Better error messages

[jcc5018]

I tried using your programs today and was once again presented with a license activation screen (this is an issue in itself that I shouldnt have to be pestered to continue using software I pay for.

Regardless,  I open up publisher, no problem. I try to make an adjustment to something in designer, and end up with another activation screen but continue to get "Please try again"

So i try again. No luck. I verify my password is correct, and try again, no luck. I try opening photo,   same issue.  I get very angry that I cannot do the work I need to do due to stupid login screen preventing me from using what should be offline software.

Finally, i find a forum topic that addresses errors and see this:
 

Quote

"Please try again"

This message can appear if you're trying to activate an Affinity V2 app while you have another Affinity V2 app running in the background. Close the other Affinity V2 app to continue the license activation. Once activated, you can open the other Affinity V2 app again. If you continue to have issues, you may need to reset the app back to its defaults following the instructions here: https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/167832-how-do-i-reset-an-affinity-v2-app-back-to-its-default-settings/

So my question to you is if password activation doesn't work due to other programs being open which seems to be the only reason this error would appear, instead of telling people to "please try again" and causing people to become angry as I have, Don't you think a "please close any other opened affinity programs to activate" would be more appropriate? 

It really surprises me how many big companies continue to use such vague error messages. If this was a one man show, maybe i'd give yall some slack, but I don't think this is the case. You are a well established company, you can do better.  Now after several wasted hours, maybe i can do my work. 

Summary: Explaining why an error is occurring and what someone can do to fix it.  = less angry customers

[jcc5018]

Ok now its even worse.  

Closing the other programs allows me to activate on one, but then when i go to use the other program after a successful activation, it wants me to activate that program again. And again and again.  I can't have 2+ programs open it seems without the 2nd wanting me to activate, and of course i can't do that with the first program open.  What kind of nonsense is this?   

i guess I'm not getting any work done today. 

[NathanC]

Hi @jcc5018,

It's very likely that you have a mixture of the apps installed using the two different installation methods: MSI (AKA .EXE installer) and the standard MSIX installer. When you mix the two installers for the apps this can cause app conflicts and will continually re-prompt you the activation page and give you the 'please try again' error when you try and run them concurrently.

There are ways to distinguish the two install methods for the apps on your PC, however for the sake of simplicity I would recommend uninstalling all three apps and then re-installing them using the same installation method for all three applications. You should be able to uninstall them via Windows Settings > 'Installed Apps'.

If you would like to install all three using the MSI(EXE) installer, I've linked a guide below which details how to download the apps via the MSI, if not the MSIX will be available on the Affinity store 'Downloads and product keys' or the 'V2 licenses' page.

[jcc5018]

Well I'm not sure why it would suddenly have problems almost a year of using the software with no issues. (Bought shortly after v2 release) and bought the 3 pack which I can't remember if it was 1 installer or 3, but I'd imagine they are the same.

But I suppose I can look when my power comes back on. Though sometimes things aren't actually consumers faults.

 

 

[walt.farrell]

If you purchased right away, you would have had the MSIX versions. Later, you might have chosen to install the EXE versions instead. And then, if you updated from 2.0 to 2.1 it's very easy to download the MSIX versions again by mistake and install them, rather than installing the EXE updates. 

[jcc5018]

I haven't re-download anything, any updates I did through the app. But I'll look when I get my power back.

[jcc5018]

so, all apps are msix , all apps are 2.1.  What else you got?   I still can't run publisher with the other apps.  I seem to be able to run photo and designer together.  Though if one asks to activate, then i close the others, the other magically decides it wants to work now.  

So something is buggy. Someone please fix it 

 

[walt.farrell]

22 minutes ago, jcc5018 said:

so, all apps are msix , all apps are 2.1. 

The only known cause of the symptom you've described, as far as I know, is mixing the MSIX and EXE installers. It's possible you've found another situation, of course, but this long after the product release it feels like someone else would have found it, too.

If you would be willing to provide some screenshots to confirm there's no mixture, here's an approach that would gather the information reliably:

1. Start the apps as you normally do.
2. Start Windows Task Manager, and give us a screenshot of that window.
3. Expand one of the Affinity application entries, and right-click on the first line of the expanded entry. Choose Open File Location. Give us a screenshot of the top of the File Explorer window that you get, with the location bar showing.
4. Repeat step 3 for the other two applications.

 

[jcc5018]

lets assume i actually know how to use computers and acknowledge that i had no problems with these programs since i downloaded them in December, until now. 



All have been updated to 2.1

[jcc5018]

I just removed and reinstalled the programs since im somewhere with decent internet to redownload. 

