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September 2, 2005
AppleBugFriday: Xcode updates wipe out documentation bookmarks
Since it's Report-An-Apple-Bug-Friday, I thought I'd pick one that hits me where I live everyday. Xcode's documentation viewer. Even though I've had more than a passing familiarity with the AppKit for, um, longer than I might care to admit, Tiger brings with it a fairly hefty chunk of new API. (Not that I'm complaining!)
As I've gotten older, I've come to realize that the available mental stack space I have is finite. I can't remember every bit of new API that I come across. Keeping documentation handy is, for me, a very good thing. Xcode helps with this by allowing you to bookmark class documentation so you can easily find it again. (Find > Add to Bookmarks) In practice this works fairly well and let's me, say, flip between related Core Data classes while I'm working on a problem.
Oddly working against this is the increased pace at which Apple is releasing updates both to Xcode and OS X API documentation. (Again, not that I'm complaining! Monthly documentation updates delivered over the web are both new for Apple and a true blessing.) But, and you knew there had to be a but, every time I install either a documentation update, or an update to Xcode itself, I lose all my bookmarks! Really, really annoying.
So that's my Friday bug. It drives me crazy. Mostly because it happens without warning and with no chance to recover.
Following tradition (?) here's the geeky Radar URL: 4242754. I see that's Dan's now posting the text of his submitted bugs. That's a really good idea. I'll append mine to the end of this entry. One of my ideas from the conversation we had that started AppleBugFriday was to post bugs in the hope of getting other people to report the same bug in order to help adjust Apple's priority queue. If someone posts a bug that's affecting you, too, file your own report. Maybe it will help the bug get fixed quicker, or at all. If you have an ADC account, report a bug. If you don't have an ADC account, report a bug.
Mike Zornek also came up with a clever way to raise visibility: tag your entry on del.icio.us with applebugfriday. Make it so.
Here's the text part of my bug:
Summary: Installing Xcode documentation updates removes class documentation bookmarks.
Steps to Reproduce:
1. Bookmark class documentation in Xcode 2.x via Find > Add to Bookmarks.
2. Install a documentation update.
3. Observe that previously added bookmarks are no longer shown in documentation viewer.
Expected Results:
Xcode should maintain bookmarks even after updating documentation. If Xcode really can't find the referenced documentation, the bookmark should not be lost: the user should be given an opportunity to (re)locate the documentation.
Actual Results:
Bookmarks are reset to "standard set" as if I'd never used Xcode.
Regression:
I have experienced this problem with every version of Xcode that has allowed creation of documentation bookmarks.
Notes:
Installing either new versions of Xcode or documentation updates wipes out bookmarks.
Posted by ttalbot at September 2, 2005 8:42 AM