CIQ Eclipse plugin: create project in existing location, get obscure error msg

Environment
CIQ Eclipse Plugin 3.0.6

Problem Description
If you accidentally try to create a project in a location with an existing project that is not already in the workspace (e.g. you use a generic name like "testApp" for a long-forgotten test project), the CIQ Eclipse Plugin dumps a large stack trace to the console (which may not even be visible to the user). If the user can't see the console, then it just looks like nothing is happening.

EDIT:You have to create a project with the same name, but different case. e.g. Original name: "testApp". New name "testapp".

In contrast, the Eclipse C project wizard will warn of:
- An existing project folder with the same name
- If you go further, it also warns of overriding existing project settings.
This is the case whether or not the existing project is in the workspace.

Here's the stack trace from CIQ:
https://pastebin.com/ut3hV9gv

You can't see it directly, but trust me, it's long and obscure.

The first line is:

Manifest Error: Problem initializing the manifest file.

Sometimes this line is replaced with:

null

jim_m_58 over 6 years ago

Maybe you are doing something different than me (like is the project not in the workspace?), but I see this if I try to create a new project with the same name as one that's there:

FlowState over 6 years ago

jim_m_58 yes, that's it. The project is not in the workspace. Sorry, let me edit the original bug report and clarify that.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I tend to delete old projects from my workspace, while keeping them on disk, especially test apps. While I'm responsible for my own choices there, I think it would be nice if we got a real error message instead of an exception/stack trace from the plugin.

Stephen.ConnectIQ over 6 years ago

I deleted a project from my workspace (but not from disk) and tried to make a new project by the same name. i got a "Project already exists" warning message. do you not get this?

FlowState over 6 years ago

Stephen.ConnectIQ oh wow I tried it again and it turns out the bug is more complex than I had thought originally.

You have to create a project with the same name, but different case.

e.g. Say your original project was "testApp". Delete that from the workspace and try to create "testApp" again. You'll get the error message you described. But if you try to create "testapp", it'll "silently" fail. (In my case the console does not automatically come to the foreground, so it looks like it silently failed.)

jim_m_58 over 6 years ago

It's interesting you don't see the console. In Eclipse, under Window>Open Perspective>Other, do you use Connect IQ? The console is always shown by default for me. It's interesting when you change code and things are auto-built

FlowState over 6 years ago

jim_m_58 Yes I am using the CIQ perspective. Well first of all, I don't have the console displayed all the time by default, especially when developing on a laptop (as opposed to desktop monitor(s)).

I rely on the behaviour which auto-shows the console when something interesting happens (i.e. running an app or having a build error). In this case, the console is not auto-showing itself.

But actually, all of that is moot, because...

...even when the console window/pane is shown, that doesn't mean the correct console "instance" (*) is active. (* Just a word I chose at random. I think the correct term is just "console".) In other words, you could have 50 different consoles in one window (e.g. 1 "Connect IQ" console for builds/etc., and 49 consoles from the previous 49 runs of your app.)

For example, even if I leave the console window open, I can do the following:
1) Successfully run a different CIQ app. The output is displayed in the console as "... [Connect IQ App] Run 1"
2) Recreate the bug as described above. Even though the console window is shown, I'm not seeing the stack trace, because the console instance hasn't switched to "Connect IQ" (which is where the stack trace is).

So as you see, it has nothing to do with the perspective or the dev's choice of hiding/showing the console window.

Keeping this in mind, I'd like to amend the bug report:
- When the CIQ plugin crashes due to an unhandled exception, the Connect IQ console does not come to the foreground, so there is little chance the user will immediately understand what happened. It would be helpful is the console would show itself in this case, just like it does when there is a build error.

FlowState over 6 years ago

I retested the Eclipse C Project Wizard. It behaves the same (displays the two error messages/warnings described above) no matter the case of the conflicting project folder name.