can't make new sketch in 0005

Hi guys, 

it isn't possible to make a new fritzing sketch in v 0005. Not with the menu (File->New->Fritzing Sketch) and not with the shortcut (Command+N). I'm using Mac OS 10.5.2. 

Christoph

Hi Christoph,

thanks for reporting this. We'll try to find a machine with 10.5 to test this on. (I'm still working on Tiger 10.4). And I don't seem to have any troubles with creating a new sketch. At what point do you get stuck? Doesn't the app respond at all to the command / menu item? Or do you get untill the dialog window, but then it stays numb?

Ouch! Since we don't have a machine with Leopard around at the moment, can you please have a look into your log file? You can find it at fritzing/workspace/.metadata/.log and there should be something related to this error at the end of the file.

Also, do you know if this problem existed with 0004 already?

I am experiencing the same problem. I tried fresh installs on two different Leopard Macs to be sure. This problem did not exist with either 003/004 I believe. After reading your advice to read the log I found an error stating to "disable startOnFirstThread". I then went to Fritzing.ini and removed the arg-line "-XstartOnFirstThread" and now the log has a new error instead: (if you need the full stack trace of the jvm let me know)

P.S. Keep up the great work. This is the application I have been praying for.

"bash-3.2# more .log
!SESSION 2008-02-16 14:45:50.920 -----------------------------------------------
eclipse.buildId=unknown
java.version=1.5.0_13
java.vendor=Apple Inc.
BootLoader constants: OS=macosx, ARCH=x86, WS=carbon, NL=en_US
Framework arguments:  -keyring /Users/joel/.eclipse_keyring -showlocation
Command-line arguments:  -os macosx -ws carbon -arch x86 -keyring /Users/joel/.eclipse_keyring -consoleLog -showlocation

!ENTRY org.eclipse.osgi 2 1 2008-02-16 14:45:53.636
!MESSAGE NLS unused message: ApplicationMenuName_Examples in: messages

!ENTRY org.eclipse.gmf.runtime.diagram.ui 4 2 2008-02-16 14:45:59.513
!MESSAGE IRJS0007E Semantic refresh failed.
!STACK 0
org.eclipse.jface.util.Assert$AssertionFailedException: null argument;failed to create a view
        at org.eclipse.jface.util.Assert.isNotNull(Assert.java:153)
        at org.eclipse.gmf.runtime.diagram.ui.commands.CreateCommand.doExecuteWithResult(CreateCommand.java:99)
        at org.eclipse.gmf.runtime.emf.commands.core.command.AbstractTransactionalCommand.doExecute(AbstractTransactionalCommand.java:246)
        at org.eclipse.emf.workspace.AbstractEMFOperation.execute(AbstractEMFOperation.java:137)
        at org.eclipse.gmf.runtime.common.core.command.CompositeCommand.doExecuteWithResult(CompositeCommand.java:406)
        at org.eclipse.gmf.runtime.common.core.command.AbstractCommand.execute(AbstractCommand.java:134)
        at org.eclipse.gmf.runtime.diagram.ui.commands.ICommandProxy.execute(ICommandProxy.java:69)
        at org.eclipse.gef.commands.CompoundCommand.execute(CompoundCommand.java:107)
        at org.eclipse.gmf.runtime.diagram.ui.editpolicies.CanonicalEditPolicy$1.doExecute(CanonicalEditPolicy.java:507)
        at org.eclipse.emf.workspace.AbstractEMFOperation.execute(AbstractEMFOperation.java:137)
        at org.eclipse.gmf.runtime.diagram.ui.editpolicies.CanonicalEditPolicy.executeCommand(CanonicalEditPolicy.java:513)
        at org.fritzing.fritzing.diagram.edit.policies.SketchCanonicalEditPo"

Ok. I found the fix:

edit the Fritzing.ini file     It's in  /Applications/fritzing-0005/Fritzing.app/Contents/MacOS

take out the line that says

-XstartOnFirstThread

and replace with

-Djava.awt.headless=true

Cheers,
Joel

Hi Joel,

thanks a lot for figuring this out! We will have to investigate this further, as it seems to be a very strange bug, but it's really great that we now have this workaround.

I opened issue 101 to look into the causes of this bug. We didn't do too many changes from 0004 to 0005, so it shouldn't be so hard to find it.

Cheers,
andré>

I added back the "-XstartOnFirstThread" and it appears to be working. So here is what my Fritzing.ini file looks like now:

-vmargs
-Djava.awt.headless=true
-XstartOnFirstThread
-Dorg.eclipse.swt.internal.carbon.smallFonts

thanks joel for this workaround. now i can create new sketches and the open dialog appears.

but it's not possible to open an fritzing file created with v3 (i hadn't v4 installed). I get an error which reads:

Cannot open input element:

Class 'Arduino' not found. (file: [path to my fzb file])

Hi Christoph,

I know you put a lot of effort into the creation of your sketch with 0003, but I'm afraid I have to tell you that it's pretty much lost. The file format is stabilizing more and more, but there was a significant change from 0003 to 0004. You could take a look at the newer file format and try to migrate it manually, but that's going to be hard.

