[solved] Editor crashing - seemingly when I enter a certain amount of text?

[drmindflip]

Running v4.4.0 on Windows

Summary: Sonic Pi seems to crash, without any error messages, upon reaching a certain amount of text in the editor window

My code is pretty simple: there is a draw function which takes arrays of numbers to light up LEDs via sysex messages. There is a sleep command inside the draw function. I was using one large case within a live_loop to store and switch between lighting patterns, like so:

    case animation
    when 0
      draw [104, 11, 12, 4, 5], [99, 21, 19, 20, 18, 30, 25, 31, 24, 27, 28, 37, 32, 38, 33, 34, 39, 35, 36, 41, 40, 46, 47, 52, 53, 51, 50, 54, 58, 49, 61, 60, 59, 17, 22]
      draw [13, 26], [104, 12, 4, 5, 11], [99, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 28, 27, 30, 31, 24, 25, 35, 36, 33, 32, 38, 39, 34, 37, 46, 40, 41, 47, 51, 52, 49, 50, 53, 54, 58, 59, 60, 61]
      draw [15, 26], [104, 11, 12, 4, 5], [99, 19, 17, 20, 21, 18, 22, 27, 25, 24, 28, 31, 30, 33, 36, 39, 32, 35, 34, 37, 38, 40, 46, 47, 41, 49, 50, 54, 53, 52, 51, 59, 60, 58, 61]
      draw [13, 26], [104, 12, 4, 5, 11], [99, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 28, 27, 30, 31, 24, 25, 35, 36, 33, 32, 38, 39, 34, 37, 46, 40, 41, 47, 51, 52, 49, 50, 53, 54, 58, 59, 60, 61]
      draw [104, 11, 12, 4, 5], [99, 21, 19, 20, 18, 30, 25, 31, 24, 27, 28, 37, 32, 38, 33, 34, 39, 35, 36, 41, 40, 46, 47, 52, 53, 51, 50, 54, 58, 49, 61, 60, 59, 17, 22]
      draw [13, 29], [104, 11, 12, 4, 5], [99, 19, 20, 22, 21, 18, 17, 31, 24, 28, 27, 25, 30, 33, 32, 39, 36, 34, 35, 37, 38, 40, 46, 47, 41, 52, 51, 53, 50, 49, 54, 59, 60, 58, 61]
      draw [15, 29], [104, 11, 12, 4, 5], [99, 18, 21, 20, 19, 22, 17, 25, 27, 28, 30, 31, 24, 39, 36, 33, 32, 37, 38, 35, 34, 41, 46, 40, 47, 50, 53, 51, 52, 49, 54, 59, 58, 60, 61]
      draw [13, 29], [104, 11, 12, 4, 5], [99, 19, 20, 22, 21, 18, 17, 31, 24, 28, 27, 25, 30, 33, 32, 39, 36, 34, 35, 37, 38, 40, 46, 47, 41, 52, 51, 53, 50, 49, 54, 59, 60, 58, 61]
    when 1
      draw [104, 11, 12, 4, 5], [99, 19, 20, 18, 21, 24, 31, 28, 27, 25, 30, 32, 38, 37, 34, 35, 39, 33, 36, 40, 41, 46, 47, 49, 52, 51, 53, 50, 54, 60, 58, 59, 61, 22, 17]
      draw [104, 11, 12, 4, 5], [99, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 31, 30, 33, 32, 39, 36, 35, 37, 38, 34, 46, 40, 47, 51, 50, 52, 53, 59, 49, 54, 58, 61, 60, 29, 26, 45, 44, 28]
      draw [104, 11, 12, 4], [99, 17, 19, 18, 20, 21, 22, 30, 29, 28, 33, 35, 36, 38, 37, 34, 44, 45, 46, 49, 51, 52, 54, 53, 50, 58, 61, 59, 60, 27, 43, 25, 39, 47, 31]
      draw [104, 11, 12, 3], [99, 17, 19, 20, 18, 21, 22, 25, 28, 27, 30, 26, 36, 35, 33, 37, 34, 38, 29, 42, 41, 44, 46, 45, 43, 53, 51, 50, 52, 58, 60, 59, 61, 49, 54, 47, 31, 39]
      draw [104, 11, 12, 3, 2], [99, 22, 20, 18, 17, 19, 21, 25, 24, 28, 30, 27, 26, 29, 32, 35, 36, 33, 39, 37, 38, 34, 31, 47, 43, 44, 45, 41, 46, 40, 42, 51, 50, 53, 52, 49, 54, 58, 59, 60, 61]
      draw [104, 11, 12, 3], [99, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 21, 28, 30, 27, 25, 29, 24, 26, 33, 32, 36, 35, 37, 38, 34, 40, 41, 44, 45, 43, 42, 46, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 59, 58, 60, 61]
      draw [104, 11, 12, 4], [99, 17, 19, 18, 20, 22, 21, 24, 25, 28, 27, 26, 30, 33, 36, 35, 32, 37, 38, 34, 40, 41, 43, 44, 42, 49, 51, 52, 50, 53, 54, 58, 59, 60, 61]
      draw [104, 11, 12, 4, 5], [99, 17, 19, 18, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 31, 27, 29, 26, 35, 36, 33, 34, 32, 37, 38, 39, 43, 40, 41, 47, 42, 49, 52, 54, 50, 51, 53, 61, 59, 60, 58]
    when 2
      ...

