An encoding error was detected in the attachment

[s***@a.computer.somewhere]

Scenario:
Agent 8 on windows 10
Downloading lots of posts, some with largish attachments, some small,
from a few binary groups. Agent is set up to save attachments direct
to disk on download.
My internet connection is poor, and randomly I find segments missing
or corrupt, meaning I get the above error on a proportion of
downloads.
My first question: is there any way of finding which posts contain
this error? I though of global search but can't work out a suitable
filter.
I can then keep those temporarily, bin the post with successful
downloads, then remove the attachments in error so I can try again.
Because these errors are random a second download often works.
At the moment I'm reduced to scrolling through each group, deleting
posts with successful downloads, manually.
My secong question: are there agent settings whereby Agent deletes
successfully downloaded posts but retains those with errors?
Lastly, are there settings somewhere to get agent to repeat broken
downloads x times, or even better broken segments within a download?
-
I am probably missing something obvious ... any help gratefully
received.

[Arthur T.]

Post by s***@a.computer.somewhere
Agent 8 on windows 10

Thank you!

Post by s***@a.computer.somewhere
Downloading lots of posts, some with largish attachments, some small,
from a few binary groups. Agent is set up to save attachments direct
to disk on download.

I can't answer the questions you actually asked. But do the files
have PAR files? If so, using a program like QuickPAR could tell you
which files had problems. And if there are sufficient PAR files,
it'll fix them for you.

[Ralph Fox]

Subject: An encoding error was detected in the attachment
Agent 8 on windows 10
My secong question: are there agent settings whereby Agent deletes
successfully downloaded posts but retains those with errors?

Yes. Adjust these two settings on the *correct* settings panel.

    If a decoding Error occurs
    After saving an attachment, remove it from the message


The correct settings panel will be one of these three:

1) Folder >> Default Properties >> Receiving Messages >> Saving Attachments
2) Folder >> Property Schemes >> "Binary Newsgroups" >> Receiving Messages >> Saving Attachments
3) (select folder) >> Folder >> Properties >> Receiving Messages >> Saving Attachments

If the group's properties are based on the "Binary Newsgroups" scheme,
then the group will be using the settings in the "Binary Newsgroups"
scheme. It is likely that the "Binary Newsgroups" properties in #2
overrides the default properties in #1.

The folder's own properties in #3 would not be overriding the other
two unless you have changed it to do so.


Also be aware of this in the Agent 7.0 Release Notes

    Help >> Index >> Release Notes >> Agent 7.0 Release Notes
      or
    <https://web.archive.org/web/20230923115714/https://www.forteinc.com/release/notes.php?id=70>

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ QUOTE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Improved Saving of Attachments

    Previously, when Agent detected an error in a binary attachment,
    its default action was to save the attachment but also keep a copy
    of the file in the message stored in Agent's folder. This behavior
    had two problems. First, it could cause a folder to fill up if it
    contained a large number of messages with damaged attachments.
    Second, in anticipation of possibly having to retain the attachment
    data, Agent would simultaneously stream the attachment to both a
    file and to the folder. This made saving attachments slower, and
    it caused undue disk fragmentation.

    Because of these problems, we have changed the default to Save and
    remove from message. This, together with the default option After
    saving an attachment, remove it from the message should improve
    performance and help prevent Agent's folders from filling up.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ QUOTE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[s***@a.computer.somewhere]

Post by Ralph Fox
2) Folder >> Property Schemes >> "Binary Newsgroups" >> Receiving Messages >> Saving Attachments

download all attachments (this was already the case)
then
if a decoding error occurs, do not save (leave in message)

This means I don't have to worry about pesky broken downloads. * It
also means I can look at the message list, and see some icons marked
in yellow, others in green. *
I can select those messages in greeen and delete them.
I am left with those in yellow. I can remove their bodies and try
downloading again. Repeat. Repeat until I can't be bothered any more.
This is a LOT faster than examining each message to spot the error
message.

Many thanks.

I would be interested to know if there's any way to modify how Agent
downloads each part of a message. ie Make it try more aften, In the
hope the attachment is therefore error-free. Maybe deep in an
unddocumented ini setting ...

gratefully, S

[Ralph Fox]

Post by s***@a.computer.somewhere
I would be interested to know if there's any way to modify how Agent
downloads each part of a message. ie Make it try more aften, In the
hope the attachment is therefore error-free. Maybe deep in an
unddocumented ini setting ...

I have been hoping that someone with more experience of managing this
issue would reply. Apparently not, so here is my attempted answer.


What some people have said they did is:
 1.  Move the header into an empty folder.
 2.  Split the header into its separate parts
     (Message >> Split Sections).
 3.  Download the individual parts, retrying if needed.
 4.  Once downloaded, re-join the message
     (Message >> Join Sections...).

Automatic retry settings are in the Agent 8 UI at
"Tools >> Options >> Online Operation >> Task Settings".
I do not know of any extra undocumented INI settings.

Whether Agent will or will not automatically retry a failure depends
on whether Agent considers the failure to be "non-fatal" or "fatal".
As far as I know this is not configurable.

The AGENT.INI file has documented settings for how long to wait before
timing out. See "Help >> Index >> .INI file >> AGENT.INI >> [Timing]".
It is not clear to me whether those settings would help here.