I'm beginning to see some new file attachment wrong file errors again.

[BrianHG]

Just like over a year ago when there was an attempt to insert images inline into threads automatically, where attached files would have the wrong file or be corrupt, I'm beginning to see some new file attachment wrong file errors again.

Here is the latest example:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/beginners/top-gnd-fill-on-4-layer-pcb-yey-or-ney/msg4681351/#msg4681351

Take a look at the red thumbnail for the first 'Amp Board Top.png', the thumbnail is correct, but, when you click on it to view, you get a different picture.  In fact, the picture belongs to the image attached to this message:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/beginners/top-gnd-fill-on-4-layer-pcb-yey-or-ney/msg4681363/#msg4681363

I saw this 2 other time over the past week and just ignored it thinking it was me or just a fluke, but this is the third time and the actual error image was was located again in the next post...

[BrianHG]

Here is another recent post where the correct thumbnail does not match the image inside:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/do-you-guys-use-an-isolation-transformer-for-your-labworkbench/msg4675501/#msg4675501

[langwadt]

I see it too

[pcprogrammer]

This has to do with the fact that they use either the drag and drop method or the first attachment line.

This causes some cache issue to happen and images are mixed up. Has to do with the fact that it already uploads the images to the server when dropped in or selected. When removed as not the intended one or not making the actual post, it is still on the server and used when making a new post.

I believe tautech wrote about this and advised to use only the "(more attachments)" option.

Below an experiment to see if it actually happens like this.

Edit: not with the first test.
Edit2: neither with a second test. I have seen a problem with this at some point that when I did not make the post, I got a warning about there still being an image uploaded to the system and asking if I wanted to use it.
Edit3: deleted the test images

[magic]

This has to do with the fact that they use either the drag and drop method or the first attachment line.

This causes some cache issue to happen and images are mixed up. Has to do with the fact that it already uploads the images to the server when dropped in or selected. When removed as not the intended one or not making the actual post, it is still on the server and used when making a new post.

I believe tautech wrote about this and advised to use only the "(more attachments)" option.

I used to think so, but no.

There are two separate issues here:
1. if you upload an attachment but don't post, the attachment stays on the server and gets automatically added to your next post
2. thumbnail doesn't match the image, the image comes from a different post

I don't know if 2 is related to 1, although it may be. No one seems to understand where 2 comes from and it happens randomly. It was first observed when Dave installed inline images extension on the forum, and it supposedly went away when the extension was disabled (no one seemed to complain about it for over a year) but now it's back although it doesn't look like Dave was tweaking the forum software again.

edit
The wrong image reported by the OP comes from a future post
It looks like the future post's attachment was uploaded correctly and then copied over the earlier image.

[magic]

By they way, has anyone ever observed (now or in the past) that an attachment would be replaced with somebody else's file?
Perhaps it is indeed a bug in the code which tracks uploaded but orphaned attachments.

Whats interesting is that its one of my attachments that is picked, not someone elses. But its from an entirely different thread. That might be clues as to whats causing it.

Which thread it was?
Was the Sagan image uploaded before or after the image which it replaced?

[pcprogrammer]

There are two separate issues here:
1. if you upload an attachment but don't post, the attachment stays on the server and gets automatically added to your next post

Yes, this is what I have experienced, but believe it not to happen when the additional attachment option is used. Have not tested that though.

2. thumbnail doesn't match the image, the image comes from a different post

This is indeed what Brian observed and it is very strange, but the question is if the drag and drop / first attachment option was used by the posters in these cases.

I don't know if 2 is related to 1, although it may be. No one seems to understand where 2 comes from and it happens randomly. It was first observed when Dave installed inline images extension on the forum, and it supposedly went away when the extension was disabled (no one seemed to complain about it for over a year) but now it's back although it doesn't look like Dave was tweaking the forum software again.

edit
The wrong image reported by the OP comes from a future post
It looks like the future post's attachment was uploaded correctly and then copied over the earlier image.

I noticed that too, and it is weird to say the least.

