Android Question New B4A download not working well at all

[jmeuse2]

"The given key was not present in the dictionary"
I've done everything I'm supposed to:
Downloaded the latest greatest B4A from the official Anywhere Software site just days ago
Installed the latest (v13.10)
Even used a clean layout and minimal code. But I still hit strange issues like:

No Save As
Persistent Array dimensions exceeded supported range
Weird compiler behavior

Its quirky and fragile, especially when it comes to:

Layout references
Project file corruption (.b4a)
Missing Java SDK or wrong paths
And yes… the IDE doesn’t have a “Save As” — even in 13.10

The bottom line is, I cannot even so much as add a tab to a starting project. I've spent hours and days and tries and this that and the kitchen sink. I'm willing to put a heroic effort into my end of it but this is ridiculous. If Ralph Nader ever publishes a consumer report titled “When IDE's Go Rogue” — my experience should be page 1. That said: I’ve seriously shown next-level patience and resilience. What is the answer to this,.
There seems to be a low-level corruption or bug in: B4A’s internal project metadata or a cached compiler state in my B4A install or a bad Java SDK install underneath. B4J may be great for web, desktop dev or testing, but I need my apps to run on Android phones and B4A is the tool I need but the hammer head flies off even with duct tape.

 

[f0raster0]

"The given key was not present in the dictionary"
I've done everything I'm supposed to:
Downloaded the latest greatest B4A from the official Anywhere Software site just days ago
Installed the latest (v13.10)
Even used a clean layout and minimal code. But I still hit strange issues like:

No Save As
Persistent Array dimensions exceeded supported range
Weird compiler behavior

Its quirky and fragile, especially when it comes to:

Layout references
Project file corruption (.b4a)
Missing Java SDK or wrong paths
And yes… the IDE doesn’t have a “Save As” — even in 13.10

The bottom line is, I cannot even so much as add a tab to a starting project. I've spent hours and days and tries and this that and the kitchen sink. I'm willing to put a heroic effort into my end of it but this is ridiculous. If Ralph Nader ever publishes a consumer report titled “When IDE's Go Rogue” — my experience should be page 1. That said: I’ve seriously shown next-level patience and resilience. What is the answer to this,.

I installed v13.10 all good. here

maybe try again in a new folder following the instructions and post the paths:
Tools->Paths Configuration

 

[jmeuse2]

I installed v13.10 all good. here

maybe try again in a new folder following the instructions and post the paths:
Tools->Paths Configuration

I'm v13.10 ok. I'm validly pointing to C:\Android\platforms\android-34\android.jar & C:\Program Files\Java\jdk-11\bin\javac.exe.

 

[jmeuse2]

I'm v13.10 ok. I'm validly pointing to C:\Android\platforms\android-34\android.jar & C:\Program Files\Java\jdk-11\bin\javac.exe. I've only been using 7-Zip but it silently extracts, whereas Windows Explorer unzip throws: Error 0x80010135: Path Too Long listenablefuture-9999-empty-to-avoid-conflict-with-guava.jar.. I stored the unzipped files in the correct places C:/Android & C:/Java but I unzipped copies into a deep desktop folder and then copying those silently corrupted unzipped files over into C:/ Android & C:/Java, a fatal error. Just took 97 hours to figure it out thats all. B4A should work fine afterwards, I'll keep you and Ralph Nader posted.

 

[Sandman]

You seem to forget there are many thousands of users who successfully use B4A. I'm not saying that you are making things up, I'm merely suggesting that the issue is located in your computer, not in B4A. Frustrating nevertheless, of course.

One thing to test, assuming it's possible for you, would be to take another computer (preferably one with a freshly installed standard Windows) and try to install B4A there. It's a somewhat simple way to verify you are following the instructions correctly (I imagine you are), and if it works you have a clear indication that there's something wonky with your other computer.

(My guess is that something isn't entirely correct with your .Net or java installation. My suggestion above could indicate if this guess is correct.)

 

[jmeuse2]

You seem to forget there are many thousands of users who successfully use B4A. I'm not saying that you are making things up, I'm merely suggesting that the issue is located in your computer, not in B4A. Frustrating nevertheless, of course.

One thing to test, assuming it's possible for you, would be to take another computer (preferably one with a freshly installed standard Windows) and try to install B4A there. It's a somewhat simple way to verify you are following the instructions correctly (I imagine you are), and if it works you have a clear indication that there's something wonky with your other computer.

(My guess is that something isn't entirely correct with your .Net or java installation. My suggestion above could indicate if this guess is correct.)

I unzipped copies of SDK & ,Java using 7-Zip into a deep desktop folder and then copied those silently corrupted unzipped files over into C:/ Android & C:/Java, a fatal error. Just took 97 hours to figure it out thats all. B4A should work fine afterwards, You are right, there are 1000's of successful deployments, I felt isolated and defeated after 97 hours of troubleshooting environmental variables and made a bad call suggesting a corrupted B2A executable. 7-Zip's silence of my own error unzipping into a deep folder sabotaged a week's worth of my work. I'm confident that B2A will work right now. It certainly did appear to be a .Net or java installation error, I just couldn't figure out the wtf-why algorithm. I've been away from programming for over 10 years.

 

[emexes]

then copied those

One thing that sometimes trips me up generally is that copying directory trees doesn't always copy empty directories.

C:\>xcopy /?
Copies files and directory trees.

XCOPY source [destination] [/A | /M] [/D[:date]] [/P] [/S [/E]] [/V] [/W]
                           [/C] [/I] [/-I] [/Q] [/F] [/L] [/G] [/H] [/R] [/T]
                           [/U] [/K] [/N] [/O] [/X] [/Y] [/-Y] [/Z] [/B] [/J]
                           [/EXCLUDE:file1[+file2][+file3]...] [/COMPRESS]

  /P           Prompts you before creating each destination file.
  /S           Copies directories and subdirectories except empty ones.
  /E           Copies directories and subdirectories, including empty ones.
               Same as /S /E. May be used to modify /T.
  /V           Verifies the size of each new file.

 

[jmeuse2]

One thing that sometimes trips me up generally is that copying directory trees doesn't always copy empty directories.

C:\>xcopy /?
Copies files and directory trees.

XCOPY source [destination] [/A | /M] [/D[:date]] [/P] [/S [/E]] [/V] [/W]
                           [/C] [/I] [/-I] [/Q] [/F] [/L] [/G] [/H] [/R] [/T]
                           [/U] [/K] [/N] [/O] [/X] [/Y] [/-Y] [/Z] [/B] [/J]
                           [/EXCLUDE:file1[+file2][+file3]...] [/COMPRESS]

  /P           Prompts you before creating each destination file.
  /S           Copies directories and subdirectories except empty ones.
  /E           Copies directories and subdirectories, including empty ones.
               Same as /S /E. May be used to modify /T.
  /V           Verifies the size of each new file.

Yeah, builds fail silently or act unpredictably without directory validation to enforce completeness.

 

[Sagenut]

With B4Av13.10 you need to download everything new as a first installation.
So even new SDK and Java 19.
Follow carefully all the steps and download everything needed from the guide.

 

[aeric]

Sagenut is right.
You can't use Java 11 for latest version of B4A.