Weird issue in Flash Builder 4.7

[FLEXIncubator]

This is pretty weird and maybe this is not Feathers related thing at all. Still, want to point out. I am using Flash Builder 4.7 now with AIR SDK 3.4. I downloaded latest Feathers code today from github. And now, from time to time, strange compile-time errors appears. The thing is that they always appear at same 2 places (in VectorListCollectionDataDescriptor)

• public function addItemAt(data:Object, item:Object, index:int):void
• public function removeItemAt(data:Object, index:int):Object

The whole bunch of errors (for removeItemAt) is pasted below. Cleaning the project does not help ( I mean the Clean command menu item in Flash builder). But, when you close Flash Builder, then open again then do clean - errors disappear. Then, just after some time (maybe an hour, maybe less or more), they spontaneously appear again. I just tried (for testing purpose) to delete the whole contents of AddItemAt, and the error disappeared too. Can it be related to new compiler?

com.google.common.collect.ComputationException: java.lang.NullPointerException at com.google.common.collect.ComputingConcurrentHashMap
$ComputingSegment.compute(ComputingConcurrentHashMap.java:167) at com.google.common.collect.ComputingConcurrentHashMap
$ComputingSegment.compute(ComputingConcurrentHashMap.java:116) at
com.google.common.collect.ComputingConcurrentHashMap.apply(ComputingConcurrentHashMap.java:67) at com.google.common.collect.MapMaker
$ComputingMapAdapter.get(MapMaker.java:623) at com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.projects.CompilerProject.getCacheForScope(CompilerProject.java:701) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.scopes.ASScope.findPropertyQualified(ASScope.java:1476) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.definitions.references.ResolvedQualifiersReference.resolve(ResolvedQualifiersReference.java:80) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.definitions.DefinitionBase.resolveType(DefinitionBase.java:1049) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.definitions.DefinitionBase.resolveType(DefinitionBase.java:1089) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.definitions.ClassDefinition.resolveBaseClass(ClassDefinition.java:373) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.definitions.TypeDefinitionBase$TypeIterator.pushChildren(TypeDefinitionBase.java:284) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.definitions.TypeDefinitionBase$TypeIterator.next(TypeDefinitionBase.java:218) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.definitions.TypeDefinitionBase$TypeIterator.next(TypeDefinitionBase.java:176) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.scopes.TypeScope.getPropertyForScopeChain(TypeScope.java:261) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.scopes.TypeScope.getPropertyForScopeChain(TypeScope.java:188) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.scopes.ASScope.findProperty(ASScope.java:1038) at com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.scopes.ASScope.findProperty(ASScope.java:
981) at com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.scopes.ASScope.findProperty(ASScope.java:1161) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.scopes.ASScope.findProperty(ASScope.java:919) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.scopes.ASScopeCache.findPropertyQualified(ASScopeCache.java:267) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.scopes.ASScope.findPropertyQualified(ASScope.java:1478) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.definitions.references.ResolvedQualifiersReference.resolve(ResolvedQualifiersReference.java:80) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.definitions.DefinitionBase.resolveType(DefinitionBase.java:1049) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.definitions.DefinitionBase.resolveType(DefinitionBase.java:1089) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.definitions.DefinitionBase.resolveType(DefinitionBase.java:871) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.semantics.MethodBodySemanticChecker.checkFormalsVsActuals(MethodBodySemanticChecker.java:758) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.semantics.MethodBodySemanticChecker.checkFunctionCall(MethodBodySemanticChecker.java:842) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.as.codegen.ABCGeneratingReducer.reduce_functionAsMemberExpr(ABCGeneratingReducer.java:3960) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.as.codegen.CmcEmitter.action_327(CmcEmitter.java:5339) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.as.codegen.CmcEmitter.dispatchAction(CmcEmitter.java:8606) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.as.codegen.CmcEmitter.reduceAntecedent(CmcEmitter.java:39704) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.as.codegen.CmcEmitter.reduce(CmcEmitter.java:39681) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.as.codegen.CmcEmitter.reduceSubgoals(CmcEmitter.java:39723) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.as.codegen.CmcEmitter.reduceAntecedent(CmcEmitter.java:39703) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.as.codegen.CmcEmitter.reduce(CmcEmitter.java:39681) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.as.codegen.CmcEmitter.reduceSubgoals(CmcEmitter.java:39723) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.as.codegen.CmcEmitter.reduceAntecedent(CmcEmitter.java:39703) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