A while back Martin72 complained about the order of the images being different then intended, which might have to do with this issue too. Was in this post https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/need-flying-wire-probes-for-small-feature-pcb-probing/msg4588591/#msg4588591 and he complained about it in the supporters lounge. https://www.eevblog.com/forum/supporters-lounge/shuffled-order-of-uploaded-pics/

[magic]

There are two separate issues here:
1. if you upload an attachment but don't post, the attachment stays on the server and gets automatically added to your next post

Yes, this is what I have experienced, but believe it not to happen when the additional attachment option is used. Have not tested that though.

This happens if you use the methods which upload the file immediately. That's drag&drop or the first attachment line, before clicking (more attachments).
If you use (more attachments) or disable JS things work OK. At least for me.

2. thumbnail doesn't match the image, the image comes from a different post

This is indeed what Brian observed and it is very strange, but the question is if the drag and drop / first attachment option was used by the posters in these cases.

Actually, it would be interesting to know:
- whether the lost file was uploaded that way
- whether the file which replaced it was uploaded that way
People who upload lots of attachments could experiment with that. I'm not one of those

[tautech]

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/supporters-lounge/shuffled-order-of-uploaded-pics/

Bringing what I wrote there here for those that don't have access:

It's forum issue.

Ever since problems with an update/patch Dave installed for how attachments are managed there have been problems and the inline embedment of attachments was a fine time saving idea but it was fraught with problems so Dave uninstalled that functionality which broke how the first attachment works.
Once it was first in the list of thumbnails but the uninstall broke other stuff too and introduced another bug where the first attachment would remain connected to a member and appear in later posts randomly.

The latest forum patch/update (Dec22) fixed some issues with the first attachment but broke the order in which they now appear in a post.

The workaround stems from a time when the first attachment was very buggy which we've used for a few years and is NOT to use the 1st attachment and only subsequent attachments for them to remain in the same order they were uploaded.

^^^This is still the safest way to use the file/image attachment feature.

[magic]

It looks like you first made the post which is broken, then two posts without attachments, and then the post whose attachment broke the earlier post.
The posts refer to different attachment numbers, but the old attachment now contains the same file as the new one.

The same happened to ssashton, except he made no posts between the two which are broken.

Not sure how it's possible, but it could be that the destination for writing the attachment somehow remains "cached" somewhere in your forum profile on the server side and the new attachment is written to the old file, then somehow gets duplicated to the correct location too. I don't know, it's weird.


Regarding D&D, I don't think it's meaningfully different from simply using the first attachment line that appears when you go to the post editor. If you click the small (more attachments) link at the bottom, more lines will appear and those work like in old SMF - the files are only uploaded after you click "post". If you use the first line, files are uploaded immediately and appear as a separate list.

See here where I experimented with this:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/are-there-any-eevblog-server-app-youd-like-to-see-installed/msg4563037/#msg4563037

According to tautech, avoiding the first attachment altogether and always using (more attachments) avoids the issue of new attachments replacing old ones. If true, this could indicate that some server-side code for the special handling of the first attachment is somehow responsible.

[tautech]

According to tautech, avoiding the first attachment altogether and always using (more attachments) avoids the issue of new attachments replacing old ones. If true, this could indicate that some server-side code for the special handling of the first attachment is somehow responsible.

I just made a post with 6 attached images all added disregarding the first attachment and the order was preserved perfectly for each of their URL's to be pasted within the image flags ([ img ]   URL  [ /img ]) to finish as inline images within the body of the post and under the headers/labels arranged for each.

Unfortunately the way this SMF forum works one can only have a single IMG flag with a post so when editing the post using the bottom Edit flag IMG flags also need to be pasted wherever you intend to place a picture before you insert the thumbnail URL's into the post as the final act.
Using the Edit flag keeps the previously uploaded thumbnails and URL's visible for a simple Copy/Paste of URL's into within IMG flags.

Suggest to get a handle on how this is done Quote this post and study the syntax:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/probe-into-probes-whats-up/msg4684580/#msg4684580

[magic]

I noticed something weird: in both cases linked here, a JPG got replaced with PNG or vice versa. (File name remained unchanged).

