• Registered: 09-27-2006
  • Posts: 2

Topic: Yikes! Problems on day one.

I stumbled across Billable today just as I went from 'employee' to consultant. I installed it and started work on a project. At first, I thought it was the best thing since sliced bread...then..trouble arose. I made 3 seperate entries for one account and accidently deleted one. I couldn't get it back. I've no idea how long I worked on that particular item, so missing the data is like missing $$ from my paycheck. Clicking around got me nowhere. There was no accesable backup, no history, no back button, and command-Z didn't work.

As a precaution, I took a screen shot of what was left of the statement, and then quit the appliction, thinking that a restart might somehow help.

Oh no! Upon attempting to restart, this is the message I got: This version of Billable uses a new database format. Migration to this new format is only supported in 1.0b6 and greater. Plese quit billable, erase  your existing user files as discussed on the wiki <http://wiki.clickablebliss.com/ billable_manual:where_does_billable_store_its_files> and relaunch. Sorry about the inconvenience.

OY! ...and to make matters worse, I couldn't even copy that message but have to type the whole thing in.

So......what happend to my data? Am I screwed or what?

It sure would be nice to have a controlable save function. Oh yes, it woudln't let me do that either. ...and a time/date accessable restore function for fumble-fingered idiots like me!

-Mousepusher

  • zorn
  • Administrator
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  • From: Media, PA
  • Registered: 07-09-2006
  • Posts: 583

Re: Yikes! Problems on day one.

As far as the Migration warning, this is due to a bug in 1.0 where in some meta data isn't set until you save for the first time. If something goes really south before you save Billable for the first time Billable thinks the database is from a really early beta release.

This is fixed in a 1.0.1 release which is in private testing and should be out in a few days.

As to why the delete service did not come back on undo I'm not sure. I'm not able to reproduce such a bug.

If you like, please send me your Billable.sqlite file found at:

~/Library/Application Support/Billable/

to mike@clickablebliss.com and I can try to fix your store. From the sound of the error however it doesn't seem like it did save so I'm not sure what'll be in there.

I will take this problem to heart and see what else I can add to 1.0.1 to avoid such a problem in the future.

I'm truly sorry for the trouble.

zorn's Website

  • Registered: 09-27-2006
  • Posts: 2

Re: Yikes! Problems on day one.

Thanks for the kind offer. But...I managed to recreate enough from my screen shot and own creative memory to deal with the bits that got trashed.

I did chuck all the bad pieces and reloaded the program and so far, it seems to be working well. 

This time, I decided to take an assertive 'save as you go' attitude to help mitigate fumbling fingers and cats walking on keyboards. Still, it would be nice to have a 'revert to saved' function, or some kind of history pallet. Is that hard to do? I have no clue!

BTW...how many undo's are available? I sure hope there is more than one! That would be a feature that could save a creature like me from total disaster!

Well, tomorrow is another day, so I'll put it to the test again. ...and yes, a menu-bar button would be nice, but not necessary. Unless it were hooked to a visible client, when you work simultaiously on multiple  projects for different clients, you could easily end up logging time for the wrong person unless you could see who you were billing.

PS...do I have to turn the program off at the end of the day to get it to make an internal backup? Or is that handled by clocktime?

Cheers! -Mousepusher

  • zorn
  • Administrator
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  • From: Media, PA
  • Registered: 07-09-2006
  • Posts: 583

Re: Yikes! Problems on day one.

The undo level is theoretically unlimited.

I would recommend quitting the app at the end of the day. Not sure what you mean by "internal backup".

zorn's Website

  • Registered: 10-29-2006
  • Posts: 3

Re: Yikes! Problems on day one.

Unless I'm mistaken, I think he's asking how often the app commits the data to disk.

  • zorn
  • Administrator
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  • From: Media, PA
  • Registered: 07-09-2006
  • Posts: 583

Re: Yikes! Problems on day one.

the1silverwolf wrote:

Unless I'm mistaken, I think he's asking how often the app commits the data to disk.

It saves the data on quit, or whenever you manually issue a Save command. I am looking into offering auto-save ever X minutes at some point.

zorn's Website

  • Registered: 10-06-2009
  • Posts: 1

Re: Yikes! Problems on day one.

Its October 2009 and I've just had the same problem with the latest version. I can no longer access my invoices!!!! Arrrggh

Great program but this happening out of the blue is a huge problem.

Any suggestions?