VBA Rubberducking

Mat's Mug

13:14

@RubberDuck I don't understand how you can debug and hit breakpoints without registering the build...

RubberDuck

It's an old one that I'm getting. The *.tlb is missing and I don't understand why.

Mat's Mug

@RubberDuck Only when there's a UserForm in the VBProject that's loaded in the VBE when you load right?

RubberDuck

I don't know. I'd have to go back and doublecheck.

Mat's Mug

@RubberDuck the COM registration creates the .tlb

RubberDuck

That's the odd thing. COM registration was turned off in the version I pulled.

When I turn it on, that's when I get the reflection error.

Mat's Mug

13:16

Also 1.2x I've never got F5-debug to work...

RubberDuck

I'm considering building the solution itself from scratch.

Mat's Mug

The reflection error is hiding an access violation exception

From accessing the codemodule of a userform

IDK why

Bbl

FreeMan

morning, all!

Looks like you had a fun weekend. :)

RubberDuck

Ugh. Yeah. If you want to call it that...

Mat's Mug

For some values of "fun" ;)

2

RubberDuck

13:28

in The 2nd Monitor, Apr 2 at 18:54, by RubberDuck

Mar 23 at 15:26, by RubberDuck

I have a sick sense of what is fun.

Mat's Mug

Lol

RubberDuck

Seriously though, releasing is never fun.

Mat's Mug

And there I was thinking it would be a breeze

Did you get the rename fix back in?

RubberDuck

I just pulled whatever was in the repo. I saw you made some changes after I went to bed.

Then this

3 hours ago, by RubberDuck

@Mat'sMug I'm out of time here, but if with the "register for com interop" button on the "Build" property page unchecked, it runs for me, but (obviously) doesn't register the newest version of the assembly.

Mat's Mug

13:45

@RubberDuck unchecked doesn't run on 64-bit Office

RubberDuck

Something's borked, and I can't think about it right now.

Mat's Mug

mind you checked doesn't run on 64-bit Office without the pre & post -build events

..which run regasm.exe to register the build

well that was fun

0

A: On error Scope VBA

You're this close to figuring it out on your own - answering here for posterity. Paste this code in ThisWorkbook (assuming Excel VBA), and call TestResumeNext from the immediate pane: Public Sub TestResumeNext() On Error Resume Next Boom MsgBox "Stack " & Err.Description End Sub Pr...

FreeMan

@Mat'sMug well played, Mug, well played!

Mat's Mug

14:01

:)

downloaded 1.3 pre-release onto my work laptop

#FindingBugs

#396 should be a fun one

#397 shows I released too early - we had a discussion specifically about this

FreeMan

14:20

having learned to not yet trust the variable not used/assignedidentification, is it otherwise safe/recommended to give 1.3 a go?

Mat's Mug

see #396

other than that, it seems to work perfectly well

1.31 (or rather, 1.3.01?) will definitely address that one

I need to upload screenshots for #398

FreeMan

@Mat'sMug That's what I was referring to. Plus previous experience... :)

Mat's Mug

#398 should be an easy fix

@FreeMan the identifier usage from 1.2x was completely rewritten. from scratch. 1.3 is a completely different thing from a parser perspective.

FreeMan

Ah. Well, based on previous experience, I'd have carefully checked for variable non-uasge before deleting anyway... ;)

Mat's Mug

always a good idea

remember:

> This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

FreeMan

14:32

ugh, programmers who sound like lawyers!??1?!?!

Mat's Mug

it's part of the license agreement you're agreeing to when you install RD ;)

FreeMan

wh.. wha... what??? We're supposed to read that stuff????

Mat's Mug

lol

RubberDuck

@FreeMan No. If you read it, then you'd know you were selling us your soul and then you wouldn't do it.

2

Mat's Mug

14:48

@RubberDuck #FunFacts: we're hitting 1K commits when SourceControl merges into Master

right?

or shortly after

FreeMan

@RubberDuck oh...

RubberDuck

Maybe before at this rate.

Mat's Mug

15:13

1.3 has 14 downloads as of now. Let's fix the navigation, renaming and reference-eating-For-loop before we ship 1.3.01

Well and ideally that access violation too

Although it only seems to occur with the current master build

RubberDuck

We've gotta find that Mat. I can't even run 1.3 in dev mode right now.

