Such a Heartbreak - 'read error' again

Damm, I love using this program so much (Xtreme Pro 5), but this is at least the 6th or 7th time that I'm happily going along and BAMM!

I get some error and the file is inaccessible. I got a 'read error' and I can't get the file to load... it previews in the 'open dialog' box but won't load.

I'm becoming so fearful in continuing to work with Xtreme because of these happenings. I have 3 very important websites created with it, and every time I need to make adjustments and changes I start praying to Jesus, Moses, Buddha and yes, even Allah. (not taking any chances)

I guess I have no choice but to make a temporary switch to another app until Xara gets some of the kinks out... anyway, I attached the error message and the .xar file in the hopes that one of you experts can either get me the file back or at least give me some explanation as to why it happened so I may avoid the action that caused it. I'm just glad that this time it only happened an hour into the work.

Anyway, patience, patience. I know (hope) by the next release it becomes a lot more solid.

Thanks

Cliff

Never had a problem with Xtreme 5 so far.
Sorry to hear that you've had an unfair share.
Cliff your attached file seems incomplete.

Here's the eof:

Quote:

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c o n s u m e r p r o d u c t s r e s e a r c h a n d r e p o r t s C o m p l e t e r e p o r t s , r e s o u r c e s , a n d r a t i n g s o n m a n y o f t o d a y ' s m o s t p o p u l a r a n d i n d e m a n d p r o d u c t s . A n e x t e n s i v e r e s e a r c h e d l i b r a r y o n p i a n o c o u r s e s , g u i t a r c o u r s e s , w e i g h t l o s s s y s t e m s a n d m e t h o d s , b o d y a n d m u s c l e b u i l d i n g s y s t e m s , o v e r a l l f i t n e s s p r o d u c t s f o r a l l a g e s , s t o p s m o k i n g t r e a t m e n t m e t h o d s , r e l a t i o n s h i p h e l p , i m p r o v m e n t , a n d h e a l i n g . n u t r i t i o n a l s u p p l e m e n t s , g o l f i n g i m p r o v m e n t a n d e q u i p m e n t , a n d m a n y a r t i c l e s o n a l l s u b j e c t s . p i a n o l e s s o n s , p i a n o l e s s o n s o f t w a r e , p i a n o l e s s o n v i d e o s , o n l i n e p i a n o l e s s o n s , l e a r n p i a n o o n l i n e , f r e e p i a n o l e s s o n s , p i a n o t i p s a n d t r i c k s , f a s t w a y t o l e a r n p i a n o , l e a r n p i a n o , s t u d y p i a n o , l e a r n i n g p i a n o , p i a n o f o r a d u l t s , p i a n o f o r k i d s , h o w t o l e a r n p i a n o , p r a c t i c i n g p i a n o , h o w t o p r a c t i c e p i a n o , p i a n o l e a r n i n g a r t i c l e s , p i a n o t e a c h e r s , f i n d i n g p i a n o t e a c h e r , l e a r n j a z z p i a n o , h o w t o p l a y j a z z p i a n o , s t u d y j a z z p i a n o , j a z z p i a n o c h o r d s , j a z z p i a n o s c a l e s , j a z z p i a n o v o i c i n g s , j a z z p i a n o t e a c h e r , p o p p i a n o , h o w t o p l a y p o p p i a n o , l e a r n g o s p e l p i a n o , h o w t o p l a y g o s p e l p i a n o , l e a r n i n g g o s p e l p i a n o , g o s p e l p i a n o t e a c h e r , g o s p e l s t y l e p i a n o , c h u r c h r e p o r t s a n d r e v i e w s p i a n o , c h u r c h s t y l e p i a n o , c o u n t r y p i a n o , c o u n t r y s t y l e p i a n o , l e a r n c o u n t r y p i a n o , s t u d y c o u n t r y p i a n o , h o w t o p l a y c o u n t r y s t y l e p i a n o , l e a r n p i a n o c o u r s e s , l e a r n p i a n o C D ' s , l e a r n p i a n o b o o k s , l e a r n p i a n o v i d e o , p i a n o v i d e o l e a r n i n g , r o c k p i a n o , l e a r n r o c k p i a n o , h o w t o p l a y r o c k p i a n o , s t u d y r o c k p i a n o , p i a n o t e c h n i q u e , d e v e l o p i n g p i a n o t e c h n i q u e , i m p r o v e p i a n o t e c h n i q u e , d e v e l o p p i a n o t e c h n i q u e , c l a s s i c a l p i a n o , l e a r n c l a s s i c a l p i a n o , h o w t o p l a y c l a s s i c a l p i a n o , p i a n o s c h o o l s , g u i t a r l e s s o n s , g u i t a r l e s s o n s o f t w a r e , g u i t a r l e s s o n v i d e o s , o n l i n e g u i t a r l e s s o n s , l e a r n g u i t a r o n l i n e , f r e e g u i t a r l e s s o n s , g u i t a r t i p s a n d t r i c k s , f a s t w a y t o l e a r n g u i t a r , l e a r n g u i t a r , s t u d y g u i t a r , l e a r n i n g g u i t a r , g u i t a r f o r a d u l t s , g u i t a r f o r k i d s , h o w t o l e a r n g u i t a r , p r a c t i c i n g g u i t a r , h o w t o p r a c t i c e g u i t a r , g u i t a r l e a r n i n g a r t i c l e s , g u i t a r t e a c h e r s , f i n d i n g g u i t a r t e a c

