manual scratch issue

[DanBoals]

Hi Ted,

This is an unusual thing, but it has happened twice now.

When I manually scratch a horse, like the 5 just now at CD 1, it crashes the program and my laptop.

Dan

[Swifty0x0]

I crash just staying on the Entry Screen for any length of time. I upgraded to the bundle download, and my guess is that RDSS is automatically looking for results that aren't available yet, and crashes if it can't find them (just a guess though because first time with the bundle download).

[Ted Craven]

Hi Ted,

This is an unusual thing, but it has happened twice now.

When I manually scratch a horse, like the 5 just now at CD 1, it crashes the program and my laptop.

Dan


Dan, yes, unusual! Let's add that to the list of unusual things which happen on your computer! Standing by for your email about your availability next week for a remote troubleshooting session...

Ted

[Ted Craven]

I crash just staying on the Entry Screen for any length of time. I upgraded to the bundle download, and my guess is that RDSS is automatically looking for results that aren't available yet, and crashes if it can't find them (just a guess though because first time with the bundle download).


Swifty, RDSS does not automatically check for Results, only when you ask it. However, presuming your Get TS Ratings is checked, it does periodically check for MTP and next race info on TwinSpires.

Try this to troubleshoot - after having assembled a card's worth of races (including the TS Ratings if you want them), on he Config screen, UNCHECK Get TS Ratings, Save then restart RDSS. Now that RDSS is NOT periodically polling TwinSpires for anything, see if RDSS still crashes the same way just sitting at the Entries screen doing nothing.


If now stable, that eliminates TS as a culprit. We can continue troubleshooting from there ...

Ted

[DanBoals]

Dan, yes, unusual! Let's add that to the list of unusual things which happen on your computer! Standing by for your email about your availability next week for a remote troubleshooting session...

Ted

I am not sure what you mean by a "remote troubleshooting session"

If there is something you want me to check, just ask.

If you want to take control of my computer, that is probably not going to happen, it would take me a while to get all personal and business data off of it.

[DanBoals]

Ted,

I was perfectly happy with the old version of RDSS.

I wanted you to fix it and get it stable. I did not ask for useless bells and whistles to be added to make it even more unstable. We were losing features like real time odds and results that were important to me at least. I thought trying to add a bunch of silly **** when the basics were not working was frivolous.

You sent me an email, I still have it and can copy and paste it here if you do not remember, and in that email you ask me to download and test the new version. When a friend asks for help, you help them. I downloaded the version, which I did not want, and tested it for you for free. Now it seems like you are pissy with me because I told the emperor he had no clothes... I am sorry, I did not know I was supposed to lie and say everything was beautiful. I thought when you asked me to run it thru the paces you meant that so that is what I have been doing.

I have not been posting any of the bugs in public forums, just on the troubleshooting / bugs forum you put up for these beta testing issues.

I don't know what you think I did wrong but please do not ever ask me for a favor again.

Thanks,

Dan

[gandalf380]

Similiar thing on a race on KD day when I downloaded the files two days early. I reassembled the race and it corrected itself and the imaginary horse disappeared. You might try that and see if it corrects itself.

[Swifty0x0]

Swifty, RDSS does not automatically check for Results, only when you ask it. However, presuming your Get TS Ratings is checked, it does periodically check for MTP and next race info on TwinSpires.

Try this to troubleshoot - after having assembled a card's worth of races (including the TS Ratings if you want them), on he Config screen, UNCHECK Get TS Ratings, Save then restart RDSS. Now that RDSS is NOT periodically polling TwinSpires for anything, see if RDSS still crashes the same way just sitting at the Entries screen doing nothing.


If now stable, that eliminates TS as a culprit. We can continue troubleshooting from there ...

Ted

Hi Ted,

I didn't have the TS ratings checked because I was looking at PIM (Preakness) on Friday (day before, and knowing TS issues could come up if on a previous day). That would indicate the crashes were not due to TS ratings.

Basically, after installing I clicked the registration update, made a fresh database (copy of data.db), reloaded and pointed to the new db (reloaded if asked). Then I upgraded to the bundle download and reloaded RDSS to select that option in registration. After those tasks I downloaded PIM and began assembling the races (TS still unchecked because of day before), and it crashed 3 or 4 times, mostly when on the Entry screen, but once when selecting the card to assemble another race. So not sure what could cause it.

The reason I thought it might be because of looking for results is while on the Entry screen I'd see the 'busy circle' where the mouse was, just before the crash. But, if not looking for results automatically then it's something else.

[Ted Craven]

Hi Ted,

I didn't have the TS ratings checked because I was looking at PIM (Preakness) on Friday (day before, and knowing TS issues could come up if on a previous day). That would indicate the crashes were not due to TS ratings.

Basically, after installing I clicked the registration update, made a fresh database (copy of data.db), reloaded and pointed to the new db (reloaded if asked). Then I upgraded to the bundle download and reloaded RDSS to select that option in registration. After those tasks I downloaded PIM and began assembling the races (TS still unchecked because of day before), and it crashed 3 or 4 times, mostly when on the Entry screen, but once when selecting the card to assemble another race. So not sure what could cause it.