I unblocked JS and posted a few JPG/PNG images alternately, but it didn't trigger the bug.
So at least we know it doesn't happen every time when such posts are made.

[pcprogrammer]

Here is another one where the first image gets replaced with an other one 

[BrianHG]

Here is another one where the first image gets replaced with an other one 

Another one just a few posts down: Here

[pcprogrammer]

Looking in that thread there are other things wrong too.

The image seen in the post I mentioned comes from this one: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/beginners/power-brick-failure-500-ohm-between-phase-(or-neutral)-and-earth/msg4690307/#msg4690307

In the same thread but message msg4690220 from wraper the enlarged image in the message itself is the correct one but the thumbnail is messed up.

It seems to be the second image from the post I referred to in my previous post 

Edit: @BrianHG. You found the same one, but at first your link was not leading to it for some reason.

[magic]

No, the thumbnail is right, but the image is teleported from here
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/beginners/power-brick-failure-500-ohm-between-phase-(or-neutral)-and-earth/msg4691462/#msg4691462

So it's business as usual, first image gets replaced with the first image from a future post. Probably wraper hasn't uploaded any attachments between these two posts.

[pcprogrammer]

  I only checked out the first page of that thread and thought there was some cross contamination in the pictures between two members, but you are right, and wraper most likely downloaded the image from ratatax his post.

[BrianHG]

Here is another one...

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/beginners/decade-counter-with-transistor-experiment/msg4718234/#msg4718234

The first attachment.

[eti]

Talking of errors due to antiquated (but mostly stable?) forum software... what is with the inexcusable, egregious UI nightmare that is the link area  in the footer of the forums... why has this forum run by SUCH intelligent, clever people, been left like this? It's about 1/2 hr of code change, max, I'd think!

You could not DESIGN a lower contrast UI, and on top of that it has a "perforations" repeating bg img, to make the problem even worse. This is NOT a dig at dear Dave, this is a "Why can't someone just take a short time and fix it?" question. It does kinda give the impression "We couldn't care less" when one sees it.... well, if that's what you want, well...
 
A product should never be "Meh, good enough" - it's not like asking for a find/replace to be made in the entire C++ source code repos worldwide, or the changing of the colours on Buckingham Palace stationary!

I do understand you're busy, but if this is the core of your community, and you have spare time to spend making battery/solar rant videos, maybe, possibly, this could be fixed, one day?

Thanks



[EDIT]

A quick fiddle in Chrome Dev tools (F12) and some minor CSS changes, and it's fixed; it's LITERALLY JUST a hex change in CSS link colours.

[tautech]

The SMF Footer is just perfect, leave it the fuck alone.
I and most just don't need to see it and if it was a visual as you suggest whom could recommend SMF to anybody ? 

[eti]

The SMF Footer is just perfect, leave it the fuck alone.
I and most just don't need to see it and if it was a visual as you suggest whom could recommend SMF to anybody ? 

“Perfect”  - amusing. It’s as far from “perfect” as east is from west. It’s hideously poorly designed, so as to not even be worth having there. It’s LITERALLY a minor CSS change. Wow…

“I and most…”

Who are “most”? You’re blind to what “most” want, since there’s absolutely no way you’re able to survey and ask every single member of this forum, or other forums using this code.

The most common, lazy argument is “most people” - that’s the oldest cop out in history. You can’t assume that because “not many have complained” that it isn’t a problem. Use some sense.

You’ve just told me clearly that you’re definitely NOT someone who designs human interfaces, and most likely an engineer.

At Apple, the engineers aren’t allowed anywhere near what designers and UX experts are working on. Engineers engineer, designers design. Electronics engineers are told where the PCB will go, what the dimensions of the designed object are AND THAT IS IT. They don’t get an opinion on how the external aesthetics look or how the functionality works - it’s “we need this circuit and in that space - make one please”.

This is why Linux GUIs are generally hideous and clumsy - people take on dual roles, assuming this because they can write code that they also can understand human psychology and the beauty of objects and how to make them work optimally and with minimal cognitive load.

Nope.

[gnif]

I hate to wake this thread up again but with the recent changes on the server this issue should be resolved. If it is not, please let me know.