DX SUCKS!!!!

I have had it and im giving up!

from WinCustomize Forums
OK, Now that i have your attention.. I need to get STARDOCKS attention.

I have been working on a new gadget/widget. I have been saving my desktop all the time.
It was 90% complete. I was simply updating the LOGO i had on it.

Yeah I'm sure you ALL know where this is headed.. BOOM, DESKTOPX HAS CAUSED AN ERROR.. CRASH... BOOM..
So when it comes back up i tell it that i want to START from scratch not load the last desktop.
I load in the SAVED WORKING 90% DONE Desktop i saved before my CRASH....

Yeah I'm sure you all know what is gone...

ALL MY FREEKING SCRIPTS!!

How the HELL does this damn program delete my freaking scripts in the desktop that i had NOT SAVED when it crashed?
WHY DOES THIS STUPID PROGRAM DELETE SCRIPTS?????????????

I have learned and have a 70% done SCRIPT saved as a NOTEPAD TEXT FILE.
I load the desktop that WAS working, and paste in the now 4 hr old script.
As soon as i hit APPLY .. THE DAMN THING DOES IT AGAIN!!!

So now, i have my freaking objects sitting there, i cant ADD the script to them without crashing it all.
Mind you this is a script that WAS working for days of editing.
Also remember that all i was doing was changing a logo.

So .. STARDOCK,

FIX THIS DAMN PROGRAM!
FIX IT SO IT DOESNT DELETE MY SCRIPT!
FIX IT SO THAT I CAN GET MY 10 DAYS OF WORK BACK AND RUNNING
FIX IT OR REMOVE IT FROM THE MARKET!

Until DX no longer booms for NO REASON, and deletes my HARD WORKED SCRIPTS I REFUSE to make another widget/gadget using this program.

Just so you know, i have been a VERY LOYAL DX person I have gadgets up on DG, I'm 5th overall in Widget downloads, so I'm not just LEARNING this program.

I'm so pissed right now, if I NEVER work on DX again.. I'll be fine.
But be aware, if this issue is NOT addressed I will become a VERY VOCAL OPPONANT to DX!

I have had it with my work being screwed for no reason, I have had it with having to re-do my work over and over.
And now I cant even use my damn backup!

This needs fixed NOW! Oh yeah.. and Tomorrows my Birthday.. so Stardock knows just what to give me..
desktopx
9,298 views 26 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Happy Birthday?
Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Backup your files for now on? Seriously? You ARE working with beta versions of software, remember
Offworld Trading Company
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I'll try to be to the point. I work at a newspaper. I sit behind a G4 running Tiger for 8 to 12 hrs. a day. We use Quark, Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat etc. OK, sounds like top of the line stuff, right? Well we have a Mantra: SAVE SAVE SAVE Always SAVE. Uh yeah Happy Birthday!
Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Dont' read this until tomorrow:
Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top
You didnt READ what i said.. I DID BACKUP OVER AND OVER..
There are 2 DESKTOPS saved..

I didnt RESTORE the CRASHED one..
It NUKED the both versions!

It also will not allow me to use my BACKED UP NOTES FILE.
It continues to crash.

WHERE is DX V3.1 BETA? WHERE??? I dont see BETA when it loads?

so blame me for not backing up, when i AM backing up, and it still screws things up?


--- Thanks for the Happy Birthday Notes ---

Now if anyone has a way to FIX this problem PLEASE let me know, otherwise READ the above before you tell me its my fault for working with BETA software, and not backing up.. BOTH Are not true!
Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Well we have a Mantra: SAVE SAVE SAVE Always SAVE.


Thats his point Chasbro, the sript was deleted out of the SAVED object/desktop, and he is not the first to report this problem either.

Happy Birthday, RomandDA!!





Too slow! Posted via WinCustomize Browser/Stardock Central
Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Thats his point Chasbro, the sript was deleted out of the SAVED object/desktop, and he is not the first to report this problem either.


THANKS!! thats my entire point.
DX PRO 3.1002 is NOT BETA SW - its not SOLD as BETA, even if it was, i posted this EXACT problem on here months ago, and others have agreed with me it has this problem EVEN _MARTIN_ said he has seen this happen.

