Section Manager doesn't work???

[JIGSr]

I have a document with 16 sections. After generate through data merge manager, I only got two sections. The first one and the last one. And it divides the total pages in those two sections only. The first half with the first section, and the second half of the document with the last section.

macOS Big Sur

Affinity Publisher 2.2.0

Attached image about it, but I realize I change manually the name of the section, originally the name is "Cajas de Regalo"

[Hangman]

Hi @JIGSr,

I can confirm I see the same issue, though I think your Data Merge settings are slightly different since your merged file shows 27 pages vs 19 pages in your source document.

 

Sample file attached

Data Merge Sections.zip

[NathanC]

Hi @JIGSr,

I've replicated this and logged it with the developers. Thanks @Hangman for the sample file!

[JIGSr]

Hi @Hangman and @NathanC

 

You are right, I use an image from an previous document, the latest one have more section as you could see. If you prefer I can send you both files...

[Hangman]

Hi @Jigar,

I think it would be helpful for @NathanC to have a copy of your file so it can be used for testing purposes…

[NathanC]

13 hours ago, JIGSr said:

You are right, I use an image from an previous document, the latest one have more section as you could see. If you prefer I can send you both files...

If you send the data merge source file and Spreadsheet to the dropbox link below (if you don't wish to share it publicly) I can then add it to the existing report as another example. 🙂

https://www.dropbox.com/request/LxzxCVyqc068BnxTqOVy

[JIGSr]

@NathanC

 

Well, I suppose there is no problem about information already in the files....

I will try this afternoon with my old iMac. I did a try in my wife's MacBook Pro and it worked, however, the merge file did not preserve the formatting, (that's new to me), and the section manager still doesn't work. However, the data merge worked just fine. So, with this experience I have my doubts if there is something wrong in my user data that with the new 2.2.0 version the app crash. The funny thing is that I did not have any issue, at all, before the 2.2.0 version.  

I will post later about my changes and the results using my iMac.

[JIGSr]

@NathanC

 

Hi, I already upload both files to the link provided. And here is my update about the data merge manager bug. As you can see in the document already uploaded, the last two pages contains the same information, with the same data manager data. The difference is that the last data manager (page) is not enable the merge enabled option, so it doesn't do anything if generated the merge. In that way, I could generate a complete file without a crash. The problem with the section manager is there too, after generating the merge file it only gives two section manager instead all the section names already defined. Hope to hear your thoughts about this issue. Thanks

[Hangman]

Hi @JIGSr,

Having not seen your file I can't be sure this is related but there appears to be what looks like another bug with Data Merge where if you specify one less page that required for the 'Merge Pages' Page Range the merged file ends up with double the number of pages in the merged document.

@NathanC, I don't know if you're able to clarify whether this is expected behaviour or a bug but if you take the sample file I uploaded and in the Data Merge window and change the 'Merge Pages' Page Range from 'All Pages' to 'Pages 1 to 18' and then run the merge you'll see that instead of merging Pages 1 to 19 (i.e., A to S) it merges, as you'd expect Pages 1 to 18 (i.e., A to R) but then adds an additional 19 pages with the merge showing pages 1 to 19 (i.e., A to R followed by A to S) to give a total of 37 pages in the merged file which somehow doesn't feel right.

[NathanC]

17 hours ago, Hangman said:

@NathanC, I don't know if you're able to clarify whether this is expected behaviour or a bug but if you take the sample file I uploaded and in the Data Merge window and change the 'Merge Pages' Page Range from 'All Pages' to 'Pages 1 to 18' and then run the merge you'll see that instead of merging Pages 1 to 19 (i.e., A to S) it merges, as you'd expect Pages 1 to 18 (i.e., A to R) but then adds an additional 19 pages with the merge showing pages 1 to 19 (i.e., A to R followed by A to S) to give a total of 37 pages in the merged file which somehow doesn't feel right.

I believe this is the expected behaviour, on a more simplified version of the sample document if you were to just have the data field inserted on 'A' (page 1) only with the full range of pages the generated merge would end up with 361 pages as it has to repeat all 19 pages for the 19 records on A in the document (19*19), so each 'A' page record has a total set of 19 pages. With this logic applied to your document, if you set the page range from 1-18 but there's 19 records and 19 total pages, the first 18 pages all have a record each, but this then leaves an extra record, so it starts from 'A' again but it has to include the remaining pages in the merge, regardless of if they have a field.

The only thing i'm uncertain about currently is why it includes the 'S' page again on the second 'A' set in your example document, as it also does this in my earlier example if I was to set the merge range from 1-18, I would expect this to output 342 pages (18 records * 19 pages), but I end up with 343 as it adds an extra 'S' page for the last set of records.

---

@JIGSr Thanks for your documents, I can see that the section manager issue is present on the document so i'll add this to the report. I didn't experience a crash at any point when running the merge, but your merge is comprised of image records in your spreadsheet which I don't have a link to on my side. I also don't observe any formatting changes (but I can't see the images, just empty picture frames as per the above) so if you could screenshot the before/after so I can see what you're referring to that would be great.

[Hangman]

Hi @NathanC,

4 minutes ago, NathanC said:

I believe this is the expected behaviour, on a more simplified version of the sample document if you were to just have the data field inserted on 'A' (page 1) only with the full range of pages the generated merge would end up with 361 pages as it has to repeat all 19 pages for the 19 records on A in the document (19*19), so each 'A' page record has a total set of 19 pages. With this logic applied to your document, if you set the page range from 1-18 but there's 19 records and 19 total pages, the first 18 pages all have a record each, but this then leaves an extra record, so it starts from 'A' again but it has to include the remaining pages in the merge, regardless of if they have a field.

