Topic: Post Failure with large attached image

[thegallery]

 

I got motivated when I received the news email and the encouragement to come back to PC-Pals.  (By the way, I don't see any problem with your guys dropping a newsletter to your membership once a month; we can always opt out). I have continually stopped in over the years and found it a great resource.

So I wrote up a big report in response to my own queries a while back )on how I'd configured my Windows 7 theme with a lot of neat transparencies. I pointed to three programs I use with sort of a mini-tutorial on how to get the same rocking look and functionality. Along with the post I included two large image attachment, and that's when things went wrong.

I'm not sure if it was when I clicked "preview" or if I just went to "post" but because the images were too large it reported an error. But regrettably my entire post was lost when I went 'back'. I've seen this happen on a lot of forums, (not sure which), but also seen some forums automatically save my posts when dealing with the same issue (again not sure which). Somehow they save the form and when you go 'back' it's still there. Some might even save as you type, (like I'm pretty sure the lifehacker.com comment system saves as you type).

I thought I'd report it to you all to see if Simple Machines has a fix or a way around it. On a couple of forums I use regularly I've taken to composing my posts in a WP first so I don't lose them, but it's rather redundant...

[Rik]

It should refuse the post, but return you to the reply/post box. Although you can't re-sbumit, you can copy/paste from there...

[thegallery]

Hey Rik, however it happened it definitely didn't do that in IE. I went back and it was an empty "post reply" page. In another SM forum if I go back it does the same thing; loses your post. But in that forum if the image doesn't  work it just tells you and leaves you with your preview post ready to edit your attachments. This one just reported the failure with no preview, and said go back to edit, and when I went back it was gone.

by the way , another problem I've found with Simple Machines in IE, is when I fill up the text area, as I type anything below the visible the scroll constantly jumps up and down from the visible text area to where you are typing. It's almost impossible to read or edit when this happens. I'm not sure if the same thing happens in Firefox, but it definitely seems to be a problem with SM.

[Rik]

It doesn't happen in FF for me. I don't know how the server is set up here, so you probably need to wait for Simon or Sam or Clive.

If you want to test, I can PM you my other forum, where we have a 512k attachment limit.

[Clive]

No point in asking me.  I'm only an Admin.   

[Rik]

He was only a poor Admin on Pals
Though exceptionally popular with gals
It was his undoing
And now he is ruing
The day he got caught by the...

[sam]

I'm a bit busy at work at the moment... will take a look later and get back to you.

[Simon]

Hi TG, sorry you've experienced problems.

We have only recently introduced the attachments facility on the Tech boards here, and following Rik's lead, I have just increased the maximum attachment size to 512Kb, with a maximum of 2 attachments per post.

Hey Rik, however it happened it definitely didn't do that in IE. I went back and it was an empty "post reply" page. In another SM forum if I go back it does the same thing; loses your post. But in that forum if the image doesn't  work it just tells you and leaves you with your preview post ready to edit your attachments. This one just reported the failure with no preview, and said go back to edit, and when I went back it was gone.

As for 'losing' the text from the text input box, I believe this not to be an SMF issue, as such, but something that seems to occur if you navigate away from the page you're typing on, before actually making the post.  It has happened occasionally to me, and whilst I agree, it's most annoying, I don't think it's actually a fault with the forum, but a symptom of user navigation.  A 'failed' attachment should return you to the post, as Rik said above, and you can then copy the text to re-submit the post.  I also believe that this may be dependant, to a degree, on the way your browser handles cookies.  If my memory serves me correctly, did you not have a problem with cookies, and with staying logged in to the forum, some while back?  I wonder if that could be related?

by the way , another problem I've found with Simple Machines in IE, is when I fill up the text area, as I type anything below the visible the scroll constantly jumps up and down from the visible text area to where you are typing. It's almost impossible to read or edit when this happens. I'm not sure if the same thing happens in Firefox, but it definitely seems to be a problem with SM.

I think that is definitely a browser issue, as it doesn't happen in SeaMonkey or Firefox.

[sam]

by the way , another problem I've found with Simple Machines in IE, is when I fill up the text area, as I type anything below the visible the scroll constantly jumps up and down from the visible text area to where you are typing. It's almost impossible to read or edit when this happens. I'm not sure if the same thing happens in Firefox, but it definitely seems to be a problem with SM.

I'll have to try and replicate that... I guess the thing is IE is... well 

[Rik]

We had to make the forum specifically IE-friendly, because of MS bending of HTML.

[sam]

We had to make the forum specifically IE-friendly, because of MS bending of HTML.

yeah, IE really does not follow the standards.

[Rik]

Only their own, Sam.

[sam]

Only their own, Sam.

well I'd argue that they don't even do that!

[Rik]

You wouldn't be wrong, seeing we need to make different changes for IE6, IE7 and IE8.

[Simon]

It should just be killed off!