DT Server 4.0beta3 Web interface some groups not opening?

DEVONthink
1

I’m having a weird issue where some groups in my databases won’t open from the web interface, while others will:

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For example, Financials opens just fine, but Projects just spins and never shows the subgroups or files it contains. It doesn’t seem to be consistent. I’ve restarted the server and its the same groups…

I’m not seeing anything in the logs. Anyone else?

2

How many groups or ungrouped documents are in the Projects group?

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3 groups and 20 ungrouped documents.

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Which browser do you use?

5

Firefox 139.0.1 on Windows 10.

6

Same problems in Edge 136.0.3240.64

7

I have what I think is the same issue, which for me isn’t new to DT4, or at least some of the same groups were behaving the same way in DT3S. It doesn’t seem to be either browser-dependent (the groups that won’t open for me won’t open in Safari on desktop either) or related to the number of items in the group – though every group on which I’ve encountered it contains at least one replicant. I suspect that last is a red herring, though, as most groups with replicants are fine.

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8

It is strange it’s only one group.
My dad just checked web sharing on his PC in Edge and Firefox and DuckDuckGo and had no issue accessing any groups, including one with 1100+ documents ungrouped in it.

9

Hmmm…I’m out of town, so don’t have a lot of extra machines to test on…but at least one other Windows machine (on the same network) having the same issue…

10

OK, just tried an experiment I should have tried ages ago, and it appears this is caused by a single file in the group that Server is having trouble with. I did this with an indexed folder, moving files around in the Finder, but it would probably work with an imported group as well (or one created in-database), moving the files in DT instead.

  1. Have DT Server open in your browser (I just used Safari on the same Mac as the DT database), and navigate to a group that won’t open.
  2. In the Finder, create a subfolder (or in DT a subgroup) and move half the files into it.
  3. Refresh Server, and navigate to the group again.
    – If it now opens, the offending file was one of the ones you moved, and the original group should now display its top-level contents and uncollapse in the sidebar to show the newly created subgroup. Click on the subgroup in the sidebar, and it should now fail to display its contents. Move half of the remaining files from the subgroup back into the main group, and repeat this step.
    – If it still doesn’t open, the rogue file is one of the ones at the top level of the group. Move another half of those into the subgroup, and repeat this step.
  4. Continue till you’re left with just one file in the subgroup, and confirm that the main group now opens fine but the subgroup folder doesn’t.

In my case there was no obvious difference between the problem file and the others in the group, which consisted entirely of saved DEVONagent digests – though I can fiddle with it and see if I can render it acceptable to DT Server. Now to try this on the big group that’s presenting the same behaviour…

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11

Sure enough, in that case it was also a single file that was causing the issue – this time a scanned PDF that had been OCR’d by DT, but I don’t think that was a factor. Moving the file to a subgroup rendered the enclosing group openable in Server again, though not the subgroup, and the PDF in question doesn’t show up in Server searches (even of just the subgroup in which it’s the only item). All displays fine in DT proper.

One more thing I can try is firing up my DT3 seat and seeing whether the same files were the source of similar issues there. I strongly suspect they were and that this isn’t a new problem in DT4, or anything that can be readily addressed without knowing what’s going wrong with these actual files. But I’m attaching one of the offending files; I’d be mildly interested to know if it breaks other people’s Server groups. It’s a DEVONagent digest saved directly from the app with no subsequent alterations (apart from zipping it just now).

myth reception Deeper.rtf.zip (141.9 KB)

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Thanks for the diligence, @NickLowe ! We’ll see if we can reproduce the issue with your file here.

Excuse me but "Helluva catch, Nick! :smiley:
Now to see if we can determine what the issue with that file is.

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Thanks for the tip.

Yep. Single file. Word Document.

@BLUEFROG I can send the file to you, but don’t want to post it to the forum. How would you like me to send it?

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You can ZIP and send it via PM here.

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Sent!

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Thanks!
Hmm… I’m not seeing the issue with your file. You’re positive you’re on beta 3?

17

I identified an error but it’s up to development to look into. I messaged the web sharing developer with details. Thanks for the assistance!

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18

Weird…

Yes, for sure on B3

19

The issue is due to an unexpected escape/hidden character in the title of the rtf file which is “myth reception \x10Deeper”. Not sure there is a reason for having the escape character in the title however it causes javascript string to object conversion to fail.

I have added a fix for this that will be included in the next update.

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20

Nailed it! (It was my file rather than @rpallred’s, but it’s clearly what’s causing the behaviour for both of us.) That was the issue, and turns out to have been the same with my other file that was breaking a group in Server. Manually renaming it fixed it.

Server is amazing in DT4. If it wasn’t for mobile browsers’ wheeziness with PDFs it’d be my everything everywhere web app. It’s an active pleasure to work in, and it still feels like cheating that I can access the same database in everything from a tiny Android e-reader screen to in multiple windows on an Apple Vision Pro.

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