"Missing" DIM product updates and the 'Connect Available' setting [solved]
mindsong
Posts: 1,724
ETA summary: If you want to be more certain that you are seeing *all* of your currently downloadable products and updates in the DIM's 'Ready to Download' tab, be sure your 'Connect Available' (bottom of settings->downloads tab) is enabled/checked. Apparently some product update packages that are posted by DAZ aren't consistently tagged with the target software platform (e.g. 'DAZ Studio 4.5+'), and not only won't show up in the list of available downloads, but also won't be visible at all in your DIM environment for install or removal - they're completely hidden from view.
---- original message
Having recently read about a product update that I hadn't seen (AoA's great 'Graphic Art Cameras' product), I went to check my DIM status, and not only did I not see the mentioned update, I couldn't even *find* the product anywhere in my three DIM tabs. Yet, I *knew* and confirmed that I owned it, had it, and that the DIM zipfiles were still present in my downloads folder... Much confusion and a serious concern that my DIM collection was somehow incomplete in general ensued.
A bit more exploration and it turned out that this mentioned update was indeed available (no info on the DAZ product docs page as to why the upddate was released - yet?), along with two other updates for products I've purchased.
Solution for me:
To show such products so I could actually download them, I needed to make sure 'Connect Available' was enabled in the list of 'Downloads' checkboxes in my DIM settings 'Downloads' tab (down at the bottom of the list).
I don't (won't) use connect, so I never paid much attention to it, and was surprised to find that these product updates were only available/visible if that setting was enabled, as they could be downloaded and managed normally after that. I'm pretty certain they aren't encrypted (for connect, etc.) or any-such, so it may be a simple tagging error at DAZ. I couldn't tell you if any more products also re-appeared in my 'Ready To Install' tab, but I now trust DIM again!
Hope this isn't old-news for folks, and it's likely that most folks have never disabled that checkbox like I did - but having never seen this in the DIM after using it for years, seemed worth the mention.
(FWIW, I also have the CMS/Postgres/Smart-Content features disabled, so it may not even be an issue for most users who do things the 'right way')
YMMV,
--ms
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Comments
Connect Available is just a flag for items that can be installed via Connect, if it isn't set then you wil see only items that don't have Connect install options at all. Items that are Connect-only (of which, as far as I know, there are currently none) won't appear in DIM at all.
So I thought too!, that's why this strikes me as both odd, and likely to be unintentional.
Bottom-line: these seemingly normal product updates were not visible to my DIM environment until I enabled that visible in Connect setting. Would never have occurred to me to expect that result, but it was the only check-box left for me, and after enabling it... there were the products... and they were notably *not* visible in my DIM product lists until I set that option.
Do you think it could be a mis-tagged product setting on DAZ's side?
still has me scratching my head a bit, but at least my products are where I can see them.
cheers,
--d
No, it would be correct - those are items that can be isntalled through Connect, should the user wish, so they are tagged Connect Available. They are also pre-Connect releases, so it's likely that when you originally bought them there was no tag to be set/unset - though i did think Connect Available was on by default.
Given the current tagging, yes, the system is responding correctly.
That said, it seems the updated AoA 'Graphics Art Cameras' product (and at least two other product updates in my library) do *not* have the usual 'Daz Studio 4.5+' tag in their current meta-data, so I'll continue to assume that this *not* correct, given the product is designed and still being sold as a DAZ Studio 4.5+ product.
There isn't any updated reference in the online/official DAZ product documents for this product as to why this package was updated either (I'm hoping it's a long-wanted fix for a 3DL update that broke part of it), so I'll assume the employee doing the update simply hadn't had their morning coffee when submitting the update release(s).
The only way *I* know to make such product updates visible to *my* DIM (1.0.0.74) environment, is to enable the 'Connect Available' setting, which allowed me to see, download, and re-install my product.
If there are other methods to accomplish this, this would be a fine place to share them with the community.
FWIW, this 'hidden product' effect may only occur when the product is still in the pre-downloaded 'Ready-To-Download->Product Updates' state in the DIM. Once downloaded, it may display/behave differently, making the issue much harder to understand, reproduce, and believe. A bit of a cart-and-horse issue, when you can't see the product to download it, and yet it can't be seen (as tagged) until you download it.
And yes, I would agree that 'Connect Available' is probably set to 'enabled' in the DIM installer defaults, as it should be, so it's not likely to be seen/changed by many users. But... I'm pretty comfortable in my belief that disabling that setting should not result in hiding anything other than connect-only products (whatever that would mean). Others may disagree.
cheers,
--ms
Connect Only implies not available in DIM, if DIM could see it it would not be Connect Only.
lol... 'Connect Available' then. right. got it. good. we're in sync here. excellent.
