Mobilinc ios Dashboard items Disappearing

[SteveT]

I have occasionally had an issue where my carefully arranged Dashboard would randomly lose icons-

 

Finally, I think I found out why-

Seems like sometimes, Mobilinc for iOS does not download (or retain) the complete set of information from ISY994, and subsequently deletes the icons from the dashboard for elements it thinks do not exist.

 

Wes, has this been reported before?  I guess its 2 issues.

 

I am running:

Lastest Mobilinc

ios 10.3.2

ISY 994 5.0.10 -

 

Thanks,

Steve

[BCreekDave]

Mine has done this too.

 

IOS 8.1.2

Mobilinc v 4.9

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[InsteonNut]

Hi Steve,

 

Are you able to reproduce this on the official 4.x firmware path? 

 

How syncing works:

- When MobiLinc starts up if you have Sync over WiFi or Cell checked and your network condition matches, the MobiLinc pulls down the devices, scenes, and programs from your ISY.

- As MobiLinc parses through the list, if there are items in MobiLinc that no longer appears in the ISY's list, MobiLinc removes these so that the data matches what the ISY is providing.

- There was a possible issue in the builds before the current release where if the parse operation failed, MobiLinc *could* have unintentionally removed items. That path was fixed in the current release.

 

If the ISY firmware returns a partial list for whatever reason, then I would expect that you'd see items get removed to match what the ISY is sending back. For what it's worth, I've never actually seen this happen, rather just making educated guesses based on what a few other's have reported and how the sync code works.

 

Wes

[SteveT]

Wes, unfortunately, i do not have an ISY994 on the 4.x code path anymore.  Not sure if there is a way to check if ISY has returned a complete list (perhaps not, as this is happending).   BTW - I am going direct - no cloud.

 

I can provide logs, etc.  But it has happended probably 3-4x, but is not that frequent honestly.  This time around, (after fixing layout a few days ago of course) I just happened to look immediately for the multisensor i was missing and found it was not listed anymore.

 

I understand the convenience of automatically removing from the dashboard, but with the partial/incomplete sync being seemingly possible, it does not seem ideal to remove elements from the dashboard.  I would even be ok with being able saving the layout manually, or save to iCloud, hide / mark the element with confirmation to delete, and/or leave?  

 

Thank you Wes-

Steve

[InsteonNut]

Thanks Steve,

 

If you can find a way to reproduce the issue, please let me know so I can connect to your ISY and see what's happening.

 

Wes

[BCreekDave]

My ISY is on 4.5.4. Last time it happened I was in my car leaving the house where it was transitioning between wifi and cell connection. Easiest way to fix is to just lock the dashboard config. Make it an option to auto update the layout based on verification. Simple.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[SteveT]

I use a private vpn, so it's possible the sync was cut off for some reason as well/. Agree would like some lock in dashboard , or validation complete set of info received from ISY.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[SteveT]

Thanks Steve,

 

If you can find a way to reproduce the issue, please let me know so I can connect to your ISY and see what's happening.

 

Wes

 

 

Wes, will do - if you want to PM me and have a version with a log file, etc.  I can also install via testflight, etc.

[SteveT]

Wes, will do - if you want to PM me and have a version with a log file, etc.  I can also install via testflight, etc.

 

 

Was able to re-produce this again - basically just had to force close the program and it happened again.  All dashboard options and icons gone again.

 

Not sure what it was in the middle of, but was not responsive. 

[InsteonNut]

statay,

 

Basically the root issue when this happens is the underlying database has become corrupted. Why that is, I don't know. I have never seen it happen in the lab and haven't been able to reproduce it despite hours of attempts. But based on the few reports and bug reports, while rare, this tends to happen around iOS updates. My best guess is that something in the iOS update process can cause corruption in apps Document folder on the iOS device. Your comment about the device/app being unresponsive tends to lean toward a corrupt database causing iOS to freeze up like that. My recommendation is to:

 

- reboot the iOS device first and see if that fixes it.

- If you still notice Dashboard items not getting saved, then delete MobiLinc, reboot the iOS device and reinstall from the App Store.

 

If you have MobiLinc installed on another iOS device you can copy the settings back under Settings->Copy. Select "I'm Receiving" first, then "I'm Sending".

 

Wes

[SteveT]

statay,

 

Basically the root issue when this happens is the underlying database has become corrupted. Why that is, I don't know. I have never seen it happen in the lab and haven't been able to reproduce it despite hours of attempts. But based on the few reports and bug reports, while rare, this tends to happen around iOS updates. My best guess is that something in the iOS update process can cause corruption in apps Document folder on the iOS device. Your comment about the device/app being unresponsive tends to lean toward a corrupt database causing iOS to freeze up like that. My recommendation is to:

 

- reboot the iOS device first and see if that fixes it.

- If you still notice Dashboard items not getting saved, then delete MobiLinc, reboot the iOS device and reinstall from the App Store.

 

If you have MobiLinc installed on another iOS device you can copy the settings back under Settings->Copy. Select "I'm Receiving" first, then "I'm Sending".

 

Wes

 

Thanks Wes- I have another problem with an IOLINC not showing up (I added, and not showing in sync process), but when I did a full sync, it shows (but everything is reset).  

So maybe (pain) its time to delete, and re-install.  <sigh>. 

 

I have most of the dashboard items saved on another device, so the corruption has been annoying, but mostly recoverable.

 

thanks-

Steve

[InsteonNut]

Thanks Steve, the other reason that a device might not appear is if it was hidden in MobiLinc manually at some point in the past. You can unhide by going to Settings->Lighting Controller->Hidden Items to see the hidden item list and unhide from here.

 

If that doesn't solve the issue, then it appears to confirm that there may be a corrupt database file somewhere causing this. A MobiLinc delete/reboot/reinstall should fix it.

 

Wes

[SteveT]

FYI - Its been months, but had the issue with the Dashboard deleting around 1/2 of the icons again.  

I had deleted Mobilinc when we spoke in Oct '17, and its been very stable .  Not sure what causes - interesting I was on my home network when this happened.

Is there logs on the ISY perhaps I can look at or in the app?  I will delete and re-sync again from my other device later today.

Thanks-

Steve

[InsteonNut]

Hi Steve,

Watch when you restore from another iOS device. The problem *may* be in the other iOS device and it's propagating to your iPhone. If you see the issue again right away, delete MobiLinc, reboot your iPhone, and re-sync with the ISY without restoring from the other iOS device.

Wes

[SteveT]

Thanks for the suggestion Wes - i actually think i did that last time.  Basically abandoned all favorites, and started from scratch.  Looks like something eventually getting corrupt during program load or something.  

If its not often, i will deal with the re-copy of the dashboard so i dont have to re-create 50 items.  Hopefully eventually someone else or you will find the bug.

Thanks,

Steve

[InsteonNut]

Thanks Steve, the next major iteration of MobiLinc is using all new technology that I have better control over where these kinds of on-device database corruption issues shouldn't happen. 

Wes

[SteveT]

Hi Wes - just checking in here.  Is the new version coming soon?  Thanks-

[InsteonNut]

Hi Steve,

I'm nearly finished with the new design prototype based partly on the survey that ran at the end of last month. Should be starting the full ground-up re-write next month for iOS and Android.

Wes