A Graduated Dashed Stroke Causes Publisher to Lock Up on Export

[Hangman]

Steps to reproduce

1. Create a shape, e.g., a rectangle
2. Apply a dashed stroke to the rectangle
3. Apply a gradient to the stroke
4. Attempt to export the file

Result

1. Publisher hangs requiring a force quit

Sample file

The attached file contains three rectangles

1. Dashed graduated stroke
2. Solid graduated stroke
3. Dashed black stroke

To test, make each rectangle visible one layer at a time and then export e.g., as a pdf. The rectangles with the black stroke and solid graduated stroke will export without issue, as soon as the rectangle with the dashed graduated stroke is visible and you attempt to export the document, Publisher hangs and becomes unresponsive if you cancel the export.

This results in having to force quit Publisher.

I'd be keen to hear if the same issue exists on Windows/iPad if anyone is able to test.

I should add that the bug prevents the export of the any multi-page document even if the graduated dashed stroke appears on e.g., page 4 of a 20 page document... regardless of where it appears, you can't export any individual page or spread within that document...

Graduated Dashed Line Freeze.afpub

[G13RL]

 have tried your file in W11, and Publisher crashes when generating the preview when exporting.
I created two simple files with dotted rectangles with gradients (one with small tight dots and one with large dots), and Publisher exported them without a problem.
Perhaps the problem is specific to the file you created?

[Hangman]

42 minutes ago, G13RL said:

Perhaps the problem is specific to the file you created?

@G13RL, many thanks for testing on W11... It's possible it could also be macOS specific... I've tested it with several files and I'm seeing the same issue with each one when there is a graduated dashed stroke... hopefully someone else on macOS can also test the sample file to confirm then at least we should know if it is OS specific at least...

Edit: okay, I've narrowed it down further, the crash/hang only appears to happen when the second dash entry has a value less than one and there is a value greater than zero for the fourth dash value, e.g.,

@G13RL are you able to test this as well on W11?

[G13RL]

I have made several attempts with these values and, apparently, the blocking occurs if the line is thin.
My last two tests were done with the same 160.9 x 138.4 mm rectangle:
One with a line thickness of 15.6 pt, the export is done without problems.
A second one with a line width of 0.9 pt, Publisher crashes, but it is possible to cancel the export and then close the file, Publisher does not need to be forced to stop, it is possible to create a new file and work on it.
As you pointed out, a sequence of 0 1 0 2 on a line works at any line thickness.

[Hangman]

Thanks @G13RL, so it looks as though the formula for causing the freeze needs a little fine tuning, I'd only been experimenting with the dash values rather than the stroke thickness so I'll experiment further with a combination of the two... certainly with the settings in the sample file on macOS, Publisher doesn't crash but simply becomes unresponsive in so much as you can still select main menus and select layers but doing so does nothing at all, so you can't physically make any further changes to the open document, hence the need for a force quit... I guess Windows may react differently in that respect...

Many thanks for testing further, very much appreciated...

[stokerg]

Hi @Hangman,

I've replicated the issue here and have just got this logged with the Dev Team. 

 

 

[Hangman]

Just now, stokerg said:

I've replicated the issue here and have just got this logged with the Dev Team. 

Thanks @stokerg, it's a very odd bug which appears initially to only affect graduated dashed strokes with line weights <= 1pt and only when the size of the initial dot/dash space setting is <= 0.2 and the alternate dot/dash space has a value > 0 but I'm sure there are likely other combinations where it causes Designer to hang on export.

[Affinity Info Bot]

The issue "Dashed Stoked with a gradient fill fails to export to PDF" (REF: AFB-7380) has been fixed by the developers in build "2.1.0.1799/2.1.0.1806". This fix is in the current customer release. If you still experience this problem once you are using that build version (or later) please reply to this thread including "@Serif Info Bot" to notify us