# an internal error has occur, bad argument #1 to 'ipairs' (table expected, got userdat



## sbrand (Nov 23, 2008)

Hi,
I use LR 2.1 on a Mac X 1'.5.5.  I've been getting this error message: an internal error has occur, bad argument #1 to 'ipairs' (table expected, got userdata) when I try to use the create slideshows button in the Collections Panel in the Slideshow Module.  This happens mostly when I have reordered images to do the slideshow. The problem is intermittent, occurring about 8'-9'% of the time, so that I thought it was fixed when it wasn't. It remains a major annoyance.  
I have tried ALL that Adobe recommends...
I've replaced the preferences file, I've created a new catalog, I've tried creating a new administrator file, I've created a tiny catalogue and just imported a few images etc, etc, etc.
Does anyone have any ideas about how to fix this or does anyone have any ideas for workarounds?
thanks
stephanie


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## Victoria Bampton (Nov 23, 2008)

So does it happen even in the fresh catalog?  It sounds like a catalog error, but it's not one I've heard of.


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## DonRicklin (Nov 23, 2008)

And strange as it may seem, do you have any pictures or folders named, labeled or keyworded 'pairs'. Turns out that can cause odd behavior due to LR thinking it is part of a code argument! Try renaming any such items.

Don


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## Victoria Bampton (Nov 23, 2008)

Oh, Don, nice memory!  I forgot about that one!


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## DonRicklin (Nov 23, 2008)

Victoria Bampton said:


> Oh, Don, nice memory!  I forgot about that one!


:cheesy:

Don


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## sbrand (Nov 23, 2008)

Hi Victoria,

Yes, it happens in:
The old large catalog;
The new large catalog;
Various small "test" catalogs.

The folks at Adobe haven't heard of it either. 

After a week of this, I tried to start fresh.  This is what I did yesterday and what happened:

1. I moved the order of images and tried to create a ss with the collections button in ss module-got error message.

2. I tried taking that group of images and moving them around in ss module. Could not.

3. I reordered the images in Library, selected them, went into SS module and could not "create" the ss. (Note:  I can preview and play the slideshow, though sometimes it sticks and jumps back to a prior image).

4. I returned to the Library module and took that group of images and moved them to a new folder on the hard drive, created a brand new catalog and only imported those images.
     A.  They imported without problem.
     B.   I moved them into slideshow module, applied the widescreen template (just to choose something randomly) and was able to create the slideshow. (NOTE, I had not reordered the images)

5. I returned to the library module, reordered a couple of the images and then returned to the slideshow module and again attempted to create the slideshow.  This time it failed.

6. I reordered the images in slideshow module that I had "saved" as a slideshow creation in step #4 (no problem at that very second with reordering in slideshow module).  Then I tried to create the slideshow with the reordered images.  This failed.

7. I then replaced the preferences file in this test catalog; selected 1' images and could create the slideshow. Unfortunately, my notes don't show if these 1' were in the original order or the reordered order  .

8.  Tried again with the reordered images and the new preferences file. Failed.

9.  Took the old, successfully created slideshow and, using the new preferences file, tried to create another slideshow (so here I know that the order was as imported).  This also failed.

1'.  Put the old preferences folder back and gave up.

Hope this helps....
Thanks
Stephanie


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## sbrand (Nov 23, 2008)

Hi Don,
I just double checked.  Nothing named pairs in any searchable text, folder name etc.  Now, I do know that I have at least one keyword that has the letters "air" in it, but that seems quite different to me.


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## sbrand (Nov 23, 2008)

And.... the images that moved into the tiny test catalog (described above) and the folder used to hold those images did not have the letters "air" there at all...
good try...
Stephanie


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## DonRicklin (Nov 23, 2008)

sbrand said:


> And.... the images that moved into the tiny test catalog (described above) and the folder used to hold those images did not have the letters "air" there at all...
> good try...
> Stephanie


It did seem a bit of a stretch, and i believe they fixed that 'bug', anyhow. But worth a check.

Sorry, can't help further at the moment.

Don


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## Victoria Bampton (Nov 23, 2008)

Same images each time?  What happens if you put 5 jpegs called 1.jpg, 2.jpg, 3.jpg, 4.jpg, 5.jpg in a folder on the Desktop.  Maybe create the catalog on the desktop too temporarily.

What happens if you don't apply a template?

