Item order sometimes changes after syncing

Erica · August 10, 2018, 10:49pm

If that’s the case, it means the local copy (the one in ~/.config/Dynalist/dynalist/data/) is corrupted. It has the wrong ordering.

After you deleted the local copy, a fresh copy was pulled from the server, which is correct.

So my guess is that basically, a diff was generated, but was interpreted incorrectly by the app, and the wrong order is saved in the local copy of data…

Mark_Eichenlaub · August 28, 2018, 6:22pm

I’m getting similar issues.

Here is Dynalist opened in the Windows app and in Chrome side-by-side. Here just one item (“class 3 - 3 problems”) is in the wrong place, but sometimes I open Dynalist on my work computer (Windows app) and see things I wrote at home last night (also Windows app) totally messed up.

Mark_Eichenlaub · September 21, 2018, 2:36am

I’m continuing to get this error. I type a list on my laptop, open it a little later on my desktop, and the list is in a different order. This is a critical failure of a core functionality of the software. I’m really hoping for a little more responsiveness on this.

Viktor_Papara · September 21, 2018, 3:35pm

Since I experienced this error once I could not reproduce it again. And the Dynalist devs haven’t been able to reproduce this on their devices and thus could not investigate.

But you @Mark_Eichenlaub seem to be able to reproduce it and can help!

Please make an extra dummy dynalist document and try to reproduce this error in it.

Then go to the dynalist data files on the computer with the
wrong ordering. The path should be like this:
"C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Dynalist\dynalist\data\TdWBb9gaaxKEgezpLm8XwcOm\"

In this folder you see a “.data” file for each of your documents and those data files are just text files with your document data and full of meta-data. They have cryptic names like
"document-~L5NBmXXEzHkkkpDVe6SgGF9Y.data"
and if you open them you should see something like this:
{"nodes":{"version":3,"user_version":0,"available":true,"nodes":[{"id":"root","meta":"{\"c\":\"bacon\"}","collapsed"

Find the data file for the “corrupted” dummy dynalist document; you can search the data files for a text string you know is in the dummy document.

Just send this file to Erica or Shida. I’m sure they will learn from this “corrupted” file.

Mark_Eichenlaub · September 27, 2018, 5:19pm

I’ll try, but so far it happens a lot with lists I actually need to use, and doesn’t happen with test lists I create.

Alan · November 20, 2018, 4:58pm

Happened here. Working with Chrome and iPhone app. My work habit is to take an item, use the Move command to move it to (the end of) a group. Then type a new item in-place and move it to the end. Then move a different item to the end. And sometimes I’ll go to another device and do the same with the list.

Order got mixed up on the phone.

J11 · January 25, 2019, 8:14pm

I am also experiencing this bug at least once a week.

I am able to reproduce it with dummy lists, albeit randomly. This is what I do:

Using Chrome/Firefox on desktop, create two identical documents (Test A, Test B) with 3 items, each item with 5 sub-items. I use A(1,2,3,4,5), B(i,ii,iii,iv,v), C(I,II,III,IV,V).
Sync these documents with the phone app (or probably any other device), then close the app.
Copy the contents of Test B to the end of Test A.
For the first item in Test A, add more sub-items, remove some, move some around within and between other items, then save/screenshot this altered list before closing it.
Open the phone app again and compare with the saved list from the browser. Sometimes they will be in the same order, sometimes they will be scrambled.
Return Test A to its original contents, then repeat. The scramble bug seems to happen about 1 in 10 times for me using these dummy tests, though sometimes only one or two items are out of place.

Mark_Eichenlaub · March 26, 2019, 5:31pm

I’m still getting this bug 18 months later. Has there been any progress on this?

J12 · May 25, 2019, 9:03am

i have never been able to use dynalist on ios due to this bug. only use desktop. please fix

Shida · July 25, 2019, 4:37pm

Quick update to everyone involved here:

I’ve been able to finally reproduce this issue with a consistent pattern. Within the same parent item, moving one child item up while removing another item that was before it will cause a desync of the list order. This was demonstrated in the video: Sorting/moving items doesn’t “sync” to different browser (?)

And now the good news: I have a confirmed fix for it! My patch will land in a few days to the webapp and in the next release cycle for desktop and mobile apps.
Once the fix has landed, I’ll be back to double-check with everyone that it’s indeed effective.

Thanks to everyone involved here and I sincerely apologize for not having this fixed earlier!

Viktor_Papara · October 23, 2019, 9:24pm

Thank you.

As always, I’m late to this rodeo. And since you fixed this, I can’ reproduce it your way.

FYI: I did not experience this bug again after this one time two years ago.

Isn’t there a term like “Heisenbug” for a bug that appears inconsistently and can’t be reproduced?

Erica · November 5, 2019, 12:22am

Yep, that’s a heisenbug

pottster · November 5, 2019, 9:29am

nerd alert!

Alex_Avenarius · November 6, 2019, 3:48pm

I’ve been encountering this nasty bug as recently as in September and October 2019, in the iOS app (haven’t noticed it in Android), but it seems to have improved lately. Will let everyone know if I encounter it again.