Problem with column (variable) names and saving

Support questions for Flow CSV Viewer and Editor.
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Cagri
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Sep 02, 2021 9:55 am

Problem with column (variable) names and saving

Post by Cagri »

Hello,
I have the latest Editor version installed via Windows Store. (v1.1, build 16.07.2021 23:10:13)
Before this version, I was using the Viewer edition. After the trial period, I registered and reinstalled the Editor edition and nothing seemed to be changed at the time; my pre-saved project file, variable names and formulas were intact. I don't know if this is the actual reason but after I mistakenly changed one of the project CSV file's name via Explorer, the formulas, variable names and colors disappeared. I tried to reenter them but it always resets to default, i.e. column1, column2, .. with black color. I tried a full reinstall, tried to delete the user.config file but those not helped.
My settings have the "Save variable view settings with project" option checked and the newly generated project file already has the changes I made. (<property key="variablesettings" value="2:TimeStamp,0,34,FF161616,0,1;Current,1,0,FF0000DC,0,1"/>) I also tried with this option not checked, the result was the same. I'm suspecting there is one more settings file somewhere. :) Would you please advise what I should do?

Besides this problem, I've noticed that although the CSV file content doesn't change, it is saved anyway when I rename its variable names. Is this a normal behavior? Some of my files are big in size and saving takes additional time every time.

Best regards,
Cagri
Waveworks
Posts: 153
Joined: Thu Sep 05, 2019 1:05 pm

Re: Problem with column (variable) names and saving

Post by Waveworks »

Hello Cagri, sorry about the trouble! I need you to answer some additional questions to figure out what's going wrong in your case:

1. First of all, when you renamed the CSV file, did you rename it back again afterwards, or did you update the file name in the project file (.flp)? Can you check that the file name in the project file (.flp) now matches the actual file name? If they don't match, the file is actually no longer in the project, and view settings and formulas won't be saved.
2. In File -> Preferences -> CSV Export, what's your setting for "Header row", and is it "For new files" or "For all files"?
3. Does your CSV file have a header row with variable names, or does it start with values immediately?
4. How many columns does your CSV file have? I can see it has the two columns TimeStamp and Current, but are there more columns than that?

While formulas and view settings are stored in the project file (if "Save variable view settings with project" is checked), variable names are actually saved in the first row of CSV file itself - given that the "Header row" option is enabled. So yes, it's normal behavior that the file needs to be saved if you rename a variable - but it depends on the "Header row" setting and whether the file has a header row to begin with. Moreover, view settings are associated with the variable names in the project file, so if the variable names are changed and then lost (because there is no header row so they're not saved), these variables' view settings are also lost.

The project file and the user.config file are the only two places where settings can be stored, so no, there is no other settings file.

Hope this brings you a bit closer to understanding what's going on?

Best regards, Gustaf
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