.as.codegen.CmcEmitter.reduce(CmcEmitter.java:39681) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.as.codegen.CmcEmitter.reduceSubgoals(CmcEmitter.java:39732) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.as.codegen.CmcEmitter.reduceAntecedent(CmcEmitter.java:39703) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.as.codegen.CmcEmitter.reduce(CmcEmitter.java:39681) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.as.codegen.CmcEmitter.reduceSubgoals(CmcEmitter.java:39723) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.as.codegen.CmcEmitter.reduceAntecedent(CmcEmitter.java:39703) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.as.codegen.CmcEmitter.reduce(CmcEmitter.java:39681) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.as.codegen.CmcEmitter.burm(CmcEmitter.java:39983) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.as.codegen.ABCGenerator.generateInstructions(ABCGenerator.java:232) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.as.codegen.ABCGenerator.generateMethodBodyForFunction(ABCGenerator.java:397) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.as.codegen.ABCGenerator.generateMethodBodyForFunction(ABCGenerator.java:351) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.as.codegen.ABCGenerator.generateFunction(ABCGenerator.java:266) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.as.codegen.ClassDirectiveProcessor.declareFunction(ClassDirectiveProcessor.java:646) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.as.codegen.DirectiveProcessor.processNode(DirectiveProcessor.java:215) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.as.codegen.DirectiveProcessor.traverse(DirectiveProcessor.java:189) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.as.codegen.GlobalDirectiveProcessor.declareClass(GlobalDirectiveProcessor.java:423) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.as.codegen.DirectiveProcessor.processNode(DirectiveProcessor.java:207) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.as.codegen.DirectiveProcessor.traverse(DirectiveProcessor.java:189) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.as.codegen.GlobalDirectiveProcessor.declarePackage(GlobalDirectiveProcessor.java:449) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.as.codegen.DirectiveProcessor.processNode(DirectiveProcessor.java:224) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.as.codegen.DirectiveProcessor.traverse(DirectiveProcessor.java:189) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.as.codegen.ABCGenerator.generate(ABCGenerator.java:126) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.units.ASCompilationUnit.handleABCBytesRequest(ASCompilationUnit.java:374) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.units.CompilationUnitBase.processABCBytesRequest(CompilationUnitBase.java:866) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.units.CompilationUnitBase.access$300(CompilationUnitBase.java:107) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.units.CompilationUnitBase$4$1.call(CompilationUnitBase.java:309) at com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.units.CompilationUnitBase
$4$1.call(CompilationUnitBase.java:305) at com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.units.requests.RequestMaker$1.call(RequestMaker.java:228) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.units.requests.RequestMaker$1.call(RequestMaker.java:222) at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask$Sync.innerRun(Unknown Source) at
java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(Unknown Source) at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.runTask(Unknown Source) at
java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(Unknown Source) at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source) Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException at
com.google.common.base.Preconditions.checkNotNull(Preconditions.java:187) at
com.google.common.collect.CustomConcurrentHashMap.hash(CustomConcurrentHashMap.java:1432) at
com.google.common.collect.ComputingConcurrentHashMap.apply(ComputingConcurrentHashMap.java:66) at com.google.common.collect.MapMaker
$ComputingMapAdapter.get(MapMaker.java:623) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.scopes.ASProjectScope.addScopeToCompilationUnitScopeList(ASProjectScope.java:1306) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.projects.CompilerProject$ScopeMakerFunction.apply(CompilerProject.java:106) at
com.adobe.flash.compiler.internal.projects.CompilerProject$ScopeMakerFunction.apply(CompilerProject.java:95) at
com.google.common.collect.ComputingConcurrentHashMap$ComputingSegment.compute(ComputingConcurrentHashMap.java:155) ... 70 more

[joshtynjala]

Must be the compiler. I have not changed that class recently.

[jenschr]

Quickfix: change <*> to
Found it here: http://forums.adobe.com/message/4833011

BTW: Amazing how little Adobe are replying in their own forums these days? I hardly see anyone but community members offer solutions these days.

[ghost]

Is it any wonder people are fleeing from Flash/Flex/AIR technology like
rats abandoning a sinking ship?

On a related note, after spending a month prototyping an enterprise app
utilizing AIR and Josh's excellent Feathers library, we were so thoroughly
disappointed by the app's performance (not the least of which was up to 15
sec. wait to load AIR into the device) that now we are rushing to re-code
everything in Objective-C.

