Webmail: Erroneous "could not load message from the server"

[#1]

This has happened to me a couple of times now,  and is probably related to the mismatch when deleting messages given its (in)frequency.
After logging in to webmail, I had three new messages;
  I selected each one in turn,  which displayed correctly,  then deleted it  (using the delete key).
After the last new message is deleted, I selected the the newest read message;
  this results in a red box at the top of the page showing "could not load message from the server".
  I selected a number of other messages,  which all had the same result.
After refreshing the page,  the same message list is displayed,  but all messages now load.

Now for some debugging info,  in case it's useful.
Before and after reloading the page I used to DOM inspector, which showed a change to the ids which may be significant.
Before Refreshng (i.e with the problem) the row ids were (sans rcmrow)

390, 389, 388, 386, 384, 358, 338, 337, 246, 223, 222, 184, 
     185, 180, 179, 178, 176, 175, 174, 172 ... 149 

(note:  390, 389 & 388 were hidden as these were the deleted messages)
After refreshing,  all row ids are contiguous from 188 to 149,  where 386 changed to 188, 384 to187, 358 to 186, etc.,

[#2]

How quickly is your message list loading? I've noticed a significant slow down since Roundcube was made the default Webmail.
I wonder if the problem you are seeing, and one or two previously reported problems of a similar nature, are related to the speed of recovering stuff from the server.

[#3]

The message list usually populates within a couple of seconds, and I've not noticed any appreciable difference between working and faulty loading.
I definately think this behaviour is related to the other behavioural issues, but given their nature  (the first list populated after logging in),  I'd say it's a server side providing the information that is causing the problem.
One thing I did notice,  after refreshing,  the highest row id matched the number of messages in my in box (188).
All new messages I've received and deleted so far have been incrementing the row id,  even though the list has been refreshed  (i've not logged out though).
    e.g.  inbox refreshed so no hidden entries,  highest id is 188,  the next message recieved was given id 194.

[#4]

I've had this happen again this morning, but after viewing 2 of 5 new emails.
Since my last message on the subject,  the row ids have continued to increase inline with the emails received, reaching 391, implying that  the servers is maintaining a couter in line with the emails received
Having viewed 391 and 390,  389 would not load.
Checking the other messages in the list, 197 was viewable, but contained the wrong preview for the subject.
My Inbox contained 203 messages at the time.
After reloading the inbox list,  all IDs became contiguous.
I think I now understand what happened,  and where the problem may lie.

• The IDs becoming contiguous implies that that Inbox has been compacted.


• My Roundcube preferences do have 'Compact Inbox on Logout' set on.  (server settings -> maintenance)


• Roundcube does not appear to be compacting the Inbox on logout


• Roundcube does appear to compact the Inbox when it sees fit (without reloading the list), resulting in the erroneous behaviour seen

 
There is a possibility that this random compacting may result in a reordering of the IDs, which would implicate this behaviour as a likely culprit for the erroneous preview/delete issue.

[#5]

Had this happen again this morning..
Are Plusnet interested in this problem or am I wasting my time trying to help solve it?

[#6]

I'd guess Bob Pullen is the real expert in this area and is no doubt upto his eyesballs, I expect a lot of his recent effort had to be addressing the SPAM issue.
I've hardly deleted any stuff from my Inbox so not seen your issue so far. I do have a lot of mail now that I need to move to another folder. I'll see if I can have a go at it over the w/e or early next week and see if I can reproduce similar problems.

[#7]

I'm getting a sense of deja-vu here.  Same problem happened again this morning. 

[#8]

And again.  This time it achieved it after viewing and deleting the first message!
In the vain hope that it might prove useful,  this is what I did today.

• Reloaded webmail login page with _host=Force9  in the URL  (using same window as previous session)


• logged in


• selected the top message


• pressed delete key


• the message 'loading message'  which then changed to 'moving message'


• the error message 'could not load message from the server' appeared below the 'moving message' message


• the moving message' changed to 'Message(s) moved successfully', the closes, leaving only the error message

The following initial state that may influence the behaviour:
The message IDs of some messages are greater than the number of messages in the mailbox.  (i.e. mailbox IDs are not contiguous)
Preferences:

• Displaying Messages
  • After message delete/move display the next message  (enabled)
  
  


• Server Settings
           
  • Mark the message as read on delete  (enabled)
  
           
  • Flag the message for deletion instead of delete (disable)
  
           
  • Do not show deleted messages (enabled)
  
           
  • If moving messages to "Deleted Items" fails, permanently delete them  (disabled)
  
           
  • Clear Trash on logout (disabled)
  
           
  • Compact Inbox on logout (enabled)
  
  

[#9]

Quote from: kmilburn

In the vain hope that it might prove useful,   this is what I did today. Reloaded webmail login page with _host=Force9  in the URL  (using same window as previous session) logged in selected the top message pressed delete key the message 'loading message'  which then changed to 'moving message' the error message 'could not load message from the server' appeared below the 'moving message' message the moving message' changed to 'Message(s) moved successfully', the closes, leaving only the error message

Just followed those steps exactly using my own Force9 account and all worked as expected. A 'message moved successfully' message was returned rather than 'could not load message from the server'.

