Beta testers needed for autosave feature

Micah
Micah
edited January 2013 in General Archive
Hey all,

I need a handful of beta testers for a new autosave feature I've developed. It's nothing earth-shattering, just a safety net that will hopefully help you recover your wiki pages and other long text posts in the case that something goes wrong before you can save it. You accidentally close the browser, or you click submit and get an error. That kind of thing.

*There are a few known limitations*

* It only works when updating an existing item, not when writing a new one. This is kind of sucky, but it is what it is for now.
* It works for adventure log posts, wiki pages, characters, items, and forum posts. It will save/restore your long text areas when editing these pages.
* It doesn't work with dynamic character sheets

*How to test*

Basically, just use your campaign as normal and keep an eye out for any weirdness, like pages that don't save correctly or text that disappears. Every now and then, write some text in a random text area, don't save, give it 5 or 10 seconds to autosave, then close the browser or click back or otherwise leave the page. Then, come back and re-edit the page and see if it alerts you and offers to restore the saved version.

Make sure you don't get the warning about the autosave except in cases where you actually leave the page and then come back!

That's about it. If you're interested, just leave a reply saying so and I'll add you to the beta.

Thanks for the help!

Comments

  • GamingMegaverse
    GamingMegaverse
    Posts: 2,998
    I am always willing to beta test!

    Just trying to help out.

  • Bookscorpion
    Bookscorpion
    Posts: 58
    Sounds useful! I'd like to test it.

    Shadowrun: The Rat's Nest - COTM  November 2014

  • Micah
    Micah
    Posts: 894
    I deployed the autosave feature and added you both to the beta list. Please take it for a spin and tell me what you think.
  • Bookscorpion
    Bookscorpion
    Posts: 58 edited January 2013
    I took it out for a spin and so far, it works beautifully. No false alerts and it has autosaved nicely anything I left just sitting there (I always waited ten seconds or more).

    edit:
    ok, now I've had a couple of false alerts. I had three tabs open with different Wiki pages and I edited one, then saved it. After that, I wanted to edit the second tab and I got the autosave message, same with the third tab. When I clock okay, I get the autosaved text from the last tab I edited. This happens, as far as I can see, every time I try to edit multiple tabs.
    Post edited by Bookscorpion on

    Shadowrun: The Rat's Nest - COTM  November 2014

  • Micah
    Micah
    Posts: 894
    Hmm, that is definitely strange, and exactly the kind of thing we want to find in a beta test. You're sure you're editing 3 different pages, and it's not the same page in 3 different tabs?
  • Micah
    Micah
    Posts: 894
    Yep, I tried what you said and got that exact same effect.
  • Micah
    Micah
    Posts: 894
    It was a stupid mistake on my part. Try again and see if you get better results.
  • Bookscorpion
    Bookscorpion
    Posts: 58
    Yes, it works fine now.

    Shadowrun: The Rat's Nest - COTM  November 2014

  • saethone
    saethone
    Posts: 153
    I don't mind testing it if you still need more
  • Micah
    Micah
    Posts: 894
    I've added you to the list, saethone. Give it a whirl and see what you think.
  • saethone
    saethone
    Posts: 153
    It's working great.

    I even tried editing pages on multiple campaigns in different tabs, and it kept all the autosaves separate.

    I did run into one problem, I can't imagine why it would happen in an actual setting but I tried it just for testing.

    I had two tabs open, we'll call them TabA and TabB - both were editing the same wiki page, but had different text in each.

    I closed TabA first, then TabB - but within 1 or 2 seconds of each other. I then went to edit the page and autos-ave loaded the data that was in TabA. I'm guessing it just saves on a timed interval? If so then I don't know if theres anyway around this.
  • Micah
    Micah
    Posts: 894
    Yes, it's a timed save for the page's data. If you're editing the same page in two tabs it will get messed up.

    Is there any reason you would be editing the same page in 2 tabs? I know it might happen that 2 different people would be editing the same page, and the autosave should work in that case (sort of...), but is there any good reason for 1 person to have the same page open in 2 tabs?

    Thanks for testing!
  • GamingMegaverse
    GamingMegaverse
    Posts: 2,998
    It is working great! I have tried many different pages, and unless it is only a few words (and being timed, I even tried 2 words- walked away- closed- and it worked) it saves it.
    This is a truly awesome idea- especially for those in my group that write long logs.
    I had one of my players test it, to see if it was set on my profile or the game- and obviously it is on my profile.
    Love this feature! Nice work!

    Just trying to help out.

  • saethone
    saethone
    Posts: 153
    Yeah like I said at first I can't think of why you would have two tabs open of the same page, at least not intentionally. I know when I'm working on adventures I usually have like 5 tabs open, some are copying code from one page to another while others are for reference etc. It'd be possible to get lost in all that, and then just close the browser...but that should be rare and I doubt it would cause any real problems for anyone
  • Micah
    Micah
    Posts: 894
    Okay, thanks for the help. I'll launch it live for everyone on Monday. I'm always happy to add these small safety net features.
  • Micah
    Micah
    Posts: 894
    Launched! Enjoy!
  • GamingMegaverse
    GamingMegaverse
    Posts: 2,998
    Just checking Micah- this is for everyone, not just Ascendant? This is for players and gms?
    Thanks! Love the feature!

    Just trying to help out.

  • Micah
    Micah
    Posts: 894
    Yes, for everyone: all players, GMs, free, and Ascendant.
  • Dungeon_Master_Loki
    Dungeon_Master_Loki
    Posts: 358
    Love, love, love this Micah!

    Game Designer, Pro GM, multiple ENnie Award winner

    GM of Planejammer: The Spelljoined (Pathfinder 1e) Campaign of the Year 2011 and still going strong!

    GM of The Planewalker's Guild (Pathfinder 1e) 

    Need a GM? Book me today!

  • dlaporte7271
    dlaporte7271
    Posts: 94
    Just want to say that the autosave feature is auto-awesome! Was in the middle of working on a page...had to run...came back hours later and brought it back up. Got the little box telling me I had an auto-saved version and voila! All my work was still there! Thanks!
  • Micah
    Micah
    Posts: 894
    Glad everyone likes it. I've been wanting to do something like this for a while and then suddenly I had some inspiration about an easy way to do it. It's one of the features I love: immediately useful and easy to implement.
  • twiggyleaf
    twiggyleaf
    Posts: 2,006
    Thanks for the upgrade. I am not yet designing my new pages yet but it is good to know that such a feature exists when I do.

    twigs

    "I met a traveller from an antique land....."

    CotM May 2016: Mysteria: set in Wolfgang Baur’s MIDGARD.

    Previous CotM Aug 2012: Shimring: High Level Multiplanar Campaign

    Inner Council Member

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