Listen,

I Love DX, as can be seen by how many widgets i have made, but when i spend over 2 weeks on somethng working, testing, backing things up, doing what a "good" programmer does, and the program takes and nukes things, then i just cant keep fighting a loosing battle. I would love to be able to work on my gadget/widget and not be worried that every "OK" i click is going to nuke the program, dump my scripts and put me back hours, days, or in this case weeks.

Dont hate me because im upset at this, understand my frustration, and lets see if stardock can FIX this, and we can all get back to makeing some awesome things!
Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top
First off DX ain't my thing, but did you check in the cache to see if copies of your scripts may be there that you can recover? Seems like the program would have to "put" them somewhere if not in the cache maybe in a temp directory in the C:\Documents and Settings\"username"\Local Settings\Application Data\Stardock\DesktopX\CurrentTheme
Reply #9 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I think with a just few more words in CAPITAL LETTERS Stardock will go to your house and work on the problem with you.
Reply #10 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Every time I 'v eexperienced this there was nothing recoverabl from the cache.

RomanDA, I just thought I'd note that I know where you're coming from and feel your pain. You are not alone, brother. It is one thing to work with an overly complex export / save process, it is another to deal with all the idiosyncracies of the DX environment and then STILL have this happen.

I guess the "well, you are using a Beta" statement has been pretty well addressed, but nevertheless: I tried out DX in one of it's version2's about two years ago, give or take. One of the reasons I did not buy it at the time, and gave up on it, was that it crashed all the...darn...time when I was just trying to learn to use it. I came back to try the new full release version number, 3, and crashingt has been improved somewhat, but it is still pretty frequent, often catastrophic.

I have read Frogboy's lament that the potential of DX remains unlocked because a project can turn from play to work for independant developers as it grows. The other problem is as a project grows in complexity a person using DX can become consumed with trying to protect what they already have from being destroyed, and have little time to do actual work.

This isn't not backing up a file and being upset when it gets corrupted. This is DX's insisious automatic save becoming confused and pretty much erasing several files. This isn't a newbie misunderstanding the function of a button, it is an experienced widget maker saying this has got to stop.
Reply #11 from WinCustomize Forums Top

We feel your pain too RomanDA.  What we use internally is KeepSafe (https://www.stardock.com/products/keepsafe) which automatically makes backups every time the file is touched by anything.

However, that is a stop-gap solution.  A better solution will be in 3.2 which should hopefully start beta soon.

In DesktopX 3.2, scripts can be seperate.  So to use your example:

You would have a directory full of .vbs files.

You could then set scripts like this:

MyObject = DesktopX.NewObject();

MyObject.SetScript("MyScript.vbs");

 

 

Reply #12 from WinCustomize Forums Top
In DesktopX 3.2, scripts can be seperate.



This sounds like a great idea.

Now, has anyone looked at my recent post on DX requests? There are a few more items that would really make a difference to those of us trying to unlock the potential of DesktopX, which IMO is really great.

Link
Reply #13 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Anyone know if there is a way to take a Gadget and import it?
I have a gadget version of the 90% working version.

I have looked in the cache, nuked it, etc.

If anyone at stardock wants to look at the desktop and the script, id be happy to send it in.

I have tried to make this work, but it just wont stay loaded for more then about 30-45 seconds.
Reply #14 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I had this happen once with a desktop theme I was working on. Everything was fine for quite a while until it crashed, and then the current theme (from the DX current theme folder) would crash the program and the saved (long before the crash) version would also crash the program. It didn't make sense, since the saved version was quite a bit older than the crash event.

I tried long and hard to get it back. I even sent an email to Alberto about the problem, and basically begged for some help. I thought if he could try loading the theme in debug mode he could at least tell me why it was crashing. No response.

In the end I just started over. I have had a suspicion about the cause of the problem - I was using transparency to hide and show objects quite a bit, and I think that was a problem. A couple times since I have played around with that technique and things started to get weird, so I don't do that anymore.

I definitely feel your pain, RomanDa.
Reply #15 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Anyone know if there is a way to take a Gadget and import it?


