Dumping Flex Objects

Xray and LuminicBox are 2 excellent tools for examining objects.

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

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?

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

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

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.

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>

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"; }

Here's the FlexDump component: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <mx:TextArea xmlns:mx="http://www.macromedia.com/2005/mxml" 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" 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>

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.

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" 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.

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