Hello,

I tried searching for an answer but could not find one. If you are aware of a previous post that covers this issue, please feel free to post a link.


I am using Webfocus on Windows XP SP2 and am storing .fex files in a folder on a server within our environment. I have full access to this folder, and have set up vim as a registered external tool within WF. I have also registered vim in Windows itself as the default tool for all .fex files. I am able to successfully open files from WF in vim by right-clicking on them in WF and choosing the 'edit in vim' option.

The problem comes when I am done editing the file in vim and I write the changes. The file (vim_test.fex) is stored in a temporary location on my PC (C:\Temp\ibitmpopen\Report Development\vim_test.fex) and the file's timestamp is updated in WF. However, if I open this same file from the WF explorer tree in either the default WF text editor or again in vim, I wind up looking at a .fex file (CRP_Query.fex) I created in WF and last modified in vim...but that has not been altered in two weeks time!

If I navigate to C:\Temp\ibitmpopen\Report Development and open the vim_test.fex file in vim, it is what I saw when I last saved the changes. Also, I've noticed that a new 'Report Development' folder will be created in that temp directory for each change I make and save in vim during the same session. Once I close vim and then close WF, the Report Development folders are deleted. When WF is restarted and the same vim_test.fex file is opened from WF in either the WF editor or again in vim, the contents of the file are completely replaced with the contents of the CRP_Query.fex file as I left it two weeks ago. Thus, I believe that whatever mechanism is used to upload the changes from the temporary file location into WF is not working.

Is there some sort of cache or 'last file opened' memory, or some sort of default file search path that could be causing the old CRP_Query.fex file is being opened instead of the most recent file edited with vim? Has anyone else experienced this or similar behavior when trying to use an external editor?


Thanks in advance to anyone who can shed some light on this very strange issue. I would also be happy to elaborate or help out in any way I can as I realize the above post may not clearly illustrate what is going on.


sleepy

This message has been edited. Last edited by: sleepyEDB,

I am not familiar with vim, but there are some editors that require you to check out an object and when finished check it back in for version control. If someone has an object checked out, it can not be checked out again (not even by the same person) until it is checked in and released. The second person can get a copy, but they can't save it except to their PC. This sounds like what you are experiencing and it is a feature (or problem) with the editor and not a WF problem. Check with your admins to see if they can help you.

quote:

Originally posted by PBrightwell:
I am not familiar with vim, but there are some editors that require you to check out an object and when finished check it back in for version control. If someone has an object checked out, it can not be checked out again (not even by the same person) until it is checked in and released. The second person can get a copy, but they can't save it except to their PC.

Pat,

Thank you for the reply, but I feel as though I must respectfully disagree. Vim does have rudimentary version control capabilities, meaning that it will notify you if the file you're currently editing has been opened or altered by someone else, but I am the only one with visibility into the folder which houses these test files; so there is no chance of someone else accessing them during these tests. I've also tried editing the .fex files with several other external editors such as Crimson Editor, Edit Plus and even the Windows default Notepad and they all exhibit the same behavior in which changes are saved to the folder location within C:\Temp, but are never uploaded into the Webfocus environment.

Also, the rogue CRP_Query.fex file continues to fully replace the contents of whatever file was used in testing, regardless of which external editor is used. In response to this, I completely deleted the CRP_Query.fex and all files used in previous editor tests from my folder within our Webfocus environment, and then created a new test file within WF. I then edited and closed this file with the WF text editor. The file was then opened in Vim from the right-click menu in WF, edited and closed. Lastly, this file was reopened in WF, and the contents of the CRP_Query.fex were still displayed, leading me to believe it must be contained in some kind of 'last file edited' cache or something.

Surely there must be others who are successfully using external editors with .fex files that are stored on servers. The only option I can think of now is to perform my edits in Vim and then copy/paste the results into the Webfocus text editor; but this is definitely less than ideal.

Thanks,


sleepy

While researching another issue, I stumbled upon this reply from Francis in another thread from 2007:

quote:

Originally posted by Francis Mariani:
The scariest one. This has happened to me on two different installations where the server is AS400. Open several different fexes via the Windows Registered Tool as set up in the Dev Studio Options "Default file editor". In my case it's EditPlus. The action of choosing to open in EditPlus makes Dev Studio copy the fexes into the Windows Temp Directory and then open them in EditPlus. After making changes in all the fexes, I pressed the Save All button in EditPlus. One would assume that each of the files in the Temp Directory get saved on the Windows machine and then get copied back to the AS400. What happened to me several times is that they do get saved in the Temp Directory correctly, but when copied back to the AS400, all the files have the same code in them - either from the first or the last fex!!! Needless to say, this is alarming!

My gripes are with DevStudio v5.3.2. I'm sure the new versions are a lot better.