Hey ho!

I have the same problem (can´t create a new sketch nor use the example), though I use Mac OS 10.4.11.

I get until the dialog window, type in the name I want to use, click on "finish", wait, see that funny little mac-wheel turning and turning and... nothing happens! No wheel anymore, but also the window stays and no new sketch appears.

What´s wrong - is it my computer or my fritzing application or maybe just me because the application doesn´t like physical computing girls?

Please mind that I´m not such a programming freak and don´t really understand anything written above (about "Fritzing.ini" and removing "the arg-line" and stuff like that) – be so nice to use simple words to explain what I should do right now...

Thanks a lot.

Cheers, Eva.

Hi Eva,

you're right we especially gave Fritzing the AI for it, to recognize physical computer girls.

It is a bug and we're working on it. Thanks for testing Fritzing out!

To get it working, at least in this version you can follow this:

1. Quit Fritzing

2. ctrl + click on the Application Fritzing itself (in the Applications folder, if you put it there) (ctrl + click = right click if you have a might mouse)

3. choose 'Show Package Contents'

4. Open the folder 'Contents' > 'Mac OS'

5. You find a file called 'Fritzing.ini'

6. Open that file with a text editor. I use my code editor, but you can use TextEdit.

7. The first line of that file reads: "-vmargs"

8. After that first line insert another line saying: "Djava.awt.headless=true"

9. Save the file Fritzing.ini and close the folder

10. Start Fritzing again.

Good luck, Dirk

Hey Dirk.

Thanks a lot for answering that quickly.

But unfortunately it doesn´t work though I followed your instruction exactly... I´m really very sad about that.

My file looks like that:

-vmargs
-Djava.awt.headless=true
-XstartOnFirstThread
-Dorg.eclipse.swt.internal.carbon.smallFonts

But the problem stays the same.

Any other advice?

Cheers, Eva.

Oh.

So Eva, maybe the problem you're having isn't the same problem as was fixed above. And in a way, it would have been strange if it was, because you're running 10.4.11 instead of 10.5

So I don't really know what it could be. Maybe it is the same problem as Loads of errors when starting up on Windows XP, which is in the end, just a problem with the download from google. So try to delete your version of Fritzing all together, download it again freshly, and see how that behaves.

HTH

dirk

Hi Dirk!

That doesn´t work at all. I downloaded fritzing three times from two different browsersand put them in different folders by now – always the same problem. I also made sure that I have this Java6-update. BUT MY COMPUTER STILL DON´T WANT TO CREATE NEW SKETCHES!!! No - that´s not true. It DOES create the sketch-files in the documets/fritzing-folder - but doesn´t open them in the application. By the way... Sometimes an error message appears when I close fritzing after my trying-process. But it already disappears that quickly, so i can´t read it.

I´m so frustrated – what can I do right now? Buy a new computer?

Cheers, Eva.

Hi Eva,

I have to confess I'm running out of tricks here. But it would interesting for us to see the error log.  It is a bit hard to get at it on a mac, but you might be able to help us with it. If you use the 'Terminal' application you should be able to get to the folder

...fritzing-0005/Fritzing.app/Contents/MacOS/workspace/.metadata

(using the `cd` command (cd = change directory)

If you are there you should be able to find a file called .log

(use `list -al`)

And then we would be most interested in the end of that file

(use `tail -100 .log`)

However, if you are totally unknown with the Terminal and unix commands, I'm not sure if this is helping you so much.

If you want to see this .log, but cannot figure out the Terminal, let us know exactly where you saved the Fritzing folder. Then we'll be able to send you an exact run through of what you should do.

Good luck

I have the same problem. After adding the -Djava.awt.headless=true to Fritzing.iniS now the dialog appears when I click on New -> Fritzing Sketch but still doesn't work for me.   

Most of the times Fritzing crashs just after clicking Finish on the New Fritzing Sketch dialog and I never managed to add any component to the sketch. See the log attached. 

Hi Rubén and others,

right now all of us are focussing on the new version of Fritzing, which will be a complete rewrite of the old Fritzing. So I'm sorry to let you know that right now fixing the bugs in the old Fritzing is not high up on our priority list.

We hope all of you out there could please be patient, because the new version of Fritzing will be much better than the old version. We expect our alpha release to be done mid October. This release should cover all the functionality of the last version 0005 and have much more.

Thanks for the interest shown and please bare with us until our next release.

Hi all and specially Fritzing developers.

I had the same problem in version 0005, I couldn't open a new sketch so  I applied the changes Joel suggested in the .ini file and now works perfect. 

-Djava.awt.headless=true
-XstartOnFirstThread

My system: Fritzing 0005 + Leopard 10.5.4 on a Macbook Intel.

Thanks a lot for this amazing app. Keep the work. 

Rez