Cannot backup - invalid byte sequence

Asked by Sergus

Windows 7 Professional, Russian localization.
I tried RN 1.3 and RN 1.2 portable - I cannot backup the journal into a zip file, got the message "The folder contents could not be displayed - invalid byte sequence in conversion input". Also, there is a message "Nothing to save" in the status bar.

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Sergus
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Jendrik Seipp (jendrikseipp) said :
#1

Have you tried using a different backup folder? Can you post the log you
get during backup (C:\Docs\user\.rednotebook\rednotebook.log)?

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Sergus (bishopleonardbrennan) said :
#2

Yes, I tried everything :)
I reinstalled the program and tried saving again, here is the log. Some problems with encoding?
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/38387443/rednotebook.log

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Jendrik Seipp (jendrikseipp) said :
#3

Hmm, yes it's an encoding problem. I'll look into it. For the moment you
can try deleting your cloud black and white lists in the preferences and
retry the backup. Does it work now?

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Sergus (bishopleonardbrennan) said :
#4

By the way after I close the program (checked - no icon in system tray), there's still the process running in task manager.

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Sergus (bishopleonardbrennan) said :
#5

No, still the same message pops up right after I click backup

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/38387443/%D0%A1%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%BE%D0%BA.PNG

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Jendrik Seipp (jendrikseipp) said :
#6

can you please post you config file:
C:\Docs\use\.rednotebook\renotebook.log

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Sergus (bishopleonardbrennan) said :
#7

Well, I guess in my case the path is C:\Users\USERNAME\.rednotebook. I do not have C:\Docs\ folder at all. So in that folder I got 2 files, the rednotebook.log that I attache above, and this one http://dl.dropbox.com/u/38387443/configuration.cfg, is that it?

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MyOtheHedgeFox (a-ztech) said :
#8

No wonder RNB freaks out -- look at this string in your config file:

dataDir=C:\Users\356о7\.rednotebook\data

Try moving the journal into another directory that has no Cyrillic characters, special chars and spaces in its full path. =)

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Sergus (bishopleonardbrennan) said :
#9

Tried that, I even changed my account name, installed the program and created a new journal on D drive (non-system). Still no use. BUT the portable version works fine from the D drive now so I guess I need to find a way to rename the user folder (for some reason it remained the same after I renamed my user account and rebooted). I'll try to find a way around it. Well,let's say for now it's solved.
I'll keep you posted if I have any other bugs cause I really like the software, thanks for it!

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Jendrik Seipp (jendrikseipp) said :
#10

Thanks to your investigation I could fix some serious utf-8 bugs.
Thanks! I have created a new beta installer. Could you please try it out
and tell me if everything works for you (opening new journals, saving to
different locations, adding filelinks, adding pictures, etc.) Please
backup your journal first.

here is the installer:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4780737/rednotebook-1.4.0-beta1.exe

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Sergus (bishopleonardbrennan) said :
#11

Jendrik, hi, I just read your message.
Will do!

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Sergus (bishopleonardbrennan) said :
#12

Jendrik,
I still have a Cyrillic character in my user folder path because the only way to change it without a really painful, time consuming and dangerous renaming process is to reinstall the whole system. At least it is what I googled out.

So, with that Cyryllic letter in the user name, I have the following (I used the program version from your link above):

I can successfully export txt, html and pdf to a partitioned D:\ drive or anywhere on the system C:\ drive, except that I cannot export PDF into anywhere under C:\Users\MyUserFolder-With-A-Cyryllic-Character path.

I cannot do a zip backup into anyplace, the message in the status bar being "nothing to save" or "saved into...", but there is nothing in the folder.

A small bug with exporting: no matter what format I choose, I always get the last used extension in the file name, so I have to manually change it.

Another bug is that keyboard shortcuts do not work (no ctrl-Z is a real pain!)

So the problem is basically with zip Backups - they simply don't work. I use the portable 1.2 version now, it works fine.