I have been using Flash since version 2 and it really hurts to have to
abandon this technology, but Adobe has failed miserably in just about every
endeavor to keep it competitive in the industry and I'm afraid that the
Apache Flex community won't make any real strides so long as the technology
remains tied to Adobe.

On Thu, Jan 10, 2013 at 6:31 PM, Jens Chr Brynildsen <
notifications@github.com> wrote:

Quickfix: change <*> to
Found it here: http://forums.adobe.com/message/4833011

BTW: Amazing how little Adobe are replying in their own forums these days?
I hardly see anyone but community members offer solutions these days.

—
Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHubhttps://github.com//issues/223#issuecomment-12108457.

[joshtynjala]

Unfortunately, changing Vector.<*> to Vector.<Object> isn't an acceptable solution.

var vec:Vector.<String> = new <String>[];
trace(vec is Vector.<*>); //true
trace(vec is Vector.<Object>); //false

[jenschr]

Josh. My take is that this is just a compiler bug that won't ever happen at runtime. Won't the compiler (technically) treat these as "Object" when making the bytecode regardless of them they being set to be "*"?

[jenschr]

Update: someone suggested that one turns off "Marc Occurrences" in Flash Builder and the error will disappear. Worked for me. Try and feedback?

[ghost]

Wow, yeah, that actually worked. In Eclipse's preferences, go to Java->Editor->Mark Occurrences and unselect the top check box. I haven't tried unselecting individual check boxes yet.

[ghost]

Nevermind, my ComputationException: java.lang.NullPointerExceptions came right back.

[joshtynjala]

As a workaround, you might try putting the Feathers source code into a separate library project. It should only build when you drop in a new version of the code.

[AlBirdie]

I've encountered this FB issue as well. Simple solution; remove the two methods, save the file and write them own you own. That will remove the "error".
Did I mention that I hate FB recently? If not, I HATE it! $500 alpha software. Great work Adobe!

[niggeulimann]

This issue "may" have been fixed! --> http://forums.adobe.com/message/5184352#5184352

@AlBirdie: Unfortunately that will not work in every case - and yes: it sucks!

[jenschr]

Nope. Not fixed. I just got it again using FB4.7 / AIR SDK 3.9 :-(

[joshtynjala]

I switched to the new compiler months ago, and I haven't encountered this error yet. I use IntelliJ IDEA, though. It sounds like maybe this issue related to Flash Builder's deeper integration with the compiler?

[IngweLand]

Yes, it might be the Flash Builder. Typically, cleaning the project solves the issues. However, not always (especially after making release build). Then you should restart the FB and clean the project again.

[jenschr]

Yeah. Restarting Flash Builder removed it for me as well. Yet another sign that this is a Flash Builder/Compiler error and that Adobe never fixed it properly. I see that way too often these days. Fixes are half baked and the Adobe employees barely reply to problems in their own forums these days...

[kheftel-old]

Arrgh. I'm still getting it in FB 4.7 and AIR 4.0

[imdfl]

I solved the problem by modifying the source files ever so slightly:

1. removed all unnecessary includes
2. changed one private function in each of the classes that generated the compile error, into protected.

Unbelievable but it worked (consistently, over about 10 files that produced the ComputationException).

[kheftel-old]

For me, what works in FB 4.7 is turning off "Mark Occurrences". Sometimes I have to turn it on, close FB, restart FB, and then turn it off again for it to work.

Here's a picture of the icon set to OFF:

[flashape]

Note to anyone else still hitting this issue, simply re-saving VectorListCollectionDataDescriptor.as fixed the issue for me.

[kheftel-old]

This issue still exists, on mac now, whereas before I was on a win8 laptop. Screwing around with combinations of "Mark Occurrences" on and off, running clean on my projects, and restarting FB eventually got it to go away. For now. For me, this comes up every few weeks or so.

[GaiusCoffey]

Not sure whether or not this is coincidental, but I saw the same issue on a clean FB install and seem to have resolved it through updating to the current SDK as per this; https://helpx.adobe.com/flash-builder/kb/overlay-air-sdk-flash-builder.html

[joshtynjala]

Good to know! Starling 2.0 and Feathers 3.0 require AIR 19, so going forward, everyone will have no choice but to update the AIR SDK used by Flash Builder.