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Expandxar creates an empty file, even X1 can't do anything with it.
Have you checked your RAM and HDD for errors?

Thanks anyway Sledger...

I'm glad you never had a problem... maybe you could send me your copy of Xtreme? It must a different one than mine.

And btw, as I look through the forums, it's seems quite obvious that I'm not the only one that experiences errors that prevent access to files. In fact, it seems quite prevalent.

Anyway, what can I say? If this happened in other apps, I guess I would be thinking it's something with my system. But as I run about 20 different apps, and some heavy duty ones at that, and more than one at a time, and this NEVER happens, I can only attribute it to Xtreme.

That's ok though, I'm AM patient and will hold out till some kind of realease that might fix MY problem.

Once again, glad your not experiencing this.

Cliff

My apologies Cliff - I wasn't inferring anything I didn't say.

However, judging by your file it appears that a write process is incomplete due to an interruption of some kind.
You may be experiencing this error because some other software/running process is interfering with Xtreme's ability to write changes.
PhilM may be able to offer better clues but as Xtreme isn't sandboxed, it's quite possible that something along these lines could be happening.

Probably worth mentioning 'Backup on save'.

Christine

As Christine mentions using XaReg to set Xtreme to create a .bak file when you save can be a life saver.

XaReg can be downloaded from the XaraXone shareware page.

And because Xtreme makes a separate bak file every time you save (once backup is turned on), you may well be able to go back "upstream" far enough to get behind the error.

I think..... I found the cause of my problems.... Now I'm NO techie type guy, but I've spent quite a few hours trying to trace why I've had many a file corrupt on me in XaraX.

At this point (subject to change) I'm beginning to believe it's related to fonts.

If I think back to the websites I've had trouble with in XX, it was because I had tried (unintentionally) to use fonts that weren't installed.... ie a fontface that did not have its bold equivalent installed, and I tried to bold it. XaraX does NOT like this. I've had to be very careful not to do that. Also....

With my last episode (this thread) I had opened a PDF and proceeded to highlight and copy the text to then paste it into Xara. Well the PDF font was of course embedded, so when it got into Xara, if that font was not installed, Xara hiccuped again.

Not to go into every instance, but I believe I have traced all of my incidences back to a font thing.

I have thoroughly cleaned up my installed fonts and have been careful to use them correctly in Xara, and the program seems to be running very smoothly.

