[BUG] Sub-tasks Drag&Drop sort method is unstable

[Maeda1]

Describe the bug Being a new pro user, it took some time to open that bug report but this has occurred several times so it starts to be a very annoying bug for me.

Sub-tasks is a good thing but should keep their order and this is not stable for me.

I am using jtxBoard, DAVx5 and a cloud email provider that supports iCal sync. It seems that something goes crazy on a daily basis. Because sometimes when opening jtxBoard the order of sub-tasks goes completely wrong (random order). Sub-tasks still are within the right parent but some parents have their sub-tasks order messed up.

I have created a shopping list (very basic example of sub-tasks usage but ordering is very important in that case) with more than 240+ sub-tasks. Now (third time) sub-tasks are randomly reordered. Annoying :(, I spent several hours to make it back in order and the next day all is messed up. So I stopped relying on sub-tasks order until this bug is fixed.

To Reproduce Not easy. I tried to find different ways to try to reproduce or restrict root cause of the bug. This is what I did: I only keep my phone (jtxBoard/DAVx5) syncing with the cloud provider. I stopped my two Thunderbird clients.

Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Enable the two jtxBoard sync options
2. Use Drag & drop for sub-tasks sort method
3. Hide finished tasks option (might not be relevant at all, but that's my setting).
4. Use Compact view
5. Using top bar, create at least 2 parent tasks
6. Change them from Local to the remote Cloud provider
7. Using top bar, create some sub-tasks in each parent task (let's say around 6~10 subtasks to really see the bad reordering: e.g.: "100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700" and "A, B, C, D, E".
8. DAVx5 set to automatically sync every 4 hours and triggers on any local change.
9. Close both jtxBoard and DAVx5 apps but keep phone data up.
10. Wait for one day/night (do not change anything)
11. Open jtxBoard and check the subtasks, some (not all) are messed up: e.g. "500, 100, 300, 200, 700, 400, 600" and "D, A, C, E, B"

Maybe trying to have some other parents with sub-tasks help to trigger the bug (or even create the big list of 240+ sub-tasks?).

Note: if you keep it and wait more days, this will once again change the order. Not in same parent tasks but I cannot be 100% sure.

Expected behavior Sub-tasks order should always be stable and remain what it is!

Device and version

• Device: Oppo A74
• Android version: ColorOS 13.0 (Android 13)
• jtx Board PRO version: 2.11.05.gplay (211050006)
• Downloaded from: Google Play

I know this is not an easy bug report but if any debug log can be provided let me know how to generate it.

[patrickunterwegs]

Hi @Maeda1 , thanks for your issue report. I have made some improvements in the upcoming version 2.12.0. If the problem persists in this new version, please let me know and re-open this ticket.

[Maeda1]

I installed the version 2.12 and after sorting correctly (drag & drop) my sub-tasks, two days after order is messed up again.

So the issue is still there.

BTW, is it required to create again the tasks/sub-tasks to make the fix working?

[tuxayo]

from 2.11.06.ose to 2.12.00.ose (the gap with the previous update is large enough for me to be 100% sure it was this version)

Now when i check or uncheck a subtask. The order gets messed up.

note: my server url changed many months ago so DAVx5 is always failing. That might somehow impact JTX's behavior if it's hard to reproduce.

Edit: also hapenning on 2.12.01.ose

[tuxayo]

when ticking a subtask, it's moved to bottom as if it was sorting by status, is there such a settings to sort by status on top of a drag an drop sort? I can still move the subtask to fix the order. When unticking it moves again to the bottom and re-moves to before i unticked it.

[tuxayo]

Fixed when going from 2.12.01.ose to 2.14.00.ose

thanks a lot 😀

@Maeda1 do you confirm?

[Maeda1]

Just got the 2.14.00 gplay. Let me test it and I will revert to you soon.

[Maeda1]

Here is my first conclusion:

1. Same issue for sub-tasks that are in sync with Cloud provider.
2. It does not affect sub-tasks created locally (in collection 'Local').

I will test further with more local collection lists of tasks to be sure it never happens for the collection 'Local' and confirm here.

[Maeda1]

I confirm: this only happens when using sync with remote, the local collection is not messing up the order. Were you able reproduce it (to be able to fix it)?

@tuxayo: for me it gets messed up without ticking or unticking a sub-task. Just create bunch of sub-tasks (in sync with any remote), leave them for one or two days without doing anything at all in the app, then come back and the order is messed up.

I need to have sub-tasks always keeping their order whenever they are completed or not. Once their position is set up (either using drag and drop or by default at creation) it must keep the position in the list of sub-tasks.

[Maeda1]

After checking again, a quick (and easy?) solution would be to add grouping feature targeting the sub-tasks by category to make them near each others despite any drag&drop order.

Today, grouping by category only applies to tasks.