Ben Forta

12 responses to “Dumping Flex Objects”

1. 

   barry.b

   2006-02-08

   and there’s nothing like cfdump in ASP.NET either….
   …boy have I been spoiled!

   Reply
2. 

   Shigeru

   2006-02-08

   I tried like below
   mx.utils.ObjectUtil.toString(event_object)
   then InternetExplorer shutdowned…

   Reply
3. 

   James Lyon

   2006-02-08

   Shigeru, that can happen when attempting to use ObjectUtil.toString() on complex objects or on some core classes. I haven’t tried to find a pattern among the different cases we’ve seen. Does anyone know if certain methods or class definitions cause that ObjectUtil method to crash?

   Reply
4. 

   Ben Forta

   2006-02-08

   Please file bug reports on this, with reproducable examples if possible.

   Reply
5. 

   Chris Velevitch

   2006-02-08

   Xray and LuminicBox are 2 excellent tools for examining objects.

   Reply
6. 

   James Lyon

   2006-02-10

   Bug submitted.
   I created a FlexDump component during some free time today. It’s really basic, but works, and I’ll send it along to whomever wants to test it more.

   Reply
7. 

   Mike Collins

   2006-02-12

   Here is one I use as well, error is a textarea. Simply send in the object you wish to see expanded. I tried doing this recursively as well, but objects have circular references at times.
   You can change this to use trace as well.
   function showme(o) {
   error.text = error.text + "**************************" + "r";
   for (var prop in o) {
   error.text = error.text + "prop: " + prop + " value: " + o[prop] + "r";
   }
   error.text = error.text + "**************************" + "r";
   }

   Reply
8. 

   Mike Collins

   2006-02-12

   Another technique I have used is to save the error to a file using cfdocument, then load it with getURL from FlexBuilder.
   <cfset reportdir = getdirectoryfrompath(getbasetemplatepath())>
   <cfdocument filename="#reportdir#test.swf" format="flashpaper" overwrite="yes" >
   <cfoutput>
   Incoming parms:<br />
   <cfdump var="#form#">
   Error occurred at #now()#<br />
   <cfdump var="#cfcatch#">
   </cfoutput>
   </cfdocument>

   Reply
9. 

   Shigeru

   2006-02-13

   I may be stupid.
   I tried to dump Loder’s Complete Event Object.
   And the Loder component load SWF.
   it must be huge…
   it’s like below.
   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
   <mx:Application xmlns:mx="http://www.macromedia.com/2005/mxml&quot; xmlns="*" layout="absolute">
   <mx:Script>
   <![CDATA[
   private function loadComponent():void
   {
   swfLd.source = "./swfComponent01.swf";
   }
   private function loadCompetedEvent(evt:Event):void
   {
   txtDump.text = mx.utils.ObjectUtil.toString(evt);
   }
   ]]>
   </mx:Script>
   <mx:Button x="10" y="10" label="Load" click="loadComponent()"/>
   <!– <mx:Loader id="swfLd" x="10" y="42" complete="loadCompetedEvent(event)" /> –>
   <mx:Loader id="swfLd" x="10" y="42" source="./swfComponent01.swf" complete="loadCompetedEvent(event)" />
   <mx:TextArea id="txtDump" x="10" y="290" width="610" height="360"/>
   </mx:Application>
   If Loader load SWF on clicking button, InternetExplorer didn’t shutdown and FlashPlayer output runtime error like below.
   StackOverflowError: Error #1023: Stack overflow.
   at mx.utils::ObjectUtil$/getClassInfo()
   …
   But Loader load SWF on loading, InternetExplorer shutdowned.

   Reply
10. 

    James Lyon

    2006-02-13

    Shigeru,
    Again, the problem is the complex class objects that are being output. Since there will be a target property which will be a class object and also the bubbling ‘effect’, ObjectUtil.toString() takes much longer than the VM is willing to wait.

    Reply
11. 

    James Lyon

    2006-02-13

    Here’s the FlexDump component:
    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
    <mx:TextArea xmlns:mx="http://www.macromedia.com/2005/mxml&quot; xmlns="*">
    <mx:Script>
    <![CDATA[
    import mx.utils.ObjectUtil;
    private var _dump:Object;
    private var _dumpString:String = ”;
    function get dump():String
    {
    return _dumpString;
    }
    public function set dump(value:Object):void
    {
    _dump = value;
    setDump(value);
    }
    private function setDump(newDump:Object):void
    {
    //trace(newDump);
    _dumpString = ObjectUtil.toString(newDump);
    //trace(_dumpString);
    this.text = _dumpString;
    }
    ]]>
    </mx:Script>
    </mx:TextArea>
    And here’s an example app:
    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
    <mx:Application xmlns:mx="http://www.macromedia.com/2005/mxml&quot; xmlns="*" layout="absolute">
    <mx:Array id="arr1" >
    <mx:Object label="{Math.random()}" />
    <mx:Object label="{Math.random()}" />
    <mx:Object label="{Math.random()}" />
    <mx:Object label="{Math.random()}" />
    <mx:Object label="{Math.random()}" />
    <mx:Object label="{Math.random()}" />
    <mx:Object label="{Math.random()}" />
    </mx:Array>
    <FlexDump width="100%" height="100%" id="dump1" dump="{arr1}" />
    </mx:Application>

    Reply
12. 

    Phillip Molaro

    2008-01-08

    AWESOME! This just saved me a ton of time! Thx Ben!

    Reply