Bug? B4a8.8 error?

[Put Claude]

Hi Erel and everybody,

Firtst of all, a happy newyear,
and now the troubles.
Have to return to 8.5 because 8.8 will not compile, by not finding the designer file '*.bal'.
Somebody has a solution for this?

Put Claude Belgium

 

[Erel]

More information please. Does it happen with a specific project? Can you upload the project?

 

[Put Claude]

Hi Erel,

Think the blame is on me...
Work on two different desktop on different places with the same code from one USB stick.
Do this for years now...
Only one desktop do not compile this time on an update...
Will try for myself first... and let you now later what was the dummy thing I did or forget (smile)...

Put claude Belgium

 

[Put Claude]

More information please. Does it happen with a specific project? Can you upload the project?

Hi Erel,

Did some testing.
Not finding the designer file '*.bal' happends only when I work with projects on my USB stick.
When I place the same project on my desktop, it compile normal.
So, I think 8.80 do not find the directory on my USB stick, but the 8.50 do find it.
Something changed on 8.80?
Can it be an issue on my desktop?

Put Claude Belgium

 

[Erel]

Works fine here with a project loaded from a USB stick. Maybe it fails to create some of the folders. This is not the best idea to develop directly from a USB stick as the compiler needs to create many files during compilation.

 

[Put Claude]

Works fine here with a project loaded from a USB stick. Maybe it fails to create some of the folders. This is not the best idea to develop directly from a USB stick as the compiler needs to create many files during compilation.

Hi Erel,

I understand, do not pay attention on this annymore, in the future i will find a way to work NOT from USB stick.
Anyway, thanks and thanks again very much for your fast reply and interrest...

Put Claude Belgium

 

[Tirs]

Hi Erel,

Well, I am having the same problem. Since I upgraded to 8.8, my programs fail to run because the auxiliary files (including the .bal files) are not included in the apk package, and of course the application complains about "file not found".

I do not use USB or other fancy stuff --my system and setup is the same it has been for years, with a folder in C: where I store the different projects (in separate sub-folders, of course).

The strange thing is, this only happens when I compile in Release mode --everything works fine in Debug mode.

This is happening with all my previous programs, and also with a dummy test project I created from scratch to track the problem.

I'm attaching a screen capture of the log file, and also a zip with the dummy test project (including all files: Objects and Files folders, the B4A, .meta file, etc.)

Can you please help?

Thanks in advance,
Tirs

 

[Erel]

It is not yet clear why this error happens. Somehow most developers who encountered this error got it working after a while.

Things to try:

- Clean the project (Ctrl + P).
- Move the project to a different path.

 

[Tirs]

Hi Erel,

- Cleaning the project is one of the first things I tried before, and it didn't work. However, I tried again when reading your message, and it didn't work.
- I tried to move the project to a different path and load it from there (from scratch, even closing and reopening B4A), and still doesn't work.

My projects path is C:\B4A\Projects\projectname (and I never use spaces in projectname), so it doesn't seem something related to the project path itself.

I rolled back to 8.5 and everything works fine, including the dummy test app (it warns me about newer version of B4A, but it runs fine as it's very simple). I guess I will stick to 8.5 for now, but at least I know it's not something I'm doing wrong. Of course, if there is anything I can do, please let me know.

Thank you,
Tirs

 

[Erel]

I would like to further investigate it with your help.

If you can please:
1. Download XUI Views library: https://www.b4x.com/android/forum/t...ss-platform-views-and-dialogs.100836/#content
2. Add a reference to the library.

Run the project in release mode and see whether the Files folder inside the APK is empty or not.

Second thing is to go to the build-tools folder:
<android sdk>\build-tools

Which folders do you see in your folder?

 

[Tirs]

Hi Erel,

I had a major crash in the machine where I use B4A. My projects are safe thanks to the backups, but I will need to reinstall everything from scratch. Sorry I cannot be of help for now. Of course, I will get back to you when I have everything up and running. Also, if for any reason things work fine after reinstalling, I will let you know. I'm definitely willing to help in tracking this issue, and I think my experience (10 years as a software tester for IBM) can be useful.

Sorry, these things always happen in the worst moment.

Kind regards,
Tirs

 

[LudwigRS]

I have the same problem. After update to 8.8 my projects compile, but does not pack any files including .bal files to the APK.
Normally i have all my projects on a network drive. I transferred them to a local drive without success.
Then i copied it to a new local folder, no success.
The files are all shown in the files folder, but still not included in the apk.
Now i go back to an elder version until this problem is solved.

 

[Erel]

Now i go back to an elder version until this problem is solved.

I need your help here. Please follow the steps in post #10

 

[Tirs]

I would like to further investigate it with your help.

If you can please:
1. Download XUI Views library: https://www.b4x.com/android/forum/t...ss-platform-views-and-dialogs.100836/#content
2. Add a reference to the library.

Run the project in release mode and see whether the Files folder inside the APK is empty or not.

Second thing is to go to the build-tools folder:
<android sdk>\build-tools

Which folders do you see in your folder?

Hi Erel,
Finally, I was able to get everything up and running again. The thing is, now everything works correctly, and the problem disappeared. Probably installing from scratch eliminated some incompatibility among different versions of some Android packages, or some other weird dependency.

However, I followed your instructions, and:

1. The "Files" folder does not exist inside the APK, but there is an "assets" folder and everything is in there.
2. Inside the "<android sdk>\build-tools" folder, I have just one folder named "27.0.1" --I don't have the "28.0.3" you show in your screen capture.

Hope this still helps.

Kind regards,
Tirs

 

[Erel]

Thank you.

The "Files" folder does not exist inside the APK, but there is an "assets" folder and everything is in there.

This is the expected result.

I have a feeling that this issue is related to an old version of the build tools.

 

[Tirs]

My installation is totally new now, so I cannot help much more to research which "old-versioned" component was causing the problem. Maybe @LudwigRS can help?