[Moin-user] Persistent loss of edits

[Bob Jackson]

Roger Haase observed:

> Assuming there really is a missing edits bug, a guess is that it is a
> client-side problem rather than server-side. To be a server-side bug,
> either Moin or Apache would somehow have to maintain the state of the
> old text-area and substitute the old copy for the incoming new copy.
> Well, Moin has an old copy on disk but it is hard to believe Moin would
> sometimes become confused and substitute the disk copy for the incoming
> textarea.

> On the other hand, the user's browser maintains an old copy of the
> textarea contents. The old contents could be retrieved by clicking a
> Reset button (but there isn't any Reset button on the wiki edit form)
> or a javascript function calling the form or textarea element reset
> function.

> So a thought is the bug may be in some bit of javascript code on the
> client side. It intercepts the Submit button click, resets the
> textarea, and submits the form? The FCK Editor has some very complex
> javascript code and there are calls to the reset function in
> wordWindow.js and controlWindow.js. But where are these called from?

> I am going to try turning off the GUI editor to see if that eliminates
> the problem. The only options for turning it off that I see are to add
> the following to wikiconfig.py:

> editor_default = 'text'
> editor_ui = 'text'
> editor_force = True

> My only user that has reported the problem is off again and it may be a
> long time before she returns to edit the wiki.

> Roger Haase

It is relevant to note that I do all of my editing in Moin with the text 
editor and the loss of edits problem has occurred consistently.  I do not 
use the FCKeditor.

The problem occurs regularly for me simply by waiting approximately 5 or 
more minutes between a preview or save changes operation.  If I keep 
previewing every 3-4 minutes during a long edit, that seems to preserve 
the content.  Clearly something times out on me otherwise.

Interestingly it is noted in http://moinmoin.wikiwikiweb.de/FCKeditor:

"The general rule I would use is... if the problem occurs without leaving 
the editor, then it is an FCKeditor issue. If the problem involves 
entering or leaving the editor (saving, previewing, cancelling, etc.), or 
displays incorrectly when you first enter the GUI editor, it may be a 
MoinMoin issue."

______________________________________________________
Bob Jackson
Department of Sociology
Duke University