That ^^

Mat's Mug

Do you have a book with userforms?

My build doesn't throw until there's a userform in the project

RubberDuck

Yeah, but I'm also having trouble in books without them.

Mat's Mug

I'm curious about how Access behaves

FreeMan

@Mat'sMug I've downloaded, but not yet installed, so count 13.5... ;)

Mat's Mug

15:19

@RubberDuck oh we will. 24 hours ago my whole VBE was crashing Excel, without RD even being installed.

FreeMan

@Mat'sMug I'm using it in Access, but again, on 1.22. Want me to install 1.3 for testing?

Mat's Mug

@FreeMan cool. can you confirm 1.3 installer prompts for a manual uninstall of 1.22?

FreeMan

This?

I'd say yes.

Mat's Mug

ok

FreeMan

BTW - still getting the Symantic nag, but I'm sure you knew that...

Mat's Mug

15:24

that's the upgrade path #Fail. my bad

yeah

we'll stabilize 1.3.x before resubmitting.

FreeMan

Any way to customize that message at least a bit so it indicates that it's RubberDuck that needs to be uninstalled?

Mat's Mug

probably

RubberDuck

> If you installed the pre-release, you will need to un-install it prior to installing this release. No need if you're upgrading from 1.2x.

hopefully

FreeMan

ooh... c:\Program Files\RubberDuck - the extra layer of RubberDuckiness has been removed! Good so far! :)

Mat's Mug

yes, that's why I thought a manual removal was warranted.

RubberDuck

15:28

@FreeMan but doesn't everyone want an extra layer of rubberduckiness? =)

Mat's Mug

lol

FreeMan

hrm...

See the end of this message for details on invoking
just-in-time (JIT) debugging instead of this dialog box.

************** Exception Text **************
System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
   at Rubberduck.Parsing.Symbols.IdentifierReferenceListener.GetClosestScope(IEnumerable`1 declarations, ParserRuleContext context)
   at Rubberduck.Parsing.Symbols.IdentifierReferenceListener.FindProcedureDeclaration(String procedureName, ParserRuleContext context)

Mat's Mug

you gotta be shitting me

FreeMan

attempting to run CodeExplorer crashes Access.

hang on, don't get antsy yet...

crap. get antsy...

My machine does some weird stuff with things in the Downloads directory, so I thought it was that...

uninstalled, moved the installer to the desktop, reinstalled, same (looking) error:

See the end of this message for details on invoking
just-in-time (JIT) debugging instead of this dialog box.

************** Exception Text **************
System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
   at Rubberduck.Parsing.Symbols.IdentifierReferenceListener.GetClosestScope(IEnumerable`1 declarations, ParserRuleContext context)
   at Rubberduck.Parsing.Symbols.IdentifierReferenceListener.FindProcedureDeclaration(String procedureName, ParserRuleContext context)

It did a scan when Access launched, looking for a .TLB file, then all was good until I opened the VBE

Anything you want me to check on, or should I go back to 1.22?

Mat's Mug

github.com/retailcoder/Rubberduck/blob/master/…

FreeMan

15:36

well, my code is compilable...

Mat's Mug

I sure hope so! lol I meant, the exception is thrown in that crap code

FreeMan

that was the easiest thing for me to read... :)

References shows RD as missing...

:(

Mat's Mug

I really fucked up

FreeMan

D'oh!

Mat's Mug

you need to dereference it and re-add the reference

FreeMan

15:38

doing so fixed the compiler error saying it wasn't referenced. Attempting to run CodeExplorer crashed Access again.

Mat's Mug

same stack trace huh?

FreeMan

I get a free Compact and Repair out of the deal, though... :D

@Mat'sMug nope, none at all.

Mat's Mug

interesting

FreeMan

just goes bye-bye

Mat's Mug

I was about to say I've narrowed it down to this

@FreeMan that sounds awfully like the access violation exception we're getting in dev

RubberDuck

15:40

@Mat'sMug You can't. That's what I was trying to tell you this morning.

It's Missing

Mat's Mug

the tlb is gone??

