Empty Groups Dissapear After Removing All Instances.

Empty Groups Disappear After Removing All Instances: A Critical Issue in Prism Launcher

As a user of the Prism Launcher, we expect a seamless experience when organizing and managing our instances. However, a critical issue has been discovered that affects the functionality of the launcher. When removing all instances from a group, the group itself disappears, leaving users without a way to reuse the group in the future. This article aims to highlight this issue, provide a detailed description of the problem, and suggest a potential solution.

When removing all instances from a group, the instance group disappears, which is incorrect. This behavior is unexpected and can lead to data loss and inconvenience for users. The expected behavior is for the group to remain, even if it has no instances inside. This is crucial when organizing instances or deleting old ones, as users may need to reuse a group later on.

To reproduce this issue, follow these steps:

1. Change an instance's group to a new group.
2. Either drag the instance out of the group or use the "Change Group" feature to remove it.

After investigating the instgroups.json file, it appears that when an instance is removed from a group, the group is also removed if it contains only one instance. This is because the group is tied to the instance, and when the instance is removed, the group is also deleted.

To test this theory, let's examine the instgroups.json file before and after removing an instance from a group.

Before Removing Instance

{
    "formatVersion": "1",
    "groups": {
        "my group": {
            "hidden": false,
            "instances": [
                "25w14craftmine"
            ]
        }
    }
}

After Removing Instance

{
    "formatVersion": "1",
    "groups": {
    }
}

As shown above, when the instance is removed, the group is also removed, even though the group is still present in the instgroups.json file.

Removing All Instances from the Group in the JSON File

To test if removing all instances from the group in the JSON file would resolve the issue, let's modify the instgroups.json file to remove all instances from the group.

{
    "formatVersion": "1",
    "groups": {
        "my group": {
            "hidden": false,
            "instances": []
        }
    }
}

However, when reloading the launcher, the group does not show up, indicating that the issue is not resolved by simply removing all instances from the group in the JSON file.

After searching the issue tracker, it appears that this issue has not been reported before. Therefore, it is considered a unique issue that requires attention from the Prism Launcher development team.

To resolve this issue, a new feature can be implemented that allows users to create an empty group. This can be achieved by adding a right-click option or a shortcut to create an empty group. This feature would enable users to reuse groups even if they have no instances inside, making it easier to organize and manage instances.

The issue of empty groups disappearing after removing all instances is a critical problem that affects the functionality of the Prism Launcher. By understanding the suspected cause and reproducing the bug, we can identify the root of the problem. A potential solution involves implementing a feature to create an empty group, which would enable users to reuse groups even if they have no instances inside. We hope that this article has highlighted the importance of this issue and will prompt the development team to address it in future updates.
Empty Groups Disappear After Removing All Instances: A Q&A Article

In our previous article, we discussed the critical issue of empty groups disappearing after removing all instances in the Prism Launcher. This issue affects the functionality of the launcher and can lead to data loss and inconvenience for users. In this article, we will provide a Q&A section to address common questions and concerns related to this issue.

A: The expected behavior is for the group to remain, even if it has no instances inside. This would allow users to reuse the group later on, making it easier to organize and manage instances.

A: The group disappears because it is tied to the instance, and when the instance is removed, the group is also deleted. This is a design flaw in the current implementation of the Prism Launcher.

A: Unfortunately, no. Once a group is deleted, it is gone, and there is no way to recover it. This is why it is essential to have a backup of your instance groups before making any changes.

A: To prevent this issue, you can create a new group and add instances to it instead of removing instances from an existing group. This way, you can avoid deleting the group altogether.

A: Yes, there is a workaround to create an empty group. You can create a new group and then remove all instances from it. However, this will not solve the underlying issue, and the group will still disappear when you reload the launcher.

A: As of our knowledge cutoff, this issue has not been reported in the Prism Launcher issue tracker. However, we recommend that users report this issue to the development team to ensure that it is addressed in future updates.

A: Yes, you can contribute to the solution of this issue by reporting it to the development team and providing feedback on potential solutions. You can also participate in the development process by contributing to the Prism Launcher open-source project.

A: Unfortunately, we cannot provide an estimated time frame for resolving this issue. The development team will need to prioritize and address this issue in future updates.

The issue of empty groups disappearing after removing all instances is a critical problem that affects the functionality of the Prism Launcher. By understanding the expected behavior, the cause of the issue, and potential workarounds, we can better navigate this issue and provide feedback to the development team. We hope that this Q&A article has provided valuable information and insights to users affected by this issue.