Autosave

The new autosave feature in VU.CITY Cloud safeguards project progress by automatically saving work when certain interruptions occur, such as connection issues, crashes, or session timeouts.

Definition of an Autosave

An autosave is a backup version of a VU file that is automatically created during specific interruptions. Importantly, only one autosave can exist per VU file at any given time. It is not time based, i.e occurs every 5 mins. Rather, it occurs once per session at the very end.

Note: If multiple users are working on the same file, the autosave is continuously overwritten, with the most recent save being preserved.

Triggers for Autosave in VU.CITY Cloud

An autosave is initiated when any of the events marked with ✅ take place. In these cases, the session automatically saves the current state of the VU file to ensure minimal data loss.

Conditions That Do Not Trigger Autosave are marked with ❌. These instances are outside of VU.CITY's control and it is recommended that users save their work regularly and incrementally for maximum security.

Limitations of Autosave Functionality

Concurrent Use

VU.CITY allows multiple users to access the same VU file simultaneously. However, no separate autosave is created for each user, resulting in the last autosave taking precedence.

Overwriting Autosaves

Opening the manually saved version of a file when an autosave exists will overwrite the existing autosave after a session ends.

Session Autosave

All ended sessions automatically trigger an autosave. A modal prompt is displayed in the Hub before launching a file, advising users to make a copy of the file if needed.

Session Timeout and Autosave

Previously, the 15 minutes Cloud session timeout posed a risk of data loss if a session was left idle. The introduction of autosave ensures that progress is preserved even when sessions are inactive for extended periods.

Autosave and "Big Tasks"

Certain tasks in VU.CITY, such as ZTV Tool processing and Camera Study batch exports, require significant time and processing power. These operations may exceed the 15-minute timeout period, during which user inactivity is advised to avoid disruptions. During these tasks:

The session timeout is paused until the completion of the Big Task, ensuring uninterrupted processing.

An autosave is triggered only after a Big Task has successfully completed, and the session will end following the save.

If the connection is lost and the task has not yet completed, VU.CITY will cancel the task and autosave the file before closing the session.

The autosave feature in VU.CITY Cloud plays a critical role in protecting project progress during unforeseen interruptions, such as crashes or timeouts. Despite this, users are still encouraged to save regularly and incrementally to further minimise the risk of data loss.