RubberDuck

5 hours ago, by RubberDuck

Mat's Mug

oh wow

FreeMan

@Mat'sMug sounds like you're getting it in beta, too. :(

RubberDuck

I'm pulling the pre-release.

Mat's Mug

15:41

add -> test module does sweet nothing.

4 mins ago, by Mat's Mug

I really fucked up

11 secs ago, by Mat's Mug

4 mins ago, by Mat's Mug

I really fucked up

FreeMan

@Mat'sMug I have a c:\Program files\RubberDuck\Rubberduck.tlb if that helps...

Mat's Mug

@RubberDuck pulling as in removing it right?

@FreeMan and you can't add that reference?

FreeMan

the ..\rubberduck\rubberduck\rubberduck.tlb seems to be gone now...

Mat's Mug

it seems to be looking for \rubberduck\rubberduck\rubberduck\rubberduck.tlb

RubberDuck

Yeah. I'm backing up the release notes and installer and deleting the release.

FreeMan

15:44

after the compact & repair, as soon as I clicked back on the Access window, it was scanning looking for something.tlb

Fire up the VBE and get an unhandled exception:

See the end of this message for details on invoking
just-in-time (JIT) debugging instead of this dialog box.

************** Exception Text **************
System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
   at Rubberduck.Parsing.Symbols.IdentifierReferenceListener.GetClosestScope(IEnumerable`1 declarations, ParserRuleContext context)
   at Rubberduck.Parsing.Symbols.IdentifierReferenceListener.FindProcedureDeclaration(String procedureName, ParserRuleContext context)

Mat's Mug

adding the .tlb manually from the install folder works

FreeMan

I have the missing reference to RD. I can successfully uncheck it & recheck it.

Mat's Mug

I got my 1.3 test explorer working

FreeMan

test explorer comes up ok

Mat's Mug

We're removing the 1.3 pre-release. I pushed "release early, release often" too far this time. Recommend uninstall+rollback to 1.22.. sorry!

Tweeted by rubberduckvba on April 20, 2015 at 3:48 PM

RubberDuck

15:48

Demoted it to a draft

FreeMan

anything else you want me to test before I do so?

Mat's Mug

nah, that build is borked. apologies.

FreeMan

no problem! You ain't the first, won't be the last...

just for giggles, installing 1.22 in \program files\rubberduck leaving out an extra layer of rubberyness... Maybe the 1.3-rerelease will install cleanly without a manual uninstall?

skiwi

@Mat'sMug You crashed something?

RubberDuck

@FreeMan I would like it to.

FreeMan

15:56

13 mins ago, by Mat's Mug

11 secs ago, by Mat's Mug

4 mins ago, by Mat's Mug

I really fucked up

skiwi

Sounds like there's stuff to do ;)

Mat's Mug

And your indentation is bleh — Mat's Mug 8 secs ago

Stack Exchange

We're removing the 1.3 pre-release. I pushed "release early, release often" too far this time. Recommend uninstall+rollback to 1.22.. sorry!

Tweeted by rubberduckvba on April 20, 2015 at 3:48 PM

Hosch250

More problems?

Mat's Mug

yeah. the .tlb goes missing, so 1.3 pre-release actually breaks unit testing.

Hosch250

16:10

I had that yesterday.

I had to rebuild the solution.

Mat's Mug

I mean missing, from a VBA project that was already referencing it from 1.22 - it's looking for it under \rubberduck\rubberduck\rubberduck\rubberduck.tlb

@RubberDuck you sure we can fix that?

Hosch250

Hmm.

Looks like too much \rubberduck isn't a good thing.

Mat's Mug

yeah. I figured we ought to fix that, even if it meant breaking an upgrade path. then future releases would go fine

RubberDuck

Ahhh. Okay. It shouldn't be looking that deep though.

But this was dev mode too... It should look in the bin for that.

And yes, the installer should be taking care of that.

Mat's Mug

I read that as "and yes, the installer should be taking care of that."

FreeMan

16:41

mmmm.... love it when the power drops.

and there's no UPS.

Mat's Mug

lol

that's why I love having a laptop

everybody else just goes "aw CRAP!" while I can cleanly shut down.