This all worked just fine - no problems, errors or inconsistencies whatsoever. So I set about writing more patterns, placing each within a new when condition. I was pasting them in from outside Sonic Pi or copying/pasting and modifying text from the previous when section.

After pasting the 5th pattern or so, the editor just hanged and I had to quit. There were no error messages or anything. Upon re-opening, the code was missing the most recent text pasted in. It seems to crash without even running the code in question. I combed the text, made sure there were no problems, weird characters, or unusual formatting, and still the editor became unresponsive whenever I reached a certain threshold of text.

The code isn’t huge or anything: about 150 lines - half of which are like the above array lists.

I thought I was pasting too much text at once, so I did it line by line, but it still froze after a point.
I thought maybe the blocks of text were too much for a single case to contain, and I completely rewrote the section with the different animations stored in their own define like this:

define :pattern_1 do

      draw [104, 11, 12, 4, 5], [99, 21, 19, 20, 18, 30, 25, 31, 24, 27, 28, 37, 32, 38, 33, 34, 39, 35, 36, 41, 40, 46, 47, 52, 53, 51, 50, 54, 58, 49, 61, 60, 59, 17, 22]
      draw [13, 26], [104, 12, 4, 5, 11], [99, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 28, 27, 30, 31, 24, 25, 35, 36, 33, 32, 38, 39, 34, 37, 46, 40, 41, 47, 51, 52, 49, 50, 53, 54, 58, 59, 60, 61]
      draw [15, 26], [104, 11, 12, 4, 5], [99, 19, 17, 20, 21, 18, 22, 27, 25, 24, 28, 31, 30, 33, 36, 39, 32, 35, 34, 37, 38, 40, 46, 47, 41, 49, 50, 54, 53, 52, 51, 59, 60, 58, 61]
      draw [13, 26], [104, 12, 4, 5, 11], [99, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 28, 27, 30, 31, 24, 25, 35, 36, 33, 32, 38, 39, 34, 37, 46, 40, 41, 47, 51, 52, 49, 50, 53, 54, 58, 59, 60, 61]
      draw [104, 11, 12, 4, 5], [99, 21, 19, 20, 18, 30, 25, 31, 24, 27, 28, 37, 32, 38, 33, 34, 39, 35, 36, 41, 40, 46, 47, 52, 53, 51, 50, 54, 58, 49, 61, 60, 59, 17, 22]
      draw [13, 29], [104, 11, 12, 4, 5], [99, 19, 20, 22, 21, 18, 17, 31, 24, 28, 27, 25, 30, 33, 32, 39, 36, 34, 35, 37, 38, 40, 46, 47, 41, 52, 51, 53, 50, 49, 54, 59, 60, 58, 61]
      draw [15, 29], [104, 11, 12, 4, 5], [99, 18, 21, 20, 19, 22, 17, 25, 27, 28, 30, 31, 24, 39, 36, 33, 32, 37, 38, 35, 34, 41, 46, 40, 47, 50, 53, 51, 52, 49, 54, 59, 58, 60, 61]
      draw [13, 29], [104, 11, 12, 4, 5], [99, 19, 20, 22, 21, 18, 17, 31, 24, 28, 27, 25, 30, 33, 32, 39, 36, 34, 35, 37, 38, 40, 46, 47, 41, 52, 51, 53, 50, 49, 54, 59, 60, 58, 61]
end

