topic Re: Turning on and off layer clears undo history in Project data & BIM

Turning on and off layer clears undo history

Anonymous — Tue, 30 May 2023 10:35:20 GMT

Is it a confirmed bug that (sometimes) turning ON and OFF a layer clears the undo history? Anyone had this happen?

Re: Turning on and off layer clears undo history

Barry Kelly — Wed, 12 Feb 2020 07:09:30 GMT

benjamin_chan wrote:
Anyone had this happen?

Is this in plan or elevation?

I just tried and I am not seeing it in plan, but I do in elevation - sometimes.
But only for one particular layer (I haven't tested them all).
Draw a line, turn the layer off, OK, turn the layer on and undo does not work.
But if I do the same thing in another layer it is fine - undo works.
Go back to the first layer and it doesn't work again.

A mystery it seems.

It could just be that there is something in that layer that forces a re-build when it is turned on.
If you re-build an elevation, the undo queue is lost.

That is why I asked if your problem is in an elevation.

Barry.

Re: Turning on and off layer clears undo history

Anonymous — Wed, 12 Feb 2020 07:12:04 GMT

Yes it happened to me in a section. However only intermittently so I'm not sure what the pattern is, but I suspect what you're saying is right (as in if it forces a re-build then the undo history is lost, which is annoying)

Re: Turning on and off layer clears undo history

Minh Nguyen — Tue, 18 Feb 2020 14:41:30 GMT

Hi all,

Thank you for reporting the issue and I am sorry about the experience!

Thanks to Barry's description, last night I managed to replicate the issue on one of my large project files. It seems true that if turning layers on/off triggering a Rebuild, the Undo queue will be cleared. But since then, whenever I tried to record the issue for further investigation, unfortunately, I cannot make it happen anymore, even with bigger files, different machines and so on!

I would be extremely grateful if any of you could help me with recording this issue. For some reason, it wants to avoid me somehow!

I'll try again when I have time to see if I can catch it. Once we have the evidence, I may have something to ask the developer about!

Wish you all a great day!

Best regards,
Minh

Re: Turning on and off layer clears undo history

Barry Kelly — Wed, 04 Mar 2020 09:37:16 GMT

Sorry, it took me a while to get back to this.

It seems if you turn off a layer (when in section or elevation) that has a 3D element in it, that forces a rebuild of the model, and hence deletes the undo queue.
If the layer you are turning of does not have any 3D elements (if it contains 2D elements there is no problem), the undo queue is not deleted.

I guess this does not happen in plan as that is just a 2D representation?

Barry.

Re: Turning on and off layer clears undo history

Minh Nguyen — Wed, 04 Mar 2020 19:07:22 GMT

Hi Barry,

That’s exactly what I tested earlier, which is to hide a layer with the most 3D elements in the current section. Many times, I couldn’t achieve it.

I tried it again today. Finally, I caught it on camera ! I will forward it to our Technical Support team for further investigation, but I must say, I’m not really sure if we can find a bug from it, as it is very very hard to reproduce.

Thank you very much!

Best regards,
Minh

Re: Turning on and off layer clears undo history

Minh Nguyen — Mon, 06 Apr 2020 12:47:36 GMT

Hi All,

I have finally got a word from the developer. It's likely a problem with the QuickLayers add-on or the ARCHICAD API it uses to modify layers. We have entered it as a defect into our system for further investigation. Thank you once again for raising the issue!

I wish you a great week, and stay safe!

Best regards,
Minh

Re: Turning on and off layer clears undo history

Barry Kelly — Mon, 06 Apr 2020 14:42:23 GMT

mnguyen wrote:
It's likely a problem with the QuickLayers add-on or the ARCHICAD API it uses to modify layers.

Hi Minh,
I don’t think it has anything to do with the quick layers add-on, as I wasn’t using that.
I think it is just because a 3D element is being modified which forces a rebuild.
And a rebuild in sections and elevations means the undo queue is deleted.

Barry.

Re: Turning on and off layer clears undo history

Minh Nguyen — Mon, 06 Apr 2020 15:03:17 GMT

Hi Barry,

That’s what I initially thought, but given the fact that I cannot reproduce the issue by turning layers on/off using the Layers dialog, and can rarely reproduce it via Quick Layers palette, I cannot do anything further. As I mentioned, unless I can find a stable way to reproduce it, or at least have it on record, I can’t enter it as a defect, unfortunately

I understand the frustration though! I keep trying and trying, but have no luck in catching the bug

Best regards,
Minh

Re: Turning on and off layer clears undo history

Barry Kelly — Tue, 07 Apr 2020 00:54:48 GMT

Very easy to reproduce.
Open new template.
Place some walls in a walls layer.
Some slabs in a slab layer.
Open elevation 1 and add some text in a text layer and more text in a label layer.

Move any text and you can undo it.
Move text in text layer and turn off label layer - you can still undo the move.
Move text in the text layer and turn of the slab or wall layer - you can not undo the move.

It seems turning off a layer with a 3D element forces a rebuild of the elevation and deletes the undo queue.

Barry.

Re: Turning on and off layer clears undo history

Minh Nguyen — Tue, 07 Apr 2020 10:05:40 GMT

Hi Barry,

Thank you very much for your help! That's definitely something worth another investigation!

Essentially, that was what I tested, which is to create some walls and slabs, then move one of these in sections, but the difference is I always use the biggest plan file that I have at the moment, in order to trigger the spinning "Generating Section/Elev." after hiding the layer. But then somehow the Undo queue is still there to undo the move action (I feel so embarrassed right now )

Either it is because of the plan file I use, or either the "Generating Section/Elev." trigger the generation but still keep the Undo queue? I'm not sure, but let me ask the developer once again to see what was the technical reason that causes this defect!

Once again, thank you very much for your guidance! This is a great help for me!

As soon as I have an answer from the developers, I will let you know. Have a nice day!

Best regards,
Minh

Re: Turning on and off layer clears undo history

runxel — Tue, 07 Apr 2020 15:32:00 GMT

Barry wrote:
It seems turning off a layer with a 3D element forces a rebuild of the elevation and deletes the undo queue.

Nice conclusion. I can reproduce it here as well very easily.

Re: Turning on and off layer clears undo history

Minh Nguyen — Tue, 26 May 2020 13:04:11 GMT

Dear All,

I'm very sorry about such a late answer due to the lack of manpower from the developer side!

The described reproduction is a technical limitation. The texts are on the "image" of the elevation and as such entities they might be associated to the images of elements rendered on the section. When you hide a layer, the image of the section needs to be regenerated. This causes all changes made on elements that exist on the image of the section to be not-undoable anymore and clears the undo history until the last of such change.

In conclusion, this is a technical limitation, unfortunately!

I hope this will address your concern! If you have any further questions, feel free to ask me again!

Best regards,
Minh.