The reason I thought it might be because of looking for results is while on the Entry screen I'd see the 'busy circle' where the mouse was, just before the crash. But, if not looking for results automatically then it's something else.

Thanks! So ... we've established that when Get TS Ratings is UNCHECKED and thus Get Tote is also UNCHECKED (and after Saving any Config Screen changes and restarting) - when you're sitting at the Entries Screen - RDSS is not doing anything! Not reaching out to the internet, nothing. You can also test this by loading a race, sitting at the Entries screen, then disable your Internet access (unplug your cable or disable Wifi).

If the 'busy circle' spins - it is highly likely to be because of something other than RDSS. If it IS RDSS, I cannot imagine what it might be. As mentioned, this version has been tested in as many scenarios as we could think of over nearly a year, and in the later stages by up to 20 different users, 20 different types of uses and computers and connection scenarios. The purpose of that was to find Bugs and fix them! The Bugs I don't find, and the things that work as intended - I check them off and move on! That said - I fully expected that exposing this well-tested software to even more users would expose more Bugs and things needing fixing! That's what's happening now.

Swifty - if you are open to it, I can offer to connect to your computer by Zoom to observe what you observe to see if I get any ideas. You don't have to give me your mouse or keyboard control - just let me watch and ask questions. That's how I troubleshoot things I can't fix by interactive text questions and answers. Of course I want to fix this, make RDSS as stable as possible in the largest amount of use cases!

(Just FWIW - I once had a support issue with a RDSS user who complained that the 'busy circle' appeared constantly - when moving between screens, when moving the mouse - constantly! It made no sense. after a week of back and forth advice, we connected remotely by Zoom. I observed that 'busy circle'. Then we checked his Anti-virus and Security settings. Turns out he had an 'aggressive' Anti-virus setting whereby RDSS was flagged as 'unknown' and every single disk access was subjected to an anti-virus filter check before being allowed. First, we turned off his anti-virus for a few moments and RDSS resumed working briskly as normal. Then we selectively turned off only disk access checking (or something) and the problem resumed. Then we 'whiteboarded RDSS' in the anti-virus software certifying that we trusted it and 'don't do that', etc. Then RDSS resumed working normally and I heard no further about that for years. I ONLY mention this because there's no way I could have thought to troubleshoot that - or other unknown/unexpected scenarios - without effectively 'sitting beside' the user, observing what he observed. I'm not saying that's what causing your issue - but like this example - I am out of ideas so far as to what causes a random 'busy circle' let alone random crashes at the Entry Screen while RDSS is doing nothing.)

Please let me know by email. Thanks!

Ted

[Ted Craven]

Hi Ted,

I didn't have the TS ratings checked because I was looking at PIM (Preakness) on Friday (day before, and knowing TS issues could come up if on a previous day). That would indicate the crashes were not due to TS ratings.

Basically, after installing I clicked the registration update, made a fresh database (copy of data.db), reloaded and pointed to the new db (reloaded if asked). Then I upgraded to the bundle download and reloaded RDSS to select that option in registration. After those tasks I downloaded PIM and began assembling the races (TS still unchecked because of day before), and it crashed 3 or 4 times, mostly when on the Entry screen, but once when selecting the card to assemble another race. So not sure what could cause it.

The reason I thought it might be because of looking for results is while on the Entry screen I'd see the 'busy circle' where the mouse was, just before the crash. But, if not looking for results automatically then it's something else.

Swifty - one further note related to activating or not the Get TS Rating setting - you should leave it active all the time if you generally intend to make use of the TS Ratings. With the current release, Get Tote being checked (if TS Ratings is checked) controls whether assembly the day before races even bothers to check for TS Ratings - and keeps you out of trouble like we've seen in some reports of earlier pre-release versions where people left Get Tote unchecked yet made Get TS Ratings CHECKED. Now - both settings are in synch and you should leave them that way.

Summary - if you intend to use TS Ratings (Prime Power, ProfitLine) - leave it checked. Unchecking it sometimes serves no extra purpose (that I am aware of).

Ted

[Ted Craven]

Ted,

I was perfectly happy with the old version of RDSS.

I wanted you to fix it and get it stable. I did not ask for useless bells and whistles to be added to make it even more unstable. We were losing features like real time odds and results that were important to me at least. I thought trying to add a bunch of silly **** when the basics were not working was frivolous.

You sent me an email, I still have it and can copy and paste it here if you do not remember, and in that email you ask me to download and test the new version. When a friend asks for help, you help them. I downloaded the version, which I did not want, and tested it for you for free. Now it seems like you are pissy with me because I told the emperor he had no clothes... I am sorry, I did not know I was supposed to lie and say everything was beautiful. I thought when you asked me to run it thru the paces you meant that so that is what I have been doing.

I have not been posting any of the bugs in public forums, just on the troubleshooting / bugs forum you put up for these beta testing issues.

