Can't save into "Slicer Data Bundle" mode

Support
1

Operating system: Windows 10
Slicer version: 4.6.2 and nightly
Expected behavior: Should be able to save scene into “Slicer Data Bundle”
Actual behavior: Fails to save with error message: “Selected directory contains -2 files or directories. Please choose an empty directory.”

Some problems:
https://github.com/Slicer/Slicer/blob/eefeac9286f48552e8418a11f412b2823a09b407/Modules/Loadable/Data/qSlicerSceneWriter.cxx#L284 →
On windows, there is no . and … folders:

https://github.com/Slicer/Slicer/blob/eefeac9286f48552e8418a11f412b2823a09b407/Modules/Loadable/Data/qSlicerSceneWriter.cxx#L294 →
breaks are missing

Bonus: In the file name column, “.*” is enforced and wrongly suffixed onto the name.

2

I can’t replicate this.

Tried Windows 10, Slicer 4.6.2:

  • start fresh slicer
  • download MRHead
  • save data bundle
  • close scene
  • reload scene

No error messages or abnormal behavior.

3

Thanks for trying it out.

Do you choose “Slicer Data Bundle” and not “Medical Reality Bundle”?
Do you save into an empty folder ?

4

Medical Reality Bundle (.mrb) works well for me.
If I select the “Slicer Data Bundle (*)” option then I have the same issue.

Should we just remove the Slicer Data Bundle option?

5

Ah, no, I was using .mrb Medical Reality Bundle, the default. Right, if I
pick Slicer Data Bundle I see the same errors you reported.

Hate to ask, but why does this second mode even exist?

6

@pieper Great question. Look like the functionality was first added in https://github.com/Slicer/Slicer/commit/479f8c249

7

@jcfr yes, the save to MRB code is something I added.

But the code Julien pointed to is something he committed [1] and it really doesn’t look like my code…

I’m not even sure what use case qSclicerSceneWriter::writeToDirectory is
meant to support. The related issue it closes doesn’t really explain [2].

Anyway if that code path doesn’t work right and none of us use it we should
simplify things by retiring it.

[1]
https://github.com/Slicer/Slicer/blame/eefeac9286f48552e8418a11f412b2823a09b407/Modules/Loadable/Data/qSlicerSceneWriter.cxx#L284

[2] http://na-mic.org/Bug/view.php?id=2097

8

qSlicerSceneWriter::writeToDirectory is mostly redundant:

  • If user saves the scene using the Save data dialog then saving as mrml or mrb should cover all use cases.
  • For single-click save operation for slicelets/custom applications we typically use applicationLogic.SaveSceneToSlicerDataBundleDirectory (it saves everything to a directory without creating a scene view and without zipping the results; see for example here).

As the method is not really needed, does not work correctly, and it would be difficult to make it robust and efficient (handle non-empty directory, overwriting files with the same name, etc), I think it would be a good idea to remove it (and the corresponding file format) from qSlicerSceneWriter.

9

I’m fine if such option is removed. No problem.