[FIXED] WTF? "Your database needs to be reopened"
 

I get the message "your database needs to be reopened" frequently when updating. Then I'm given the option to reopen it now, or reopen it later. How the heck am I supposed to know which one to do? How about "reopen never?" Why am I bothered with this dialog? What am I supposed to do about it? It's poorly thought out.

OmniFocus has just completed a sync, and the data it's displaying on-screen doesn't match what it just received from the server. It needs to re-display at some point. It doesn't want to keep you from finishing the sentence you're currently writing. But it also doesn't want you to keep working with this old data, not realizing that it has new data available for you.

If you have a suggestion about how we can make this message clearer (or avoid it entirely), please let us know.

The message itself is far more disruptive (to me) than having to re-type a sentence. I'd appreciate the option to turn the message off completely (forever).

- Art

[QUOTE=Lizard;44096]OmniFocus has just completed a sync, and the data it's displaying on-screen doesn't match what it just received from the server. It needs to re-display at some point. It doesn't want to keep you from finishing the sentence you're currently writing. But it also doesn't want you to keep working with this old data, not realizing that it has new data available for you.

If you have a suggestion about how we can make this message clearer (or avoid it entirely), please let us know.[/QUOTE]
First suggestion: check to see if I'm actually in the middle of typing a sentence.
Second suggestion: Say what you mean: "You are in the middle of something and we need to refresh the window because we just synchronized. Do you mind if we do that now or do you want to finish the current sentence first? Click "Go ahead" when you're ready."
How's that? :-)

What happens to the new data you just entered after you re-open the document to sync with the other database. Both have new information now.

If both sets of new information are about the same task, one of them will be thrown away. (This is why we want to show you new info as soon as possible, so there's less chance of it getting thrown away.)

If the changes are on different tasks, or different projects, both sets of changes will be kept.

(We're working on making it even smarter about changes, so if you change a task note on one computer and the same task's start date on a different computer, we can keep both changes.)

[QUOTE=Lizard;44192](We're working on making it even smarter about changes, so if you change a task note on one computer and the same task's start date on a different computer, we can keep both changes.)[/QUOTE]

That sounds good. But what if a task's note field has been edited on two different computers? Will OmniFocus prompt me to choose a version of that task or will one simply overwrite the other? And if I can choose a version (i.e. local vs. server), is it on a per-action-basis or do I have to choose one entire database over the other?

-Dennis

Maybe "working on" was too strong a phrase. "Aware of the desire for" might be more accurate. So I can't really answer how it's going to behave.

Toadling, the answer (at least for now) is that the most recent change wins. That is, if you change an action's title on client A and then later change its note on client B, when they get synced together both clients will end up with the new note and the old title.

I agree with wealthychef that the dialog is confusing as it is worded. In fact, the reason I came to the forums was to find out what it meant.

I don't think new OF users, like me, have any idea what "reopening the database" means. But I do understand that I'm syncing my data with a server, so I suggest rewording the dialog to explain the situation in that context.

I too find it rather interruptive. It's far more annoying when I have another application focused and the OF dock icon is just bouncing away in the dock telling me I need to re-open a database for an application I'm not even using. That is really irritating to me. If I'm not using the app, just do it already and get it over with.

Actually, I have two different issues with this. First, I've been getting this repeatedly and reopen each time, but 30 minutes later get it again. I'm not sure how it's getting out of sync. I suspect my phone is causing the problem, but don't know for sure, since it has OF open. However, I didn't change OF on the phone, so I don't know why I'd need to reopen.

Second, the restart should show what I was already showing. When OF reopens, it just has a list of projects rather than the perspective I was showing.

I really hope you guys are able to somehow leverage the new push features to avoid all this messiness with synching.

This is starting to get really frickin' annoying...

Here I am, typing away in my e-mail and OmniFocus is bouncing away in my dock telling me I need to re-open my database.

WHO CARES! STFU!

So, I open Safari and I'm writing an entry in the Omni forums, and OF is still there in my dock bouncing away telling me it needs to re-open the database.

WHO CARES! STFU!

Why is my productivity app f**cking with my productivity?

Well, this is pre-release software, technically. I hope Omni Group fixes it before the 1.1 release. Would you prefer it if you were typing away in email, glancing at your context list in an inactive window, and then it just disappeared without warning? That's the other option, unless Omni can figure out a way to consolidate changes without closing and reopening the file.

Brian, I'm with you in being patient, but I find this behavior both annoying and random at times.

I just had this happen where this is the only computer that has been active for a couple of hours. I sync obsessively before I leave for the office (laptop, iPhone). When I get to the office, I makes sure the desktop is synced immediately. About an hour later, I make a couple of changes and make sure that the little sync button does its' dance. OF is NOT active on the phone. All should be well, right?

About an hour after that, for no apparent reason, with OF in the background, I am trying to read a recent case. Opinions are boring, and I am struggling to concentrate, when the OF dock icon blows ups, dragging me back to reality and out of my flow, asking me to reopen the db.

So I scream the acronym so elegantly posted above, bring OF forward, hit OK, and watch as a completely random screen is returned that does not remotely resemble the perspective I had up earlier.

This feels like a cat just jumped from the ceiling, ran across my keyboard, scared the hell out of me, and left.