What happens if you use the Collections panel in Library to create the slideshow collection?

Silly question - is it definitely LR 2.1 or 2.1RC?


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## DonRicklin (Nov 23, 2008)

Victoria Bampton said:


> Silly question - is it definitely LR 2.1 or 2.1RC?


The splash/about Screen Build number in the upper right corner should be 5122'5.

Don


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## sbrand (Nov 23, 2008)

The Screen Build # is 5122'5 (I guess that means it's LR 2.1)...

I did the following to answer Victoria's questions:

1. I created a new cat on the desktop and put a folder with 9 jpegs on the desktop.

2. I never (in the steps that are noted below) changed the order of the images.

3. I imported the 9 jpegs, selected them, went to the ss module, did not apply a template, went to the collections button and created a slideshow without any problem.

BUT

4. I returned to the library, went to the catalog line named "all photos", selected the identical photos and created a collection in the library module.  I took that collection to the ss module and tried to create a slideshow (no template applied) and got the damned internal error!

This sort of takes me to a question I have trouble articulating.... Here goes, is there any reason that you can't use the "create slideshow" command from within collections in the slideshow module if you are working with images already in a collection?  Intuitively, it doesn't seem as if it should matter.

BTW,  when I did this last step, I did rename my collection to add the word slideshow to it.

Stephanie


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## Brad Snyder (Nov 23, 2008)

I'm a Windows guy, but don't you Mac folks often recommend installing Lr into a 'new user', to get an 'unpolluted' environment to test in?  Or, was that already tried, and I missed it in the fine print?


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## sbrand (Nov 23, 2008)

Hi Brad,
Yup, it was in the fine print of the original post.... I've created 2 new administrator files and have had the problem in each.
Keep thinking!!
thanks
Stepanie


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## Brad Snyder (Nov 24, 2008)

I wondered if that was what that (admin files) meant ....


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## sbrand (Nov 24, 2008)

yup...


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## dsteinauer (Nov 29, 2008)

I'm experiencing the same problem, although I haven't done nearly the testing that Stephanie has done. I did start with a Quick Collection, fiddled until I had the slide show looking the way I wanted, then clicked the + button to add a new collection. I attempted to create my new slideshow in an existing collection set (itself within another collection set). That's when I got the error. (OS X 1'.5.5, MacBook Pro 17" 4gb ram)


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## sbrand (Dec 1, 2008)

*UPDATE on "ipairs" bug*

For any of you who are having this issue, here's where I'm at:

With a little help from the folks at Adobe, I determined that I still get the error even in the root directory.

Then they had me uninstall and reinstall LR 2.1 directly into the root directory and I got the error again.

They have now booted me "upstairs" and I await a call from someone more senior there.

Stephanie


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## ThomasB (Dec 1, 2008)

Climbing up the support escalation ladder 

Please keep us up to date, I'm curious about the solution.


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## sbrand (Dec 1, 2008)

I honestly expect that what I'll eventually get is a bug report for a patch that may or may not ever be built... ahh, so cynical....
s


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## sbrand (Dec 2, 2008)

*'IPAIRS' -Bad argument #1 ERROR UPDATE...*

After lots of long conversations with the good folks at Adobe and being "bumped up" to higher level tech support they tell me that there is good news and bad news (and I'm not really sure which is which) :?

The higher level tech support guy logged onto my computer, watched what I did (new catalog, safe mode, new admin file, 2 of adobe's images) and, after watching me, was able to recreate the error on his machine.  I guess that's the bad news because the problem is now, clearly, not a bug that is in each of our hardware.  Rather the bug is, as we were all figuring, in the program.  It seems that the create web collection or create print collection or create slideshow collection, either on Mac or Windows, all give the same ipairs error.

(Oh, the good news is that means that I don't have to reinstall my OS). 

Tech support's plan is to take this info to other people and at some point they'll decide whether to create a fix for the problem in the next, or later down the road, version of the program.  

I'm told that the best way for the fix to end up happening is for EVERYONE who is having this problem to go to www.adobe.com and file feedback or a bug report.  Squeaky wheels get the oil, as they say. :roll:

Stephanie


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## Denis Pagé (Dec 2, 2008)

:mrgreen: The bad new is that they may want to wait one more week for the release of 2.2 now.