So I am not alone! While this makes me feel a little better, I am a little scared by Francis' last line regarding v5.3.2, as I am using v7.6.4 and am still experiencing the same issue.


sleepy

This message has been edited. Last edited by: sleepyEDB,

sleepy,

Apologies for not responding sooner, I hadn't seen your post until now.

I have had similar problems editing files in a Windows-only environment. It is terrible to know that the same problem still exists in v7.6.4. It's too late for me to open a case with IBI as I'm still on v5.3.2, but perhaps you should open a case (I just don't know if they'll do anything).

I disabled the "Save All" keyboard command in EditPlus so I wouldn't instinctively save my edited files. I save each one individually, with a few seconds wait in between so Dev Studio can digest

I also get the problem when I open multiple files with the same name but in different folders.

I am sorry I can't be of any more help.

quote:

Originally posted by Francis Mariani:
Apologies for not responding sooner, I hadn't seen your post until now.

No need to apologize. We are all busy and I appreciate whatever help I can get!

quote:

Originally posted by Francis Mariani:
I have had similar problems editing files in a Windows-only environment. It is terrible to know that the same problem still exists in v7.6.4. It's too late for me to open a case with IBI as I'm still on v5.3.2, but perhaps you should open a case (I just don't know if they'll do anything).

Understood. I will open a case as you've suggested.

quote:

Originally posted by Francis Mariani:
I save each one individually, with a few seconds wait in between so Dev Studio can digest

So does this mean that by waiting a certain amount of time after saving your changes in the external editor that Dev Studio will eventually upload them into the server environment? I don't mean to prod you for more info, but it sounds as though you're still using EditPlus to do your editing, so I'm just curious as to how you're coping with this issue.

quote:

Originally posted by Francis Mariani:
I am sorry I can't be of any more help.

Again, don't be sorry. I appreciate you replying to my reference of a year-old post you made regarding a rather obscure problem.


sleepy

In Dev Studio, I may open several files in my external editor (EditPlus). When it's time to save the files, I save one, wait a few seconds, save the next one, wait a few seconds... This seems to allow Dev Studio to save them properly, though I still have the problem saving two files with the same name but in different folders - for this situation I try to never open the same-named files.

I see. Thanks for the tip...I will experiment with waiting to see if Dev Studio just needs some time to think about uploading the changes from an external editor.

Thanks,


sleepy

As the next step in trying to solve this issue, I opened a case with IBI tech support. The technician told me he thought the problem was that I do not have access to write directly to the EDASERVE environment on our server from the external editor, which is why the file gets put into the C:\Temp\ibitmpopen\Report Development folder on my local machine. I agreed that was a logical deduction, except for the fact that I made changes to a .fex and successfully uploaded those changes from vim a few weeks ago...this is where the 'phantom fex', the file whose contents keep appearing whenever I try to test this issue even though it has been deleted from our EDASERVE environment, came from.

His recommendations to fix the issue were to have our server administrator grant me full access directly to the server that hosts our WebFocus environment and then see if the changes made in vim are successfully uploaded, or continue to be stored in C:\Temp\ibitmpopen\Report Development. The other option was to try uninstalling/reinstalling WebFocus on my machine, but he regarded that as a last resort. I don't think being granted direct access to our server is very likely or practical, so I'm not sure that's an option. I can try uninstalling/reinstalling my local client, but I'm not sure if that will really help.


Moderators,

I don't think tagging this thread as [SOLVED] is accurate, but if there's another tag you would like to use like [UNRESOLVED] or maybe something to reflect that this issue may never get resolved, then that's fine with me.


sleepy

It's definitely not [SOLVED] and I don't *think* the technician is right in saying the error is due to you not having access to write directly to the EDASERVE environment. You're using an external editor via Dev Studio to edit one or more files, why should it work when you save one file and not work when you save many files?

Actually, the problem I'm having has never been between editing one file as opposed to many. If I could successfully edit and save files one at a time in an external editor, I'd be happy!

All of my tests have been with editing just one file at a time. And since they've all failed, I've never even tried writing multiple files at once.


sleepy

I wish I had stumbled on this thread earlier, as I reported this issue with 7.6.11 almost a year ago and the tech support folks at IBI didn't seem to be aware of the issue (or even know what vim is). That's a bit worrying, considering you wrote that you opened a case for the issue.

Does this problem still exist in 7.7? That's what we're using, but these days I edit the files directly on the server instead of through Dev Studio - both much more convenient (it allows me to open multiple files in the same vim session, for example - Dev Studio would send each file to a new vim session) and much more reliable. As a consequence, I haven't had much opportunity to run into this issue anymore.

Hi Wep,

Thanks for the reply, but unfortunately I can't offer much assistance as my job function changed a few months after creating this thread and I haven't programmed in WebFOCUS since then.


sleepy