Moreover, there is always a distant thought in my mind that my data is somehow at risk, since OF is telling me something has to happen with my database that needs me attention NOW!!!

All I would ask is the Omni really get on this one quick, or give us more info or a preference of some kind.

Anyways, back to that boring case...

[QUOTE=LawDaddy;45235]
About an hour after that, for no apparent reason, with OF in the background, I am trying to read a recent case. Opinions are boring, and I am struggling to concentrate, when the OF dock icon blows ups, dragging me back to reality and out of my flow, asking me to reopen the db.

This feels like a cat just jumped from the ceiling, ran across my keyboard, scared the hell out of me, and left.
[/QUOTE]

You were starting to nod off there, counselor. They did you a favor :-)

Ahhh, it's a FEATURE!!! I hadn't thought of it that way... ;)

We are definitely aware of this problem. (It happens to me about 18 times a day too.) Tracking down and solving it is proving a bit complicated. Sorry.

[QUOTE=Lizard;45271]We are definitely aware of this problem. (It happens to me about 18 times a day too.) Tracking down and solving it is proving a bit complicated. Sorry.[/QUOTE]

I don't mean to suggest this issue is not worthy of pursuing, but for what it's worth, I almost never see this prompt (maybe once or twice a week at most). So why does it appear over and over for some people but not others? Eighteen times a day [I]would[/I] be annoying!

I keep OmniFocus running pretty much all the time, if that makes any difference. And I only use OmniFocus on my iPhone a couple times a day.

-Dennis

The first step is a better message. The second step is making sure it doesn't happen more often than it should.

I'd put them in this order because the first problem (I'm a new OF user) is understanding the question, and it's a scary question to begin with. The fear is that if you answer incorrectly you might lose data.

If I understood the message, I'd be less bothered that it happened unexpectedly.

Why don't we toss in some suggestions for messages. To start, I'd say that the term 'database' is ambiguous since the average user buying OF doesn't think they are buying a database. Also, it's not just a database [I](in the background)[/I] that is going to restart.

I'll throw out one to start.
==================================================

"Recent sync has updated your data. OmniFocus needs to restart"

- then buttons that make sense in this context.

I know it might be hard to implement but reloading all data by restarting OF is like cheating. It should be a differential change. All changes that are safe should just be made in the background. Only if a conflict arrise should the user be asked how to proceed. The dialog that apple is using for contacts/iCal etc. is pretty good. You see the conflicting item and you choose which change to use.

I just synced my phone. Then I hit a manual sync on OF Desktop (to avoid a future interrupt from OF Desktop). OF Desktop then immediately interrupted me during _that_ action and told me I needed to re-open my database.

I'm like, "No sh*t. Just do it please."

Actually, colicoid, OmniFocus IS detecting a conflict. You may not think you've changed anything since the last time OmniFocus displayed that message, but time has passed, so there's some internal changes, like actions becoming due or overdue.

That being said, I am working with the engineers to review all the times the message is getting displayed and make sure none of them are unnecessary.

We also have a long-term plan to get rid of the message entirely, but it's going to require a lot more re-engineering (read: temporary instability, possible data corruption) than we can really afford for 1.1.

So Ken outsmarted me and figured out a way to get rid of the dialog without all the re-engineering. It's still kind of a temporary fix, and we will need to re-engineer eventually.

But please let us know what you think of the new behavior. Is the auto-refresh without any warning disconcerting?

From the release notes:
[QUOTE]Synchronization will no longer display a "Reopen now or later?" alert dialog; it just refreshes the document.[/QUOTE]

Refresh without asking is good
 

I vote for the refresh without asking.
Sometimes you really do not want to give the application attentions, because you are doing someting else.
Also the first times it happened, I was thinking someting went wrong with the sync.

As far as I believe how the sync works, there's hundreds of zip files on your server, one for each task. Why does OF prompt me to reopen the database when it knows what task matches up with the local task - why can't it just update that task, and not prompt me to re-open the DB. But just thinking about it as I'm writing this, is it just checking the size of the OF db and not each task individually?

If they both are different, prompt me in some form or fashion to combine data or pick one or the other. Unless its just a DB sync, not a task by task sync.

Each zip file is a batch of changes that may affect one or more actions, projects, and contexts. If syncing is frequent and smooth, you can actually get down to one zip file.

The dialog occurs when there are local and server changes and the server changes happened before the local changes. They may not directly conflict, but then again they might. Right now OmniFocus doesn't try to be smart, but simply reloads all its zip files in chronological order.

I guess my take on it is: why would you ever choose to reopen the database later? If you don't do it right away, aren't you working with stale data and putting yourself at risk of potentially significant data loss later on?

And if you're always going to choose "reopen now" (which is what I do), then the app might as well do it automatically without asking.

So I like the new approach. Unless there's some good reason I might want to delay the reopening, I say let the app handle it.

-Dennis

Hopefully that Wi Fi Synch you're working on will help ;)

Good luck...keep up the great work...

WiFi sync won't help. But we do have a separate plan to improve this, after we get the WiFi sync happy.

Auto-refresh is fine with me. I would like it to be a little more gentle with conflicts if it involves deleting anything. Maybe throw it into a "sync conflicts" folder or something?