Pixel Tree Model-Indiv Start Chans broken in 2017.16

[robskimeister]

Hi!  I'd like to report a bug I found in 2017.16 64-bit for Windows.

I've verified that something changed between 2017.15 and 2017.16 because my channels show up correctly in the layout of 2017.15, but they're incorrect in 2017.16.  Please see the attached pic.

The channels ARE correct in the xlights_rgbeffects.xml file, but in the xLights layout interface they are NOT correct.   So something in the program logic seems to be interpreting the model data incorrectly.

FYI:  When I set up my pixel tree awhile back I skipped channels/outputs between strands and then ended up inserting other models between them.  I was still learning back then & now realize this wasn't the best way to set it up, but nevertheless that's the way it is and it was working fine as of 2017.15.

Here's my pixel tree model from my xlights_rgbeffects.xml file:

Code: [Select]

<model name="Pixel Tree" Advanced="1" String1="7417" String2="8017" String3="9817" String4="10117" String5="11017" String6="11317" String7="12217" String8="12517" DisplayAs="Tree 180" StringType="RGB Nodes" parm1="8" parm2="100" parm3="2" StartSide="B" Dir="L" PixelSize="2" Transparency="0" ModelBrightness="0" Antialias="1" LayoutGroup="Default" Description="50px/strand; 16 strands; 800px total" offsetXpct="0.2148" offsetYpct="0.1881" PreviewScaleX="0.1160" PreviewScaleY="0.2930" PreviewRotation="0" versionNumber="1" StartChannel="7417"/>
The incorrect channels are reflected while playing sequences; I have all sorts of random patterns & colors from other models showing up on the pixel tree.

Please let me know if you need my entire xlights_rgbeffects.xml file or any additional information.

Thanks!

[Ebuechner]

I think this might be related. I noticed start channels that were off on my Matrix and mega tree so I went in to correct them then save, now when I open xlights it gives me an error saying It can't open my RGB effects file

[robskimeister]

I think this might be related. I noticed start channels that were off on my Matrix and mega tree so I went in to correct them then save, now when I open xlights it gives me an error saying It can't open my RGB effects file

Hmmm... Could be.  I thought about changing my channels back, but when I looked in the rgbeffects file to see what was actually stored, the values were correct.  So I didn't bother changing them.

Hopefully you have a good backup of your file in your backup folder.

Also, the developers might want to see the corrupt file to help debug what's happening.

[Gilrock]

I believe those problems are unrelated.  I see the channel numbers being wrong and we will look into it.  The corruption is not related.  I got a corrupted file the other day and upon inspection it had somehow written out the string numbers twice in the same record.  I just deleted that one model and got the file working.

[Ebuechner]

Both my Christmas and Halloween rgbeffects files got corrupted by making changes in 2017.16 .
I dropped back to 2017.15 and used backups to get up and running. Gil I know you said that they're not related but something happened. I was rearranging and organizing to accommodate the new Falcon controllers I received making changes in the network set up then in the layout for my Christmas and Halloween directories then I went back to open them and found that both of them were corrupted. I went to my backups and did the same thing with 2017.15 and I didn't have a problem.

[Gilrock]

Well maybe it was related.  Only way to know is if you have the corrupted xlights_rgbeffects.xml file to show us.

[Ebuechner]

I went back into my backups and pulled the rgbeffects files from the day i had the problems.

[Gilrock]

Yep it is related.  After I saw what the problem was in the code I thought maybe it was.  What happened was a space was added between the word "String" and the number of the string.  The code probably looked like it was just a display string but its actually also used as the name of the string to be stored in the XML file.  So anyone that modifies a models'  Individual Start Channels in version 2017.16 is going to end up with a corrupted xlights_rgbeffects.xml file.

The file can be fixed manually.  If you for instance find the model shown below you will see you have every string listed twice like "String21" and "String 21".  Well that name is not allowed to have a space like that so the parser is going to complain.  You would need to delete one of them for each number and delete all those spaces after "String".  Maybe you don't want to do this but I describe this for all because someone may want to manually fix their file.

name="Window-2 Matrix" String 21="#28:1561"