0.91 pre2 redo button doesn't work

[Brynn]

Hi Friends.
I just installed the 64 bit version of 0.91 pre2, in case I might want to submit an image for the About screen contest.

The Redo button does not work at all. Even after several edits, and undoing 1 or 2, the Redo button remains grayed out. Edit menu > Redo doesn't work either (grayed out, even after a couple of Undos).

I also installed the 32 bit version of 0.91 pre2, and similarly, the Redo button doesn't work there either.

This is on Win7, 64 bit.

(Not really relevant, but at first I thought Undo and Redo buttons were missing entirely! This must be another case of "doesn't need fixed, but we'll change it anyway". Really, the back curved arrow and front curved arrow are so traditional. Why change them?? Just my opinion.)

Thanks :-)

[su_v (suv-lp)]

Please clarify:
Does 'redo' actually fail (no action when clicking the button with the missing icon, or when executing the menu item), or is the reported failure the missing icon?

The missing icon(s) is a known regression and already tracked in
- Bug #1269698 “Preferences, Undo, Redo and Revert stock icons are missing (trunk >= 12882)”
  https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/1269698
Bug #1269698 however does not affect the functionality of the button or the menu item (undone changes still can be redone).

[Brynn (brynn4inks-deactivatedaccount)]

Ooohh, I didn't realize the icons were missing. I thought they had been changed.

Now, the Redo button does seem to work. But there is some kind of issue. When I first open a new blank file, and draw some quick lines and shapes, and do one or more undos, it doesn't work. And then it does. I don't know what happened to make it start working.

What I mean is that the button is grayed out, even if I have made a few Undo actions. And nothing happens when clicking on it. Same for Edit menu > Redo, and same with whatever the key shortcut is.

Let me see if I can isolate better, what causes it to start working. I'll post again soon.

[Brynn (brynn4inks-deactivatedaccount)]

It's probably going to take someone with more technical knowledge than me, to figure it out. Here's what I've done twice.

Open new blank doc (my custom default doc, if it matters)
Draw a star
Do a bunch of edits
 -- add color fill and stroke
 -- object to path
 -- drag some nodes and handles
Undo a few steps

Redo is not possible. Button is grayed out. Clicking on it and nothing happens. No Edit menu > Redo or the key shortcut either, will work.

Next, I switched to the Selection tool, and dragged the object around.
Did a few more random dragging of nodes.
Try Undo a few steps, and BAM, the Redo button suddenly became activated (not grayed out).

At that time, I thought maybe using the Selection tool, or dragging the object with the selection tool had done the trick. Either that, or it was the amount of time the file had been open.

So I closed that doc without saving, and opened a new doc, to see if I could reproduce.

But now trying that routine a 2nd time, and even twice the amount of time has passed, and I still haven't gotten the Redo button to work.

Should I submit a test file, in case it's tied to my custom default doc?

[Brynn (brynn4inks-deactivatedaccount)]

If I use the Calligraphy tool, it seems to cause the Redo button to become activated. I've reproduced that 3 times.

[su_v (suv-lp)]

> Should I submit a test file, in case it's tied to my custom default doc?

Yes, that might be helpful - a sample SVG file (if you happened to reproduce it again), the custom template file itself, and - for completeness' sake (to allow attempting to reproduce on other systems with the same setup) - your preferences file.

[Brynn (brynn4inks-deactivatedaccount)]

Well, I still haven't learned anything about what's causing it. But I have determined that once I draw something with the Ellipse tool or Calligraphy tool, or fill something with the Paint Bucket, the next time I Undo, the Redo button becomes activated.

If the first thing I draw is with Star tool, Rectangle tool, Pen or Pencil, and any edits with the Node tool to those items (after converting to paths) -- and then I Undo, the Redo button is grayed out and doesn't work.

But as soon as I draw something with Ellipse, Calligraphy or fill something with Paint Bucket, then Undo, Redo becomes activated.

