Slideshow on macOS 12.3 Absolute App Freeze

[jkm]

Hello, the slideshow feature is resulting in a total app freeze. The Activity Monitor is showing nothing is using up tons of the CPU, but the program becomes unresponsive to all input.

Steps to reproduce:

* select photos
* start slideshow (my settings are attached).
* push space to go forward a few times
* press ESC to exit slideshow
* PM becomes unresponsive to all input, and all menus and keyboard shortcuts are unavailable. (Command Tab still works to get into another program. Only solution is to force quit PM and relaunch.)
* the issue does not seem to happen if the slideshow is finished and after the last photo the slideshow ends and PM goes to normal. (only tested this on a small group of photos, but presumably it would not freeze even if a big group of photos was used for the slideshow and viewed all the way to the end).
* happens when starting a big slideshow and then exiting a few photos after starting.

[Kirk Baker]

Hello, the slideshow feature is resulting in a total app freeze. The Activity Monitor is showing nothing is using up tons of the CPU, but the program becomes unresponsive to all input.

Steps to reproduce:

* select photos
* start slideshow (my settings are attached).
* push space to go forward a few times
* press ESC to exit slideshow
* PM becomes unresponsive to all input, and all menus and keyboard shortcuts are unavailable. (Command Tab still works to get into another program. Only solution is to force quit PM and relaunch.)
* the issue does not seem to happen if the slideshow is finished and after the last photo the slideshow ends and PM goes to normal. (only tested this on a small group of photos, but presumably it would not freeze even if a big group of photos was used for the slideshow and viewed all the way to the end).
* happens when starting a big slideshow and then exiting a few photos after starting.

I followed your instructions and used your settings on a total of 1,600+ images selected and the slideshow ended on ESC and the app was responsive.  I let all transitions finish before moving on from one image to the next and also when pressing the ESC key.  You did not say how quickly you were advancing.  If particular advancing timing is required, please specify.

I'm going to have you turn on some additional logging.  You need to create a plain text file named PMDebug.txt and it has to be in PM's Preferences folder.

PM's Preferences folder will be in the following location:

~/Library/Preferences/com.camerabits.PhotoMechanic/

Unfortunately Apple decided a few OS versions ago to hide the Library folder within your home folder.  You can still get there though by using the "Go to Folder..." command on the Go menu in the Finder.  Enter the path above in the dialog that appears.

Create your PMDebug.txt file there and make it have the following contents:

SLIDESHOW_LOGGING ON

Save the file and relaunch PM and reproduce the problem.  After you restart from your force quit, use the "Reveal Support Data..." command on the Help menu to get the updated zipped log file.  Attach it to your reply to this message.  Use the 'Attachments and other options' link when you're composing your reply to this message and there you'll be able to upload your zipped log file.

Thanks,

-Kirk

[jkm]

Thank you so much.

I created the file and relaunched PM. I started with a folder of 1000 photos. No issue. Then a folder of 83. No issue.Then a folder of 4520 photos. No issue. Even tried to rate some photos. No issue. Same settings as when I had the bug.

I don't understand, because earlier today this was totally repeatable.

Earlier today, I had this issue four times out of five. The only time I didn't have it was with a folder of just four pictures after having the problem two times in a row with bigger folders. When I went back to a bigger folder, I had the problem twice in a row.

I did change some preferences for the slideshow shortly before this happened. (But haven't changed any of them since it was happening.) I can't remember exactly what I changed.

But as of now, I cannot get this issue to show up again.

Sorry for not being able to tell you how to reproduce this bug, but I'll keep my eye open if it ever happens again, and try to figure out why. Maybe an edge case in the slideshow logic was triggered somehow by what I was doing before, although I'm trying to do the exact same thing now.

Thank you so much.

[jkm]

While I'm here, one thing that would greatly help the slideshow is if there is a setting for advancing it after pressing a rating/tagging/color class key.

[jkm]

While I'm here, one thing that would greatly help the slideshow is if there is a setting for advancing it after pressing a rating/tagging/color class key.

Or, to explain why I am using slideshow in the first place, it's because I can't use the space bar to advance the photos in the normal preview mode.

My fingers can awfully painful after using the arrow keys for hours, and the space bar for advancing to the next photo makes it easier by switching up what part of my muscles are getting tired.

[Kirk Baker]

While I'm here, one thing that would greatly help the slideshow is if there is a setting for advancing it after pressing a rating/tagging/color class key.

Please make a feature request in the Feature Requests board: http://forums.camerabits.com/index.php?board=3.0

[Kirk Baker]

Thank you so much.

I created the file and relaunched PM. I started with a folder of 1000 photos. No issue. Then a folder of 83. No issue.Then a folder of 4520 photos. No issue. Even tried to rate some photos. No issue. Same settings as when I had the bug.

I don't understand, because earlier today this was totally repeatable.

Turn that logging back off (just change the ON to OFF and re-save the file) and restart PM.  Does the problem return?

The logging code does take some time to execute so if there is some timing related problem, it may make the problem harder to reproduce.

-Kirk

[Kirk Baker]

While I'm here, one thing that would greatly help the slideshow is if there is a setting for advancing it after pressing a rating/tagging/color class key.

Or, to explain why I am using slideshow in the first place, it's because I can't use the space bar to advance the photos in the normal preview mode.

My fingers can awfully painful after using the arrow keys for hours, and the space bar for advancing to the next photo makes it easier by switching up what part of my muscles are getting tired.

The Preview window can auto advance on making those edits.  Have you tried turning them on?  (Preview page of the Preferences dialog.)

-Kirk

[jkm]

I'm so sorry, I did not think there would be any more replies to this, and I have been busy with over 70 hours of work a week, so I didn't check back again.

Thanks for your excellent customer support and checking back multiple times even though I did not.

* I do use the preview window normally, and I do have the auto advance set for the Preview window after pressing a key (which is why I was hoping for it to be there in the slideshow view).

My only issue with the preview window is I need to use the arrow key to advance if I don't want to push any other buttons, and having the space bar as an option to advance when my finger is tired from pushing the arrow key would eliminate the need to use the slideshow option sometimes.

* I have not run into the issue again, but I did forget to turn off debugging. Does the debugging slow anything down or keep storing stuff on disk with no limit to how much is used? If it fixes the problem, maybe I'll just leave it on. But if it's secretly filling up my disk or slowing something down, then I guess I should turn it off now.

Thanks again!

[Kirk Baker]

I'm so sorry, I did not think there would be any more replies to this, and I have been busy with over 70 hours of work a week, so I didn't check back again.

Thanks for your excellent customer support and checking back multiple times even though I did not.

* I do use the preview window normally, and I do have the auto advance set for the Preview window after pressing a key (which is why I was hoping for it to be there in the slideshow view).

My only issue with the preview window is I need to use the arrow key to advance if I don't want to push any other buttons, and having the space bar as an option to advance when my finger is tired from pushing the arrow key would eliminate the need to use the slideshow option sometimes.

* I have not run into the issue again, but I did forget to turn off debugging. Does the debugging slow anything down or keep storing stuff on disk with no limit to how much is used? If it fixes the problem, maybe I'll just leave it on. But if it's secretly filling up my disk or slowing something down, then I guess I should turn it off now.

It does indeed both change the timing of the slideshow and build up over time, but you can delete the log anytime you like with no ill effects.

-Kirk

[jkm]

Thank you very much!