PEP problem with exporting

[rpesq]

Hi,

Many years since I needed to post... FF 24.0, PEP 4.0

The export function is not working. When choosing a folder, it makes a double entry "C:\temp" gets selected as "C:\temp\temp" and even when I manually correct the folder, the resulting file has no data (0-bytes.)

Finally, the export pastetext items dialog, everything in that large box says "undefined".

Any suggestions?

[cbaker_admin]

All seems to be working fine here.

Are you getting any PEP related errors in the error console (Tools > Web Developer > Error Console)? Please install the Console² extension for error checking. It is more comprehensive.

Try this: Open and clear the Error console. Leave it open and perform an export. Examine the error console for any PEP related error messages (type pasteemail in the "Search:" box). Copy/paste them here.

[rpesq]

Installed Console. There are no errors to report in there at all. Export simply does not work. No errors are reported, even when trying to export to the invalid directory that PEP 4 selects.

If it helps, I run as a Limited User, and FF was installed from a Limited User account (meaning that I did not elevate to an Admin account to install, I forced the install as a Limited User). Vista64 is the OS.

No other issues with the PC or software at all.

If you are certain that export works, how can I scrub my profile of PEP, then install it "fresh" but not lose my Pastetext entries? I am happy to try that.

[cbaker_admin]

All of your pastetext items are stored in your [profile] folder in a file named pasteemailplus.json. In lieu of exporting the items, you could just save of copy of that file. And instead of importing, you could simply copy the file over the existing one.

Also, clear the following preferences in about:config: extensions.pasteemailplus.exportdir and extensions.pasteemailplus.exportfname. (Type about:config in the Fx location bar. Paste extensions.pasteemailplus in the "Search" bar at the top left of that window. Double click on the preference name to modify.)

You mentioned that there are no PEP errors in the console. Are there any errors/warnings for anything at all? Make sure you clicked the "All" button in the top left of the console window.

[rpesq]

I tried clearing the about:config entries, no difference. PEP always doubles-up the directory, and even when manually fixing the directory, the resulting output file has 0 bytes.

Errors from Console:

Warning: Use of getUserData() or setUserData() is deprecated. Use WeakMap or element.dataset instead.
Source file: chrome://pasteemailplus/content/pasteemailplus.js
Line: 3380

Error: NS_ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND: Component returned failure code: 0x80520012 (NS_ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND) [nsIFileOutputStream.init]
Source file: chrome://pasteemailplus/content/pasteemailplus.js
Line: 3538

[cbaker_admin]

Are you able to add new pastetext items? The reason I ask is because the routines to add items and export items both use similar code.

Try this: With Fx closed, rename your pasteemailplus.json to something else (say pasteemailplus.save). Open Fx and try adding a pastetext item (a new, empty pasteemailplus.json file will be created automatically). If it works, try exporting it. (You can always delete the new pasteemailplus.json file and rename the saved one back.) Let me know the results.

[rpesq]

Can add new text, but no change in exporting (still 0 file) or incorrectly grabbing directory path

[cbaker_admin]

How are you selecting the export folder? Are you manually entering "C:\Temp" or are you clicking the "Browse" button and navigating to the directory?

I was able to duplicate the error when I manually entered "C:\" as my export directory. I also got the error when I navigated there using the browse button. Fx does not apparently have permission to write directly to the C: root.

Next I tried manually entering the directory "C:\tmp" (which already existed). PEP exported just fine.

Try having PEP create a new directory by browsing somewhere and clicking the "New folder" button. If Fx creates the new directory via PEP, it should have write permissions.

[rpesq]

It does not work either entering directory by hand, or selecting it via BROWSE.

Either way, you get a 0-byte file. Obviously it has write permissions, otherwise a 0-byte file would not be created.

And that does not take into account the double-selecting of the directory anyway (ie C:\temp\temp), although experimentation shows this is weird.

For example:
D:\Documents\Firefox\rjp\colorzilla -- selected fine
D:\Documents\Firefox\rjp (this is the FF profile root directory) -- double-selected the \rjp\rjp
C: - selected fine, but no write permissions, therefore no 0-file
C:\users -- double selected \users\users -- and no file since no write permissions

Regardless, the output file is ALWAYS 0-bytes. Under no example or scenario has the export created anything but a 0-byte file.

[cbaker_admin]

Unfortunately, I cannot duplicate the problem. Is your "D:" drive a standard hard disk (i.e., not a thumb drive, CD, or virtual drive)? And you are running standard Fx 24.0 (not a nightly or portable version)?

I noticed that your Fx profile directory (D:\Documents\Firefox\rjp)is not the default one. Normally it is C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles.

Do you use any of my other extensions like FEBE or OPIE? They both have export functions that work very similar to PEP. I wonder if you would get the same problem using them with your configuration.

In any event, there is a work-around. After exporting PEP pastetext items, the export file contents are identical to the main PEP pastetext file pasteemailplus.json. So it you simply made a copy of pasteemailplus.json and renamed it to {something}.pep, you could import the pastetext items with PEP's import function.

[rpesq]

Regular HD, just another partition from the OS partition.
Standard FF 24.0

[rpesq]

Interesting. I created a new profile, and when trying to set it up, I always change my download folder to my desktop. FF 24 did the same double-select of the directory, i.e. C:\temp\temp

[cbaker_admin]

So it's looking more like a Fx 24 (or another extension) problem and not necessarily a PEP problem.

[rpesq]

No, it isn't.

I spent all last night formatting and install Win7-64 (previously was on Vista 64 for 4.5 years, same install from original 2009, worked flawless).

Fresh FF 24 install (Limited User install), no extensions except PEP, and the only difference is that no double-directory is occurring. Otherwise, the export file is still 0-bytes.

The only software installed is: FF 24, Acrobat 9, Sumatra, Filezilla, Chrome, Java (which plugin is disabled unless I need to use it).

Hard to figure, considering this fresh install of different OS, that export ever works correctly unless you have not tested with a Limited User install of FF. That installation is done by when launching the FF installer, when it tries to evevate privileges, you simply click NO and the install continues like Chrome -- aka into your USER directory.

[rpesq]

I got it to work by creating a Category -- I never had any categories previously, everything was undefined -- which is the way I wanted it.

When I created a category, then added one of PEPtext into that Category, then tried export. That works, except that I don't want categories -- it just slows down my choosing each Text from the menu.