Author Topic: Error Creating Directory Entry many popups when starting or doing things  (Read 9224 times)

Kork

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SlickEdit 2013 (v18.0.1.2 64-bit)
Win 7 Enterprise 64-bit


This started today (reboot after weekend) so I don't know what's going on.

It pops up a little window with "Error Creating Directory Entry".

This happens in these situations:

1. Starting Slick Edit (sometimes)
2. Searching big directories recursively (which makes the search "stuck" somewhere.)

If I click Ok, the search continues, but I usually encounter 5-6 of these stuck popups.

I tried deleting everything in My Slickedit Config under Documents.  Slick Edit is reset to factory more or less (you would know this; I don't) and it wants to drive me through a setup wizard.

Anyway, whatever the problem is, it isn't in that Documents folder.

Also, I have no *.stu files, which is the only other reference I can find using Google, on this site.  So both threads I can find, one from 2006, and one from 2014, do not have a working solution (anymore.)


Kork

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Here's a little more info on the search part of it anyway.

Sometimes it gets stuck on a file and puts up that popup.  Click Ok, pops up again, click Ok again, and then the search window says:

Failed to open:  (some path)\some file.c or .h (which is the filter I'm using)

However, Slick Edit can indeed open those files.  You can copy the path and open it and boom, open in Slick Edit.  Indeed, even if the file is already open in Slick Edit, it happens again.

You should put an AI button on that popup with the text we can click:  "Are you sure you can't open it?  It's open right there behind you inside of you!" :) :) :)

Graeme

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How long have you been using slickedit for  - since 2013?
Does the error happen every single time you search recursively in a big folder?
How many files and folders in the big folder?
Are you doing a "background search"  - if so, try swapping to foreground search - there's a checkbox in the find/replace dialog.
Have you tried running a check-disk on your hard drive?
Are there any errors showing in the system event viewer when you get this problem?

Sometimes deleting a file called vslick.sta (with slick closed) can help but if you already tried deleting your entire config folder than deleting vslick.sta won't help.

Kork

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This has only been going on for a few weeks.  I have been using Slick Edit for 6 months now.

What's the empty directory it's failing to create, and why?

Does Slick Edit create a parallel tree in some temp folder somewhere as it's traversing the real tree?

Kork

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Let me ask a different question -- Slick Edit is creating temporary files somewhere.  Where is this setting so I can see if (Slick Edit Temp Path) + (my file path) > 255?

I want to redirect it to c:\tmp\ and see if that fixes it.

Graeme

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For temporary files, try tools -> options -> application options -> virtual memory -> spill file.  The error message you're seeing may not indicate what the real problem was, just that there's a bug or something somewhere.

A couple more suggestions.
Try searching the slick macro source files for "error creating directory entry".  I think there's only two, both in fileman.e  - but they don't seem to fit what you're seeing.  Sometimes slick patches text strings together to make a message and searching for "error creating directory" finds a few more things.  If you can find one that fits what you're seeing, you can add a call to _StackDump(0) just before the code that outputs the error message - to get an idea of what slick was doing at the time.  If the first argument is one the output goes to a log file in your config folder, zero goes to the screen.  If you modify a slick source file, you can load it using the load module command on the macro menu.  I couldn't find "error creating directory entry" in vs.exe.

Another thing you can try is use ProcMon from sysinternals (Microsoft).  Filter on vs.exe.  When you see the problem, stop logging in procmon.  On the ProcMon tools menu, click "file summary", then in the dialog that comes up, select the "by folder" tab and you'll see all the folders that slick has been accessing, select the "by extension" tab also.

Kork

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There was no spill file set, so I directed it to c:\tmp\, a new directory I created just to make a really short name.

This seems to have worked (so far) but if it's still good in 2 weeks then that must have been it.

Should there have been a spill file?

Also, for our projects, we bind the source code root to a drive letter, and re-use the same drive letter for different projects, which have mostly but not completely similar folder trees.  Could changing what the drive letter points to several times without restarting Slick edit have an effect on this, too (perhaps in addition to no spill file)?

Graeme

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I should have said to read the "help" detail for "spill file path" that is shown at the bottom of the options dialog  - as shown below.

Quote
Specifies the directory for spill and temporary files. On Windows, this defaults to the directory specified by the TEMP environmentvariable. If it does not exist, the directory specified by the TMP environment variable is used. On UNIX, this defaults to the directory specified by the TMP environment variable. Press Delete to clear this field, specifying the default.

Regarding the drive mapping, I wouldn't have thought there was any connection with the error dialog you're getting  - but it might cause some other problems, not sure what though.

I wonder why would your system get this problem and no-one else.  When you say "big directory" -  are there ultra-long path-names or just large numbers of files.  I don't like the fact that I cannot find a string "error creating directory entry" in slick C sources or in vs.exe  - I guess it could be in a dll though.


Kork

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Re: Error Creating Directory Entry many popups when starting or doing things
« Reply #8 on: September 19, 2018, 02:16:16 PM »
Well the spill file must have been it because I haven't had the problem since.

As for large, both.  Many deep directories, many files, many paths > 256.  No single filenames > 256 though.