System crashes

[Traxgeek]

Grrr.... Not a good Wednesday !

I suffer from periodic (probably once a day) LiveCode 5.5.3 crashes. No repeatable reason that I can see just from time-to-time... a crash...

Worse I'm not yet in the habit of regularly hitting <Ctrl> & S or selecting File | Save

Result : I lose a load of work - well, the work between the last time I DID remember to save my code and the moment LC crashes !!!

Is there not an AutoSave feature in LC ? (couldn't find it). Shouldn't there be one ? I come from years of coding in 'other' IDEs and (I think) all have some sort of AutoSave functionality be it 'every xx minutes' or when hitting 'Run' (or similar)... I can't find this in LC...

Finally, is it me or LC, but if I do remember to save my code I seem to find that any scripts I have not yet 'Applied' are NOT saved... What's all that about ?

Is it me ? Can someone put me out of my LC misery and kick me in the right direction wrt 'Saving' / any ideas to make 'Saving' easier or more regimented except 'Just remember to hit '<Ctrl> & S' you idiot !' kinda comments ? ? ?

aRGGHHHH !

[dave_probertGA6e24]

Hi Trax,

I Fully understand your pain Many, many times have I lost hours of code when LC has crashed/locked up.

There is a plugin that should have come with your LC install - it's called "revSmartSave" and should be found under the development->plugins menu. You can configure the pugin to appear when you start the IDE and this can help reduce the loss of code - as long as you remember to use it!

The other options are to write your own plugin (which is not as difficult as it may sound) that can perform the auto-save or even provide a nice big 'Save' button (I have one of those!)

As to your crashes - you will probably find it is some handler that is running while you are in the IDE and it is causing an endless loop or some such. I have had many of those - and I still find that having Live Code running in the IDE is a very strange way to do things - but I seem to be the only one who sees that!

I hope that helps with your coding,

Dave

[Traxgeek]

Thanks Dave, Really appreciate the words of support.

I intend at looking into plugins pretty soon (wanted one to help with centering a specific control on a card too... and received some pointers here)... just need to become 'comfortable' with LC and then....

Anyways, once again. Thanks - appreciated.

Regards.

[jacque]

Trax, for now just choose the plugin from the Development menu and leave it open in the background. It will automatically save your stack at intervals. It's already pre-configured.

[sturgis]

IF things seem hung, there are a some things you can try to get around a livecode forced close.

First, if its a runaway loop, repeatedly pressing cmd-. or ctrl-. (mac or windows) will try to interrupt things. Or if you get lucky you can sometimes click the "messages" button one time (on the toolbar) and then walk away to make coffee. Sometimes when you come back things have recovered.

Another possibility is that script debug mode is on, and there was a runtime error which "paused" the script at the error point. If this is the case, the script editor window should be open, and there will be a square stop button (in place of the green play button) near the top left of the script editor window. (if you don't see those controls, look on the upper right side of the window for a disclosure triangle which is used to show or hide the debugging controls)

If you indeed have the square stop button, click it and things will most likely be back to working again. Of course you'll have to fix the bug!

Another thing. For repeat loops, if you are coding a loop you can put "wait 0 with messages" in the loop somewhere to give the engine breathing room to do other things. Or if you are really trying to make the loop tight and are sure that once you get it perfect so that it will ALWAYS exit properly.. During testing you can put something like "if the shiftkey is down then exit repeat" in the loop somewhere. If it seems to run away, hold down shift and wait a moment, it should return control to you.

[Traxgeek]

Thanks both.

This is something I've added to my 'must get back to...' list !! In the meatime the Autosave Plugin works a treat... along with copious use of <Ctrl> & S !!

Thanks again.

Regards.