Resource update changes GUID without propagating to Interlinears/Layouts

Question

Hello,

We ran into the following case: a project started showing that it couldn't find the resource when trying to open the Interlinear. Looking into it, we found that the RVC2025 update changed the resource's GUID, even though the visible name ("RVC") stayed the same:

• ID before: aaa19db7ade2da326a24f3e4404dca555ae62ab9abcdefff
• ID after: cc1470a08113a6270385fb30c6b919b16916a9d3abcdefff

The Interlinear was still pointing to the old ID, which no longer existed after the update. We fixed it by editing the <MdlScrTextId> tag in the interlinear's configuration file — updating only the GUID portion, not the whole line. That field carries the GUID plus a trailing abcdefff, and that trailing part has to be kept as-is; otherwise Paratext can't locate the resource when opening the Interlinear.

On a separate occasion we saw something similar with a Layout, after updating a different resource — same kind of error. I didn't confirm that case by checking the GUIDs directly, but based on the behavior it looks like the same underlying issue.

I want to flag this specifically: updates that change a resource's GUID are not propagating that change to other places that depend on it, such as Interlinears. Since the resource's visible name doesn't change, there's no way for the user to see this coming until the feature fails.

Thanks (gracias) for looking into this.
Pepe.

Answer 1

The resource GUIDs are defined by the project they originated from. There isn't any way for Paratext to know that a resource is the same except by having the same GUID. Thus, I don't think there's anything Paratext can do about this problem.
I'm guessing the changing GUID is caused by the uploader creating a new project for the upload to DBL (which they shouldn't do).

EDIT: After thinking about it some more, there may be a way Paratext could detect this and fix things. We're talking internally about some possibilities.

Comments

Perfect. Thanks for reviewing this!

Yes, I imagine they’re creating something new instead of updating it. This is at least the second time this has happened this year. I know it’s out of our hands and is a DBL issue, but it would be helpful if those who update resources in the DBL received this warning. Do you know the right person to forward this feedback to?