Settings are periodically lost

[jaydisc]

After updating to macOS 11.2.1 (on an M1 Mac), I noticed that SceneCuts has lost all of its settings. The settings I have set, and lost, are the disabling of many scenes and the attaching of a keyboard shortcut to one of those scenes. I have solid computer backups. Are the preferences stored in some fashion I can restore them when this happens? Thanks.

[nehayward]

Sorry about that. I'm hoping to move them to a more permanent storage. Currently they use User Defaults, which are deleted when you delete the app or potentially when you update.

[jaydisc]

Interesting. Thank you. I thought User Defaults were the designed mechanism for preference storing.

[nehayward]

They are but as you're experiencing there isn't a clean way to back them up and they can be deleted by the system.

[jaydisc]

I've just done another couple of OS updates, and again, lost my configuration. However, I can see that the configuration is still there by running:

defaults read com.nick.Scenecuts

Is it possible that the configuration isn't actually lost, but rather, the OS is CHANGING the HomeKit device identifiers?

For example, I see the same, one keyboard shortcut that I always set for same scene, as being set three times:

    "KeyboardShortcuts_1CD27690-E733-5938-B051-C3C286588DAA" = "{\\"carbonModifiers\\":4352,\\"carbonKeyCode\\":13}";
    "KeyboardShortcuts_7EB8A1E8-558B-56C9-96A3-C07AA18A4371" = "{\\"carbonModifiers\\":4352,\\"carbonKeyCode\\":13}";
    "KeyboardShortcuts_B9341F45-1983-5E61-9EA6-65A87FFCAA91" = "{\\"carbonModifiers\\":4352,\\"carbonKeyCode\\":13}";

[nehayward]

You nailed it! This is definitely it. Hmm 🤔 I wonder what I should do, I thought those IDs would stay the same. That's my bad.

[jaydisc]

I heard of this scenario from @aaron_pearce (twitter), developer of HomeCam and other HomeKit apps on Twitter. I suspect he solved it. I would consider asking him. He's got a slack community at homekittalk.co if that helps.

[timothy-morph]

Hi, I also have a similar problem I have scenecuts in my login item to auto launch on boot, but the preference setting will disappear when ever I reboot. defaults read com.nick.Scenecuts also shown many duplicate settings in the past. This is my plist:

