Infinite Loop - I Made A Big Mistake

[Davidowicza]

Hello fellow Alphaholics,

I did something very very stupid just now... Opened a new script, got right into the groove of coding and banged out about 300 lines of code.

I realized I had not saved the script since I started it so when I went to go click "save" my brain went blank and I went right to "Run" and ran the script... Turns out there is an infinite loop in a while statement (completely forgot to .fetch_next()) and now I am desperately trying to figure out a way to stop the running script so I can save all of my work.

I have tried ctrl+break but no luck and I even found an old post that said "look in the help file for 'Halt Script'" but it looks like that feature was taken out.

Can anyone save me from my own stupidity?

[madtowng]

If you find it, share it with everyone as you are certainly not the first to do that.
For my own sanity, I have started copying new code into notepad++ simply because
everything is saved (even if you didn't want it saved). It has saved me from memory dumps
as well as those horrible time when Alpha (I still prefer to use v11 on a XP vm) runs into
a memory conflict and closes unexpectedly.

[CraigSchumacker]

Whatever happened to A5halt.exe? If I have any memory at all, I remember it would allow you to stop a looped script without the need to hit task manager->end task.

[Davidowicza]

Whatever happened to A5halt.exe? If I have any memory at all, I remember it would allow you to stop a looped script without the need to hit task manager->end task.

From my frantic research looking throughout the forum on this, it seems like it was removed as I would assume that's what was launched with the old View->Settings...->Preferences->Running Scripts, which is gone too.

[Mike Wilson]

There is so much about this that rings past trauma for me. So I made a UDF named - UDF_probe() - I place at the start of all my developing UDF scripts that probes when the script is run whether the script exits in the library - a5.UDF_enum(2), and if not, know the need is to save the script before going foward.

[Tom Cone Jr]

David,

Assuming you are talking about a desktop application: The windows task manager can shut down Alpha Five when a script gets caught in a loop such as you describe. Ctrl-Shiift-ESC opens the task manager. Select Alpha Five, and "end task".

-- tom

[Davidowicza]

Well I left my script running all night to see if, by magic, it would have halted by the morning. Sadly it did not. So I hit CTRL+ALT+DELETE and saluted my ship and she was lost out to sea....

Mike, that's actually an awesome idea. Does it work on previously saved scripts that you add lines too? (noted by the * that it hasn't been saved after a change)

[CraigSchumacker]

I am sorry for the loss you must feel. There's nothing I dread more than running code, and seeing that 'Not Responding' grayed screen.

Other code editors I write in force you to save the script before you can run it from the editor.

It would be nice if saving was automated, and a 10 layer rollback was available as with desktop forms and reports. (Restore Prior Version)

There are other places, too, where rollbacks would be nice. For example, rollbacks are available for desktop forms, but I don't think any web components have a rollback.

I usually 'Save As" each change as NAMEOFSCRIPT1, NAMEOFUX2, etc. After I get to a stable point, I delete the copies.

I also keep a folder sync copying to an attached USB drive, and run routine daily backups.

[Mike Wilson]

Just to add some completeness to this, the following is the code I have at the top of all UDF scripts that gets the name of the script. It holds until a call to another script inside the script happens. But can be manually returned by manually adding the return line after a subscript call.

'CURRENT SCRIPT NAME
dim module as P
dim exe as P
dim shared vscript_now as C 'shared

module = type::xbasicmodule.get_current()
exe = module.executable()
vscript_now = exe.name() 'vscript_now changes with nested UDF calls

dim vudfhere as C 'local
vudfhere=vscript_now 'udfhere stays in this parent script
'vscript_now=vudfhere 'this line reverts the vscript now back to parent script name

Having access to a variable that holds the current running script is invaluable to me. I have all dialogs I build, which is very, very many,
have a very tiny button in the bottom right corner that when pushed, if user is me, opens a reporting dialog with the name of the current running UDF and gives me the option to open the UDF in the script editor for editing. Hugely powerful, can't live without dev functionality in this boy's dev world.

[madtowng]

I think we all missed the most basic solution to this, which is to write functions.
Unless there is a trick I don't know about, stand alone functions must be saved
before they can be called. I know this unfortunately does not apply to functions
buried in the xbasic section of a component.

Along the lines of what mike does, I found that most of my functions have the
same basic layout, and that I often have functions calling other functions which
makes it difficult to keep track of where I'm at when trying to debug the mess.
So I created a nice little utility (available at http://a5.wisux.com/aadesigner/functiondesigner.a5w )

The only problem is the error handling for functions in xbasic sections of components must
have unique labels.

[Ted Giles]

David,
I use WHATS RUNNING - a DT app which I find invaluable.
You can start and stop processes so it may be lighter than killing the whole application.

[martinwcole]

end the program with the windows' taskmanager
open alpha (but not your app)
find your app and hold down ctrl-shift and click to open it
you will have options to open and display the controlpanel, not open any forms, not run the autoexe, etc
now, just edit the code that is in error and fix it

[Ted Giles]

I get the impression that the code wasn't saved, Martin, ellse your plan would work.
Killing the instance would have aslo deleted the unsaved script, I believe.