That's all I've got, and likely all I'll ever understand, until you guys can learn more about it. I've opened, done multiple edits and closed without saving, around 12 to 15 files, and it happens every time, if the first thing I draw is with Star, Rectangle, Pen or Pencil. It resolves as soon as I fill something with Paint Bucket, or draw with Calligraphy or Ellipse tool. If the first thing I draw is with Calligraphry of Ellipse, the problem never happens -- at least so far.

Thanks for your help :-)

[Brynn (brynn4inks-deactivatedaccount)]

But I can keep giving you clues, I guess.

Draw a star with Star tool.
Use Paint Bucket to fill.
Do a few edits to the fill path (scale, skew, change color again via palette).
Try Undo.
Redo remains grayed out UNTIL I get back to the step where I made the original fill with the Paint Bucket tool.
When I undo that step, the Redo button becomes activated, and I can re-fill the star using Redo button.
However, I cannot Redo beyond that point (can't redo the scale, skew, 2nd color change).

Weird, huh?

[su_v (suv-lp)]

Please attach your custom default template file and your preferences file, thx.

[Brynn (brynn4inks-deactivatedaccount)]

Oh sorry, I missed your reply ~suv. I've been able to reproduce it every time I open a new blank file, according to the info below. Attached is the last file I was using, zipped together with my pref file.

Here are the steps I made:

 - draw blob shape using Star tool (tool style is black stroke, no fill)
 - object to path
 - fill using Paint Bucket

At this point, if I undo the paint bucket fill, I am able to redo the paint bucket fill.

Next, I edited the fill shape (although the same would apply to the original black stroke with no fill blob)

Here are actions to the fill shape (green blob), and to the file, which after undoing, I cannot Redo:

 - move with selection tool
 - drag nodes, node handles, sculpt nodes with Node tool
 - scale, rotate, skew (selection tool)
 - add a filter
 - add stroke
 - change fill via palette (or stroke)
 - change fill to gradient (or stroke)
 - draw new rectangle, filled via palette, to test dropper tool
 - change fill with dropper tool (or stroke)

If I do several of those steps in a row, and then Undo 1 step, cannot Redo.
If I do several steps in a row, and undo all the way back to the paint bucket fill, I can Redo the paint bucket fill, but I cannot redo any of the other steps, after the bucket fill.

Here are actions to the green blob, or to the file, which after undoing, the Redo button becomes activated and I can Redo.

 - use Eraser tool on it
 - change fill color using Paint Bucket
 - draw with Calligraphy tool
 - draw an Ellipse

Any of those steps, after undoing, I can redo. (I have the impression that there's something similar to all those tools, but I can't explain technically what it is.)

After some time of testing, and I have managed to activate the Redo button a few times, in the same file, it seems to stay active, from there on, even if I do some of those steps which initially could not be redone.

Let me know if you need any further info :-)
Thank you very much!

[Brynn (brynn4inks-deactivatedaccount)]

Oh, and the custom template? Sorry, I missed that part. Here it is.

[su_v (suv-lp)]

Reproduced with Inkscape 0.91pre2 r13652 on OS X 10.7.5 with the preferences file attached in comment #9
(not reproduced with default new preferences using the same build)

TODO: investigate which preferences settings trigger the reported failure of the 'redo' feature.

Hint: when drawing an object with the mentioned tools (rect, star, pen, pencil), a new entry is added to the undo history:

   Set marker color

which indicates that the trigger which breaks the redo command is related to the tools' own style.

[su_v (suv-lp)]

Possibly related comment mentioned breakage of undo/redo wrt markers in bug #1198530:
<quote>
In addition to the unexpected behavior, 'Redo' is lost after undoing changes of the stroke (and/or fill) color of paths with markers in the current selection. Loss of 'Redo' seems to only occur if the style change was the latest step(s) undone.
</quote>
<https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/1198530/comments/1>

[su_v (suv-lp)]

Trigger seems to be these properties in the tools' own style:

   marker-start:none;marker-mid:none;marker-end:none;

The remaining property

   marker:none;

seems to be ok.

