Patching Problem

[Dnixon]

I created new patches everyday to different programs and hardly ever have problems and I have never had this one before.

I just created a new program and then went to patch it from v1.0 to v1.1 and i recieve this error when patching.

Error:
Failed to extract file from archive:
diff_000064.dif

Help Please

[slota]

Use caching for diff files. Some diff files can have system atributes "Hide". Show hiding diff files in some viewer (like Total Commander) and re-set attribs to normal. Recompile patch again.

[Dnixon]

Thank you for your help but I'm not sure what you mean. I tried selecting cache diff files in visual patch and recompiling but that didnt fix it.

What do you mean by diff files have system attributes Hide? How do i show the diff files and how come i have never had this happen before?

Also, I'm still building patches and patching other programs and they are working fine. Just one program and I dont recall changing any settings to make it do this.

[Lorne]

It could be a corrupted archive (a data corruption problem affecting the patch.exe file containing the diffs), or it could be a file access issue. Have you contacted our support department through the customer portal?

[Canter]

I'm having the exact same problem, have tried rebuilding multiple times. I'm guessing the problem is with a dat file created by AMS that is hidden (but I can't change that attribute).

Has anyone found the source of this problem yet?

[jassing]

Originally Posted by Canter

I'm having the exact same problem, have tried rebuilding multiple times. I'm guessing the problem is with a dat file created by AMS that is hidden (but I can't change that attribute).

Has anyone found the source of this problem yet?

Why can't you change the attribute?

[Canter]

Good question, and I don't know why I can't - the ability to do that is grayed out (64 bit Vista). Out of curiosity, I just tried deleting that file to see what happened, and the patch executed without any error messages, and it patched some files, but not the main exe.

Perhaps the problem is related to the fact that the new version has fewer files than the first - I read on this forum about a bug relating to legacy files that but it was supposedly fixed in 3.02 I've tried various rebuilds of both versions of the target program, and there is no change - the patch is unable to extract one of the diff files, and terminates with an error code of 5.

[jassing]

Originally Posted by Canter

Good question, and I don't know why I can't - the ability to do that is grayed out (64 bit Vista).

Probably a permissions/uac issue then... Vista is very helpful in protecting you from the evils of yourself... (You didn't know you wanted to do bad things to your computer, did you? ;-) )

Originally Posted by Canter

Out of curiosity, I just tried deleting that file to see what happened, and the patch executed without any error messages, and it patched some files, but not the main exe.

Interesting you could delete the file but not change it's attributes....
As long as the .dat file wasn't a "key file" then it should have been patched, as long as the main exe was identified in a version...

Originally Posted by Canter

Perhaps the problem is related to the fact that the new version has fewer files than the first - I read on this forum about a bug relating to legacy files that but it was supposedly fixed in 3.02

I've not seen this problem with the current version; we routinenly "exclude" files from a patch becuase we know they haven't changed... VP has no way to know if the file is a 'data file' created after install or an 'obsolete' file that should be deleted -- you would need to code the delete of old files...

Originally Posted by Canter

I've tried various rebuilds of both versions of the target program, and there is no change - the patch is unable to extract one of the diff files, and terminates with an error code of 5.

So the question is why is it failing to extract a diff file? Why is it failing to patch your main file?

Can you post your .vp2 file? (You'll need to zip it first)

-josh

[Canter]

Well, I have solved the problem, at least it looks that way. I was able to change the attributes from the command line - removing the r s and h - for some reason AMS creates one of the dat files as a system file. I don't claim to be a Vista expert, but as far as I can tell, the attributes of this type of file can only be changed from the command line.

So, after removing the system file attributes to the wayward AMS dat file, I rebuilt the patch, and - I'm relieved to say - it works.

Thanks.


Larry

[jassing]

Originally Posted by Canter

Well, I have solved the problem, at least it looks that way. I was able to change the attributes from the command line - removing the r s and h - for some reason AMS creates one of the dat files as a system file. I don't claim to be a Vista expert, but as far as I can tell, the attributes of this type of file can only be changed from the command line.

So, after removing the system file attributes to the wayward AMS dat file, I rebuilt the patch, and - I'm relieved to say - it works.

Thanks.


Larry

Excellent -- including your "failure to extract" the diff file issue? and the crash error?

[Canter]

Yes, that fixed everything. Why AMS generates a file that requires manual intervention before Visual Patch can Patch it is puzzling, but we'll worry about that some other day.

[jassing]

Originally Posted by Canter

Yes, that fixed everything. Why AMS generates a file that requires manual intervention before Visual Patch can Patch it is puzzling, but we'll worry about that some other day.

I would file a bug with IR on that... the fact that a file causes the VisualPatch runtime to issue a "Failed to extract DIFF" file would not be unique to ams.

[Dnixon]

I am still having problems. I still get the "cannot extract diff" from time to time and when it does work now it patches but one of the images that was on my AMS application shows as cannot find file. I only get the problem with "cannot extract diff" when I add an Image to the application. It is completely random when it works and doesnt.

Also, I would try the fix mentioned above but I am not sure how to change the attributes.

[Canter]

Perhaps your problem is different than mine was - but look to see if any files have attributes listed as HS, which is a hidden system file. If so, you can change the attributes from the Windows command prompt using the command attrib -h -s (followed by the file name, and full path if you aren't already in that directory). That has cured the problem for me.

Hope that helps. No doubt there is a bug somewhere.

L Canter

[Dnixon]

How do i check the attributes? And these are new images that I am creating. Some are logos that I get from internet. I can add files to the application and patch them and changes no problem but if i add an image of any filetype(jpg, png, gif) then it cant extract the diff.

I thought it was my Registered User Privilege Level but I have changed that to every option available and it is still not working. My other projects patch find but there is two that I just cant add images to.