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## Bruce J (Dec 3, 2008)

Denis Pagé said:


> :mrgreen: The bad new is that they may want to wait one more week for the release of 2.2 now.



No, that would be the good news.  I can easily wait another week for the upgrade if it means another bug fixed! :cheesy:


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## sbrand (Jan 24, 2009)

*workaround for the "ipairs" problem*

I was just poking around LR tips and blogs on the internet and stumbled on this:
http://blogs.oreilly.com/lightroom/2''9/'1/take-another-look-at-collectio.html#more

It's a discussion of collections by GeneMcCullagh in O'Reilly's blog and it discusses the ipairs problem as well as a workaround.

I haven't tried it yet, but thought I'd post it for everyone.

Stephanie


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## Kiwigeoff (Jan 25, 2009)

sbrand said:


> I was just poking around LR tips and blogs on the internet and stumbled on this:
> http://blogs.oreilly.com/lightroom/2''9/'1/take-another-look-at-collectio.html#more
> 
> It's a discussion of collections by GeneMcCullagh in O'Reilly's blog and it discusses the ipairs problem as well as a workaround.
> ...



Thanks Stephanie, you do know that Gene is a Guru here???:lol::lol::lol:


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## sbrand (Nov 23, 2008)

Hi,
I use LR 2.1 on a Mac X 1'.5.5.  I've been getting this error message: an internal error has occur, bad argument #1 to 'ipairs' (table expected, got userdata) when I try to use the create slideshows button in the Collections Panel in the Slideshow Module.  This happens mostly when I have reordered images to do the slideshow. The problem is intermittent, occurring about 8'-9'% of the time, so that I thought it was fixed when it wasn't. It remains a major annoyance.  
I have tried ALL that Adobe recommends...
I've replaced the preferences file, I've created a new catalog, I've tried creating a new administrator file, I've created a tiny catalogue and just imported a few images etc, etc, etc.
Does anyone have any ideas about how to fix this or does anyone have any ideas for workarounds?
thanks
stephanie


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## sbrand (Jan 25, 2009)

*Guess my face should be red....*

 oops! Didn't know!!
stephanie


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## Captain Slocum (Feb 2, 2009)

Hi, I have EXACTLY the same problem as described above.  I first started with 2.2 and then tried 2.3C but always the same. Occasionally I can create a slideshow, usually cannot. If I move all the photos from a successfully created slideshow into a new collection and try again, it fails, even though the photos and their order are exactly the same as the successful one. Restarting LR, checking integrity and restarting Windows has no effect. Is there someone at Adobe listening to this bug?


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## Victoria Bampton (Feb 2, 2009)

Hi Captain Slocum, welcome to the forum!

Have you tried the standard things like deleting/moving the preferences, trying a fresh catalog, trying a clean user account, removing presets, etc?  There's a starter list here: http://www.lightroomqueen.com/community/showthread.php?t=1645


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## Captain Slocum (Feb 3, 2009)

Hi Victoria,

Yes, I tried all of those. But I have found a way around the problem. It requires an extra step, but so far, after creating about 1' slideshows in three different sessions, it has not failed.

1. Select all the photos you want in your slideshow by sending them to Quick Collection. 
2. Go to the quick collection then context click and choose Save Quick Collection.
3. Select this new collection and then go to the Slideshow module.
4. Context click the collection and choose Create Slideshow.

Why adding an extra collection step should work I do not know, but I believe this has been documented elsewhere. I would be interested to hear if this works for others with this problem. I can reproduce the problem simply by creating the collection that will be turned into the slideshow directly without the intermediate step above. It is clearly a bug. As Adobe did not think it worth fixing in 2.2 or 2.3C, perhaps there should be a sticky about this.

I don't want to appear too critical though, it is an ambitious application which is nearly there and I am excited about it. I tried it when it was ver 1.4 and gave up as it could not handle a large number of images (I was using IMatch which copes with anything but is nothing like as useful or easy to use as LR) but ver 2 manages well with the 36,''' photos I have catalogued so far on a 4 year old PC, though there are still some memory and video issues. I do not think processor power is much of an issue but it does require an up-to-date, well speced video card and lots of memory.

Regards, John


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## Victoria Bampton (Feb 3, 2009)

John, if you haven't already done so, report it, and include your workaround steps too.  It may not be a case of not being worth fixing, but actually not being able to find it.  Here's the Official Feature Request/Bug Report Form


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