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What to do while waiting for current operation to cancel?

Posted May 3, 2024, 7:48 a.m. EDT Studies & Solvers Version 6.2 3 Replies

John
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I'm running out of things to do while waiting for current operation to cancel. COMSOL needs a button for "really, I do want to cancel, honest"

As far as I know, if I hit CTRL-ALT-DEL then I lose all of the edits that I made since last save, regardless of whether I save-lock-and-open, or open-as-readonly. Is there any way forward, other than waiting?

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3 Replies Last Post May 3, 2024, 2:09 p.m. EDT
Robert Koslover Certified Consultant
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Posted: 2 weeks ago May 3, 2024, 10:43 a.m. EDT

Yes, I've experienced that frustration too. Save often. I encourage Comsol Multiphysics' software programmers to endeavor to implement a means to force-through a user-initiated cancel operation without also forcibly closing Comsol Multiphysics or otherwise corrupting the status of the model. That said, I suspect that a big part of the challenge(s) here is the way the underlying operating system works. Any comments from Comsol staff?

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Scientific Applications & Research Associates (SARA) Inc.
www.comsol.com/partners-consultants/certified-consultants/sara
Yes, I've experienced that frustration too. Save often. I encourage Comsol Multiphysics' software programmers to endeavor to implement a means to force-through a user-initiated cancel operation without also forcibly closing Comsol Multiphysics or otherwise corrupting the status of the model. That said, I suspect that a big part of the challenge(s) here is the way the underlying operating system works. Any comments from Comsol staff?
Dave Greve Certified Consultant
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Posted: 2 weeks ago May 3, 2024, 1:04 p.m. EDT

Typically in the Progress window there are multiple Stop buttons. Choosing the right one (and I'm not always sure which is the right one) is sometimes the fastest way to cancel.

Otherwise the only thing to do is to go get a cup of coffee.

ctl-alt-del or task manager is equivalent to severing the brain stem of the process, and should be used only when there is no other choice. I've had to do that once or twice.

Typically in the Progress window there are multiple Stop buttons. Choosing the right one (and I'm not always sure which is the right one) is sometimes the fastest way to cancel. Otherwise the only thing to do is to go get a cup of coffee. ctl-alt-del or task manager is equivalent to severing the brain stem of the process, and should be used only when there is no other choice. I've had to do that once or twice.
Robert Koslover Certified Consultant
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Posted: 2 weeks ago May 3, 2024, 2:09 p.m. EDT
Updated: 2 weeks ago May 3, 2024, 2:24 p.m. EDT

To others reading here: The Stop buttons are the preferred way to interrupt the execution. If there are several, then the top one allows the highest level part of the computation to finish its present step, and then stops, if all goes well. Sometimes that takes a long time, so stopping it at a lower level interrupts it sooner, but at not as good a stopping point. Either way, results from previously computed steps (or a not yet converged solution, in the case of iterative solvers) should be available, once the execution stops. After addressing the reason you stopped the execution, then (if you haven't modifed important settings) you can then choose to "continue" under solve, if you want. BUT sometimes pushing a stop button, or any/all of the stop buttons, just doesn't stop the program, i.e., it just keeps going as if you never pushed those buttons, but the log window indicates (repeatedly) that the program is trying to stop. But sigh, it keeps going. When that happens, you can always try the Cancel button instead, and if that works, the program will indeed stop, but you will lose your solutions to that point. (But you won't lose your model, even if you forgot to save it.) So using Stop is better, if it works! Use Cancel if Stop doesn't work, or you just want to interrupt the program and don't care about the results so far and you don't plan to restart where you left off. The worst problem is when Cancel doesn't work either, i.e., the log window indicates (again, repeatedly) that the program is trying to cancel, but it keeps going anyway. That's when I may, often reluctantly, turn to the Task Manager and terminate the Comsol executable.

-------------------
Scientific Applications & Research Associates (SARA) Inc.
www.comsol.com/partners-consultants/certified-consultants/sara
To others reading here: The Stop buttons are the preferred way to interrupt the execution. If there are several, then the top one allows the highest level part of the computation to finish its present step, and then stops, if all goes well. Sometimes that takes a long time, so stopping it at a lower level interrupts it sooner, but at not as good a stopping point. Either way, results from previously computed steps (or a not yet converged solution, in the case of iterative solvers) should be available, once the execution stops. After addressing the reason you stopped the execution, then (if you haven't modifed important settings) you can then choose to "continue" under solve, if you want. BUT sometimes pushing a stop button, or any/all of the stop buttons, just doesn't stop the program, i.e., it just keeps going as if you never pushed those buttons, but the log window indicates (repeatedly) that the program is *trying* to stop. But sigh, it keeps going. When that happens, you can always try the Cancel button instead, and if that works, the program will indeed stop, but you will lose your solutions to that point. (But you won't lose your model, even if you forgot to save it.) So using Stop is better, if it works! Use Cancel if Stop doesn't work, or you just want to interrupt the program and don't care about the results so far and you don't plan to restart where you left off. The worst problem is when Cancel doesn't work either, i.e., the log window indicates (again, repeatedly) that the program is *trying* to cancel, but it keeps going anyway. That's when I may, often reluctantly, turn to the Task Manager and terminate the Comsol executable.

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