FreeMan

yeah, I've got a laptop & desktop at my desk. May have to look at the laptop's performance. If decent, I'll plug the two big monitors into it. If not, save early, save often!

FreeMan

17:02

Yeesh, desktop Win Experience Assement CPU 7.4, RAM 7.5. Laptop: CPU 6.6, RAM 5.5

don't even have to look at the CPU to know that's a noticeable difference...

Our IT guy is getting a quote on a UPS...

Mat's Mug

17:31

Woah, 1.22 is at 95 downloads

Stack Exchange

Is anyone using the fiendish Def[Type] statements in #VBA? We have an inspection+QuickFix coming up for that one, just in case.

Tweeted by rubberduckvba on April 20, 2015 at 5:35 PM

Mat's Mug

^^ 97th tweet

FreeMan

@StackExchange having just discovered that bit of nastiness, I'd say burninate from orbit, just to be sure!

3

Feeds

18:27

RubberDuck has made a change to the feeds posted into this room

RubberDuck

Incoming

Stack Exchange

The Codeless Code: Case 184: Life

posted on March 22, 2015

Jinyu, the Abbess Over All Clans And Concerns, was inspecting the doings of her temple when she happened upon one of the new mobile-application developers, toiling away at his desk. She peered over the monk’s shoulder to see what he was working on, but his screen showed only tiny black squares pulsating on a white field. Jinyu rapped the monk’s head lightly with her cane. “Explain,” sai…

The Codeless Code: Case 185: Social Media Comment Compression

posted on April 01, 2015

Social media is consuming resources at an alarming rate. Every day, users post roughly 40 million tweets and 3.5 billion Facebook messages alone 1 . . . In addition to which, we have Google Plus, Kinja, Reddit, LiveJournal2, and so on . . . Fortunately, semantic analysis of the traffic reveals a staggering amount of duplication. So to reduce bandwidth consumption, storage space, and work hou…

The Codeless Code: Case 186: Nothing, Forever

posted on April 07, 2015

One cold Spring morning, the nun Yíwen encountered a certain monk standing in the middle of a bridge, his face stained with tears as he gazed into the abyss below. “What ails you, brother?” asked Yíwen, fearing for the young man’s well-being. “The futility of existence!” sobbed the monk. “What is the point of our labors, when their fruits spoil so quickly? Nothing is forever, least of all …

The Codeless Code: Case 187: Exit Interview

posted on April 12, 2015

Java master Bawan was interviewing an applicant for the Elephant's Footprint Clan. After the usual preliminary questions had been asked (about abstract classes, and how to make numbers fizz or buzz), Bawan drew a simple database schema on the whiteboard and asked the applicant to define some POJOs suitably annotated for Hibernate. “I don’t know what you mean,” said the applicant. “Doma…

The Codeless Code: Case 188: Tough Love

posted on April 18, 2015

A young monk asked master Kaimu, “Other than technical proficiency, what is one essential quality for a master to have at all times?” Kaimu answered “Kindness.” The monk asked, “When Banzen corrected me with his staff, who was he being kind to? “ Kaimu answered “Your future self.” The monk asked, “When Suku denied me a leadership post, who was she being kind to?” Kaimu answered…

Mat's Mug

what's that feed?

RubberDuck

thecodelesscode.com

Mat's Mug

> What's more, he was a Python developer.

awesome!

RubberDuck

18:39

Accountability

> Banzen gave the nun a slight nod, which pleased her. Yet he also held up his index finger. “That the words are hollow does not make them false. Threads are as the fabled Tsurugi of Infinite Sharpness, whose blade can slice an enemy in two while it is still a foot from his body, yet which severs one finger of the wielder every time it is drawn from its scabbard.”

The nun asked: “How will I know when I have learned enough to use threads wisely?”

Banzen replied: “When you no longer wish to use them.”

thecodelesscode.com/case/121

Mat's Mug

> Hwídah was banished for two months to the dungeons below the Temple’s deepest archives, where alone she would inspect mouldering printouts of old COBOL scripts for possible defects.

lol!

@rubberduckvba Sharp VBA? What abomination is this?!

