Bug 299853

Summary: Alphabetical custom field names created in an address book in KDE Kontact are replaced by the coresponding key created by the application.
Product: [Applications] kaddressbook Reporter: K. A. Sayeed <sayeed.ka>
Component: generalAssignee: kdepim bugs <kdepim-bugs>
Status: RESOLVED UNMAINTAINED    
Severity: normal CC: k, kdebugs, montel, sayeed.ka, tokoe
Priority: NOR    
Version: unspecified   
Target Milestone: ---   
Platform: unspecified   
OS: Linux   
Latest Commit: Version Fixed In:
Sentry Crash Report:

Description K. A. Sayeed 2012-05-12 02:49:06 UTC 
1. After an entirely new contact has been created in an address book in KDE Kontact with alphabetical custom field names, the alphabetic field name gets replaced by the corresponding alphanumeric key created by the application. This happens after the system is shut down and restarted a few times.

2. It is not possible for a user to use the custom field once it has been replaced with a random alphanumeric key which is unitelligible to the user.  

Reproducible: Sometimes

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Create a contact entry in an address book with custom fields.
2. Shut down the computer system and then restart it.
3. Open the contact entry that was created in step 1.
4. Check the custom field names using the edit button for the Custom fields.
5. If the field names remain alphabetic, then repeat steps 2, 3, and 4 a few times until the alphabetic field names are replaced by an alphanumeric string.
6. Now check the key field using the Advanced button of the Edit dialog box for custom field names.
7. It will be noticed that the alphanumeric string in the custom field name correponds to the alphanumeric string in the key field.

Actual Results:  
1. Alphabetic custom field name is replaced by an unintelligible alphanumeric string.

Expected Results:  
1. Custom field names created by the user should NEVER be changed by the software. 

1. This problem never occured with KDE Kontact 4.3.2.

2. It might be instructive to examine the design of KDE 4.3.2 in order to correct this and other problems that have been reported with the current version of KDE Kontact.
Comment 1 K. A. Sayeed 2012-05-12 16:15:09 UTC 
1. The numerous problems pertaining to KDE Kontact that have been reported recently did not exist before the Akonadi server and related architectural changes were introduced into KDE.

2. Perhaps it might be a good idea to compare and contrast the pre- and post-Akonadi stability, reliability, and features of the KDE PIM in order to restore it to its pre-Akonadi state or better.
Comment 2 Christian 2012-09-12 17:14:39 UTC 
I can confirm this bug. I was using 4.8.3 with a custom field called "Diet". Now I'm upgraded to 4.8.5 and the custom field has a strange name that I don't recognise (something like c978645sjuw4i78re-si4r-seuf63gx).
I tried to rename the field to "Diet", by going to the "Edit field title" and choosing "for all contacts" in the box there). But now I have two fields that show the same content for each contact. Maybe when I restart Kontact, it will be again just one field?
Comment 3 Andrey 2012-10-08 23:13:48 UTC 
I can confirm this bug too.
KDE 4.9.1, Gentoo Linux amd64.
Comment 4 Denis Kurz 2016-09-24 20:51:47 UTC 
This bug has only been reported for versions before 4.14, which have been unsupported for at least two years now. Can anyone tell if this bug still present?

If noone confirms this bug for a Framework-based version of kaddressbook (version 5.0 or later, as part of KDE Applications 15.08 or later), it gets closed in about three months.
Comment 5 Denis Kurz 2017-01-07 21:29:30 UTC 
Just as announced in my last comment, I close this bug. If you encounter it again in a recent version (at least 5.0 aka 15.08), please open a new one unless it already exists. Thank you for all your input.