[walt.farrell]

8 minutes ago, jcc5018 said:

lets assume i actually know how to use computers and acknowledge that i had no problems with these programs since i downloaded them in December, until now

I would be nice to be able assume that, but 40-some years of supporting users and diagnosing their problems leads me to prefer seeing the proof

1 minute ago, jcc5018 said:

I just removed and reinstalled the programs since im somewhere with decent internet to redownload. 

Thanks. And you downloaded the MSIX installers to do that?

[jcc5018]

Fair enough, and although I do get it as someone who has worked tech support, I just get a bit frustrated when I provide acknowledgement and relevant details, yet thats not good enough... not just this post but many others.   But you don't know what I know. 

But as a programmer, that please try again error does need to be updated to explain what the problem is (IE. "close other programs to activate")

 

but you do not appear to work for the company, so that's not on you.

 

But thanks for attempting to troubleshoot regardless. It's working for the time being.

 

And msix is the only windows install option available

[Pšenda]

23 minutes ago, jcc5018 said:

And msix is the only windows install option available

[Pšenda]

2 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

If you would be willing to provide some screenshots to confirm there's no mixture, here's an approach that would gather the information reliably:

1. Start the apps as you normally do.
2. Start Windows Task Manager, and give us a screenshot of that window.
3. Expand one of the Affinity application entries, and right-click on the first line of the expanded entry. Choose Open File Location. Give us a screenshot of the top of the File Explorer window that you get, with the location bar showing.
4. Repeat step 3 for the other two applications.

Too bad this information is not part of About.

[walt.farrell]

22 minutes ago, Pšenda said:

Too bad this information is not part of About.

Or the Account dialog, which provides details that About doesn't.

[R C-R]

45 minutes ago, Pšenda said:

Too bad this information is not part of About.

Why not just provide a better message than 'try again' when a mix of the two are installed? 

[walt.farrell]

13 minutes ago, R C-R said:

Why not just provide a better message than 'try again' when a mix of the two are installed? 

Yes, for this case, if they can detect that this is the cause.

But in general it would be useful to know, easily, whether one is running the MSIX- or the EXE-based version of the applications on Windows. Today it is harder to be sure than it should be.

[R C-R]

3 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

But in general it would be useful to know, easily, whether one is running the MSIX- or the EXE-based version of the applications on Windows. Today it is harder to be sure than it should be.

Is that something Serif could fix or is it more up to Microsoft to do that?

[walt.farrell]

9 minutes ago, R C-R said:

Is that something Serif could fix or is it more up to Microsoft to do that?

Serif could do it, by providing the information in About or in Account, just as it provides the release info. And it would be more convenient for the user to have it available within the app when someone needs to know, rather than having to go into some Windows-provided dialog somewhere and look.

[jcc5018]

Well considering an msix is just an installer that installs an exe file at the end of it all,  I'm not sure why it matters at all. 

 

Nor why it would decide it doesn't want to work after 6 months of working fine.

 

Nor should an installer have anything to do with an already installed applications verification that was verified 6 months ago. 

So maybe yall know something I don't. As I won't pretend to be an expert in software development, (I do web dev) but none of this makes sense to me as my understanding is msix is just a package for installation, not what the software runs on.

 

 

[R C-R]

3 minutes ago, jcc5018 said:

Well considering an msix is just an installer that installs an exe file at the end of it all,  I'm not sure why it matters at all. 

As I understand it, the difference is Microsoft has set this up so you cannot directly access the exe file this installer creates, apparently as a security feature. If you search the forum, for instance on "MSIX" you can find a lot more about the differences.

[jcc5018]

dont know, i just reinstalled from an msix installer and i have the program .exe available. 

Well maybe not through the traditional means of programs file... but if you do the open file location from task manager, it takes you to an exe

All i know, is I got it working by reinstalling, but i still dont see a reason why it broke to begin with

 

[Pšenda]

21 minutes ago, jcc5018 said:

I'm not sure why it matters at all. 

Because "sandboxing". 

[R C-R]

8 minutes ago, jcc5018 said:

All i know, is I got it working by reinstalling, but i still dont see a reason why it broke to begin with

If you try the suggested forum search you will probably get a better understanding of the reasons why it breaks ... or not.

[walt.farrell]

26 minutes ago, jcc5018 said:

Well considering an msix is just an installer that installs an exe file at the end of it all,  I'm not sure why it matters at all. 

It matters because sandboxed apps, like you get with an MSIX installer, operate differently in some ways from the non-sandboxed apps you get with the EXE/MSI installer.