Does any of that make any bit of sense? Or do you think that it's even a possibility that I could be on track?

Anyway, you can see how desperate I am to use XaraX because my workflow just flies when all is well.

Just thought this might give some others something to think about that are getting some error problem things happening. Who knows?... ( only the shadow knows )

Cliff

That file is very peculiar. It is very incomplete, it stops in the middle of the file header. What is more interesting is the fact that the start of the file clearly indicates that it was not truncated after Xtreme has written it, but that file creation was not completed. This should only be possible if the program was terminated while saving the file. Are you absolutely sure you did not see an error message when saving that file?

I am very doubtful that such a problem could be caused by font usage (but then, I am responsible for the font code, so I would say that). At Xara, we have various files with bold/italic effects applied to font families that do not support them and those are saved without any problems.

If you still have a previous version of the file before it got corrupted I would be interested in seeing it.

Well I guess it was just a shot in the dark wuerthne. Maybe just coincidence with my font theory. I don't doubt your skills.

Yes I saw an error on the 'save' but had no control from there on.

Anyway, I downloaded and now use Xareg suggested by the above and I feel much better now about working in Xara. It's a great utility. So thanks much to the creator of the Utility.. (sorry the name escapes me)

In fact during a save yesterday, I got one of those that killed my file again. But thanks to Xareg, I recovered.

Ya know, I'm not trying to be a pain in the butt, or complain. Xara has become my absolute favorite program. I have dumped Illustrator CS4, Serif, and a few others to moved over to Xtreme because of it's power and ease of use. This program makes even a half-assed designer and page layout guy like me look good.

But, I have no other program that this happens to. So I'm going to accept that there's some other interaction happening between SOMETHING in my system and Xara. So if it's not the font thing...... I took the next steps.

I have literally stripped, and I mean STRIPPED my system of ANY unnecessary start-up and background programs that have been present during my Xara use. I have even uninstalled a dozen or so other programs from the system, keeping only what is necessary so as not to possibly interfere with my Xara use. Even cleaned the reg of all left over residue, and performed all other possibilities that may have or might interfere.

I now have a lean mean fast machine.

I have used the program for approx 8 hours today without a hitch. So maybe I hit on the prob. If not, I will keep troubleshooting.

Thanks

Cliff

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cmpan1

Anyway, I downloaded and now use Xareg suggested by the above and I feel much better now about working in Xara. It's a great utility. So thanks much to the creator of the Utility.. (sorry the name escapes me)

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That would be Bill Taylor (Soquili) with a small amount of UI design and debugging from me..
Bill has done the entire TG community a huge favour by spending so much of his time working on XaReg.
Feedback and seeing that it helps people is the reward and motivation for doing something that helps all Xara software users (along with the odd donation of course ;))

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cmpan1

Well I guess it was just a shot in the dark wuerthne. Maybe just coincidence with my font theory. I don't doubt your skills.

Yes I saw an error on the 'save' but had no control from there on.

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Ah, so you did get an error, that changes everything! Of course, after an error during saving, it is not surprising that the file is incomplete. Please, please let us know the exact error message.

Quote:

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In fact during a save yesterday, I got one of those that killed my file again. But thanks to Xareg, I recovered.

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Next time it happens, please take a note of all displayed information.

Quote:

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Ya know, I'm not trying to be a pain in the butt, or complain.

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But you have every right to complain. An error during saving is not acceptable and we are determined to fix this.

wuerthne: Unfortunately, foolish me, I did not note the errors. But so far, after my housecleaning, all seems better. If, it happens again I will note it and pass it on so as to help you and Xara correct any possible glitches.

Thanks Much for the responses.

Cliff

Quote:

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Originally Posted by wuerthne

Ah, so you did get an error, that changes everything! Of course, after an error during saving, it is not surprising that the file is incomplete. Please, please let us know the exact error message.

Next time it happens, please take a note of all displayed information.

