Publisher 2.1.1: Dragging asset to document results in a hang

[bwbecker2]

I have a simple asset:  a rectangular picture frame grouped with a text frame.  Text wrapping it turned on.  The text frame has a fill colour.  Nothing heavy-duty.

I have used this asset twice near the end of a 125 page document and three times near the beginning.  It refuses to work the sixth time.  Each time it reflows text as I drag it into the document in the immediate vicinity of the asset but hangs when I release the mouse or pause in the drag.  The following text does not reflow.  I can't do anything else with the document (eg select text).  Sometimes the asset shows up in the Layers panel; sometimes it does not.  I can manipulate the UI, but nothing happens.  If I "Quit" the document closes but Publisher does not exit.  I end up force-quitting the app.

Removing the two later applications of the asset, so the newly inserted one is the last application in the document, makes no difference.

I can manually reconstruct the asset in the same location just fine.

Rebooting my computer makes no difference.

Deleting everything beyond page 60 makes no difference.  Deleting everything from the next chapter start on and it works.  The heading shown in the video doesn't show immediately, but I can select text and if I change the text (eg add and then remove a space) the text after the inserted asset reflows.  It seems like a bug is still there -- it should reflow without me doing anything -- but it's not as bad.  

App:  Affinity Publisher 2.1.1

OS:  MacOS 13.4.1

Hardware:  2021 16" MacBook Pro, 32GB, M1 processor

A successful application of the asset:

 

Here's a screen recording of the events leading up to the hang:

 

Here's an image of the Layers panel for the successful application of the asset:

The group is pinned to the heading.  It wraps square with 0.1" space on all sides.  

 

 

[Hangman]

Hi @bwbecker2 and welcome to the forums,

I appreciate your document is very personal to you so you may not want to upload it but it's likely going to be quite difficult to figure out what is causing the issue without seeing the file itself.

If you'd like someone from the Serif team to take a look you can request a private Dropbox link by replying to this post.

In the meantime, I 'suspect', but could be wrong, that it's the pinning causing the issue. If you unpin the asset, position it and then repin it, does that make any difference?

[Callum]

I have included a link to our DropBox below however I would recommend trying the pinning recommendation that hangman suggested first.

https://www.dropbox.com/request/qSFVnUAY2kn5dmDJVjgt

[bwbecker2]

3 hours ago, Hangman said:

In the meantime, I 'suspect', but could be wrong, that it's the pinning causing the issue. If you unpin the asset, position it and then repin it, does that make any difference?

Thanks for the suggestion, @Hangman.  To be clear, I never get the opportunity to pin the new asset that I'm dragging in.  Publisher hangs before that.

I did unpin all of the other instances that were previously pinned and tried again -- same result.  I can drag the asset into the document and text flows around it locally, but when I release the drag I can no longer interact with the document (select text, manipulate the dragged asset, etc).

[bwbecker2]

1 hour ago, Callum said:

I have included a link to our DropBox below however I would recommend trying the pinning recommendation that hangman suggested first.

@Callum I have uploaded the document with the assumption that it will be used only for debugging this issue and will not be distributed beyond the necessary development staff at Serif.

The three photos included in the document are linked and have not been uploaded.  If that presents a problem, please let me know next steps.

My initial report references five existing photos.  I have since removed the last two, with no change in behaviour.

[Hangman]

1 hour ago, bwbecker2 said:

I never get the opportunity to pin the new asset that I'm dragging in.  Publisher hangs before that.

I was referring to your Asset which based on what you referenced above, i.e. "Layers panel for the successful application of the asset" where "the group is pinned to the heading.  It wraps square with 0.1" space on all sides."

So I was meaning unpin the group from the heading, assuming it's pinned as part of the asset.

I can replicate the lack of text flow when initially dragging the asset to the page when pinned but so far I've not been able to get Publisher to freeze completely so it becomes non-responsive...

 

[Callum]

2 hours ago, bwbecker2 said:

@Callum I have uploaded the document with the assumption that it will be used only for debugging this issue and will not be distributed beyond the necessary development staff at Serif.

The three photos included in the document are linked and have not been uploaded.  If that presents a problem, please let me know next steps.

My initial report references five existing photos.  I have since removed the last two, with no change in behaviour.

