"No cards are due yet" keeps appearing in Ankidroid 2.4

[David Sumbler]

I find that, at times, my reviewing session is terminated prematurely
with a "No cards are due yet" pop-up message. Yet there are still
several cards left to review, and if I immediately press the "Study"
button, I get the next card. Even if I answer it immediately, I may
well then again get the session terminated.

This can happen several times in succession. It usually seems to be
when there are only a few items left, though after perhaps 3 or 4 times
things usually start to behave normally again.

Is this a known bug in Ankidroid 2.4? It only started when I installed
the latest update.

David

[Tim]

It's not a bug... when that happens you should come back to the study session after like 10min or so.

I think it's to do with siblings; you should be able to reproduce it with Anki Desktop:

https://code.google.com/p/ankidroid/issues/detail?id=2378

[David Sumbler]

On Wed, 2015-02-04 at 07:12 -0800, Tim wrote:
> It's not a bug... when that happens you should come back to the study
> session after like 10min or so.

Well, it never happened before v2.4, and I have been using Anki and
Ankidroid for several years. Why do I have to wait 10 minutes, when
there are already cards to be reviewed?

> I think it's to do with siblings; you should be able to reproduce it
> with Anki Desktop:
> https://code.google.com/p/ankidroid/issues/detail?id=2378
>

I don't think this is the same problem - and unless I have misunderstood
the term "siblings", I don't have any: all my cards are individual
cards.

David

[David Sumbler]

On Thu, 2015-02-05 at 00:52 +0900, Tim Rae wrote:
> > Well, it never happened before v2.4
>
>

> Before 2.4 the button would simply not respond. Now it shows a message
> instead, which is the same message as the desktop. No other code has
> been added.

Which button are we talking about? I am not doing anything different
from what I used to do, and I don't have any unresponsive buttons at the
point where the odd behaviour occurs.

When I answer one question, I am dumped back at the title screen for
this deck (showing several cards still to review), and if I immediately
press the "Study" button I get another due card, then I am dumped out of
the review session again, and so on. Eventually I reach the point where
there genuinely are no more cards due for review, and at then the "No
cards are due yet" is shown for the umpteenth time, but at least it is
now appropriate. At this point the "Study" button of course does
nothing.

Before 2.4, I would have carried on reviewing cards until all the due
cards have been reviewed. How can the new behaviour be regarded as
anything other than a bug? Sometimes I have to press the "Study" button
up to a dozen times to see the last dozen due cards.

David

[Xiao Sun]

Sounds like you got your "learn ahead limit" on, it is set to 20 min by default, if you set it to 0 min, the problem should go away.

[David Sumbler]

I've just checked, and I have my "learn ahead limit" set to 0 minutes
already. So this is not the problem, which only started with the latest
Ankidroid update.

David

[snowtimeglass]

Hello David,

I'm the person who requested to add the pop-up message.

So I'm concerned about your question about its behavior.

At first, like Tim and Xiao, I don't think the behavior which you pointed out is a bug, though maybe I had experienced the same behaviour.

I guessed that your dissatisfaction is caused by a misunderstanding about the meaning of "Due today" on the deck overview screen.

  

However, after I tried to explain it to you and made a sample deck and tested it, 

I came to think that there is a problem as you said.

At that point, I regarded it as a minor problem, which should go way if you wait sufficient time or return to the deck list screen once.

Now, I've come to think that the behavior is probably a bug, as you are insisting repeatedly. 

At least it is an inconvenient behavior that won't be reproduced with Anki Desktop.

It won't go away even if you wait for a fairly long time and return to the deck list screen (and restart your device).

To avoid a confusion,

I would like to confirm one point before explaining that problem.

Have you known that "Due today" (on the deck overview screen) means 

not only "Cards which have been ready to be reviewed" 

but also "Cards which are not ready to be reviewed at the time and will be ready within today"?

In other words, have you known that the "No cards are due yet" message in itself is 

compatible with the deck overview screen showing a positive number (ex. "Due today: 0 5 0")?

Please do not hesitate to answer at ease.

As I said, it is a mere confirmation to avoid a confusion.

Irrespective of your answer,

I think there probably is a bug, as you are saying.

All the best,

snowtimeglass

2015年2月5日木曜日 18時58分43秒 UTC+9 David Sumbler:

[Houssam Salem]

If you are sure it's a bug, please post that sample deck so we have something to work with.

[snowtimeglass]

Certainly. I've attached it.

Probably you can reproduce the behavior in the following steps.

(Before testing this deck,

please set "Learn ahead limit" to "0" ) 

1. Tap "Study" on the deck overview screen

2. Tap "Good (2 minutes)" on every card (There are 5 cards).

3. Wait more than 2 minutes 

4. Tap "Study" again

5. Tap "Good (an hour)" on the card

  (Then, You will go back to the deck overview screen, 

   and the "No cards are due yet" pop-up message will be displayed.)

6. Tap "Study" again

7. Tap "Good (an hour)" on the card

  (Then, the behavior mentioned in above 5 will be repeated)  

On the rest of the cards, the behavior will be repeated, too.