[su_v (suv-lp)]

> Trigger seems to be these properties in the tools' own style:
>
> marker-start:none;marker-mid:none;marker-end:none;

… but only if the 'Fill and Stroke' dialog is open.

[Brynn (brynn4inks-deactivatedaccount)]

~suv, are any of your last comments directed to me? If so, I'll have a lot of questions. However, I suspect they were not for me.

The main thing I want to say, is about:

"… but only if the 'Fill and Stroke' dialog is open."

The problem still does happen for me, even with F/S dialog closed. But maybe you meant something more specific -- I really didn't follow a lot of your comments.

[su_v (suv-lp)]

On 2014-09-22 03:54 , Brynn wrote:
> are any of your last comments directed to me?

No.

[su_v (suv-lp)]

On 2014-09-22 03:02 , ~suv wrote:>> Trigger seems to be these properties in the tools' own style:
>>
>> marker-start:none;marker-mid:none;marker-end:none;
>
> … but only if the 'Fill and Stroke' dialog is open.

To clarify my earlier comment:
AFAICT it happens in the current session as soon as the 'Fill and Stroke' dialog has been opened once (either restored from last session, or newly opened).

--
(Note: this comment is for bug triage, not directed to the reporter)

[jazzynico (jazzynico)]

Also related: bug #1445407 "after Difference, Undo shows "Set marker color" (0.91)"
<https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/1445407>.

[Brynn (brynn4inks-deactivatedaccount)]

Hi again,
I still don't understand the discussion about why this is happening. But since the milestone is set for 0.92, I thought I should mention that using 0.92pre2(beta) I still have this problem.

Please let me know if I can provide files or logs or help with troublelshooting :-)

Thank you very much!

[Brynn (brynn4inks-deactivatedaccount)]

Ok, now that the problem seems worse in 0.92pre3, I'm trying to understand more.

Now, I've gotten into the habit of closing the Fill and Stroke dialog when I close a file, so that it won't be open the next time I open Inkscape. And I set Inkscape not to remember window or dialogs.

However, I haven't seen the Redo button at all, using 0.92pre3. So it seems like the Fill and Stroke dialog doesn't have anything to do with it anymore.

su_v said

"Trigger seems to be these properties in the tools' own style:

   marker-start:none;marker-mid:none;marker-end:none;"

If I either edit the tool style in Inkscape Prefs, or manually edit my preferences file, for the affected tools, would that solve the problem temporarily? Like for example the Star tool - I would never be putting a marker on a shape, only on a path. So if I made a marker which consisted of 1 pixel dot, and set one or all of those with that marker.... Would that solve the problem, without anything showing in the drawing?

Or is it much deeper and more complicated than that?

This is really a serious problem for someone like me, not to be able to undo, because there's no way to redo, if I change my mind.

Thanks again :-)

[jazzynico (jazzynico)]

Brynn, yes, removing these properties (marker-start:none;marker-mid:none;marker-end:none;) in the affected tools should fix the issue for you.
But the underlying bug still needs to be fixed in the code.

[jazzynico (jazzynico)]

Not sure it can be easily done with the preferences dialog. I'd suggest manually editing the preferences.xml file (keep a backup!).

[Brynn (brynn4inks-deactivatedaccount)]

Thanks jazzynico. I'm planning to edit the prefs file asap.

But first, do we know which are the affected tools? At first, I remember suv said the rect, star, pen, and pencil tools. But now, it seems like all the tools are affected. Do I just need to test them all?

[jazzynico (jazzynico)]

@Brynn, according to your preferences file (attached comment #9), the affected tools are:
 - Rectangle,
 - Star,
 - Pencil,
 - Pen,
 - Eraser.

Of course, you can also remove (or rename) your preferences.xml file so that the application creates a new default version.

[Brynn (brynn4inks-deactivatedaccount)]

Hhmm.... To be honest, I can't remember whether I followed through with editing the prefs file.

But I've just tested on 1.0 alpha, and I can no longer reproduce this. So I will decline to migrate the GL.

And since I can't identify any specific code or patch that might have fixed this, I'll just mark as Invalid.