Tweeted by shog9 on April 20, 2015 at 6:39 PM in reply to rubberduckvba

@RubberDuck I think "Sharp VBA" was meant for #Rubberduck, not for Def[Type] ....

RubberDuck

@Mat'sMug lol. Oh. Well... whatever. Def[Type] fit the description.

> The priestess Suku was reviewing the software of her novices when she found a module whose variable names displeased her immensely. Value Objects were called vo or simply obj, regardless of type. Lists were named list1, list2, etc. The respective Iterators were called i, j, and (for no fathomable reason) x.

> The priestess strode into the temple kitchens where the novices were preparing the evening meal. She unhooked an immense rice paddle from its peg, found the offending developer, and let vent her displeasure on the boy’s backside.

“What have I done?!” yelped the novice as the paddle landed with a meaty smack for the tenth time.

> “Invective!” answered the priestess. “Verb your expletive nouns!”

This scene was repeated each night until the novice was enlightened.

Mat's Mug

@shog9 @Rubberduck203 We don't claim to be half as awesome as @resharper... but #Rubberduck can help with lots of #VBA on #StackOverflow!

Tweeted by rubberduckvba on April 20, 2015 at 6:48 PM in reply to shog9

and there. took 98 tweets, but JetBrains ReSharper ended up being mentioned.

Stack Exchange

18:55

@shog9 @Rubberduck203 We don't claim to be half as awesome as @resharper... but #Rubberduck can help with lots of #VBA on #StackOverflow!

Tweeted by rubberduckvba on April 20, 2015 at 6:48 PM in reply to shog9

RubberDuck

> A novice asked the great master: “What is the Way?”

The master replied, “Writing code is the Way.”

The novice then asked, “What is not the Way?”

The master replied, “Writing code is not the Way.”

The novice said, “Then the writing of code is all things.”

The master replied, “And the not-writing of code also.”

The novice asked, “At the present moment, are we writing code, or not writing code?”

The master replied, “We are the code.”

Mat's Mug

> headsplode

RubberDuck

Writing code is the way.
Writing code is not the way.

Both so very true.

Mat's Mug

especially with Excel-VBA

RubberDuck

The principle of appropriate action at work.

Mat's Mug

19:06

..."Sharp VBA" could also be interpreted as #VBA

RubberDuck

Shog's a programmer, he should know better than to be so ambiguous.

FreeMan

could be interpreted as VBA#

RubberDuck

@FreeMan I write VB# all the time!

Mat's Mug

damn

FreeMan

don't cut yourself

Mat's Mug

19:07

I have no idea what he meant

skiwi

19:20

> In a perfect McScrum world you don’t need acceptance test phases since each Scrum team releases a new production-ready version of your system after each sprint.

Famous last words

Mat's Mug

19:33

in The 2nd Monitor, 18 mins ago, by RubberDuck

> In essence, Mu.

@RubberDuck why don't I get the reference?

RubberDuck

@Mat'sMug Mu == Un-ask the question.

It's a zen thing.

Mat's Mug

oh

RubberDuck

Yeah. It's just a way of saying, "You're asking the wrong question."

Kind of

Zen Buddhism is... well, it is what it is and not what its not.

2

Mat's Mug

20:01

> 96 downloads

@Ticker was going to recommend RD1.3, ...but no.

RubberDuck

20:46

@Mat'sMug this one should remind you of something. thecodelesscode.com/case/63

Mat's Mug

21:01

sounds like a regex-based parser...

@RubberDuck you have 1.22 installed & handy?

RubberDuck

@Mat'sMug Yeah. What's up?

Mat's Mug

I think I've found the stupidest bug

I have a .xlsx workbook opened

(non macro-enabled)

************** Exception Text **************
System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0x80070006): System Error &H80070006 (-2147024890).
   at Microsoft.Vbe.Interop._VBComponent.get_Name()
   at Rubberduck.UI.CodeExplorer.CodeExplorerDockablePresenter.<CreateModuleNodesAsync>d__34.MoveNext() in c:\Users\Mathieu\Source\Repos\Rubberduck\RetailCoder.VBE\UI\CodeExplorer\CodeExplorerDockablePresenter.cs:line 315
--- End of stack trace from previous location where exception was thrown ---
   at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.ThrowForNonSuccess(Task task)

and boom

does it blow up in 1.22 as well?