{
    "034DCFF1-5DB3-5BC2-BD0B-6D94800ADB65.iconName" = "phone.down";
    "034DCFF1-5DB3-5BC2-BD0B-6D94800ADB65.isInMenuBar" = 1;
    "035C010C-129B-583D-A0A5-8BE1DCA36A2D.isInMenuBar" = 1;
    "195F3F35-9DC0-55E4-BF37-2B13DCB78EBD.showInMenuList" = 0;
    "1B6068AB-3826-5CB9-A031-EFE3C56ADDA5.showInMenuList" = 0;
    "20B0F607-372B-50D7-A40B-761A242244EF.showInMenuList" = 0;
    "21180486-937B-52A7-8FC8-8D71CEE9A908.showInMenuList" = 0;
    "217F9328-8B20-5FC9-B24A-69B38C40BA2E.showInMenuList" = 0;
    "3612D295-E743-5836-BCA4-0C5F91E51CBA.showInMenuList" = 0;
    "3A6876C0-7809-523E-B488-59AF3F58C319.showInMenuList" = 0;
    "3AB93B70-1611-5C84-B23C-770FF22209BE.iconName" = "phone.connection";
    "3AB93B70-1611-5C84-B23C-770FF22209BE.isInMenuBar" = 1;
    "47278351-6EAF-56D6-A73C-289B2CE1F4A8.isInMenuBar" = 1;
    "584CA399-56C9-5E1B-8144-7CED17E857AC.showInMenuList" = 0;
    "6495C128-5A5E-5E8A-9DDB-DE529EDF21C3.showInMenuList" = 0;
    "81ED1C4E-FC8A-5282-808C-288F9BB80401.showInMenuList" = 0;
    "89171FC9-476A-5AA0-9898-79EB09AA8688.showInMenuList" = 0;
    "8B7F3730-8B6C-583C-B3F5-30182AB1D261.showInMenuList" = 0;
    "9776D01F-AEED-583C-AFD9-A5EEE4211DAA.iconName" = "phone.bubble.left";
    "9776D01F-AEED-583C-AFD9-A5EEE4211DAA.isInMenuBar" = 1;
    "9B70A4D7-966A-5AF6-A924-542306DC5778.showInMenuList" = 0;
    "AC1D2FA8-CB02-50AF-BC09-4435993B68C2.showInMenuList" = 0;
    "AD07A09C-2A17-5AB0-9DFA-E5AA6B968375.iconName" = "";
    "AD07A09C-2A17-5AB0-9DFA-E5AA6B968375.isInMenuBar" = 0;
    "AD07A09C-2A17-5AB0-9DFA-E5AA6B968375.showInMenuList" = 0;
    "B57BA30A-63C3-51BF-9AA3-F2FBFBE859A1.showInMenuList" = 0;
    "C6176BF5-FEE6-52CA-8811-0E5B5208E94A.iconName" = "phone.down";
    "C6176BF5-FEE6-52CA-8811-0E5B5208E94A.isInMenuBar" = 1;
    "C7EF81ED-A885-5C0C-B984-651F0333E094.showInMenuList" = 0;
    "CE8089C9-0F42-5295-A85F-B2FC788DBF0C.iconName" = "phone.down";
    "CE8089C9-0F42-5295-A85F-B2FC788DBF0C.isInMenuBar" = 1;
    "CF810E99-46A7-5E5A-82DA-BBF9FD1E49C1.isInMenuBar" = 1;
    "D091CCCA-F5D2-5474-904F-0FA8030BCCD6.iconName" = "phone.bubble.left";
    "D091CCCA-F5D2-5474-904F-0FA8030BCCD6.isInMenuBar" = 1;
    "DCDF6B62-D049-5373-B822-2432D26E6636.showInMenuList" = 0;
    "DCFF5ABA-CC83-53C7-8D17-C4641BCD1822.showInMenuList" = 0;
    "DF0700F5-E187-51FE-8AC4-927114567B9C.isInMenuBar" = 1;
    "E34DA88E-1638-5F3F-8106-B568ACEE3560.showInMenuList" = 0;
    "FBBF35F1-E3F8-5FFE-987A-224BA8CCE381.showInMenuList" = 0;
    "KeyboardShortcuts_035C010C-129B-583D-A0A5-8BE1DCA36A2D" = "{\\"carbonModifiers\\":0,\\"carbonKeyCode\\":106}";
    "KeyboardShortcuts_3AB93B70-1611-5C84-B23C-770FF22209BE" = "{\\"carbonModifiers\\":0,\\"carbonKeyCode\\":64}";
    "KeyboardShortcuts_47278351-6EAF-56D6-A73C-289B2CE1F4A8" = "{\\"carbonModifiers\\":0,\\"carbonKeyCode\\":64}";
    "KeyboardShortcuts_9776D01F-AEED-583C-AFD9-A5EEE4211DAA" = "{\\"carbonModifiers\\":0,\\"carbonKeyCode\\":64}";
    "KeyboardShortcuts_C6176BF5-FEE6-52CA-8811-0E5B5208E94A" = "{\\"carbonModifiers\\":0,\\"carbonKeyCode\\":106}";
    "KeyboardShortcuts_CE8089C9-0F42-5295-A85F-B2FC788DBF0C" = "{\\"carbonModifiers\\":0,\\"carbonKeyCode\\":106}";
    "KeyboardShortcuts_CF810E99-46A7-5E5A-82DA-BBF9FD1E49C1" = "{\\"carbonModifiers\\":0,\\"carbonKeyCode\\":106}";
    "KeyboardShortcuts_DF0700F5-E187-51FE-8AC4-927114567B9C" = "{\\"carbonModifiers\\":0,\\"carbonKeyCode\\":64}";
    "NSStatusItem Preferred Position Item-0" = 614;
    "NSStatusItem Preferred Position Item-1" = "453.1655";
    "NSStatusItem Preferred Position Item-2" = "531.6073";
    "NSStatusItem Preferred Position Item-3" = "479.5";
    "NSStatusItem Preferred Position Item-4" = "438.1229";
    "NSWindow Frame com_apple_SwiftUI_Settings_window" = "520 480 690 320 0 0 1920 1055 ";
    "com_apple_SwiftUI_Settings_selectedTabIndex" = 0;
    hidePreferencesOnLaunch = 1;
}

[nehayward]

Thanks for the support. I'll have an update out to fix this soon.