Amethyst (Build 1.0.1.989) 'Edge' release

[Huw Collingbourne]

We've just released an interim 'edge' release of Amethyst to fix some bugs and problems reported by users and also to add one major new feature - configurable profiles for projects shared with the Adobe Flash (CS4/CS5) IDE. This can be found under Project/Properties. If you wish to try it out you should start by importing an existing XML profile (exported from the Flash IDE). You can then set options such as Debug/No Debug or add conditional compilation directives in the Amethyst Properties page.

Note, Edge releases are not as fully tested as formal 'point-update' builds and should be regarded as experimental.

Downloads and more information here: http://www.sapphiresteel.com/products/amethyst-ide/article/amethyst-release-history

[Jason King]

With this new edge build I'm no longer able to debug.  Instead, I get...

Code:

*** abnormal process termination
*** exit code: 1
Cylon #2 terminated.

Please advise.

Thanks,
Jason

[Dermot]

Are you using the default Player - the one that comes with Amethyst - or the one that comes with the Flash IDE?


Dermot

[Jason King]

I'm using the Flash debug player plug-in to Firefox.  So I'm using the "Use Browser to launch" option.

Both the AmethystPlayer and FlashPlayer appear to work/debug.  But I need to run from the browser as my application is facebook base.

[Dermot]

Ahh - the subtle differences between browsers.

looking at the code, Firefox is actually exiting with code 1 - that is, it really is terminating.  Or at least I think it's terminating. So is it really terminating? If so, try creating a FireFox browser session and then running your debug app. You should get a new tab in FireFox which may stop it terminating.

Also, Huw suggests checking if you have downloaded a new version of the Player (Adobe have been prompting about security loopholes for a bit now).

Dermot

[Jason King]

Hi Demot,

It is not terminating.  My app starts up and Visual Studio/Amethyst attempts to enter a debug session but proceeds to terminate immediately while my app continue to run.  I just verified that I can switch VisualStudio/Amethyst over to Listen and then starting up my app allows me to debug.  But I cannot hit F5 to launch and debug at the same time.

Also, I have Adobe player v.10.1.82.76 while the newest version is 10.1.85.3 so I have not updated for a while.  Finally, this was all working with the shipping build before I tried out this edge build.

Please advise.

Thanks,
Jason

[Dermot]

This is due to a fix I put in to stop the problem with read only files when the debug session ends. What the debugger now does is detect when the debugged process ends and sets everything back to writable.

But there's a small problem here: when you launch a browser, the browser terminates and passes the program  to run to another copy of the browser. When I launch IE, it comes back with exit code 0 - which I detect and don't issue a debugger termination. When FireFox launches, it comes back with an exit code of 1 - which I treat as an a real termination. Don't ask me why IE and FireFox are different - but they are.

The best thing to do is go back to the release version until we fix this.

Dermot

[Huw Collingbourne]

Jason, if you can debug with Listen you may want to stick with that (or use IE as your secondary browser - select globally and switch using the Amethyst menu) until we've looked into this more closely. We could do a 'quick fix' but I'd prefer to spend more time testing the current edge release while we try and find out more about the termination behaviour of Firefox.

best wishes

Huw

[Jason King]

Hi guys,

Yep, already started using IE for debugging.  Keep up the great work and I look forward to the next edge build.

Thanks,
Jason

[Dermot]

I've done some investigation on this:

If Firefox is *not* running, then you should be able to debug correctly. The debugger starts Firefox and that launches the SWF. If FireFox *is* running, the FireFox launcher returns an exit code of 1 and Amethyst terminates the debug session.

If IE is *not* running the debugger starts IE and that launches the SWF. If IE*is* running, the IE launcher returns an exit code of 0 and Amethyst does not terminate the debug session.

I've fixed to code to allow either exit codes of 0 or 1. It will be in the next edge.

Bah.

Dermot

[jtthegeek]

Hey guys, any idea on on release date for the next version of Amethyst?

[Huw Collingbourne]

We'll have another edge release shortly and this is likely to be the final edge release before Amethyst 1.1. If you need any things fixed, added or enhanced, we'd strongly recommend that you try our edge releases and report back to us. The bug fixes and new features in the current edge releases leading towards Amethyst 1.1 have all been developed in response to user feedback.