define :pattern_2 do

      draw [104, 11, 12, 4, 5], [99, 19, 20, 18, 21, 24, 31, 28, 27, 25, 30, 32, 38, 37, 34, 35, 39, 33, 36, 40, 41, 46, 47, 49, 52, 51, 53, 50, 54, 60, 58, 59, 61, 22, 17]
      draw [104, 11, 12, 4, 5], [99, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 31, 30, 33, 32, 39, 36, 35, 37, 38, 34, 46, 40, 47, 51, 50, 52, 53, 59, 49, 54, 58, 61, 60, 29, 26, 45, 44, 28]
      draw [104, 11, 12, 4], [99, 17, 19, 18, 20, 21, 22, 30, 29, 28, 33, 35, 36, 38, 37, 34, 44, 45, 46, 49, 51, 52, 54, 53, 50, 58, 61, 59, 60, 27, 43, 25, 39, 47, 31]
      draw [104, 11, 12, 3], [99, 17, 19, 20, 18, 21, 22, 25, 28, 27, 30, 26, 36, 35, 33, 37, 34, 38, 29, 42, 41, 44, 46, 45, 43, 53, 51, 50, 52, 58, 60, 59, 61, 49, 54, 47, 31, 39]
      draw [104, 11, 12, 3, 2], [99, 22, 20, 18, 17, 19, 21, 25, 24, 28, 30, 27, 26, 29, 32, 35, 36, 33, 39, 37, 38, 34, 31, 47, 43, 44, 45, 41, 46, 40, 42, 51, 50, 53, 52, 49, 54, 58, 59, 60, 61]
      draw [104, 11, 12, 3], [99, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 21, 28, 30, 27, 25, 29, 24, 26, 33, 32, 36, 35, 37, 38, 34, 40, 41, 44, 45, 43, 42, 46, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 59, 58, 60, 61]
      draw [104, 11, 12, 4], [99, 17, 19, 18, 20, 22, 21, 24, 25, 28, 27, 26, 30, 33, 36, 35, 32, 37, 38, 34, 40, 41, 43, 44, 42, 49, 51, 52, 50, 53, 54, 58, 59, 60, 61]
      draw [104, 11, 12, 4, 5], [99, 17, 19, 18, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 31, 27, 29, 26, 35, 36, 33, 34, 32, 37, 38, 39, 43, 40, 41, 47, 42, 49, 52, 54, 50, 51, 53, 61, 59, 60, 58]
end

This worked perfectly, when I just called the patterns like I would any other synth, but once I added in the equivalent amount of text, the editor just crashed. It seems to have nothing to do with running the code.

Can anyone shed any light on this? This is for a project that I am under pressure to complete and it’s really baffling me.

EDIT: Further information: after a certain point - the enter/return key stops working in the text editor, as does the standard Windows ctrl+c/v shortcuts for copy/paste. I can still type into the editor, and paste in using alt+c/v, or right-clicking, but I can’t run the code or anything. If I try to do that, the log window just clears and hangs there.

[drmindflip]

I found the answer in the topic below. There is a limit to the text each buffer can handle in the GUI - but putting code in a separate file and using run_file is hopefully the solution

Maximum characters limit per buffer?

Hi , I’m working on a big project with Sonic Pi, designing it to playing live music in a dance project. The code defines a complex functionality for a MIDI keyboard. While coding, I found that the code won’t run if it contains over a certain number of characters (8846, in my case), even if the characters beyond the limit are commented out. Has anyone ever come upon such an issue?

[drmindflip]

PS - I have also discovered that run_file runs the code in question in its own thread, which means that the rest of your code will proceed as it does so. This can lead to timing errors if, for example, the external file contains variable definitions that your main code needs to reference.

It seems that eval_file works the same, but evaluates the contents of the external file in the current thread - so it won’t proceed until it is finished. Perfect!

Run_file command in a loop

One thing to try is: live_loop :repeating_file_call do eval_file "C:/Music/song.rb" end Note that run_file will run the contents of the file as if you had pressed the Run button - this essentially creates a new thread to run the code so the thing that called run_file does not wait for it to finish (which is why you were having to explicitly call sleep to wait). However eval_file runs the contents of the file within the current thread as if it was a function call - so the existing thread will…