AoA's 'Graphic Arts Camera' product is 'Connect Available', good. got it. great. excellent. progress happening here.
AoA's 'Graphic Arts Camera' product is not currently listed as 'DAZ Studio 4.5+' - not a speculation, fact, auditable, provable.,etc.
interesting.
I wonder why I couldn't see it in my DIM 'Ready For Downloading' tab. hmmm. Oh yeah, the filters work 'correctly' on mis-tagged items, so it must be the tagging.
I think someone at DAZ messed up, but I'm just a little slow here as one might gather.
sorry to bother everyone.
Hope future folks can find their mis-tagged products someday.
(BIG BIG hint: enable all the filters to see anything you might be missing)
sigh,
--ms
Please report the lack of the 4.5+ tag.
I had this (and it's STILL like it) with Forsaken Eleeator - but was told #not to wrorry' just use the 'conenct available' filter in DIM to see/get it ...
thanks for the info. how come this response doesn't surprise me around here anymore...
Hey Richard, if you don't want to help out here, that's fine. Feel free to add me to your 'ignore' list. Really.
--ms
You must be having a bad day.
That came across sounding pretty rude. Richard is the most helpful and knowledgeable person on the forum. He cannot fix DIM tagging errors himself, but his suggestion to you to report the error might get it fixed. Please remember this part of the TOS: "Criticism should be directed towards the subject or topic at hand, rather than an individual.
edited:
Perhaps in his concise style, he comes across as being bothered by me, which is how I read his responses to me, both here and in other threads. Might simply be a style thing. (I acknowledge his topical mastery, willingness to assist, and ever-presence on the forums), but I also get a strong sense that he doesn't care for me or my style, which is fine. Others seem to like it.
My quoted and sincere request 'to be ignored', was in response to the entire interchange, not just his reasonable 'submit a bug' comment. I could see how that didn't come across.
It still is an open request for him, or anyone else, to simply not bother helping me if doing so is an imposition. period.
While my quoted comment was certainly the result of a judgement I've made, no criticism was present.
be well,
--ms
I apologise if my comments seemed hostile or harsh - I was simply trying to address the questions you asked, and what seemed to me a misunderstanding of the way one of the filtering options in DIM worked (whjich may, of course, have been a misunderstanding on my part).
If you were even half as wordy as I am, I gather you wouldn't be able to afford to offer near the amount of assistance in virtually *all* of the forums, as you do.
In afterthought, that makes more sense than anything, but I've truly felt like a bother in some interchanges, and if that were the case, I'd prefer not to impose.
thanks for the help and the comment. I'll adjust my 'lenses' and see how the world looks from here-on-out.
--ms
Heh, it's true I've usually found it harder to reach a word count than to bring my ramblings back down to a word count (and it isn't just laziness, honest).
Wow...NOW I know where all the Starter Essentials went!
My 16 uninstalled products showing suddenly jumped to 97 as soon as I checked "Connect Available". Question is, how DID they get switched to Connect Available? This is the first time I've ever had that checked and they used to show up in DIM.
Laurie
The DIM package tags are wrong for some of those DIM packages. The DIM packages should have the DS 4.5+ tag and they don't. Perhaps it was caused by the recent update to the starter essentials packages; I don't know. I never noticed any problem, because I had the Connect Available filter turned on in DIM, and I have them all installed with Daz Connect, not DIM. I didn't notice anything amiss until @mindsong brought this to our attention.
Well, to be honest, it was easy for me to miss all those items - I have so many things that I sometimes forget what all I have ;). Sad, but true. The essentials I noticed because I had to reinstall them and to my chagrin they were gone from DIM o.O.
Laurie
Connect Available has been there for about as long as Connect has been in DS, give-or-take a bit, and I don't think there has been a sudden increase in older items that can be installed via Connect so I don't know why the situation would have changed.
had I not seen the Graphic Arts Cameras (*great product*!) update comment in another thread, I would never have missed these products, for exactly the same reason.
I sometimes 'shop' in my own product library now, because it's become a store in its own right, which may not really be a 'good thing', heh.
I'm glad folks are at least aware of the issue now and can benefit/share the news.
--ms
What's changed is that I have Connect Available checked now and never had before. All of a sudden all these extra products popped up in my library that didn't show at all before. ;) Of course, they're MY products because I bought them, I just have so much stuff that I didn't realize they weren't showing up in my content list.
Laurie