Recovering from a Corrupted .pro File¶

Overview¶

Sui stores its configuration in a set of Java .properties-format files (extension .pro) in the SuiHome directory. Sui maintains two layers of backup to help recover from accidental corruption:

.bak file — a single-generation rollback written during every save, kept alongside the live file in SuiHome.
SuiBup/ folder — a timestamped snapshot of all .pro files copied at every clean shutdown, with files older than 30 days automatically deleted.

The `.pro` Files¶

File	Purpose
`SuiSys.pro`	Core application settings — query history, window layout, font, Look & Feel choice, max rows, and other UI preferences
`SuiSheetProp.pro`	SQL statements saved in each sheet (tab) of the Sui Query window
`SuiConnProp.pro`	All saved database connection definitions — JDBC URLs, usernames, driver references
`SuiConnPref.pro`	Optional per-URL JDBC driver properties (extra connection attributes, `&suihome` path tokens etc.) — user-maintained, not written by Sui at shutdown
`SuiCPProp.pro`	Classpath entries for dynamically loaded JDBC driver jars
`SuiKeywProp.pro`	SQL keyword highlighting definitions
`TmpProp.pro`	Temporary session values (passwords cached for reconnect etc.)

How Files Are Saved (Safe Write Pattern)¶

Each .pro file is saved using a write-to-temp-then-rename pattern to prevent partial writes from corrupting the live file:

1. Write new content → SuiSys.pro.tmp
2. Rename SuiSys.pro  →  SuiSys.pro.bak   (preserves the previous version)
3. Rename SuiSys.pro.tmp  →  SuiSys.pro   (atomic promotion)
4. If step 3 succeeds → delete SuiSys.pro.bak
   If step 3 fails    → rename SuiSys.pro.bak back to SuiSys.pro  (restore)

This pattern is used identically for SuiConnProp.pro, SuiSheetProp.pro, SuiSys.pro, SuiCPProp.pro, SuiKeywProp.pro, and TmpProp.pro.

If you see a .tmp file alongside a .pro file and Sui is not running, it means a previous save was interrupted. The .pro file itself is still intact (the rename had not yet happened), so the .tmp can be safely deleted.

Automatic Fallback on Load¶

When Sui starts it immediately tries to load each .pro file. If loading fails (file missing, truncated, or unparseable), it automatically falls back to the .bak file in the same directory:

Load SuiSheetProp.pro   → fails
  → try SuiSheetProp.pro.bak
      → succeeds: "Loaded from backup"
      → fails:    "Backup also failed"  (Sui starts with defaults)

The same two-step try/fallback is in place for SuiSys.pro, SuiConnProp.pro, and SuiSheetProp.pro. This means a single corruption event is almost always recovered automatically without user intervention.

The `SuiBup/` Folder¶

At every clean shutdown, Sui copies all .pro files from SuiHome into SuiHome/SuiBup/. Files in SuiBup/ that are older than 30 days are automatically deleted at the same time.

ShutDown()
  ├─ Save all properties (StoreProf)
  ├─ Create SuiBup/ if it does not exist
  ├─ CopyDir(SuiHome → SuiBup, filter=".pro")   ← snapshot
  └─ DelFilesOlder(30 days, SuiBup/)             ← rotation

Periodic saves and backups while Sui is running (`Garabage` thread)¶

Sui also runs a background utility thread (Garabage) that wakes up on a fixed interval (Mil milliseconds) and performs two periodic housekeeping tasks independently of shutdown:

Counter	Action
Every 30th wake-up	Calls `Sui.StoreProf()` — saves all `.pro` files to disk (same safe-write pattern as shutdown)
Every 61st wake-up	Copies all `.pro` files to `SuiBup/` (same `CopyDir` call as shutdown, but without the 30-day rotation)

This means that even in a long-running session that never cleanly shuts down, both the live .pro files and the SuiBup/ snapshots are refreshed periodically. A crash between two periodic saves loses at most 30 × Mil milliseconds of changes to the live files, and at most 61 × Mil milliseconds of changes to the SuiBup/ snapshots.

Note: The in-session SuiBup copy does not run DelFilesOlder — old snapshot files in SuiBup/ are only pruned at clean shutdown.

Recovery Procedures¶

Situation A — Sui starts but reports a corrupt file (automatic recovery)¶

Sui will fall back to the .bak automatically and print a message to the console. No manual action is needed unless the .bak is also bad (see Situation B).