Also, a couple of unrelated questions, please - I understand there must be a reason why there are two views in the program, but do you ever plan to make it possible to, say, insert a picture or make text bold and see it right away rather than a piece of code instead? I'm not a Linux or computer man, it's a bit odd for me now. Is it some natural limitation, or intended feature, what is the reason for the two views?

Another thing, the backup - is it supposed to include the referenced objects within the zip file (like images or docs), or just paths to them? I'd appreciate if saving all option was possible.

Also, I'd appreciate the bold, italics and underline buttons on the panel, not a drop-down menu... at least until keyboard shortcuts are functional.

All that being said, after some time using it I must say that this simple tag-cloud-globalsearch-calendar thing beats all the note/diary soft I ever tried (and I tried a lot), I even think of dumping MS OneNote with all it's bells and whistles.
The KISS principle rules!

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Jendrik Seipp (jendrikseipp) said :
#13

Am 11.02.2012 14:01, schrieb Sergus:
> I can successfully export txt, html and pdf to a partitioned D:\ drive
> or anywhere on the system C:\ drive, except that I cannot export PDF
> into anywhere under C:\Users\MyUserFolder-With-A-Cyryllic-Character
> path.
Can you post the log again? Is it the same error message as before?
>
> I cannot do a zip backup into anyplace, the message in the status bar
> being "nothing to save" or "saved into...", but there is nothing in the
> folder.
>
> A small bug with exporting: no matter what format I choose, I always get
> the last used extension in the file name, so I have to manually change
> it.
Thanks for bringing this to my attention!
>
> Another bug is that keyboard shortcuts do not work (no ctrl-Z is a real
> pain!)
None of the shortcuts (listed under Help->Contents) works? If not, this
is a bug.
>
> So the problem is basically with zip Backups - they simply don't work. I
> use the portable 1.2 version now, it works fine.
>
> Also, a couple of unrelated questions, please - I understand there must
> be a reason why there are two views in the program, but do you ever plan
> to make it possible to, say, insert a picture or make text bold and see
> it right away rather than a piece of code instead? I'm not a Linux or
> computer man, it's a bit odd for me now. Is it some natural limitation,
> or intended feature, what is the reason for the two views?
The two views were a limitation of the underlying GTK toolkit, but are
also a personal preference :)
>
> Another thing, the backup - is it supposed to include the referenced
> objects within the zip file (like images or docs), or just paths to
> them? I'd appreciate if saving all option was possible.
Me too ;) This is planned.

Thanks for your help!

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Sergus (bishopleonardbrennan) said :
#14

Yes, the problem seems to be the same as before.
Keyboard shortcuts - I confirm, none works.

Anyways, I will be reinstalling Windows and using the program without a Cyrillic character in the user folder name. I'll keep bugging you with bug reports if I find any more :)

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Jendrik Seipp (jendrikseipp) said :
#15

Am 16.02.2012 11:05, schrieb Sergus:
> Yes, the problem seems to be the same as before.
> Keyboard shortcuts - I confirm, none works.
I just tested it on my machine and for example Ctrl-N opens the tag
dialog so they all seem to work. Don't know what's causing the issue for
you.
>
> Anyways, I will be reinstalling Windows and using the program without a
> Cyrillic character in the user folder name. I'll keep bugging you with
> bug reports if I find any more:)
Please do so :)

Revision history for this message
Sergus (bishopleonardbrennan) said :
#16

It must be the fact that I have Russian Windows localization. I have a fresh Windows installation and shortcuts for other programs work fine. The only shortcut that works for me in RN (1.4.0-beta1 from this page) is ctrl + PgDn/Up.

It would be great to have an option/shortcut that would fetch selected text from other programs into RN. Say, I read some manual in Opera browser or MS Word, select some useful text and press the shortcut (good old ctrl+c?) and it gets pasted inside RN without the need to maximize its window and paste by hand. A clipper, for short.

Another good thing would be for search to automatically scroll to the first found item in a note when you select it in the search panel. Now I have to scroll to look for the yellow highlighter. Since we are limited by no more than one note per day (no tabs in plans I guess?), notes can grow quite big and I guess this auto scroll thing will be quite useful.