I don't know what you think I did wrong but please do not ever ask me for a favor again.

Thanks,

Dan

Dan, I'm sorry you are not enjoying the new version. If you don't need or want the 'bells and whistles' you can revert to the previous version: http://paceandcap.com/forums/showpost.php?p=156792&postcount=4

In a previous Thread of your first impressions (http://paceandcap.com/forums/showpost.php?p=156525&postcount=2), you commented about repeated crashes during race assembly. My reply was that this was really not a commonly reported scenario so I wanted to observe your experience to help me trouble shoot your problem. My apologies if my wording in that reply "Let me know by email a schedule for connecting you for this."- was ambiguous and you did not know I was requesting you email me to find your best schedule to connect with me in a Zoom meeting to help you troubleshoot this.

Per my above response to Swifty - when I encounter issues I cannot resolve by text questions and answers, I offer to connect remotely by Zoom to observe the issue. I would say that approximately 99% of users who I suggest this to agree eagerly and we get things resolved quickly or I understand more about an issue in order to resolve it. I have dozens and dozens of such remote connections in the past few months - hundreds over the years. I accept you may not wish to do this, for privacy reasons or whatever - and may not wish to give me mouse and keyboard control to troubleshoot. I don't need such control if I can simply get the person to SHOW me what the issue is - Share their screen with me - and respond to my requests to do this, do that, try this, etc, etc. I presume, as a high-level computer user, you would know all of the requests to check things I might ask for.

As I mentioned, I just do not know why you have issues which have not been regularly reported by others. I just do not know what I don't experience - and I can't fix problems I cannot duplicate or even SEE actively failing.

This current version addresses MAJOR issues with interacting with TwinSpires where we got the BPP and PL ratings - and Tote data. The TS Ratings were easier to resolve, the tote data was/is harder. We were NEVER going to (or will ever) get Tote data back in the previous version, however we will get it back in this updated version and underlying platform - soon. You are not the only person eagerly wanting live Tote data back!!

I thought to ask you if you cared to test this new version while it was yet unreleased. I thought you'd be curious. I appreciate your first impression comments in that other thread. Even if they came pretty close to the final release date, I waited for you to make contact with me regarding remote troubleshooting as suggested so we could try to resolve your reported issue before final release, but I never heard from you about that, though we had several other email correspondences about other stuff which I thought I replied satisfactorily about.

If it was unclear about what I was asking regarding remote troubleshooting - well that is unfortunate. The offer still stands - no worries! I do not need to take control of your computer. You can simply share whatever screens you wish to demonstrate the issue - presumably just your RDSS screen. That's how Zoom (and Teams and any other remote meeting software) works. Privacy is paramount and controlled by you.

I have removed you from the Leverage/Pace Pre-testing group email list (though that group is now inactive since we're live with the software). I will not ask you to assist in any future testing or bother you for favours. I WILL try to help you if you are having trouble with RDSS - that is part of my job as tech support guy.

I would say, aside from several ongoing bugs which will be addressed soon in upcoming releases (as expected) - the issues which you and Swifty are reporting have not generally been reported by others. As I mentioned - I am eager to address these. But I need your help. Otherwise, as suggested initially - you are welcomed to revert to the previous version.

Best regards,

Ted

[Swifty0x0]

The Tote checkbox is disabled (greyed out). Am I understanding that you're saying it's safe to leave the Get TS and Scratches checkbox enabled even working races the day before (because the Tote is disabled)?

One of the issues before was when RDSS ended up getting the scratches for the current day even though the card might be a future date, resulting in corrupted entries. Is that not a problem anymore?

[Ted Craven]

The Tote checkbox is disabled (greyed out). Am I understanding that you're saying it's safe to leave the Get TS and Scratches checkbox enabled even working races the day before (because the Tote is disabled)?

One of the issues before was when RDSS ended up getting the scratches for the current day even though the card might be a future date, resulting in corrupted entries. Is that not a problem anymore?

When the Get TS Ratings box is CHECKED, the Get Tote box also gets CHECKED. When Get TS Ratings is UNCHECKED, Get Tote is also UNCHECKED. They are always in sync now. The Get Tote box is disabled (greyed-out) but it is CHECKED, per the screenshot below.

54294

The problem was - some users left the Get Tote UNCHECKED while CHECKING the Get TS Ratings (not unreasonably so, since no Tote data is currently available). However this allowed a scenario like you describe of getting scrambled Entries when working on tomorrow's races in the early hours Eastern time. RDSS uses its (not-quite-ready) Tote checking ability to determine if the tomorrow race your are working on should be checked for available TS Ratings. If Get Tote is turned OFF while Get TS Ratings is turned ON, RDSS does not perform this check and you got weird info.

Hence the synch in the new version. And why you should now trust to leave the Get TS Ratings always checked. RDSS should never be confused and get yesterday's TS ratings for tomorrow's race (early in the morning, while moving between yesterday and today).

It's not a problem anymore.

I hope that clarifies things.

Ted