Widget Designer Std and pro Debug Window

[cyberears]

Hi i was just wondering if there is such a thing as a DEBUG window // object // tools
for Widget Designer Pro and Standard

why i ask this is because most of the time when you build a custom script , node manipulation
it doesn't seem like we're able to have an output on if the script works at all , or if it is well written ..

it would be really nice if there's a debug window to tell you if your function is working right or not while developping to have some sort of feedback would really speed-up development ..
also it could be used to know if some libraries or object are not working and why ( exemple you don't have the proper .net version which doesn't have all objects needed to make it work .. i have been wondering for a long time why my script wasn't working (if it was syntax related .. and finally found out i needed to update the .net framework on my computer )

so it would help to find if "syntax" is good on the code while using a script.. or to find if "required .net component" isn't available in installed library

also is there anyway you can have a log when you Open a widget to say if the required component are installed to make it work .. in this particular case i was testing a widget made on a win7 computer with widgetpro 3.5 rev 422 .. and was trying to make it work on a winXp with widget Std 3.5 rev422 and nothing ever told me i had missing ressources to operate the script .. so everything was fine but i couldn't make the labels to change text .. i would really appreciate to at least have a log of errors to tell us when a widget is not going to act properly because of missing ressource.

Thanks

[Markus Zeppenfeld]

Hi there,

basically I think everything which helps to be effective is a good idea. So you think about switching to a debug mode like the move mode!?

1. Adding the scripts from the dropdown-list will ensure that the script itself is written correctly.

2. Regarding your strange issue with changing label names: I personally have never heard about things like this because of missing .net components. As there was no error message that a specific part could not be addressed, I am not quite sure if we could have recognized this issue or why it did not work. I am not a developer so I am really not sure about this...
A good test if the components are installed correctly is creating a clock. This will not be a reference in 100% of the times, but the clock is always complaining directly if something is missing.

I will forward your idea to the developers as this could be a good help for many guys.

Cheers
Markus

[Jan Huewel]

Hi there

Thank you for your feedback and input.

a Debug or Log Window is already on our feature list.

However your issues with the net version are strange and might be affected by other net applications and updates on your systems.

i have seen sometimes in the past that other applications my create conflicts with the Windows side by side install of dlls and associated runtimes, this may cause a Widget to not execute any script, in fact the entire multi threading seems to be not working at all in .net then.

We have tried to isolate the issue but the net runtime returns ok. So the only work arround is when this happens is to re-install .net.

A clean install and update of net 1.0 thru 3.5 is ideal plus installing the runtime components.

The current Pandoras Box installer allows to install all of these items. We are also looking in adding these resources to the WD Installer as well.

Best regards

Jan Huewel

[cyberears]

Thanks for the answer ,

as i said i finally fixed it by updating the .net packages from microsoft website to new versions..
i was just saying that nothing actually warned me about why some functions would not execute .

as for the Log//debug feature it will be greatly appreciated because even though you can script using the "drop-down menu" of available functions , when you modify the Defaults values, it's always very easy to mess it up while replacing them with the real values like forgetting a coma or a whole parenthesis or parameter and nothing tells you that the script is actually not working at all because of typo.

thank you very much !

[Markus Zeppenfeld]

Hi,

you are right. Forgetting a value will lead to "nothing" on the script.
I think it is a good idea and we will have a look at it, but we cannot promise when this feature will be implemented...

Cheers
Markus

[Markus Zeppenfeld]

Hi again,

your wish became truth. Within the newest release Rev249 of the WD, you will find the debug mode implemented.

Markus