Situation B — Both the `.pro` and the `.bak` are corrupt¶

Use a file from SuiBup/. The files there are plain text Java properties files and can be opened in any text editor.

Recover `SuiSys.pro` (application settings)¶

Close Sui if it is running.
Open SuiHome\SuiBup\ in File Explorer and sort by date.
Copy the most recent SuiSys.pro from SuiBup\ to SuiHome\.
Also copy it to SuiHome\SuiSys.pro.bak if you want the fallback slot populated.
Start Sui — it loads the restored file. You may lose settings changed since that snapshot, but all earlier preferences (query history, window layout, etc.) will be restored.

Recover `SuiSheetProp.pro` (SQL statements per sheet)¶

Close Sui if it is running.
Copy the most recent SuiSheetProp.pro from SuiHome\SuiBup\ to SuiHome\.
Start Sui — the SQL statements saved in each sheet tab of the Query window will be restored to the state at the snapshot time.

If no snapshot is useful, simply delete SuiSheetProp.pro and SuiSheetProp.pro.bak. Sui will start with empty sheets and create a fresh file on next shutdown.

Recover `SuiConnPref.pro` (per-URL driver connection preferences)¶

SuiConnPref.pro is different from the other files in two important ways:

Sui never writes it — it is created and maintained manually by the user.
It has no .bak fallback — if it is missing or unreadable on startup, Sui simply sets ConnPrefIsAvailable = false and continues without connection preferences (no error, no crash).

This means: - If it is corrupted or accidentally deleted, Sui will start normally but will no longer inject the extra driver properties when opening connections. - The only source of recovery is a snapshot in SuiBup/ (since CopyDir copies all .pro files at shutdown).

Recovery steps: 1. Close Sui if it is running. 2. Copy the most recent SuiConnPref.pro from SuiHome\SuiBup\ to SuiHome\. 3. Start Sui — per-URL connection preferences will be active again.

If no SuiBup/ snapshot exists (e.g. Sui was never shut down cleanly after the file was created), the file must be recreated manually. See ConnDB.md for the key syntax and the &suihome token.

Recover `SuiConnProp.pro` (connection definitions)¶

SuiConnProp.pro is the most critical file — it holds all your saved JDBC URLs and usernames. Losing it means re-entering every connection manually.

Close Sui if it is running.
Open SuiHome\SuiBup\ and locate the most recent SuiConnProp.pro. You can open it in a text editor to verify your connection entries are present — each entry looks like:
```
SUI.URL.0=jdbc\:db2\://myhost\:50000/MYDB
SUI.UID.0=db2admin
SUI.DRIVER.0=com.ibm.db2.jcc.DB2Driver
```
Copy the chosen SuiConnProp.pro from SuiBup\ to SuiHome\.
Also copy it to SuiHome\SuiConnProp.pro.bak.
Start Sui — all connection definitions from that snapshot will be available.

If you added new connections between the snapshot date and the corruption event, those will be lost. Check SuiConnProp.pro.bak first — it may be more recent than the SuiBup/ snapshot if the file was saved correctly at least once after you added those connections.

File Location Quick Reference¶

Assuming SuiHome = C:\Users\kjell\AppData\Sui\:

File	Path
Live file	`C:\Users\kjell\AppData\Sui\SuiConnProp.pro`
Single-generation backup	`C:\Users\kjell\AppData\Sui\SuiConnProp.pro.bak`
Snapshot folder	`C:\Users\kjell\AppData\Sui\SuiBup\`
Interrupted save artifact	`C:\Users\kjell\AppData\Sui\SuiConnProp.pro.tmp` (safe to delete)

Summary¶

Layer	Written	Covers	Retention
`.bak` file (in SuiHome)	Every save (shutdown + periodic)	Previous single version	Until next save overwrites it
`SuiBup/` snapshot (shutdown)	Every clean shutdown	All `.pro` files + 30-day rotation	30 days rolling
`SuiBup/` snapshot (periodic)	Every 61st `Garabage` wake-up	All `.pro` files, no rotation	Until next clean shutdown prunes old files
Periodic `.pro` save	Every 30th `Garabage` wake-up	All `.pro` files in SuiHome	Overwrites previous with `.bak` preserved
Automatic startup fallback	On load failure	`.bak` only	N/A — read only

Recovering from a Corrupted .pro File¶

Overview¶

The .pro Files¶

How Files Are Saved (Safe Write Pattern)¶

Automatic Fallback on Load¶

The SuiBup/ Folder¶

Periodic saves and backups while Sui is running (Garabage thread)¶