AI2 Companion and Emulator not working for specific accounts

[Jose Navarro-Figueroa]

I was developing some small Apps and tested them with no problem.  Then when I tried to run them again when the emulator was going to run them the screen stays white.  I tried to run them using AI2 Companion but the service didn't start the connection.  This happens with all the apps (that already worked) from that account.  If I tried apps from another (older account) the apps worked fine.  I created today a third account to run tests with it and have the same problem.  I read there was an update to date but I'm not sure if the problem is related with that and why apps from one account run and the other doesn't.

[Jose Navarro-Figueroa]

If I generate the .apk and try it on my phone it works.  But still, can't get it running on the emulator or any android device with the AI2 Companion.  I tried many devices.  When using the AI2 companion the QR code is generated on the computer, I scan it with the phone, immediately the code disappears from the screen as it did when was working fine and the, nothing else happens. 

[jeffrey.schiller]

Try clearing your browser's cache and trying again.

-Jeff

[Damien Murtagh]

HI Jeff

I'm having the same problem. The companion and the emulator are not working. I was working with AI2 last night, and then this morning (Australian Time), it's not working.

For you information:

• I have cleared my browser Cache
• I have tried this on multiple computers
• I have tried this with multiple Android devices
• I have tried this over multiple networks
• I have tried it with multiple AI2 apps
• I have tried it with multiple AI2 accounts
• I have tried it with both Chrome and Firefox

I have a class of Year 10 students halfway through their assignment, so I desperately need a solution.

Cheers

[Damien Murtagh]

This is the message from attempting to use the emulator.

[Navarro Account]

Beside all that you tried I also tried

- Windows 10 and Windows 7

- After turning off the antivirus

The account that was previously the only one working is not longer working. My students started reporting the same problem too.

[Evan Patton]

Do you also experience this issue in safe browsing mode? Our working theory is that the blocks editor has updated successfully but that the designer has not, and this is causing the blank screen issue. Enabling private browsing mode should prevent it from using any cached code as that would provide an avenue for trackers to break one's privacy. If not, it's possible some intermediary is incorrectly caching parts of the application.

Evan

[C Recher]

Having the same issue in my classroom and at home. AI Companion will not run today. It was working fine last week. Tried clearing the cache but that did nothing.

[Damien Murtagh]

I just tried in safe browsing and both the companion and the emulator failed to work.

[Simon Eddison]

Hi All,

I am having the same issue:

Use App Inventor yesterday evening Nov 7th (1800 UTC- 1900 UTC) for the 1st time. Created 4 very simple projects and they all successfully ran via the AI2 companion. When I came back at 2200UTC Nov 7th, I could not get the Companion to connect.

I am on the same wireless network, 

I can ping the phone from the PC I am using

I scan the QR code on my phone and the connection window on the PC closes but the phone does nothing, it still displays the connection page with the 2 buttons Connect with Code and Scan QR Code.

Scanning the QR code populates the 6 char code in the text box but nothing else happens. Clicking the connect with code also appears to do nothing.

I have also tried entering the 6 char code directly via the keyboard but no joy.

It appears The App inventor thinks its connected as the QR Code window closes and it gives no error message.

Also tried another account but again, same result.

I have tried different PC's. wireless networks, browsers, disabling Win Firewall and using another phone but the results are the same.

Looking at the other posts, it seems to be more of a global issue...

Cheers,

Simon.

[Simon Eddison]

Forgot to include the AI Companion version.. its  2.39 which seems to be the latest. I tried several re-installs and also connecting using private browsing and clearing all cache, cookies, LSOs etc but same result, not working.

[SteveJG]

MIT has been informed.  There appears to be either an issue with the latest AI build   and/or the MIT server is having issues.  Be patient and try again later.

[James Richardson]

I can confirm this issue as well. We have been using App Inventor in the classroom for the last couple of weeks without issue. Last time we used it successfully was yesterday 1:00PM GMT. Today the emulator just has a white screen once it has loaded.

Steps to reproduce:

- Login to app inventor

- Start AI Starter

- Connect to the emulator.

- Wait for it to open the companion app

Expected outcome:

The current screen in the project should be loaded with any details

Actual outcome:

The emulator remains blank and white. The name of the current screen is not labelled at the top.

I can reproduce this on three different computers with two different app inventor accounts and with different app inventor projects each time. I also had an entire classroom of 30 computers with this issue this afternoon.

[Evan Patton]

Hi everyone,

Sorry for the interruption in service. However, the rendezvous server that connects the companion to the browser is up and running without issue and phones and tablets are connecting successfully on our end. While that has been an issue in the past, we do not think that it is the cause of the current behavior. We still think that there is an issue with users being served an out-of-date copy of the code for one of the editors that is preventing the proper flow of execution. If you could provide me some additional information I could attempt to pinpoint the problem.

On Chrome:

1. Open the developer tools using Ctrl+Shift+I (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+Alt+I (Mac).
   
2. Select the Network panel
   
3. Load App Inventor
   
4. Once App Inventor has loaded, you will want to filter for JS sources (see screenshot)
   
5. Send the names of the two files you see for *.cache.js and block-*.js. For my screenshot, those are C88C6F083E2345F4087BAEAC063252D9.cache.js and blockly-48940edf-42eb-409d-ab66-7c2537ae5d23.js.
   
6. At this point, you may try the following to see if an update occurs:
   
1. Point your browser to http://ai2.appinventor.mit.edu/ode/ode.nocache.js?t=0. This should flush the code that loads the main App Inventor interface.
2. Point your browser to http://ai2.appinventor.mit.edu/blocklyframe.html?t=0. This should flush the code for the Blocks editor.

On Firefox:

1. Open the developer tools Ctrl+Shift+I (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+Alt+I (Mac)
2. Select the Network Panel
3. Load App Inventor
4. Once App Inventor has loaded, you will want to filter for JS sources (see screenshot)
5. Send the names of the two files you see for *.cache.js and blockly-*.js. For my screenshot, those are 45BEE11216BAD79800E647CBDAAD18A1.cache.js and blockly-48940edf-42eb-409d-ab66-7c2537ae5d23.js.
6. At this point, you may try the following to see if an update occurs:
1. Point your browser to http://ai2.appinventor.mit.edu/ode/ode.nocache.js?t=0. This should flush the code that loads the main App Inventor interface.
   
2. Point your browser to http://ai2.appinventor.mit.edu/blocklyframe.html?t=0. This should flush the code for the Blocks editor.

Once we have more data we can determine the next course of action as it will allow us to cross-check everything at MIT and to determine whether we can replicate this unexpected behavior.

Evan

[James Richardson]

Before Flush

After Flush

I can confirm that with this setup the emulator refuses to work correctly (white screen).

[Evan Patton]

Thanks James.

We think we have a found the issue and are working on a fix right now. Expect an updated release in a little bit after we test more fully.

Evan

[CKennedy]

This would be great

[jeffrey.schiller]

We just deployed release nb152a that fixes a problem with the Companion if your project has no assets (images, sounds etc.). See if things work for you now. Note: You will likely need to reload your browser if you are currently logged in. Then check that the Help->About menu choice shows version nb152a

-Jeff

[Simon Eddison]

Perfect! All working again. Thanks very much for sorting so quickly.

Cheers

Simon

[Navarro Account]

I ran several tests and everything on them is working fine including Apps with sprites, background images and sounds.  Thanks a lot from me, my students (everyone else :) ).