2015年2月8日日曜日 17時45分37秒 UTC+9 Houssam Salem:

[Xiao Sun]

Please don't put my email in "other recipients", getting annoying emails.

[snowtimeglass]

I'm sorry for bothering you.

Should I uncheck your email address on "Cc"?

2015年2月8日日曜日 19時18分24秒 UTC+9 Xiao Sun:

[ospalh]

Am Sonntag, 8. Februar 2015 11:14:27 UTC+1 schrieb snowtimeglass:

(…)

Probably you can reproduce the behavior in the following steps.

(…)

Curiouser and curiouser.
I do see this behavior, but only with my own, patched version of AnkiDroid. Even though i, of course, never touched the scheduling code. That’s why i haven’t reported on it.
But even with your steps, i can’t reproduce it with the released version.

[snowtimeglass]

Thank you for checking the sample deck!

Oh, can't the behavior be reproduced with the released version in your device...?

(Of course, "the released version" means ver.2.4, and you've set "Learn ahead limit" to "0", right?)

It's strange...

The behavior might depend on other settings.

Anyway I'm relieved to hear that you have seen the behavior (in your patched version).

Thank you very much.

2015年2月8日日曜日 21時33分16秒 UTC+9 ospalh:

[David Sumbler]

To answer your question: yes, I understand about the meaning of "Due
Today" as distinct from what is due at this moment. (Incidentally, on a
different but related topic, I think it would be much more useful if the
widget showed the "due now" number, rather than "due today". Perhaps it
could show both, then everyone might be happy!)

I think from your post (below) and your subsequent post that you have
already discovered that the bug shows itself when there are still cards
due now. Also it is different from the way Anki desktop behaves: on
Thursday, as an experiment, I did all my reviewing on my desktop
computer, and there was no sign of this bug.

David

[ospalh]

Am Sonntag, 8. Februar 2015 14:27:55 UTC+1 schrieb snowtimeglass:

Thank you for checking the sample deck!

Oh, can't the behavior be reproduced with the released version in your device...?

(Of course, "the released version" means ver.2.4, and you've set "Learn ahead limit" to "0", right?)

Yes.
AnkiDroid 2.4, seen an Android 4.1 and 4.4, and with a learn ahead limit of 4 min. not just 0.
(I thought that maybe the learn ahead limit wasn’t applied until you force-closed the app and restarted it, but that makes no change.)

[snowtimeglass]

Hi David,

Thank you for the reply. 

I understand. 

Would you mind confirming whether the behavior can be reproduced with the sample deck which I post?

Hi Ospalh,

Thank you for your pointing out.

Then, the sentences should be supplemented as follows.

-------

(Before testing this deck,

please set "Learn ahead limit" to "0", and  force-closed the app and restarted it) 

-------

I'm hoping you will set "Learn ahead limit" to "0", and test the sample deck again.

as I can't reproduced the behavior when setting "Learn ahead limit" to "4".

2015年2月8日日曜日 22時58分21秒 UTC+9 ospalh:

[ospalh]

Am Sonntag, 8. Februar 2015 15:53:43 UTC+1 schrieb snowtimeglass:

Hi David,

Thank you for the reply. 

I understand. 

Would you mind confirming whether the behavior can be reproduced with the sample deck which I post?

Hi Ospalh,

Thank you for your pointing out.

Then, the sentences should be supplemented as follows.

-------

(Before testing this deck,

please set "Learn ahead limit" to "0", and  force-closed the app and restarted it) 

-------

No, a force-close is not necessary. Or rather, i did not see this with the standard AnkiDroid. Not without a restart and not with a restart either. So there is no point in restarting.

 

[snowtimeglass]

No, a force-close is not necessary.

there is no point in restarting.  

 

I see. Thank you. 

I think there is a point in the setting of "Learn ahead limit".

2015年2月9日月曜日 0時14分12秒 UTC+9 ospalh:

[ospalh]

Am Sonntag, 8. Februar 2015 16:38:41 UTC+1 schrieb snowtimeglass:

I think there is a point in the setting of "Learn ahead limit".

Yes.
Again, i could have been clearer. When i see this effect i have two more learning steps longer than the learn ahead limit. That may be a condition to trigger this.

[snowtimeglass]

When i see this effect i have two more learning steps longer than the learn ahead limit. That may be a condition to trigger this.

Thank you for the confirming.

Yes, I think so, too.

2015年2月9日月曜日 0時53分25秒 UTC+9 ospalh:

[Houssam Salem]

I can't reproduce the problem with that deck and by following the steps, so there must be something more to it. I'm using a fresh collection to test it so it might be a specific setting that triggers it. Any more ideas?

On Sunday, February 8, 2015 at 9:14:27 PM UTC+11, snowtimeglass wrote:

[snowtimeglass]

Hello Houssam,

Thank you for the careful test and the feedback.

At first, I was surprised to read that the behavior couldn't be reproduced.

However, you are right.

On my tablet, I couldn't reproduce the problem with the deck and by the steps, either.

I compared the settings of my devices.

Thanks to your suggestion, another trigger has probably been found.

"Notify when" ([Settings]>[AnkiDroid]>[Notify when]) is set to 

"Never notify" or "Pending messages available" on your device, isn't it?

