Missing layers in the Layer table

[argentin]

Hi everyone! 

I have a layers problem similar to this one: https://forum.inkscapecommunity.com/index.php?topic=407.0
My file had quite a lot of layers but when I open it now, most of the objects are part of the root layer.
I can recover access to the objects by using File > Import, but not the organization in layers.
I also checked and I still have the "svg>" part in my file.

  My questions are:
How do I modify the text file so that I recover the layer organization? Is there a pattern easy to tell as to where the file is corrupted?
And what should I do to avoid this kind of corruption?

I put the file in attachments if you need it.

Thank you very much for your help 

[brynn]

Welcome to the forum!

I don't think you're having the same problem at all.  I don't see any corrupt code in your file.  I don't know if it's possible with either a computer crash or an Inkscape crash, for an object to be deleted without creating any corrupt code.  But is anything missing?

If the whole problem is objects showing up in the root layer, I'm not sure why that's a problem.  You can just select them, and move them back into the layers where you want them.

To move a selection (select all the objects which you want to go in a particular layer) up, using Shift + PgUp.  However, lately the root layer is above all the other layers, so you'll probably need to move them down in the layer stack, which is Shift + Pg Dn.  By watching the Layers dialog while you move them, you can stop when you get to the right layer.

If layers are missing, you'll need to re-create them.

How can you avoid having crashes?  The file is already approx 7.5 mb.  At some point, if you haven't already noticed it, you'll start having some performance issues with Inkscape.  At some point, the file will simply be too large for Inkscape to handle it, based on your system resources.

Here's an article/tutorial explaining how you can avoid performance issues (or what causes them).  So that can keep you going for a while.  But eventually, it's possible the file will just be too large to handle, based on your system resources.  It will just crash repeatedly, or maybe not even open.

https://forum.inkscapecommunity.com/index.php?action=articles;sa=view;article=35

Crashes for other reasons besides performance issues -- I wouldn't know how to avoid those.  I know there's a current bug with using Undo under certain circumstances, so lately I'm in the habit of clicking Save before I click Undo (because I keep forgetting the circumstances).  Other than that, I don't know.

[argentin]

Thank you!

Ok, good to know.
No object is missing but the layers are missing in the table.
For example, I have:
<g
     id="layer18"
     inkscape:label="Goal and Methods"
     style="display:inline"
     sodipodi:insensitive="true">
in the file, but the layer by that name does not show up when I open it (I only have BaseMap, Landslide interface, Landslide area, Landslide interface, SAT). The objects of "Goal and Methods" will show on the root layer.

I cannot select the objects from the root layer, I have to open an empty project, and then Import this project, but even then, my project is really big, as you noticed, and it would take lots of time to create correct layers again and move everything to the right one. That's why I was wondering if there was a short-cut to doing this, since the info seems to still be in the file.

Thanks for the tutorial. I was indeed hiding most of the image when working on it.

[brynn]

I see what you mean.  Now that I've looked at your file for the 2nd time, and investigated further, I see that the Layers dialog is not displaying all the layers.  But the Objects dialog does display them.

So you should be able to use the Objects dialog.  Once I've unlocked everything from the Objects dialog, then I am able to select everythingin the root layer.  I guess you could continue on, using the Objects dialog instead of Layers dialog.  Except that keeping the Objects dialog is known to cause performance issues (slowness, maybe freezing).

But now, I'm actually not sure how this can be fixed.  I'm not sure if these problems are related to the crash or a bug.  You said there was a crash, right?  Was it an Inkscape crash or your computer?

I've tried adding the missing layers back to the Layers dialog, but that results in duplicate layers in Objects dialog.

Oohh, I see how it works!  Open the Objects dialog.  Notice the column which is labelled "T".  Those icons are so tiny it's hard to describe them.  The icon which looks like an upside-down T is for "object".  It never changes, as far as I can tell.  The other icon, if you click on it, changes slightly.  As far as I can tell, it just gets lighter, and very slightly larger.  Unfortunately, that's the only way I can think to describe it.

When that icon is smaller, it apparently means Group.  When you click on it to make it slightly bigger and ligher in color, it means "layer".  When you click on a group icon and change it to layer, the layer suddenly shows up in the Layers dialog.

So what you'll need to do is go through the Objects dialog, and change your layers (some of which apparently where changed to groups) back to real layers.  Keep the Layers dialog open at the same time, so you can verify that the change happened.  And don't forget to click the tiny plus sign to expand the layers, because there are several sublayers as well.  As soon as you click the icon in the T column to change it to the layer icon, it shows up in the Layers dialog.

Let us know if that fixes everything, or if there are any outstanding problems.

[argentin]

Thank you soooo much!!

I don't know how I did that, I think I mistook the Object table for the Layer table and I might have clicked unknowingly on those icons.
But I would never have found out what I done without you, thanks again!!
I will have to delve a bit more into the subject of objects to understand it thoroughly.

I think everything is alright now

[brynn]

Good news!

You're welcome