Source files gone

[ukimiku]

After ugrading from the Trial to the Enterprise version, all the source files from the test projects I was working on with the Trial have disappeared in the "Open Source" dialog. I cannot see, let alone open, any of the older files. Source files created with the Enterprise version show up fine. In addition, all files from within the "Objects" and "Files" subfolders of the older projects have been wiped, no files left at all.

Is this a common problem?

Thanks & regards,

 

[Erel]

Never encountered such a problem. Where have you saved the projects?

 

[ukimiku]

On an internal hard drive different from the one onto which b4a has been installed, drive letter G: , and then in "G:\Android\Basic4Android\My B4A projects\" In this folder, there are several numbered subfolders, each containing one b4a project, "01 Hello World\", "02 Highlow\", "03 Hotel Devil's Door\" etc.

I cannot have accidentally erased all the files, because that would have been a time-consuming operation. Now the strange thing is that the subfolders, like "Objects\", "Files\" etc. are still there, but all the files from all the folders have vanished. Even an additional "Resources\" folders inside the "My B4A projects\" folder has been vacuum-cleaned.

Those files, to be sure, did not constitue valuable data, as they were only learning projects, but the Hotel Devil's Door did accomplish something in code which I wanted to do again but had forgotten, but now I can't access that information anymore.

I have learned from this experience and now backup even unimportant B4A files on a regular basis. But the shock is definitely something that other users shouldn't have to experience, I think.

Thanks for looking into this.

Regards,

 

[Erel]

Files under Resources and Objects are temporary files that are recreated during compilation.

 

[ukimiku]

Well, but the "recreating" is not supposed to delete the source files as well, is it? I mean, if it is, it shouldn't be, it makes working on projects, once closed, pretty tiresome, as you have to write the whole code again.

The additional "Ressources" folder was created by me, not by B4A. Please note that there is a typo in "Ressources" (double "s"), so the folder was definitely created by myself. And is now, like all the other folders, devoid of any files.

Still, all the sources are gone.
?

Regards,

 

[Erel]

Only files under Objects folder get deleted. Other files should not have been deleted.
The source files are not saved in this folder (unless you nested two projects).

 

[ukimiku]

No nesting of projects here.
At the moment, I can't of any other influence on the contents of every folder within my projects directory. I think Basic4Android deleted them.

Regards,

 

[thedesolatesoul]

The behaviour you describe seems to be only possible if you mistakenly nested projects.
i.e. you must have created and opened a project in G:\Android\Basic4Android\My B4A projects\something.b4a and cleaned it.
This is the first time I have heard of it so I put it down to user error rather than program error.
Also, backup is important always. Especially off-site backup.

 

[ukimiku]

I had every project in its own folder, containing only that project.
The fact that my custom-created folder "Ressources" was wiped as well is, even if projects should have been nested, an indication of a program error in my eyes.

Erel, is the source code saved with along with/within the generated .apk? That way, I could retrieve the lost source.

Thank you.

Regards,

 

[Erel]

The source code is not saved in the APK file.

 

[kickaha]

Have you tried a file recovery program?

 

[ukimiku]

Thanks. Maybe it would be a good new option to allow users to save the source within the .apk file, especially when in Debug mode (?)

Regards,

 

[kickaha]

Thanks. Maybe it would be a good new option to allow users to save the source within the .apk file, especially when in Debug mode (?)

Regards,

I am sure that is not technically possible.

Forgive me for being blunt but the deletions are not something that B4A will have done unless you located the files in the wrong place, so it must be an error on your part and no amount of denial will change this.

It is probably time for you to accept this and try to recover your data, and also to consider an effective backup and archive policy to ensure that this does not happen again.