Thanks for clarifying, that all makes perfect sense...

5 minutes ago, NathanC said:

The only thing i'm uncertain about currently is why it includes the 'S' page again on the second 'A' set in your example document

This confused me as well so it would certainly be interesting to understand why this is happening and whether it should or should be happening (the assumption being the latter)...

[NathanC]

4 minutes ago, Hangman said:

This confused me as well so it would certainly be interesting to understand why this is happening and whether it should or should be happening (the assumption being the latter)...

I'm under the impression that this is not expected so i'll get it logged, as it only every does this with the last set of records. If it turns out to be, i'll report back with findings/reasoning.

[Hangman]

1 minute ago, NathanC said:

I'm under the impression that this is not expected so i'll get it logged, as it only every does this with the last set of records. If it turns out to be, i'll report back with findings/reasoning.

That's perfect, thank you...

[JIGSr]

Hi @NathanC and @Hangman

Well, it does not crash when I run on my wife's macbook pro either. I am will try to create a video to recreate the crash, and how did I made the changes in the document to avoid this problem. I will upload it in my next post.

Thanks

[JIGSr]

Hi @NathanC, I already have the videos where I try to explain the issue. Just in the third one happens the crash and the fourth is how I did to avoid Publisher to crash. I also include the error reported by the system in a text file.  I am sending the file "Catalogo General v02.afpub" used when the app crash, through dropbox link provided earlier. Other data are the same so there is no need to upload. First time creating a screen recording.

03.5 Screen with Error

[JIGSr]

Hi @NathanC,

Yesterday I saw an update pending in my computer, so I did the download. It is the new version 2.2.1, and now, documents that did not present any problem with the merge, are having the same issue. This is a simple file, nothing complex as the one I uploaded to you. How can I downgrade to a prior version of 2.2.0 because I can't work anymore with these documents. I am really worry about all this.

Thanks

[Hangman]

Hi @JIGSr,

20 minutes ago, JIGSr said:

How can I downgrade to a prior version of 2.2.0 because I can't work anymore with these documents.

You should be able to re-download v2.2.0 via this link assuming you purchased directly from the Affinity Store rather than from the Mac App Store...

https://store.serif.com/en-gb/update/macos/publisher/2/

[JIGSr]

I did from the Mac App Store... 😐

[Hangman]

16 minutes ago, JIGSr said:

I did from the Mac App Store... 😐

This is what Serif say in the FAQ section...

"Unfortunately, it's not possible to download previous versions of our apps through the App Store, Mac App Store and Windows Store. However, if your Affinity Store account contains a licence entitlement for the relevant app, you can remove your current Affinity V2 app downloaded from an App Store, install a version from above and sign into your Affinity Store account to activate the licence."

Link

[JIGSr]

Hi @NathanC

I am attaching the video and the text file with the error reported by the system, this crash or issue is happening with old documents that were working just fine even with version 2.2.0

Please let me know if you need the original documents.  Thanks.

Thank you @Hangman for your post.

05.5 Screen with Error.txt

[NathanC]

Hi @JIGSr apologies for the late reply,

On 10/20/2023 at 5:44 PM, JIGSr said:

I am attaching the video and the text file with the error reported by the system, this crash or issue is happening with old documents that were working just fine even with version 2.2.0

Please let me know if you need the original documents.  Thanks.

I did take note of in your recording your template folder/file is linked to the iCloud drive, after opening the .aftemplate file as shown in your recording, if you were to file > save as to a local location on your Mac which isn't synced to the iCloud and re-run the merge, does this have any impact as to whether or not it causes an app crash?

If you could also provide the .afpub document shown in your recording along with that .XLSX data source I can confirm if the problem can be replicated, I've added a new dropbox link below for any uploads.

https://www.dropbox.com/request/AMdl9mKITErzdr34rzhi

Many thanks

[JIGSr]

Hi @NathanC,

I follow your instructions and move the aftemplate to my user folder. It works, no crash. Then, I move the catalog to my user folder and it works too. The images or Excel files remains in the same place. So now, I am thinking what reason could it be that make crash the app, and the obvious answer could be, because the files I work with are located/saved to iCloud (I have to tell you that all my documents and data are located in iCloud), what changes were made that with version prior to 2.2.0 there was no problem at all.

Thanks, do you still want my files to be uploaded? Anyway, I am uploading the two files now. I understand this files I am sharing are private and for your test only.  Thanks a lot.

Have I nice week.

[NathanC]

Hi @JIGSr,

Happy to hear that following the directory move it's now working as expected. If you don't mind providing the files to my Dropbox link still that would be great, as I can then confirm if the crashing problems can be replicated on my side when using iCloud synced folders. The files will only be used for the purpose of testing.

Thanks!

[JIGSr]

@NathanC

Hi again. This problem started when I installed version 2.2.0. I don't know what's happening when I move to my computer the affinity publisher templates files that worked as it should be. But now, again, the issue reappeared. I have a request from a customer where I have to use data merge manager and the app simply crash each time I try to finish the job. I am running out of ideas what to do about it. Please help.

[NathanC]

Hi @JIGSr,

Could this be another situation in which your template .afpub files and data merge source/spreadsheet are being actively stored on an external storage location (e.g cloud, network storage, USB) when you generate the data merge? Unfortunately I was not ever able to re-produce the crash with your prior documents on iCloud after some trial and error. I would just initially confirm that all the files you're working with are stored and being opened from a local location and then try generating the merge again.

If the files are stored locally and you're still encountering the crash it could be a problem with the contents of the file, if you can provide the .afpub and data merge source for inspection along with a recent crash report that would be great, I've added an upload link below.

https://www.dropbox.com/request/TaJ51mWsGCFQExo97LUA

Where to find crash reports: