Concordance bug: Starts generating without yet selecting resource or type
As has been well-documented since the release of Concordance for Logos Now many months ago, it is a resource-intensive utility that also consumes disk space with its indices. It makes no sense that when I open the Concordance (from the Tools menu) that it immediately starts generating the results.
If there's a way to pre-select the resource before opening the Concordance, I haven't seen it. But even if that were possible, it still starts generating before selecting the items to index (word, reference, works cited).
It would be helpful, albeit slightly inconsistent with the rest of the Logos UI, if we could select those things and then initiate the index generation.
Thank you,
Donnie
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It's actually not generating a concordance, it is retrieving the last used concordance from the cache IIRC.
Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."
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MJ. Smith said:
It's actually not generating a concordance, it is retrieving the last used concordance from the cache IIRC.
I hope that's the case. However: a) Can it be retrieving a last-used concordance when I don't have any concordances? b) The UI has a progress bar in which the word "Generating" is used. c) There's no question that it's generating if I change the type of concordance (e.g. word to works cited), but I may also want to change the range of passages.
Donnie
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Donnie Hale said:
Can it be retrieving a last-used concordance when I don't have any concordances?
To check whether you have any or not - and using the Tool will create one - you can go to
\Data\uniqueid\Concordance (starting from your top-level Logos folder) and see if you have any files of type Concordance
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Donnie Hale said:
There's no question that it's generating if I change the type of concordance (e.g. word to works cited), but I may also want to change the range of passages.
If memory serves, changing those options only changes the displayed data. The concordance is generated for the entire resource. Changing those options should occur promptly.
UPDATE: Tested my theory. Generated a concordance with these settings
Shifted to this
While the initial concordance took several minutes to generate, the option changes took less than 15 seconds each.
Memory did serve. Regardless of the options, Logos generates a concordance for the entire resource. The individual options then take seconds to display.
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Jack Caviness said:
Regardless of the options, Logos generates a concordance for the entire resource. The individual options then take seconds to display.
In that case, the UI is misleading / ambiguous. Maybe FL wants to keep it simple, but when it says "Generating" and there's a progress bar every time you change one of those options, I think it's "generating" an appropriate underlying concordance.
Perhaps some kind of visual indicator could be displayed to show that the selected resource does or does not have the underlying concordance already generated.
In any case, my main objection is the fact that merely bringing up the tool initiates creation of a concordance. I either need to be able to bring up the tool for a specified resource, so that it's generating for the resource I want to work with; or it needs to wait until I say "Go" before it starts generating. IMHO...
Donnie
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Donnie Hale said:
As has been well-documented since the release of Concordance for Logos Now many months ago, it is a resource-intensive utility that also consumes disk space with its indices. It makes no sense that when I open the Concordance (from the Tools menu) that it immediately starts generating the results.
If there's a way to pre-select the resource before opening the Concordance, I haven't seen it. But even if that were possible, it still starts generating before selecting the items to index (word, reference, works cited).
If you cancel the concordance tool before a resource has been generated, the half-completed index will be deleted from the disk. No disk space is wasted.
Moreover, if allow the tool to complete the index for that resource, it will remember that resource in the future, and show you results without re-generating.
In other words, you only see the behaviour you're seeing if you cancel a concordance build, but regardless of that it doesn't matter because no disk space is used up.
This is my personal Faithlife account. On 1 March 2022, I started working for Faithlife, and have a new 'official' user account. Posts on this account shouldn't be taken as official Faithlife views!
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Donnie Hale said:
In that case, the UI is misleading / ambiguous. Maybe FL wants to keep it simple, but when it says "Generating" and there's a progress bar every time you change one of those options, I think it's "generating" an appropriate underlying concordance.
The progress bar doesn't reset when you change one of those options. It keeps going, unaffected by your changes.
This is my personal Faithlife account. On 1 March 2022, I started working for Faithlife, and have a new 'official' user account. Posts on this account shouldn't be taken as official Faithlife views!
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Mark Barnes said:
f you cancel the concordance tool before a resource has been generated, the half-completed index will be deleted from the disk. No disk space is wasted.
Moreover, if allow the tool to complete the index for that resource, it will remember that resource in the future, and show you results without re-generating.
In other words, you only see the behaviour you're seeing if you cancel a concordance build, but regardless of that it doesn't matter because no disk space is used up.
Even granted all that (thanks for the info, btw), you think it's intuitive for a tool to appear and start doing something without having been given any input as to what you want it to do? At least if it started generating a concordance for the resource in my active panel you could understand the rationale for its behavior. As it is, I suspect it would pick ESV (or top bible?) even if I launched the tool from the home page with no windows, panels, or resources open at all.
Donnie
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Donnie Hale said:
you think it's intuitive for a tool to appear and start doing something without having been given any input as to what you want it to do?
In Logos yes as that is what the Factbook does ... much to my annoyance as it is building data I don't want rather than the drop down menu I need.
Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."
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MJ. Smith said:Donnie Hale said:
you think it's intuitive for a tool to appear and start doing something without having been given any input as to what you want it to do?
In Logos yes as that is what the Factbook does ... much to my annoyance as it is build data I don't want rather than the drop down menu I need.
It's annoying to me too. It's using up CPU and disk that I'd rather it not do while I try to enter in the parameters I really want to use.
MacBook Pro (2019), ThinkPad E540
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Todd Phillips said:
t's annoying to me too. It's using up CPU and disk that I'd rather it not do while I try to enter in the parameters I really want to use.
OK, thanks for the replies. If I had gotten another round of pushback, I was going to drop it.
FL: Please fix this. [:D]
-Donnie
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Donnie Hale said:Todd Phillips said:
t's annoying to me too. It's using up CPU and disk that I'd rather it not do while I try to enter in the parameters I really want to use.
OK, thanks for the replies. If I had gotten another round of pushback, I was going to drop it.
FL: Please fix this.
-Donnie
I'd be satisfied with the current design if only there was a cancel button to make it stop.
MacBook Pro (2019), ThinkPad E540
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Todd Phillips said:
I'd be satisfied with the current design if only there was a cancel button to make it stop.
Agreed - that would be the minimum they could do to address this.
-Donnie
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I whined about this last week to MJ (no use bug-reporting ... in one thread, out the other).
"If myth is ideology in narrative form, then scholarship is myth with footnotes." B. Lincolm 1999.
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Denise said:
I whined about this last week to MJ (no use bug-reporting ... in one thread, out the other).
Observation: It seems like your cynicism has begun an exponential increase. Bums me out...
I definitely do not intend to offend you in saying that.
Donnie
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Actually, I'm a happy-go-lucky. But scepticism has never been wasted time. Putting everything on the table is always best practice.
Not offended, though the cynic part always harks back to the 1st century.
"If myth is ideology in narrative form, then scholarship is myth with footnotes." B. Lincolm 1999.
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