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Jendrik Seipp (jendrikseipp) said :
#17

Am 24.02.2012 03:20, schrieb Sergus:
> It must be the fact that I have Russian Windows localization. I have a
> fresh Windows installation and shortcuts for other programs work fine.
> The only shortcut that works for me in RN (1.4.0-beta1 from this page)
> is ctrl + PgDn/Up.
Ok, it seems the ones that require an Ascii Character (Ctrl+N) don't
work. Would be nice to fix this, but I don't know how.
>
> It would be great to have an option/shortcut that would fetch selected
> text from other programs into RN. Say, I read some manual in Opera
> browser or MS Word, select some useful text and press the shortcut (good
> old ctrl+c?) and it gets pasted inside RN without the need to maximize
> its window and paste by hand. A clipper, for short.
This has been requested before, but it would require for example writing
a firefox or chrome addon. If anybody wants to do so, I would be happy
to help.
>
> Another good thing would be for search to automatically scroll to the
> first found item in a note when you select it in the search panel. Now I
> have to scroll to look for the yellow highlighter. Since we are limited
> by no more than one note per day (no tabs in plans I guess?), notes can
> grow quite big and I guess this auto scroll thing will be quite useful.
Good idea. This is planned.

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Sergus (bishopleonardbrennan) said :
#18

> It would be great to have an option/shortcut that would fetch selected
 > text from other programs into RN. Say, I read some manual in Opera
 > browser or MS Word, select some useful text and press the shortcut (good
 > old ctrl+c?) and it gets pasted inside RN without the need to maximize
 > its window and paste by hand. A clipper, for short.
 This has been requested before, but it would require for example writing
 a firefox or chrome addon. If anybody wants to do so, I would be happy
 to help.

Jendrik, my programming knowledge is non-existant, so maybe it's total bull, but is addon really necessary? Can't RN paste into itself anything that is in the Windows clipboard buffer? Another program - Windows Buffer - RN? Not always, but when you turn this mode on.
OK, disregard if I'm saying something stupid, I am in no way computer-literate.

PS But I know that RightNote does it without any addons.

Revision history for this message
Jendrik Seipp (jendrikseipp) said :
#19

well, maybe you have another bug then ;)
I can go to firefox, ctrl-c to copy some text, open RedNotebook in edit
mode and Ctrl-V (Or Menu->Edit->Insert) to insert it. Doesn't that work
for you?

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Sergus (bishopleonardbrennan) said :
#20

By the way, I will ask in Russian programming forums about this keyboard thing, maybe those people can point in the right direction.

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Sergus (bishopleonardbrennan) said :
#21

well, maybe you have another bug then ;)
 I can go to firefox, ctrl-c to copy some text, open RedNotebook in edit
 mode and Ctrl-V (Or Menu->Edit->Insert) to insert it.

How'bout it's done automatically?

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Jendrik Seipp (jendrikseipp) said :
#22

Well, then all the text you ever copy in windows will land in
RedNotebook, this can't be what you want, right?

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Sergus (bishopleonardbrennan) said :
#23

Nope.
I said "when this mode is on". Then - yes.
I read a lot of literature, including Bill Clinton and Holy Fathers. Sometimes - very rarely - they say something that is worth saving. :) That is the place where RN comes in.
Or - simply assign a(n other) button. Pls check how RightNote works. Win+A, Win+V. And you got a note. For a text database, it is a necessary feature.
I feel so bad I cannot code or I would help you code the best note-taking software in history :)

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Jendrik Seipp (jendrikseipp) said :
#24

Ah, now I get you, this is however beyond the possibilities for
RedNotebook. The app would then have to constantly monitor what is in
the clipboard, I don't think this can be done in a platform agnostic
way. I'll keep it as a possible idea though.

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Sergus (bishopleonardbrennan) said :
#25

Thank you, sir. We'll see what we can do.
:)