Quote from: kmilburn

Preferences: Displaying Messages After message delete/move display the next message  (enabled) Server Settings           Mark the message as read on delete  (enabled)           Flag the message for deletion instead of delete (disable)           Do not show deleted messages (enabled)           If moving messages to "Deleted Items" fails, permanently delete them  (disabled)           Clear Trash on logout (disabled)           Compact Inbox on logout (enabled)

I've set my account up the same way. Can't help but think this might be related to the 'After message delete/move display the next message' option, although I can see why you'd want that enabled.

Quote from: kmilburn

After logging in to webmail, I had three new messages;   I selected each one in turn,  which displayed correctly,  then deleted it  (using the delete key). After the last new message is deleted, I selected the the newest read message;   this results in a red box at the top of the page showing "could not load message from the server".   I selected a number of other messages,  which all had the same result. After refreshing the page,  the same message list is displayed,  but all messages now load.

I tried replicating this too but couldn't.

Quote from: kmilburn

Before and after reloading the page I used to DOM inspector, which showed a change to the ids which may be significant. Before Refreshng (i.e with the problem) the row ids were (sans rcmrow) 390, 389, 388, 386, 384, 358, 338, 337, 246, 223, 222, 184,     185, 180, 179, 178, 176, 175, 174, 172 ... 149 (note:  390, 389 & 388 were hidden as these were the deleted messages) After refreshing,  all row ids are contiguous from 188 to 149,  where 386 changed to 188, 384 to187, 358 to 186, etc.,

I'm not sure I'm seeing this. Using Firefox 13 I logged in to Webmail, checked the developer console and message rows were mainly in reverse chronological numbering (assuming I'm looking in the same place you are) from 948 with some gaps. After deleting a few non-consequetive emails and refreshing, I didn't see these row numbers become contiguous. If you use Firefox then perhaps you can enable the developer console each time you're logged into Webmail and make a note of what it reports when errors are returned?
We're not ignoring you. The issue with a problem like this is the fact that it's outrageously difficult to replicate, there aren't many people complaining about it and there's a significant possibility that it will be something to do with the underlying code itself rather than something we've done (or failed to do) ourselves.
There are a number of issues logged in Roundcube's trac reporting system, but locating which (if any of them) are specific to what you're seeing is difficult. e.g. This sounds kind of related but is marked as resolved.
Unless it's causing you huge inconvenience, or we're able to reliably replicate the problem given a certain set of conditions, then I'm not sure where we can go from here? 

[#10]

Hi Bob

Quote from: Bob

We're not ignoring you. The issue with a problem like this is the fact that it's outrageously difficult to replicate, there aren't many people complaining about it and there's a significant possibility that it will be something to do with the underlying code itself rather than something we've done (or failed to do) ourselves.

It's good to know I'm not being ignored,  I was beginning to wonder .
As a software engineer, I appreciate the issues with a problem as difficult to reproduce as this.  I think we've definitely got a mandelbug in the system.
From having looked through some of the roundcube code,  I'm curious about one aspect of the configuration;  is the system setup to use caching?
The message IDs reverting to a contiguous sequence would be consistent with the cache being rebuilt.
The issue with the preview/delete acting on the wrong message could occur if the (already contiguous) cache rebuilt with the newest messages being reordered due to time sent/received differences.
The issue of inbox showing an incomplete list could be caused by a stale cache which was incorrectly determined to be valid.
Kevin.

[#11]

I noted Bob's comment

Quote from: Bob

I've set my account up the same way. Can't help but think this might be related to the 'After message delete/move display the next message' option, although I can see why you'd want that enabled.

I recently posted my settings which included

Quote from: Anotherone

'After message delete/move display the next message' is not ticked

I haven't yet reproduced any of the (3) problems that have been mentioned on this board recently.

[#12]

It 's possible the 'After message delete/move display the next message' option may be a trigger for the problem,  but if it is, it still indicates an underlying problem with Roundcube or its setup.
The most likely scenario for this issue,  the interleaved delete and fetch causes a collision with the cache handling,  which causes the rebuild.
Once rebuilt, the ids within the cache (server side) no longer match the IDs populated into the browser (client side) and there appears to be no mechanism for the client to detect this.
With the preview/delete issue,  I've observed this behaviour on a different users account who does not have this option enabled.

[#13]

Is the sorting column and order significant when it comes to the 'After message delete/move display the next message' option? Has anyone checked out to see if that is a factor?

[#14]

To add a little twist to this problem,  it's occured again this afternoon,  after being logged in for a couple of hours.
The problem happend after I deleted two new emails which were sent at exactly the same time (same message to different aliases). 
As usual,  attempts to replicate the problem have failed!

[#15]

Hmm,  further attempts to replicate the problem have had an interesting result..
In combination with moving messages from 'Deleted Items' back to the Inbox,  marking them unread, changing message selection and deleting message,  I've received numerous 'Your session is invalid or expired' error messages.  I've even had this message when logging back in.