Ensure that nothing is corrupted if user shuts down Windows while PS is running

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Testing has shown that PicasaStarter doesn't finish exiting before windows 
forces it to stop when logging off or shutting down.
This can cause loss of PicasaStarter settings file if it is being rewritten 
when logoff occurs.
Worst problem is if localized version of XP has renamed database path and can't 
get it renamed back before being stopped. In this case user will need to 
restart PS on the localized XP PC then exit it to fix the problem, or rename 
the path back to correct english name.

Fix right now is to tell the user not to logoff while PS is running.

We should think about if it is worth trying to get the windows message loop to 
tell us so we can delay logoff till exit is done.

This is low priority and I will look at it in spare time.  - Earl

Original issue reported on code.google.com by earlb...@gmail.com on 5 Nov 2011 at 5:55

[GoogleCodeExporter]

After my experience last night I think this needs to be a higher priority.

I had a power failure while Picasa was running (via PicasaStarter). When I 
rebooted and tried PicasaStarter again, it told me I was still running a copy, 
and gave me the warning panel. I presume that you are using some sort of flag 
semaphore - it might be better to actually check for a running Picasa task?

After confirming that Picasa was not running, I told PS to proceed.

However, at that point, Picasa started reindexing all my photos. Although I 
cancelled and restarted, of course that just continued. As I could not see any 
alternative, I let it run, and that eventually finished.

As far as I can see, things loot OK, EXCEPT for face recognition. All the faces 
are being rescanned, but so far there are many that are just not being picked 
up at all. Maybe they will be found eventually, but I am not hopeful.

Bottom line: It is not much use telling the user to wait till PS is not running 
before logging off, as that is not always possible. A more robust solution is 
required.

Thanks.
Geoffrey

Original comment by ggrin...@gmail.com on 2 Jan 2012 at 1:37

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Hi Geoffrey:  Thanks for your input and interest!
Hopefully you have a backup or another copy of your original database.  If you 
do, you can just erase the new one and copy the original there instead, and you 
should have your faces back, but yes, this is the reason I am worried about 
this problem.
We write a text file to the database directory and erase it when we leave, so 
that is our flag. It is really to prevent 2 users from trying to use the 
database at the same4 time.
As for the face tag issue, we can talk about that more on the forum where 
others can learn too.

Original comment by earlb...@gmail.com on 2 Jan 2012 at 2:47

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Oh, one more point.  This issue was about someone logging off or shutting down 
while PS was running.  It would delay the shutdown until Picasa has stopped, 
and PicasaStarter has saved the database. Unfortunately in a power failure 
there is no warning, and everything is instantly off, so there is no chance 
something could be written to disk etc.

Original comment by earlb...@gmail.com on 2 Jan 2012 at 2:55

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Thanks. By the way, I do realise the reindexing etc was noting to do with PS. 
Hope I did not give the impression that I was asking you to fix that too!

Yes, I understand the problem with power failures :) . Hence the thought that 
maybe a check of the task list might help.

Original comment by ggrin...@gmail.com on 2 Jan 2012 at 3:30

[GoogleCodeExporter]

As you said already yourself this won't help you for this kind of problems...

What will help however is the automatic backup feature we are working on...

Original comment by pieter.r...@gmail.com on 2 Jan 2012 at 1:26