[1.8.0.518] Weird freeze/Crash on creating new document Template preset

[R C-R 3,539]

On the first launch of the 518 beta, the first thing I wanted to test was creating a new document template preset.

I don't know if it is relevant but I did not realize that the "Set Template Folder..." item did not allow me to create a new folder, so I canceled that & in Finder created a new subfolder in my existing Pictures > Affinity Work > Affinity Publisher docs folder for that, which I named "Publisher templates." Then in the 518 beta I tried again, this time setting the Template Folder to the newly created "Publisher templates" folder.

That worked fine, but when I then set the layout to a simple 600 px by 800 px one & selected the "Add New Preset" item, when I clicked "OK" in the Name New Preset window, the spinning beachball cursor appeared & the app became non-responsive. Here is where it gets weird: when I tried force quitting the app, not only would it not quit even though the app was removed from the Force Quit window, both the Name New Preset & New Document windows remained frontmost on my screen no matter what I did, even after relaunching Finder. (By frontmost, I mean no other windows, Finder or app, could be brought in front of those two windows, although I could move those two around the screen.)

I finally figured out that I had to log out of & then back into my user account to remove those two windows from the screen. After doing that, I relaunched the beta & tried again to add a new document preset to the "Publisher templates" folder. This time, the same thing happened (the app froze with the spinning beachball), but I could bring other windows to the front, & while I was doing that, I got an 'app quit unexpectedly' crash report notice. (I have saved the crash report but for privacy reasons won't attach it to a public post but I will be happy to send it to a Serif dropbox folder if a mod will post a link to that in a reply.)

Nevertheless, the custom preset apparently was created & on the third launch of the beta it appeared at the bottom of the new document window in a new "My Presets" section with the name I chose & it appears to be functional. However, my "Publisher templates" folder remains empty (zero bytes). I repeated the procedure, creating another custom preset & it also appears in the "My Presets" section & works fine, but  my "Publisher templates" folder is still empty, & I have no idea where these presets are stored.

So at the least, I would like to know what the file extension is for these presets is so I can search for where they are.

[Old Bruce 720]

I am a little lost here, still too early in the morning for my caffeine deprived brain. I don't understand what you are doing with new presets and templates?

What I did was make a new document and save it regular style, then when I was happy with that I chose File > Export as Template... and chose the already created (by me using the Finder) Affinity Templates folder to save it to. The file extension is .aftemplate and when I open it I get an untitled document which is a copy of my template.

[R C-R 3,539]

3 hours ago, Old Bruce said:

I am a little lost here, still too early in the morning for my caffeine deprived brain. I don't understand what you are doing with new presets and templates?

I am not at all sure I know what I am doing either but when I select File > New, I get the new open window like is shown below. I set the width & height on the right (not shown) to some values not already in use & then tried to save it using the "Add new Preset" menu item:

I did not create the "My Presets" section of the templates; that was automatically created on the first successful add.

There is something still wonky about this because even though now I can save a new preset this way, sometimes the + button menu shows "Set Template Folder..." & other times not. as if the app can sometimes find it & other times not, but the folder is still empty, even with the 2 presets shown above functional & re-namable.

It is entirely possible I don't understand how this is supposed to work but I could find nothing in the help topics about it so I'm just winging it. I never got as far as seeing the File > Export as Template... item -- the first freeze that left that window & the 'name the preset' one open & frontmost freaked me out so I have not been testing much since that happened.

[Old Bruce 720]

Okay, I think I get it.

What you have is the 'All' section chosen. I got confused with the talk about Templates. 

8 hours ago, R C-R said:

Here is where it gets weird: when I tried force quitting the app, not only would it not quit even though the app was removed from the Force Quit window, both the Name New Preset & New Document windows remained frontmost on my screen no matter what I did, even after relaunching Finder. (By frontmost, I mean no other windows, Finder or app, could be brought in front of those two windows, although I could move those two around the screen.)

This has happened to me with the previous beta. Once. Like you described I couldn't get rid of the window and Publisher was not running. A restart sorted me out.

