[BUG] Cordova export

I'm not puttign this in bugs section because it's not CAPX related.

New project format keeps creating empty "www" subdirectories with every Cordova export. Tons of them. So many that when I try to delete them I got windows error and I'm unable to do so.

This issue has been mentioned already long time ago... straight after the new project format option appeared. This was the reason I wasn't using it the whole time. But as r236 forces this new project format export, we have no other option.

Ashley Tom

I'm not puttign this in bugs section because it's not CAPX related.

New project format keeps creating empty "www" subdirectories with every Cordova export. Tons of them. So many that when I try to delete them I got windows error and I'm unable to do so.

This issue has been mentioned already long time ago... straight after the new project format option appeared. This was the reason I wasn't using it the whole time. But as r236 forces this new project format export, we have no other option.

Ashley Tom

Whoa thats crazy which platform are you trying to export to? I haven't updated my Construct 2 yet and don't plan on it if your forced to do cordova exports.

capx related or not, it really should go in the bug section, it's the first place they look and they use it to catalog all the bugs and discuss it there.. Just put "No capx needed" in the capx part.

We should get a guy from Intel in here that should investigate this bug shall we.

xmnboy any idea what's wrong or the cause for this issue?

Isn't this an Intel XDK bug? Or is that happening even if you don't open the XDK?

I tried to replicate the issue today to check if it's from XDK or C2. I can't replicate it because I have another bug today which I recorded a video (see below). Anyway, as I mentioned above, the "www" issue has been reported earlier and no matter if it's C2 or XDK issue, it is related to new project format, so this option should not be forced by C2.

Regarding the new issue. Please see the video. It is C2 export bug for sure because as you can see on the video the bug occurs only after second C2 Cordova export.

I have problem now with my customer's app, but I recorded this with my project - same error.

EDIT: you can jump to 5:50 to see the first error, and soon after the second one. All the video before is showing how to replicate the issue.

— -- The pathnames in your video are blurry, so I cannot be sure, but I believe you exported the Construct2 project a second time, on top of an existing project that had previously been imported by the XDK. Is that correct?

If my assumption is correct, then I believe what is happening is you are confusing the XDK by changing the contents of a "known good" project file (the <project-name>.xdk file) with a project file that was exported by Construct2.

Try this process, instead, when you intend to export a new copy of your project from Construct2:

* "remove" the old project from the XDK project list * exit the XDK * delete (or rename) the old project's folder * export your Construct2 project * "open" the newly exported Contruct2 project

The <project-name>.xdk file that is exported by Construct2 is a "partial" project file, it gets "completed" by the XDK on the very first open. Once it has been added to the list of projects in the project file list it is expected to be in this "completed" state the next time it is opened -- but if that <project-name>.xdk file has been over written, the project is no longer in that "completed" state. This is likely the cause of the error message you are seeing in the video.

Let me know if the process described above works.

In essence, if you are going to export the same project, multiple times, onto the same location on your development system, you need to first remove the old project from the XDK project list AND remove it from your system (or rename the project folder so it is effectively gone).

The process I've been following is to export the first time with "Use new Indel XDK project format", but after that, add \www to your export path and turn the flag OFF. This gives you the best of both worlds - getting the new format initially, making all of the changes needed in XDK, then just updating the project code only, as you work though the remaining C2 issues.

Hey xmnboy, thanks for the reply.

It's full hd video, it's weird it got blurred hmm. Anyway yes you are right, I'm exporting same project to the same directory second time. That's the way it is when you build, test, fix bugs, test, fix bug, test etc.

I know that it works when I remove the project and then import it with XDK again. But this is abolutely not the way it should be. It happens most of the time that you have to export many times in order to tweak and test everything. That's why I reported this as a bug. C2 forces this export format with newest beta version so we have to delete the project each time before exporting now .

And there's this bug with www directory as well, don't really have time to play around with this. But it happened before for other people, it happened to me yesterday, so it's clearly there.

Guys, as Intel XDK is the only one officially supported C2 wrapper I would like to rise up a small alert and loudly ask you to cooperate a bit more with each other. Building mobile apps with IntelXDK and C2 is really hard recently. I know people usually publish their app once in a several months. But I freelance and make apps day by day and I see and feel every change.

In April I was able to export/import projects to XDK without any issues. I was able to implement IAP, AdMob, Appodeal etc. fully working with iOS and Android. But with current situation it is really a hell for developers. Exports/imports have problems as described above + Cordova and official monetization plugins do not fully work on both iOS and Android.... And there's more, but it's not a topic for that. I actually posted some issues before as well, but got ignored...

For now I had to move my customers apps to CocoonIO as I was unable to make all features work with XDK. And now even CocoonIO gets less comfy cause of C2 forces new project format.

So please Scirra and Intel XDK try to make some test apps before releasing new changes. It's more a call to Scirra than to IntelXDK as Intel is not focused on C2 only obviously. But C2 is focused on IntelXDK. Nobody expects you to make C2 compatibile with all the possible wrappers obviously, but as Intel XDK is the officially supported one, I think you should tweak C2 releases/plugins to work with current IntelXDK version.

The process I've been following is to export the first time with "Use new Indel XDK project format", but after that, add \www to your export path and turn the flag OFF. This gives you the best of both worlds - getting the new format initially, making all of the changes needed in XDK, then just updating the project code only, as you work though the remaining C2 issues.

Yeah that was the way till r235. You cannot turn OFF the flag with r236.

Ashley

We need to push back on this - at least add some smarts. If the XDK files are already there, don't, or at least ask, if they should be over-written. As mentioned, it's next to impossible to export once and get it right. I just exported for all three platforms (iOS, Android, Windows), and each export took easily a half-dozen exports to work out the kinks for each mobile platform. There's no way I'd want to export fresh each time and re-import the dozens of image files, settings, etc, required for each (or even one) platform.

Guys, as Intel XDK is the only one officially supported C2 wrapper

We also officially support PhoneGap Build, so you can try that as well. You're not forced to use just the XDK.

xmnboy - if the problem is the .xdk file being overwritten, perhaps a simpler workaround is to export to a separate folder, then copy all the files over apart from the .xdk file? i.e. just update all the asset files and leave the same project file.

This problem is unfortunate but in this case it stems from a breaking change in iOS 10 and a lack of a reliable way to identify WKWebView - it's Apple who have put us in an awkward position over this :-\ We could add those old options back, but then apps are broken on iOS 10 again, so we would prefer to stick to WKWebView-only mode if possible - especially since it can be 2-3x faster!

Ashley

I think better to add back "Use new Intel XDK project format" option, to be able to disable. So it was easier to update an existing XDK project.

Ashley

I think better to add back "Use new Intel XDK project format" option, to be able to disable. So it was easier to update an existing XDK project.

That doesn't support WKWebView though, so right now that would produce iOS apps that don't work on iOS 10.

xmnboy - if the problem is the .xdk file being overwritten, perhaps a simpler workaround is to export to a separate folder, then copy all the files over apart from the .xdk file? i.e. just update all the asset files and leave the same project file.

Ashley -- that is the approach that should be taken: 1) export new project once then 2) export to a new location and copy updated files to the original project. This is a bit cumbersome and might be difficult for some developers to use or understand.

I'm thinking an approach that allows one to export only the www folder (call it an "update export") for delta updates. Perhaps if you detected an existing <project-name>.xdk file you automatically just update the www folder in the destination? I can show you how to detect if that <project-name>.xdk file has been processed and is now in use by the XDK.