Various flakey errors using beta 1.6(2)

[nfordbscndrd]

I'm getting several different errors that repeat every once in a while, but not when I stop the compiled app and recompile.

The latest is that Sub Activity_Create kept executing over and over, causing the screen to flash. I hit pause on the debugger to stop it and single-stepped for awhile, but it just kept re-executing Activity_Create. I stopped it, recompiled, no problem.

Another randomly occurring error is something about the "dexer" or some file not being found. I recompile and it goes fine. I'm running it under Android 3.1.

In the middle of my layout is a panel which has a label on it, both the same color such that the panel creates margins around the text in the label. When the program starts, the left third or so of the panel doesn't show up. I can see some controls which are in the background. If the panel goes invisible then visible again, everything is normal. This is not sporadic - happens every time.

On my Archos 70, running 2.2, the virtual keyboard does not come up until you tap an edit box. On the Toshiba Thrive running 3.1, the keyboard comes up when a edit box simply appears on the screen. I'm using HideKeyboard to fix it. Don't know if this is normal for 3.1 or not.

 

[agraham]

The dexer path problem is being fixed for the next version. I guess that the edit box/keyboard issue is either a Thrive or a 3.1 feature and will not be related to B4A.

If the panel problem is repeatable it looks like maybe a Z-order problem. Have you tried a Designer Tools -> Bring to Front?

I've no ideas about the Activity_Create looping.

 

[nfordbscndrd]

The looping Activity_Create only happened that one time.

The Panel problem never happened on Android 2.2. It is always brought to the front when made visible. Plus, the Views which are on the panel display normally, just the panel itself doesn't display. In VB6, something like this might happen and I would Refresh the form to fix it. In this app, I bring up an Options panel which overlays this one, then when the Options panel goes away, this panel displays normally, as shown below.

The panel that this label is on is the same color as the label in order to create margins around the text as shown in the 2nd screen shot. The brown frame is four labels (which I use because I have to sometimes "open" the frame along one edge). They are also on the panel. The green you see around the text is the Activity's color, except the lighter green at the bottom is another view behind the panel.

 

[Erel]

Edit: This post was written before reading the above two posts...

The latest is that Sub Activity_Create kept executing over and over, causing the screen to flash. I hit pause on the debugger to stop it and single-stepped for awhile, but it just kept re-executing Activity_Create. I stopped it, recompiled, no problem.

Are you sure that there isn't something in your program that makes it happen? Like changing the orientation programmatically?

The latest is that Sub Activity_Create kept executing over and over, causing the screen to flash. I hit pause on the debugger to stop it and single-stepped for awhile, but it just kept re-executing Activity_Create. I stopped it, recompiled, no problem.

This issue if fixed for the next update.

In the middle of my layout is a panel which has a label on it, both the same color such that the panel creates margins around the text in the label. When the program starts, the left third or so of the panel doesn't show up. I can see some controls which are in the background. If the panel goes invisible then visible again, everything is normal. This is not sporadic - happens every time.

Can you post a screenshot?

In the middle of my layout is a panel which has a label on it, both the same color such that the panel creates margins around the text in the label. When the program starts, the left third or so of the panel doesn't show up. I can see some controls which are in the background. If the panel goes invisible then visible again, everything is normal. This is not sporadic - happens every time.

The activities are configured in the manifest file with: android:windowSoftInputMode="stateHidden"
This means that the keyboard should not show automatically. For some reason your device ignores this flag. I've checked it on a 3.1 device and it behaves correctly.

 

[nfordbscndrd]

Are you sure that there isn't something in your program that makes it [Activity_Create looping] happen? Like changing the orientation programmatically?

Nope. I'm locked in landscape. Plus, after it happened, I just stopped and recompiled and it's never repeated.

The activities are configured in the manifest file with: android:windowSoftInputMode="stateHidden"
This means that the keyboard should not show automatically. For some reason your device ignores this flag. I've checked it on a 3.1 device and it behaves correctly.

Okay. Thanks. I've fixed it in my app by hiding the keyboard. Just wanted to make sure it wasn't a B4A issue.

Regarding the ghost panel issue -- I've also seen it where just the left third of the panel ghosts out but the right 2/3rds are the right color. It's like Android 3.1 doesn't finish drawing it. Probably just another issue with the Toshiba Thrive. It's a brand new device, complete with bugs.

 

[Erel]

I had to factory reset my new Samsung 10.1 as it started rebooting itself continuously... New devices => new bugs.

 

[nfordbscndrd]

I just had the ghosting panel happen again in the middle of running an app. This time it did the left-third-unpainted thing. The app is a card game and I was able to restart the deal without stopping the app to get to the same point and then it painted the panel properly, so it sounds like a definite problem with either the Thrive or with Android 3.1.

I'm using PhoneEvents to show the battery level. I wonder if that could be interrupting the drawing/painting of the panel?

The ghosting happens every time on startup, so I was able to fix it, but it happens so rarely during the running of the app that I'm not sure what to do. I could take out the battery level display code, but I hate to do that. When I play card games on a tablet, which can take a long time, I often have to go to the device's main screen to check the time and battery level, so having those display in the app is a nice feature (for me, anyway). And I don't know for sure that this is causing the problem.

 

[Erel]

I'm using PhoneEvents to show the battery level. I wonder if that could be interrupting the drawing/painting of the panel?

I don't believe that it is related.

 

[nfordbscndrd]

That's good to know.

I've emailed you a link to my app's code if you want to try it on your GTab.

It's possible that you will get the scoreboard panel rather than the one pictured in my previous post, but the same thing should happen - the gray panel (which creates the "lines" between the score boxes) will not appear at first, then it will after you click Options and click Okay (which forces Android to redraw the panel, I'm assuming).