But you have every right to complain. An error during saving is not acceptable and we are determined to fix this.

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Would it be worth moving to a 'safe save' system, where you save to a temporary file and only if that completes OK do you do a ReplaceFile type operation onto the top of the actual target file? At least that way the existing file won't get pranged if the save fails.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by willdean

Would it be worth moving to a 'safe save' system, where you save to a temporary file and only if that completes OK do you do a ReplaceFile type operation onto the top of the actual target file? At least that way the existing file won't get pranged if the save fails.

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That sounds like a good idea to improve reliability. However, you can achieve the same level of reliability already by enabling the file backup feature, plus that approach offers the extra benefit of always keeping the previous version, not only if the save fails.

We have 3 computers all using Xara pro5 and have the same problem. We have lost tens of hours of work. Now we not only save regularly, but backup x3 all files! We have a list of error messages. I'm Xtremely cautious now

This is a serious problem if you are having errors across 3 PC's.
My advice to you is to contact Xara support and supply them your list of errors and include details about your PC hardware and software installations such as which Security suite you may be using.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cmpan1

If I think back to the websites I've had trouble with in XX, it was because I had tried (unintentionally) to use fonts that weren't installed.... ie a fontface that did not have its bold equivalent installed, and I tried to bold it. XaraX does NOT like this. I've had to be very careful not to do that. Also....

With my last episode (this thread) I had opened a PDF and proceeded to highlight and copy the text to then paste it into Xara. Well the PDF font was of course embedded, so when it got into Xara, if that font was not installed, Xara hiccuped again.

Not to go into every instance, but I believe I have traced all of my incidences back to a font thing.

I have thoroughly cleaned up my installed fonts and have been careful to use them correctly in Xara, and the program seems to be running very smoothly.

Cliff

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I agree whole heartedly!! Everytime I have had the problem - many, many times - it has always been while I was using the text tool and changing fonts. I now try to avoid the problem but every now and again I forget and CRASH!!!! Most annoying and something that Xara should look into QUICKLY!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sledger

That would be Bill Taylor (Soquili) with a small amount of UI design and debugging from me..
Bill has done the entire TG community a huge favour by spending so much of his time working on XaReg.
Feedback and seeing that it helps people is the reward and motivation for doing something that helps all Xara software users (along with the odd donation of course ;))

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Why not include the back-up part as standard in Xara? Corel Draw has the feature as standard.

Neither Bill nor I work with or for Xara Group Ltd.
XaReg is a 'user' created utility, not a Xara one.

I wasn't suggesting that you or Bill work for Xara but I assume that someone at Xara occassionally reads this forum so my hope was that they might pick up the problems and incorporate the fix in the next release. It does seem to be a fairly widespread problems that is causing people a lot of aggro.

The backup feature has been available in current and previous versions of Xtreme for sometime, though it requires enabling in the registry.
Bill's XaReg utility just allows easier access to settings which are already present.

Yes, Xara are aware of XaReg and the often requested autobackup feature from directly withing the program.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Peebs24

I agree whole heartedly!! Everytime I have had the problem - many, many times - it has always been while I was using the text tool and changing fonts. I now try to avoid the problem but every now and again I forget and CRASH!!!! Most annoying and something that Xara should look into QUICKLY!!

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I am puzzled. You complain here in the forum, but as far as I can see we have no failure report in our bugs database. Without there being one this will never ever be fixed.

If you encounter errors and you want us to fix them may I kindly suggest that you let us know about them? The absolute minimum we need are the error messages that are displayed. Plus, if you supplied us with anything allowing us to reproduce the error (e.g., a test file plus step by step instructions to trigger the fault), then that would help enormously.

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Originally Posted by southwestg

We have 3 computers all using Xara pro5 and have the same problem. We have lost tens of hours of work. Now we not only save regularly, but backup x3 all files! We have a list of error messages. I'm Xtremely cautious now

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I would be very interested in these error messages. Please post them here or send me a message.