copy/paste objects between experiments in eprime 2?
liwenna
objects between e-studio files...
Is anyone else having this 'problem' and (more importantly) did anyone
manage to fix it if they had?
I also posted on the PST forum but I'd like to hear from people here
too.
Best,
liw
David McFarlane
I already replied to your post at the PST Forum, but would like to
also post this here:
Sigh. So just now I took a look at this myself. For the record, I ran
these tests using EP 2.0.8.22 under Vista (I do not, repeat, do not
run subjects under Vista, only program development).
We need to pay attention to the source of the copy, the destination
of the paste, the method of copy/paste, and the occurrence of name
conflicts during the paste, as follows:
Source Copy: Structure, Design (e.g., Procedure), Browser
Destination Paste: Structure, Design (e.g., Procedure), Browser
Method: Drag & Drop, Context (right-click) menu, Edit menu
Name Coflict: absent or present
This gives us 54 cases (not counting all the Paste Conflict
possibilities) which PST engineers should have tested for themselves,
but as usual I will step into the gap and do this for them (or have
they already reported this in a KB that I missed?) (yes, I seriously
am a professional faultfinder, every organization should get one).
But we may simplify this a little, as follows:
- Drag & Drop works from Structure, Design, and Browser, but only to
the Design window of the destination.
- Both Edit > Copy and Context menu > Copy work from Structure and
Browser windows; Copy is grayed out in the Design window.
- Both Edit > Paste and Context menu > Paste work in the Structure,
Design, and Browser windows, as long as there is no name conflict.
(To paste to the Structure window, you must have the Unreferenced
E-Objects selected.)
- If an object with the same name already exists in the destination,
you will get the Paste Conflict dialog. And here is where the real
fun begins...
- If you use Context menu > Paste in the Structure window and
get a Paste Conflict, you also get a little checkbox off to the side
that says "Default", and the dialog does not respond to any entries;
furthermore, you cannot switch to any other window on the computer
until that dialog is dismissed. You can only press Esc to dismiss the dialog.
- Thereafter, further attempts to paste to the Structure or
Browser windows will fail until you exit & restart E-Studio. You can
still paste to the Design window, but you will get a Paste Conflict
dialog even though the earlier paste failed (and even if that used a
unique object name).
I'm sure I missed something, but you get the idea.
(Aside to Brandon: This is an example of the sort of documentation I
would like to see PST provide for us, instead of me puzzling all this
out for myself.)
OK, now somebody has to post this to Web Support to get their
attention, and the more of us who do that the better.
-- David McFarlane, Professional Faultfinder
liwenna
That is a very long and detailed response (twice!) and thank you for
that. It shows your professional faultfinder status ;)
Unfortunately I see a lot of options in there that I did try and that
gave absolutely none results at all. At best the program seems to get
confused and will not even show newly added (not copy pasted from
another experiment) objects anymore. Closing and reopening the file
solves that but doesn't bring forth the presumably copy-pasted object.
I also do have many recollections of e-prime crashing completely when
trying to move objects between experiments (drag&drop style) (don't
know why I try that every so often).
I get your message about contacting pst support... I might on
monday... I find that I feel rather meek about this issue.... *shrugs*
copy pasting objects between e-studio files just sounded to good to be
true anyways....
Which is probably why I didn't delve into this untill today even
thought I am using e-prime 2 for 9 months now ^.^
Thanks again for your elaborate response thought. Did you do all that
today or did you happen to have this little research ready?
Greet,
liw
David McFarlane
>Unfortunately I see a lot of options in there that I did try and that
>gave absolutely none results at all.
Hmm, I guess different folks get different results, thanks for
testing & posting back.
>I get your message about contacting pst support... I might on
>monday... I find that I feel rather meek about this issue.... *shrugs*
>copy pasting objects between e-studio files just sounded to good to be
>true anyways....
As to that, please do not be shy with PST Web Support, here is an
example question that they provide at their own site: "How do I
randomize a List object?". Now if Web Support likes to take
questions that are answered in Tutorial 1 of the Getting Started
Guide, I imagine they will welcome any old question from the likes of
you & me. I am just now catching on to this myself and have started
making much more liberal use of Web Support, and I have to say that
those folks have given me some pretty darn good answers, I am just
sorry that I overlooked them for so long. So let's make use of them,
that's what they are there for.
>Thanks again for your elaborate response thought. Did you do all that
>today or did you happen to have this little research ready?
Um, like a lot of things I do, I started to dash off a 2-minute
response and then got caught up in a much longer process. Yes, I did
all that this morning. Because I remembered successfully using copy
& paste before, I started to write, "In this case I must defend
PST..." But as a professional faultfinder, I have to check my facts,
so I retried it, got a couple glitches, and before I knew it was
knee-deep in testing it all more systematically so that I could make
a proper report.
OK, I'm overdue to bike home again here on the western edge of the
Eastern Time Zone, got to make dinner before Survivor tonight...
Cheers,
liwenna
ow and I hope that you don't read that before tomorrow ;) It's about
midnight here so I go off to bed. o/
liwenna
format.
That somehow seems to me as a little mundane pastime for a
professional faultfinder... *redefines her mental image of DMcF*
