains all the setting set using Menu items. Saved upon exiting the program.
favorites.cfg - contains all the button information within the favorites bar. Saved instantly when a change has been made.
*.mld file(s) - contains all the information of tab(s) and the button(s) in each tab. Saved instantly when a change has been made.
Regarding this particular bug:
favorites.cfg and *.mld files are saved instantly when modified. However, there was an issue with MaxLauncher where the file was still being saved again upon exit when changes are made. This was an easy fix.
Regarding the old bug with app.cfg being corrupted when restarting/shutting down after a Windows update:
This has been a very annoying bug for a long time. It happens rarely as far as I know. I implemented a new was of saving app.cfg in 1.27.0.0. It seems that a race condition occurs when restarting after a Windows update. The file does not get fully written to disk. It is very hard to debug because it happens during a restart and only sometimes. Internet research regarding this particular bug does not yield any definitive reason or solution since only very few people encounter this error.
This particular bug after the said fix should not be affected by a restart anymore since favorites.cfg and *.mld files will no long be saved *again* when MaxLauncher exits.
Potential remaining problem:
Since this happened using version 1.27.0.0, corruption of app.cfg when restarting after a Windows Update may still be possible. It is difficult to know for sure because the saving mechanism/API used for app.cfg and favorites.cfg\/*.mld* files are different.
Potential fix:
Save app.cfg everytime it is changed and not when exiting. This requires a bit of experimentation because the window size/location is saved in app.cfg and many writes will occur when sizing it or moving it.
Main cause of this is that after the initial load, the file is still marked as updated and still needs to be saved. Therefore, in rare occasions, after a Windows Update reboot, unsaved files can sometimes be corrupted.
Data files (*.mld) are now saved as changes occur so it will no longer be needed to be saved upon exit.
** Auto saving files upon exit sometime results in corruption after a Wi