Error messages not complete in 'save as' window.

[luciansmith]

We have an ontology we usually work with in OWL format, but sometimes export to OBO. OBO is more restrictive, so errors can creep in. When you load the OWL file and then 'Save As' and select the OBO format, it will fail, but the error message is cut off and it's impossible to know what the problem actually is:

(in this case, it was an ObjectProperty with two 'domain' children. But we couldn't tell which ObjectProperty, nor even that it was an ObjectProperty.)

[ykazakov]

Can you see this error in the Protege log view?

[luciansmith]

I don't know what the log view is. I didn't find anything promising in the menus when I perused it--how do I get to it?

[gouttegd]

It’s under the Window menu, under the name Show log.

It is also accessible directly through the small button at the bottom right corner of the main window, just next to to the “Show inferences” checkbox:

[luciansmith]

Aha! It is indeed there. It's fairly obscured; a single 'save as OBO' error triggers pages and pages of output and the first ones scroll off the length of the window. But fortunately the relevant 'you had two domains' error is in the last one. It's scrolled off to the right (having word wrap on by default would have been nice) but it is indeed available.

[ykazakov]

Any error in Protege should trigger a red warning sign in the bottom right corner, wich should be difficult to miss:

Clicking on this icon should bring up the log window (and clear the error status).

One possible way one could improve upon that is to add a button to the error dialog window that would also open the log. (Clearly, we cannot cram all error messages into the dialog window).

[ykazakov]

having word wrap on by default would have been nice

The word wrap comes with some performance penalty (if one resizes the log window) that's why, I think, it is disabled by default.

[luciansmith]

Nope, totally missed the red triangle. It's a bit smaller (relatively) on my own screen: But, it's good to know it's there!

I think the problem is that the window promises that it is telling you what the error message is, and then it does not. So, one assumes that the error message is inaccessible. I was told to use robot to convert my ontology because there, the error message would be present and nicely formatted, and that Protege didn't have the error message at all.

Perhaps the cut-off error message could be clicked, and would take you to the log?