If it is set so,

please set "Notify when" to one of "More than X cards due"

(ex. "More than 10 cards due"),

and test again with the deck and by the steps.

All the best,

snowtimeglass

2015年2月13日金曜日 17時07分57秒 UTC+9 Houssam Salem:

[Houssam Salem]

Nice find! I can reproduce it when I enable that setting. I'll have a look at this closely tomorrow and see if we can get a fix out in time for 2.4.1.

[snowtimeglass]

I'm relieved to read that the behavior can be reproduced on your device.

I appreciate your help. Please take your time.

2015年2月14日土曜日 3時06分09秒 UTC+9 Houssam Salem:

[Tim]

David, could you please confirm that disabling notifications fixes the issue for you as well?

On Wednesday, February 4, 2015 at 10:43:46 PM UTC+9, David Sumbler wrote:

[Houssam Salem]

It took me a while to track down but I understand the issue now.

Enabling the notifications triggers some widget updating code that runs on every card answer. That widget code actually has side-effects on the queues stored in the scheduler, which is kind of crazy. So yes, disabling the notifications will fix the problem for now.

I don't think a fix for this is easy. I've never even looked at the widget code before, and I always say I'm surprised it even works (does it?).

[David Sumbler]

Does disabling notifications fix the issue for me?

The short answer is "no". I set notifications to "never notify" this
morning, and then did my usual review.

However, by chance I think that I have discovered something else today
about the odd behaviour - although quite what it is I have discovered I
am not sure!

I have two large decks, each with several small sub-decks which contain
the new and learning cards. I also have a smaller deck.

Each of these 3 main decks also has a "custom study" sub-deck which
contains cards that have been flagged as leeches. I rebuild these decks
whenever they become empty.

I noticed that with the update to Ankidroid 2.4 the behaviour of these
custom study decks changed (another annoyance!). Before 2.4 I could
remove the "leech" tag on each card straight away after rebuilding the
deck, and the cards would remain in the deck until finished with. Under
2.4 I find that I cannot remove the leech tag, because if I do the card
will immediately return its own deck. This is a nuisance, because if I
forget to remove the tag just before the card is finished with in the
leech deck, then it will get put back into the leech deck next time I
rebuild it.

Today I rebuilt the leech deck belonging to the small deck of my 3 main
decks. This does not happen very often, and, possibly unusually for
this deck, there were more than 1 leech card. I was mystified at first
to find that I was only being presented with 1 of these leech cards. I
then discovered that in the parent deck I had "new cards/day" set to 1.
This doesn't normally matter, because there have not been any new cards
in this particular deck for a very long time. I increased the "new
cards?day" setting, and then all the cards in the sub-deck were
presented for review.

So it appears that for some strange reason, cards placed in a custom
study deck are being treated as new cards, which to me seems to be
entirely inappropriate - and I'm pretty sure it didn't happen prior to
2.4.

I mention all this, because I have noticed that the problem I originally
reported often (though not always) seems to involve cards from the
'leech' sub-deck. I certainly suspect (though I can't say for certain)
that it always involves cards which are being "learnt", not cards which
are at the "review" stage.

Today I thought at first that changing the notifications setting had
solved the original problem: the first of the large decks that I
reviewed did not show it. However the second one did. Also the first
deck and the small one also showed it when I went back later after
having reviewed all the available cards earlier.

Even when the problem does appear during a full review of the deck
(typically close to 100 items), it only ever appears in the final stages
of reviewing - when there are fewer than perhaps a dozen items left.

Most of this is a mystery to me, but I hope that some of what I have
tried to report above is relevant!

David

[snowtimeglass]

@Houssam

Thank you for the laborious check! 

@David

The problem seems to be complicated.

I think your report will be helpful to solve it.

Incidentally, on another device of mine,

the behavior was reproduced even when  "Notify when" was set to "never notify".

However, after uninstalling and reinstalling AnkiDroid on the 3rd device,

it isn't reproduced now.

I'm not sure, but it might be worth while trying reinstalling AnkiDroid...

2015年2月14日土曜日 22時33分35秒 UTC+9 Houssam Salem:

[bfx]

I thought Anki desktop did not allow for learn ahead limit to be under 20 minutes. Could this but be related to a conflict between desktop and mobile?

I'm not sure how it works but maybe this is what happens:
-You set it to 0 in AnkiDroid.
-you sync to desktop
-desktop puts it back to 20 but doesn't report that a change has been made to the settings.
-you sync back to mobile
-AnkiDroid system for displaying number of due cards thinks it's 0 but the actual collection settings are really 20m which, so that by learning new cards, it builds up the number of due cards displayed in deck overview but the cards remain held back.
-something bad happens to the learning intervals when you force review ahead by tapping study after every card.

Basically, a conflict between actual database cards intervals and AnkiDroid's running count of these intervals.

I've had that issue and this is what immediately came to mind, but it's just reverse-guessing at best.

[jkofo...@gmail.com]

I am using 2.5alpha58, but I get this bug too, and I found a solution. It only happens when I have the widget installed on my home screen.