If you look in your \Documents and Settings\[User]\Local Settings\Temp there should be some folders with names like "{16F068D1-E05F-4644-8DDC-648D2B7C9DDB}". If you ran the gadget version, I believe you will find in one of them a copy of your gadget and in the the AppData folder, what looks like all of the contents of the gadget, just like what shows up in the widget cache. You might be able to reconstruct from there.

Hope this helps.
Reply #16 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I also sympathise RomanDA, I have had this problem more times than I care to remember.

Occasionally I have been able to retrieve the lost script from the CurrentTheme folder, but only if I looked there immediately after the crash (ie: I didn't attempt to reload the desktop first).

Nowadays I tend to make incremental saves of my widget projects in dxpack format. new_widget2.dxpack, new_widget3.dxpack, new_widget4.dxpack, etc. On a couple of occasions I have got up to new_widget200.dxpack and above.

Anyway, that aside, keep on keeping on. Hopefully there will be a silver lining in your cloud and the new script you write will be more efficient than your original - that's what usually happens to me, and small comfort tho it may be, it's one of the things I try to hold onto in my bid to overcome the annoyance of a script nuking incident.
Reply #17 from WinCustomize Forums Top
If you look in your \Documents and Settings\[User]\Local Settings\Temp there should be some folders with names like "{16F068D1-E05F-4644-8DDC-648D2B7C9DDB}".


I looked in there, and it looks like there are .dxscript files but they are encrypted or compiled.

I appreciate all your input, i am still incredibly frustrated and i have no desire to work on this now.

I guess ill wait till 3.2 and see how it does the seperate .vbs files.
Reply #18 from WinCustomize Forums Top
We feel your pain too RomanDA. What we use internally is KeepSafe (https://www.stardock.com/products/keepsafe Link) which automatically makes backups every time the file is touched by anything.

However, that is a stop-gap solution. A better solution will be in 3.2 which should hopefully start beta soon.

In DesktopX 3.2, scripts can be seperate. So to use your example:

You would have a directory full of .vbs files.

You could then set scripts like this:

MyObject = DesktopX.NewObject();

MyObject.SetScript("MyScript.vbs");

That sounds very intersting. But what is to prevent DX from deleting the content of these files?
Reply #19 from WinCustomize Forums Top
My feelings.. DesktopX has great intentions and potential. Right now it is a great app if treated with TLC, but it is going to have to be alot more stable to really be an overwhelming success.
I too have grown frustrated with the constant crashing though when creating themes/widgets. I guess that is why I put it on the back burner a long time ago. Themes I've made that could easily have been completed in a few days/weeks always seemed to turn into weeks/months. Every...little...version...of DesktopX has been riddled with constant issues and crashes. I can only say Kudos to those with the patience to keep at it and continue to crank out the quality stuff.
Reply #20 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I feel Your pain.
Reply #21 from WinCustomize Forums Top
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Reply #22 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Brad, you say nothing about the actual problem being fixed. Is that on the list of things to do?

The idea of an external script file is sound, but what would you use to edit it then? I enjoy editing within DX, but I'm not a fan of losing all my work on DX's whim. Is the external script idea a solution to the problem, or a workaround?
Reply #23 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Justin - not to be too blunt ...
But atleast he has a work around for now. I can for see a problem being solved as soon as they find why and what is wrong. But for the time being - atleast there is something to try and see if it will help a bit. If not then we all have to wait for the problem to be fixed. Which is destiny for the time being...
Do this for me also - try to answer your own question here for Brad ok...?
And give it some time also.
OK - look on the bright side a bit~!
SGT
Reply #24 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Hmm external scripts. Sounds good.

I still think DX should make temp files just like MS office. That's a good idea right there.
Reply #25 from WinCustomize Forums Top
just an update..

As everyone says here.. you will redo the code and make it better.. and i have, and it is..

I have taken to using the ultimate backup.. WIDGETS! all the code is in there, and you can just import it back. I have 20 versions of my widget now. Even thought it will never be a widget, it will be a gadget only... my first GADGET only...

I also did get my code back, Brad had the development guys get the script back for me. But this was a few days late, but it was VERY much appreciated! i was able to pull some things that i forgot.

Thanks for all the input, and help, and understanding on this one!