In our latest upcoming release (Milestone 27) we have further improved the upload experience by adding a javascript loop to poll the server every 5 minutes in order to keep the user’s session alive – we have had problems in the past with user’s leaving the upload page open but inactive for an extended period of time and then getting errors when they attempted to upload files.

At this point most of the issues that can be resolved on the client side (in your browser) have been addressed, with the sole exception of re-enabling and finalizing the old, experimental, FireFogg code (for those who don’t know, Firefogg  a plugin for the popular Firefox browser which enables client-side encoding of video files; this allows us to send smaller, pre-compressed videos to the server).

There are some server-side issues that we are aware of and are working to address; however these are issues with most file uploading logic.

Because the errors are often not easy for user’s to understand we’re providing the following set of explanations to hopefully expand on the inline error feedback.

Error Codes

G_2401

Http Session Broken.  When you use CoSolvent you have an HTTP session which is created when you login.  The session stores things like your login details (username, etc…).  The session is stored on the server, with a cookie in your browser retaining a unique Id which is sent every time your browser requests a page or file from the server and which the server uses to match up to your session data.  Because the session creates overhead for the server (and also due to security considerations) the session will timeout after a set period of time, usually 30 minutes (although this can be adjusted per server).  One problem what users used to encounter was that if they loaded the upload page and then didn’t trigger an upload for 30 minutes or more, their session would timeout; on the upload page this was extremely annoying as the file would completely upload before any error would be generated; the server would discard the file and the user would have to login and upload again.  As of release 27, we have fixed this issue, by using a “session keepalive” on the upload page, which uses javascript to poll the server every 5 minutes so that your session is kept active.  You can still get an error if you are using a notebook and put it into sleep or hibernate mode with the page still open, but you will get an error before the upload starts.

G_6700

System error when checking Permissions.  This error is generally caused if when you are using a notebook and move it from one network to another without re-logging in.  In order to protect against “Session Hijacks” the system checks that your IP matches, and if it has changed in certain ways will force you to re-login to verify you account.  Within one corporate network the server will generally “see” the IP of your firewall and not that of your computer, so this only affects you in cases where you move from one network to another.

G_6701

Unable to initialize parent folder object for upload handler.  This may be caused if another user deletes the folder you are attempting to upload to at any point after you opened the upload page but before your upload completes.  This may also be caused if the server is switched into maintenance mode, or experiences a database glitch.  Unfortunately the current system can not prevent this situation, and will automatically delete any file that encounters an error during upload.  Future versions of CoSolvent will work on addressing these types of transactional issues.

G_6720

Unable to acquire lock on file item for upload processing. This indicates a transactional error on the server.  This could be due to a database glitch or maintenance; but can also be caused by certain types of edits that occur while your uploaded file is processing.

G_6770

Unable to access the uploaded file from the system temp location in order to move it to permanent location.  When you upload a file to CoSolvent, it is received by the server a bit at a time and is automatically buffered in a temporary location on the server’s file system.  After the file is completely received by the server, further processing takes place, which is when an entry is created for it in the database and the file is moved to a permanent location.  If an error occurs on the server, then the temporary file may be deleted before the processing phase begins which will trigger this error message.

G_6772

Unable to lock animation item when attempting to set post-upload system meta-data. This can happen if a system lock fails while trying to process an SWF animation, or occasionally if the processing of that animation fails.  In order to properly display an uploaded SWF we have to do “extra” processing beyond the standard plugins (see below), and if this fails to initialize you will get this message.  You should verify that you can play your SWF locally, and if it is ok then contact a server administrator to resolve the issue.

G_6781

Unable to instatiate ItemAddOption object instances. This means that the processing logic which needs to be run after a file is uploaded could not be activated; this is likely a system misconfiguration or a corrupt server.  Contact your server administrator to resolve this problem.

G_6783

ItemAddOption->handleRequestAfterAdd(…) generated a fatal error.  After a file is uploaded, the system plugins process it.  For example, this is how a mpeg video is converted into a streaming FLV – a plugin is activated and does the processing.  This error could mean that a plugin is misconfigured, or it could mean that the system did not properly recognize your file – for example if you renamed a .ZIP file to  .MPG file and uploaded it you might get this error.  Check that you can view the file locally, if not then the file is the problem.  If the file is good, then contact your server administrator(s).

G_6799

Unable to cleanup session locks after uploading file. This is generally not a problem.  While your uploaded file is being processed, the system locks certain resources to prevent other users from accidentally creating changes to things that would generate a conflict – for example renaming the folder the file is being uploaded into.  When the uploaded file is completely processed, these locks are cleared.  This error generally indicates with a server misconfiguration, or a server that has too many users for its processing power; either way you should contact your server administrator(s) and ask them to investigate the problem.  Unlike the other errors listed, this error code means that your file has been uploaded to the server.  Due to the locks not being releases it may be inaccessible until an administrator clears the locks.

G_6797

General Exception was thrown in upload code.  There was a error that prevented the server from processing your file, but no further error information was available.  This could be due to a corrupt database (or database entry) or a file system error.  Contact your server administrator(s).

We’ll be in booth 625, so anyone who’s at the show and interested in the potential to use video for communications should stop by.

We look forward to continuing to improve it, and welcome your feedback.