(I haven't uninstalled 1.3 from my work laptop)

RubberDuck

I just opened an xlsx and parsed it. No boom.

Mat's Mug

ok

hmm another, blank workbook just works here too

whiskey tango foxtrot

1.3 is just unstable

I so messed it up

RubberDuck

Nothing broken that can't be fixed.

Mat's Mug

21:09

well the good news is that FindAllRefs does match usages in a With block

Public Sub DoSomething()
    Dim obj As New Class1
    With obj
        .Boo = 42
        .Foo = .Boo
    End With
End Sub

^^ in ThisWorkbook

^^ in Class1

I need to test this with an identical Class2 in the project

as I thought

it assigns the usage to whichever it feels like - here the Class2.Foo getter - although it's the Class1.Foo setter that's used.

With blocks are a PITA.

and I need a Declaration ResolveDeclaration(IdentifierReference) method. badly.

@RubberDuck I just responded here: github.com/retailcoder/Rubberduck/issues/384

I narrowed down what's breaking the parser in my StringFormat method:

NumberFormatSpecifiers:
                If precisionString <> vbNullString And Not IsNumeric(precisionString) Then _
                    Err.Raise ERR_FORMAT_EXCEPTION, _
                        ERR_SOURCE, ERR_MSG_INVALID_FORMAT_STRING

this line

actually, the label NumberFormatSpecifiers: is

I'm not shipping 1.3 with the current grammar, I want that fixed.

> @ckuhn203 Could you please point me towards some articles describing why they should be avoided? I haven't heard of such a thing before.

^^ didn't see that one coming eh? (I bet you did)

Rossco

21:57

58

A: "Register for COM Interop" vs "Make assembly COM visible"

"Make assembly COM visible" is a big hammer to make all public types in the assembly [ComVisible]. Rarely desirable, you will want to select the specific types that you want to be visible, like you did in your snippet. After the assembly is built, it needs to be registered so that it becomes us...

You probably aren't going to use a build server but it can be a pain to register all the public types. Perhaps using the installer to add the reg keys manually is a good option.

Although it really seems that the majority of the registration needs to happen with the unit testing code.

Actually the answer you guys all want is here: stackoverflow.com/a/15700070/2301065

Mat's Mug

22:21

in other words, let's just put ComVisible(something) atop every single frakkin class in the project, and be done with it

well

I mean assembly-level com-visible craps out the COM API, but then we're sure that all the types that need to be registered are registered.

assembly-level non-visible makes a cleaner COM API, but then it borks because we're probably missing some ComVisible(true) attributes somewhere

by having a ComVisibleAttribute on all types, we solve the problem once and for all - and the assembly-level setting doesn't matter anymore.

right?

@Rossco any thoughts on With blocks?

feel free to chime in: github.com/retailcoder/Rubberduck/issues/384

TTQW

later!

RubberDuck

Don't. No. That's a terrible idea. Please don't leave the Assembly ComVisibility turned on. That's not going to solve anything.

Mat's Mug

@RubberDuck I would fearlessly agree with you if turning it off didn't break the x64 build

But since it does, I'll just agree

We must be missing an attribute ...somewhere

RubberDuck

22:47

github.com/retailcoder/Rubberduck/issues/…

I know. I know. What we really need to figure out is why it's breaking it and I think you're right. We're missing a ComVisible(true) somewhere.

But why would it only manifest in prod?

Mat's Mug

23:17

@RubberDuck Because dev machines have the types registered?

Also, I've been struggling with registering my debug build for the last 238 builds

I don't remember F5-debugging successfully since I installed 64-bit office.

Rossco

23:54

@Mat'sMug @RubberDuck So you can control the default registering of public classes by specifying the assembly-wide comvisibility attribute. IMO I reckon that specifying it to be COM invisible (;-)) by default is a better option and then only specify the classes to be made visible explicitly. It will push all of your problems with registration to the forefront.

You also only need to specify CLSID/GUIDs on those classes. Alternatively, you can probably change a lot of classes to be internal (which I think you should do anyway).

If you completely disagree and would rather do it the inverse way, I understand.

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