AI2 project is not getting saved

Bugs and Other Issues
21

Are these blocks logic, or are they data?

Please export your project and post it here.

22

To send on MIT.aia (161.1 KB)
This is the code.
If anyone can have a look and tell me why it is not getting saved.
Today, again I had to face the same problem, I was working on my app for 4 hours, and was saving it quite often. Suddenly, the session reload notification comes and the next time I open it, none of the changes are saved.

23

i don't find any problem here(blocks not saved one)
though its very much strange that when i open your app i start getting the loading msg & when i delete it - everything works great

24

its not just for a minute
it was there whole time even when the project was loaded & it did not take long time to switch screens too

25
  • 4 hours? Do you know that App Inventor 2 automatically saves your app every about 5 seconds. You do not need to manually save your Project (unless you want to create an aia and save the Project that way.
  • I just automatically saved a few changes to your app. I just made the changes, then closed the Project, then reloaded it and the changes were made. No problems.

I expect you may be taking breaks. When you return to coding the Web app may be disconnected. You continue coding on your merry way but you may not be connected to the server. Do I know this with certainty? No. If you are not connected, what you think you coded will not be saved.

How can this happen? 1) If a developer does not code anything for a while, it appears App Inventor 2 stops working as a Web app. There might have been a warning that you disregarded as a guess. 2) you may have network connection issues. App Inventor will not save what you code if it is not connected.

As a coding point, where do you CLOSE the screens you are on when you leave the screen? This coding problem is not your issue, however. If you do not close screens when you leave them I expect your app will fail on a device eventually as it consumes system memory as visited screens remain in memory.

Regards,
Steve

26

Thanks everyone here for helping me out...............

How long must the developer be inactive for it to expire the session?
'cuz I am sure that I didnt take a break of more than 5 minutes anytime.

I am now switching from the broadband to a mobile hotspot, in case there is some issue with the broadband.

Thank you for informing me about that issue as I wasn't aware about it. I will work on it..................

27

Before I had reported this problem, I had tried to build my project on an intel i3 and i5 system.(8GB RAM) On both the systems I encountered the same issue.

After @SteveJG and @Shobha_Singhal suggested that it might be a network issue, I switched to a mobile hotspot and worked on the i3 system.
After facing the same issue again, I started working on an i7 (8GB RAM) system on the broadband. Surprisingly, my project was now getting saved on this system and I had no more saving errors.

I wonder why this is happening :thinking:
PS: Also I was on another account on the i7!

28

Hi Team,

I am a teacher working in one of the schools in South India. I found MIT App Inventor interesting and I started teaching my students about App development. My students are recently reporting that their saved projects are missing. After they completed making the projects, they showed me their apps and I appreciated them for the good work. Later, when the students tried to their accounts in the next session, they lost all their work. Please help me with this. Nearly 50 percent of the students are facing this issue now.

Thanks in advance.
Madhavi K

29

Hello @Madhavi

As you might have read, even I was facing the same issue around last year. This is generally faced when:

  • There are a lot of blocks (please tell us how big your students' projects are)
  • The internet connection is slow. (In such a case, keeping the website idle for sometime helps)
  • System specifications are on the lower-end (but I am not sure if this has anything to do with the not saving problem)

Does anyone continuously see a Loading sign at the top of the page while working?

  • The students can try exporting their .aia at regular intervals to get a copy of the project, which can be used later if any mishap occurs :grimacing:
  • They can also click on the "Save project" after every 5 minutes or so, it has helped me to some extent.
  • Export the blocks as png when they are done with their work. So, if the work wasn't saved properly, they can delete all the blocks and, drag the picture to the workspace, which will get all their blocks back.
    Note: This method will not help if the designer changers aren't saved. They'll have to anyways redo the designer part, but will for sure save some extra work.
30

@Alaqmar_Bohori Thanks for your quick response. Actually, the projects are not very big, they must using nearly 150 blocks at max. I am teaching students of Grade 4 to 8. So you can imagine, how many blocks they must be using. As you suggested I will the students to save the projects after every five minutes and save their .aia file. But is there any other solution for this? The students started with great enthusiasm, but they are feeling discouraged due to this issue now. I feel sad for them.

31

That's weird... because I was talking about 2000-3000 blocks causing some problems.

Can you please confirm this too?

I suggested some workarounds, but a solution is none that I am aware of.
You can for sure read some more topics on this community related to this issue, or wait for some more responses, especially from the PowerUsers or the MIT staff.

32

Did you encounter the same problem as they have? Which App Inventor server did you use http://ai2.appinventor.mit.edu/ or http://code.appinventor.mit.edu/ ? Could you tell something about your network connection. I guess all students use App Inventor on a school network.

33

Thanks for the help @Alaqmar_Bohori. I will check with the students on the loading sign at the top and get back.

34

I have used the both the links which you mention above. We are facing the issue in both. The students are at present attending the classes from home. So the network connection and everything is fine from their end. By the way I never faced such issues. Only the students are facing it.

35

So the connection could be a problem when it only affects them. Do you know how they connect from home?

36

Most of the students are using broadband connections and few are using hotspot. They are 70 percent of the students using laptops and the rest are using mobile/tablet.

37

Use one server when you save your projects on the first server, they won't be on the second and vice versa. Also use the same login or google account every time. I've been using ai2 for 6 years and never have any project disappeared. The only possibility is to lose your internet connection and continue building blocks offline. Anything added offline will not be saved.

38

Hi Patryk_F,

I meant few students, who have google accounts are using the first server and few are using second server. They are using the same google account everytime they join. I have also created nearly 20 projects and none of mine are lost. The students are not only lossing a part of the project. They have lost the entire project. when they login, their dashboard looks empty. I can also send you some screenshots of what students have shared with me.

39

Yes if you can post the screens this would be helpfull. I will assign a AI developer to this.

41

Consider two possibilities:

  • The student is using the code.appinventor.mit.edu server without a google login, and forgot their re-entry code from a previous session, or
  • Multiple students are using the same account on a server, and one of them moved projects to the trash?