 

[R C-R 3,539]

26 minutes ago, Old Bruce said:

What you have is the 'All' section chosen. I got confused with the talk about Templates. 

I do have the "All" button selected, but as you can see, there is a "My Presets" menu item showing to the left of that button, & when selected scrolls the 'all' list to the bottom, where the 2 presets I created are shown.

So from this I am guessing that "presets" are not treated the same as "templates" & are stored somewhere other than the designated templates folder. Where that is remains a mystery -- I looked in all the usual per user support folders & all of them have 'last modified' dates older than today, so it seems unlikely these presets are stored in any of their items.

[Old Bruce 720]

Presets are just basic page dimensions with margins, bleed, colour etc, and can be stored as a (very long) text string in a file somewhere we can't see. Have to turn on the hidden folders visibility switch.

Templates are copies of files/documents and as such are much bigger and need to be somewhere and I am glad we can choose where they are stored.

[R C-R 3,539]

25 minutes ago, Old Bruce said:

Have to turn on the hidden folders visibility switch.

I tried that & I still can't figure out where that folder might be. I realize this is just a beta & not the eventual 1.8 release version, but I think knowing where these presets are stored would be useful for backup, troubleshooting, & portability purposes.

Speaking of troubleshooting, I can't figure out why the "Set Template Folder..." menu item comes & goes on different launches of the app. There is also a "SF Template" as the only item in a "Templates" section when I click on the "Templates" button. I have no idea where it came from, but when I open it, there is this in the lower right corner of the one page afpub document that opens:

[nwhit 77]

39 minutes ago, R C-R said:

There is also a "SF Template" as the only item in a "Templates" section when I click on the "Templates" button. I have no idea where it came from, but when I open it, there is this in the lower right corner of the one page afpub document that opens:

That appears to be a sample template included with the beta. I do not see any place where it is being stored, so it would be interesting to see where this sample template is actually kept in the beta. My guess is that the actual release version might include a sample template or two, or Serif might be working with other users/beta testers to have a few available.

On the other issue of Presets, yes, it would be interesting to know where those are stored. I've looked in the Library/Application Support/Publisher Beta folder and don't see anything there that is obvious. Best guess is that the Presets are being asotred somewhere within the ~/Library folder/directory.

[Old Bruce 720]

It is stored in the app itself. /Applications/Affinity Publisher Beta.app/Contents/Resources/templates/SF Symbol.aftemplate

6 hours ago, nwhit said:

I do not see any place where it is being stored, so it would be interesting to see where this sample template is actually kept in the beta.

 

6 hours ago, R C-R said:

I still can't figure out where that folder might be.

 

[R C-R 3,539]

3 hours ago, Old Bruce said:

It is stored in the app itself. /Applications/Affinity Publisher Beta.app/Contents/Resources/templates/SF Symbol.aftemplate

Thanks for finding that. It seems like an odd template to include in the app, in part because it uses the SF Pro font. That font is downloadable from Apple's developer web site, but its use is heavily restricted, as can be seen from this excerpt from the licensing agreement (emphasis added):

Quote

 

2. Permitted License Uses and Restrictions.

A. Limited License. Subject to the terms of this License, you may use the Apple Font solely for creating mock-ups of user interfaces to be used in software products running on Apple’s iOS, iPadOS, macOS or tvOS operating systems, as applicable. The foregoing right includes the right to show the Apple Font in screen shots, images, mock-ups or other depictions, digital and/or print, of such software products running solely on iOS, iPadOS, macOS or tvOS. Your use of the Apple Font shall also be subject to any specific use restrictions with respect thereto as set forth in the Apple Font or Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines.

You may use this Apple Font only for the purposes described in this License and only if you are a registered Apple Developer, or as otherwise expressly permitted by Apple in writing.

 

So unless you are a registered developer you can't legally use the font at all. Even if you are, you can only use it for product mockups. Since the template does not seem to be a product mockup, it is pretty much useless. That means all it really does is add a bit of unnecessary clutter to the list, requiring a little more scrolling than is necessary to get past it.

Hopefully, it won't be included in the retail version.