Crashing file due to (mistakingly) edited backup

[Bob]

​Hello David, all,

How are you doing?

Thanks for your reply.

I've written a reply following your reply but for some reason I never
sent it. I think I wanted to add something and never did.


On 19/09/2016 13:05, David T. wrote:
> Bob,
>
> Sorry to hear you’re having troubles. You list a number of issues.
>
> The prompt regarding “opening it anyway" is due to the crash
> (http://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/FAQ#Q:_GnuCash_says_that_it_can.27t_obtain_the_lock_for_my_file._What_should_I_do.3F),
> which you say happens now when you try to open your file.
>
> When you say “edited one of the backup files” what do you mean? Did
> you open a backup in GnuCash purposefully and change it? Did you edit
> one in a text editor? How did you “delete” 40,000+ transactions?
>
Yes, I opened a backup file, edited in Gnucash not a text editor. I
double clicked it.​

I did not delete 40, 000+ transactions. I want to delete those
transactions as they were generated by a scheduled ​(bi-monthly)
transaction and a bug in an app I use (see below).
I hope you could still help after this long time.

> Have you tried opening recent backups (you DO have backups, right)?
>
If you mean manual backups, then no. I have no recent ones to be useful.
If you mean backups created by gnucash, then yes, I tried to open
several of them but nont seemed to open.

I think this is why I didn't send the draft. I wanted to check older ones.

I just took a look at the folder I backup since then and I can see two
files that end up with ".LCK" for the last file I was using and another
two for an earlier date. I guess that has to do with some kind of
locking of the file while editing it?

> More fundamentally, what version of GnuCash are you using, on which
> operating system, and what storage method are you using (XML or SQL)?
>
I was using the Android GnuCash​ app. As a beta tester the app updated
and had a bug which resulted in one of my scheduled transactions to get
into an infinite loop and generate the 40, 000+ transactions. S

Due to this the app became very unresponsive and taking a long time to
backup. So I deleted all accounts and transactions. Then I used a backup
made by the android app and changed its extension to .gnucash and opened
it in GnuCash Desktop. It worked and I was using that file to (manually)
delete the 40,000+ transactions.

Then for some reason I edited one of the backup files (in Gnucash). I am
not exactly sure how things work or how exactly things broke here.

GnuCash Desktop v. 2.6.12

PS: I've attached an image of the error I get when I try to open a file.
And the second is what I get if I choose to "open anyway". Eventually It
ends up not responding and crashing.
I tried renaming those but I end up with the same (2nd) error and a new
LCK file.

Thank you
>> On Sep 18, 2016, at 9:39 PM, Bob <bobmerhebi at gmail.com
>> <mailto:bobmerhebi at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>
>> Hello Gnucash community,
>>
>> I've been having problems with my Gnucash file. I think I mistakingly
>> edited one of the backup files and now I can no longer open my file.
>>
>> I am presented by a prompt asking if I want to open it anyway, in which
>> case it ends up crashing (not sure if because of this edit or because of
>> 40,000+ transactions that I wanted to delete).
>>
>> It does open in read-only mode.
>>
>> My question is what can I do to have a working copy?
>>
>> I appreciate your help. Thank you
>>
>> Regards,
>> Bob

-- 
Regards,
Bob

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