I'm struggling to replicate this behaouir here at my end with a copy of your asset that I have recreated from scratch. Just to rule out me doing something wrong would you be able to upload a copy of your asset to our DropBox? I can assure you that these files will only be shared with our developers and will be deleted once this has been investigated.

[bwbecker2]

@Callum, I just exported the asset and uploaded it to Dropbox.  Thanks for your assistance!

[bwbecker2]

3 hours ago, Hangman said:

I was referring to your Asset which based on what you referenced above, i.e. "Layers panel for the successful application of the asset" where "the group is pinned to the heading.  It wraps square with 0.1" space on all sides."

So I was meaning unpin the group from the heading, assuming it's pinned as part of the asset.

I can replicate the lack of text flow when initially dragging the asset to the page when pinned but so far I've not been able to get Publisher to freeze completely so it becomes non-responsive...

 

@Hangman, My workflow for the times that it worked was:

1. Drag the asset into the document.
2. Add the picture.
3. Resize the frame, position, etc.
4. Pin it to the surrounding text

It now hangs for me between steps 1 and 2.

The behaviour differs at different points in the document.  To be clear, lets define 3 behaviours:

B0:  Drag the asset into the document.  The document reflows while dragging and upon release of the mouse (drag is finished) the text after the asset reflows automatically.  I think this is the way it worked earlier; this is the way I think it should work; I haven't seen it do this for some time.

B1:  Drag the asset into the document.  The document reflows around the asset while dragging -- however, the text after the asset's position does not reflow until I select some text and change it somehow.

B2:  Drag the asset into the document.  The document reflows around the asset while dragging.  When I release the asset, the text after it does not reflow and I am unable to select text or make any further changes to the document.

Note that all three of these behaviours are describing step one (from the workflow above) and the state of the document between steps 1 and 2. 

Trying to apply the asset at different parts of the document gives different results.  I tried at pages 30, 54, 60, 63, 64, 68, and 121 (but not in that order!).  I get B2 (worst result) up to page 63.  On page 64 I start getting B1 (sort of acceptable result).  There is a new chapter that begins on page 63 (Heading 1 with start a new odd page).  I removed the text between the end of the previous chapter and the place on page 64 where I got behaviour B1, hoping that would get rid of some sort of file corruption.  However, I still got B2 in that area of the document and B1 later on.

My hunch is that the above might be random luck.  With a fresh copy of the document I successfully inserted the asset on page 64 again (behaviour B1) the then doing the same on page 67 failed (behaviour B2).

 

[Hangman]

Hi @bwbecker2,

The initial behaviour I see is the equivalent of your B1 behaviour where dragging the asset onto the page results in missing text below the asset depending where on the page the asset is dragged and the text on the following page doesn't flow at all until the asset is released and then moved, at which point the text then flows correctly.

I've tried adding over 100 instances of the asset to a document following your four-step process and thus far I've not been able to replicate the behaviour you're seeing so I'm still a little baffled as to the actual cause.

Could you perhaps upload a screengrab showing the Layers Panel at the point where you see the asset freeze so we can see how the asset is being placed on the page at that particular moment?

 

[bwbecker2]

2 hours ago, Hangman said:

Could you perhaps upload a screengrab showing the Layers Panel at the point where you see the asset freeze so we can see how the asset is being placed on the page at that particular moment?

 

Here's the area where I want to drag the asset.  The cursor is just before the word "Through" at the beginning of the first visible paragraph.

 

Here's what the Layers panel looks like:

 

After dragging in the asset, the page now looks like this:

As you can see, the text has flowed around the asset but I can no longer select any text in the document, I can't move the asset, etc.  The Layers panel has not changed except that the relevant section is no longer high-lighted:

@Hangman, I think for you to go any farther with this you'll need access to my actual document.  If you're interested in pursuing this, please email me at public@bwbecker.ca and I'll send you the doc.

[bwbecker2]

Just to bring this full circle....

I sent the files to @Hangman who immediately reproduced the same behaviour that I was seeing.  He reached the same conclusion that I was reaching -- the file got corrupted somehow.  He rebuilt the files and asset, which I have been using for several hours without issue.  Thank you @Hangman!!!

PS:  Even though my issue is solved, I'd still be interested in any observations @Callum  may have.