The autosave feature as everyone has formally known it has been removed as of V2011 MR1. The reasoning behind the change has to do with stability of PC-DMIS while running a program and PC-DMIS attempting to execute an autosave. The replacement for autosave is a new system which creates duplicates of your programs both when you first open the program and when it crashes. When you first open a program it will create a duplicate with a ^ on the end of the file extension. So for example "test.prg" would have a copy made in the same location named "test.prg^" when the program is first opened. In the case of a crash PC-DMIS attempts to create a copy of the program at the time of the crash with a ~ on the end of it, so "test.prg~" shows up if there is a crash. In the case of wanting to use one of these backups all you need to do is from windows explorer rightclick the file, click rename, and delete the extra character off the end of the extension.
I always seem to have a marginal PC, and the fact when autosave used to run it would push the PC over the edge and corrupt the file it was writing when the PC crashed - I always turned it off to decrease the chances of this happening. I would write when nothing much was going on, on the PC.
When I joined this forum originally, I had posted that most software I had used up to that date, saves the file to a hidden temp file and moves it into the correct name once the file is completely written so you always have something to fall back on.
I guess in a way this is what hexagon did (too bad they didn't do it five years ago)
The software I had used back then also cleaned up after itself (ie. after the file was written successfully, it got rid of the hidden temp files) - guess I'll have to get used to doing this myself if I leave this enhancement on.
Thanks for all the responses!
Just want to add one more clarification to this. I believe the program copy with "~" at the end is created to preserve the state of the file just before your last save. It might also create it at the time of a crash, not sure. I always have both the "^" and "~" versions and have not experienced many crashes with 2011 MR1 so I am fairly certain that it does not only create that file as a result of a crash. I believe the idea is that you have one file that preserves the state of the file at the beginning of your work session = "^", another that preserves the state just prior to the last save = "~" and then you have the actual current file. It is a pain to go back and clean up after this system but it has saved me from a few wrong turns thus far and overall seems like a workable solution until they can figure out how to stabilize the software (which, hopefully, is the ultimate goal) or move this behavior behind the scenes as 12345 mentions.
Just want to add one more clarification to this. I believe the program copy with "~" at the end is created to preserve the state of the file just before your last save. It might also create it at the time of a crash, not sure. I always have both the "^" and "~" versions and have not experienced many crashes with 2011 MR1 so I am fairly certain that it does not only create that file as a result of a crash. I believe the idea is that you have one file that preserves the state of the file at the beginning of your work session = "^", another that preserves the state just prior to the last save = "~" and then you have the actual current file. It is a pain to go back and clean up after this system but it has saved me from a few wrong turns thus far and overall seems like a workable solution until they can figure out how to stabilize the software (which, hopefully, is the ultimate goal) or move this behavior behind the scenes as 12345 mentions.
+1
Yes, you are correct. Every time you perform a "File Save" or "Ctrl+S" PC-DMIS generates an ongoing copy of your .prg file with the ~ exten. It always has a copy of your current file and makes your backup version based.
