Vector images Placed from Stock panel are lost when document is set to Prefer Linked

[walt.farrell]

If you create a document with a placement preference of Prefer Linked, the Affinity applications work as follows when you "Place" files from the Stock panel:

1. For raster images, the image is Embedded, ignoring the "Prefer Linked" preference. This may be unexpected, but it works.
2. For vector images, the image is Linked. This obeys the "Prefer Linked" preference. However, the "link" is to a file stored in the user's Affinity temp directory. The next time the application is closed and restarted, that directory is emptied, and the linked file is lost. When the user subsequently reopens the Affinity document, they will have to find that file again.

Vector Stock images should behave like raster Stock images, and become embedded.

Note: This discovery arose from investigations in another topic, where an email response by Serif suggested that the user should be aware this could happen, and instead use Prefer Embedded. See: https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/191437-managing-resources-question/&do=findComment&comment=1121574

However, as raster and vector Stock images behave differently, I prefer to think that the handling for vector is simply broken, and should be fixed.

 

[thomaso]

11 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

the "link" is to a file stored in the user's Affinity temp directory

FWIW, on mac and in V1 the used file path is NOT in the user's library folder (where Affinity preferences are stored, incl. autosave and temp files) but in a invisible folder on the computer's main directory ( private / var / … ) which is not meant by macOS to get accessed by the user at all (for instance to go there to move this image resource). (see screenshots in Walt's linked thread)

[Dan C]

Thanks for your report Walt!

I agree that the behaviour should be consistent here regardless of the Stock file type - equally I personally think this should always respect the document policy and both Raster and Vector Stock should be Linked.

I can see this has been previously logged with our development team as a bug, that said Stock should always be Embedded to avoid any Linked/temp issues, hence the response provided to the user via email from the Affinity technical support team in the linked thread.

I'll be updating this development report now, including my personal preference regarding respecting the document policy.

However I'm not certain of the best location from which they should be linked, as thomaso has mentioned above although this technically worked within V1, the location used is not ideal if a user wishes to move the file etc - though I am certain our developers can discuss this further internally.

I hope this helps

[thomaso]

18 minutes ago, Dan C said:

our development team as a bug, that said Stock should always be Embedded to avoid any Linked/temp issues

How about a dialog window that prompts the user for a file path and possibly a file name, like the one which typically appears already as soon an embedded resource gets set to linked that was not previously linked (for example, if the user converted a pixel layer to an image layer)?

This could also prevent file names like these automatic names for temporary files:

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g85554611f117f0ffd8f288d7e44ece4ff2c7718f5124613323feb12bf9b9a15c6d94cc523cdf7044c004c07c9a6ceaab.svg

Currently, embedding even a vector file seems to be a more reasonable compromise, because this way not only the loss of the downloaded temporary file in the temp folder can be avoided, but also the process of changing from embedded to linked would be easier for the user and the need to access an invisible macOS system folder would be avoided.