Problem Solving

Here we list, more or less randomly, some known problems. Some of them are being addressed or will be dealt with on short notice, others may take some time due to other priorities. We hope to update this list by removing the fixed issues, although it is not unlikely that we also need to add items to this list.

Real Bugs

Please report any suspected bug with information on how to reproduce your sightings to the NRAO Helpdesk .

Features

Sometimes when you are viewing some data in table form in the main editing window, ticking a tick-box will make the data disappear. What happens is that the table slightly expands horizontally and instead of adding a horizontal scroll bar the table wraps around and below the left hand side column. Scroll down, increase the browser window, or decrease your browser font to solve for this.

Please also inform us of any suspected "feature" or annoyance with its description to the NRAO Helpdesk .

Because the OPT is a web application your work depends on a real-time connection to the NRAO data base. This has both advantages and disadvantages. One of the main disadvantages is that something may happen to the connection between your web browser and the NRAO data base.

Timed out (graceful disconnect)

For several reasons it is unwise to allow an unlimited continuous connection between your web browser and the NRAO data base; there will be a time interval of inactivity that triggers a time out. We have tried to keep this time interval large (currently four hours), but in the unfortunate event that a time out happens before you had a chance to exit properly (with FILE - SAVE ALL), the disconnect will be a graceful one. The software will automatically save unfinished editing of your project (etc.) or (re)source catalogs in an "Autosave:" copy. Reload the page or redirect your web browser to the login page and continue either with your copy of the unedited data (i.e., the situation at your last, probably deliberate, save operation) or with the copy of the edited data (the "Autosave:" copy).

Ungraceful disconnect (browser/computer crash)

We hope that we have properly implemented a similar situation for an unfortunate crash as for the time out. Depending on the nature of the crash, however, it may not be possible to recover from the disconnect as in the time out situation. Try to remember your steps and log in again; you may be pleasantly surprised and see an "Autosave:" copy of your recent work. No guarantees though.

Stop what you are doing immediately and read this first. Unfortunately there is no UNDO button, but there are ways to recover from a mistake, if you have not continued from that point. That is, do not navigate to a different tool and do not continue editing (cutting), do not exit, whatever. Breathe and read:

I deleted something

The most common unfortunate mistake is to delete your project (etc.) or (re)source catalog. You could have done this by either using the icon menu button for "cut" or by using the menu strip EDIT - CUT - CUT.... Recall that a "delete" is a "cut-without-paste". Whether or not it was a complete catalog or, e.g., a single scan, the salvage method usually is the same:

If you have used the icon menu "cut", and if you have not done anything else, the paste icon () from the icon menu will paste the "deleted" item back. You would probably first want to select the location to paste it back to (i.e., at the proper branch of the tree; individual scans can't be replaced as PBs).

If you used the menu strip EDIT - CUT - CUT... the solution is to select the proper place and replace the item with EDIT - PASTE - PASTE..., assuming nothing else was cut and placed in the paste buffer in between.

If meanwhile other operations have been performed, they could have interfered with the previous solutions. If you have not navigated to another tool, which implicitly saved your changes, an option then is to exit gracefully with FILE - EXIT without saving your work. You will not save any of your work done after your last save, but it may be less work to recover from that, than to recover from your mistake.

If you ended up saving your work, whether or not intentional, you may have to start from scratch to recreate what you have lost. Sorry, no UNDO button (yet).

I used the wrong position/velocity/frequency in all scans

There is a very simple "bulk edit" feature available. Correct your (re)source in the SCT or RCT catalog, and use EDIT - BULK EDIT to identify the scans you want to correct.

I submitted an incorrect SB

If you are convinced that you have submitted the wrong SB, or a SB that you know is incorrect (e.g., you forgot to update the resource or a position for a source), do not panic. Simply navigate to the submission page of the SB and cancel the incorrect SB. An editable copy of the SB will appear in the tree, which you can correct and submit again.

I exited before I was finished

Upon exiting you were asked whether you wanted to save your work in the tool you were editing in. Work in another tool would have been saved each time you left it to go to a different tool. Saved changes cannot be undone, but if you exited before finishing up, you can log in again and continue from there.