elementexplorer.js crashes for any input

[Yukonjess101]

I just updated to 1.7 and noticed anytime I attempt to input anything into the element explorer, the session closes:

I'm running this on:
Win 8.1 X64
Node: v0.10.33
NPM: 1.4.28

This seems to happen regardless on how I run the element explorer, either by calling the flag "protractor --elementExplorer" or by going to the npm folder and launching it via node.

Has anyone else seen this after the 1.7 update?

I'm going to roll back to 1.6.1, I know it is working normally there.

Thanks!

[juliemr]

Possibly a windows issue? Can anyone else confirm?

[subhash85]

yes i have also faced the same issue on my windows box after updating to 1.7

[gopandago]

Yes I'm getting the same issue as well. Reverted back to Ptor 1.6.1 works

[hankduan]

I have a theory on why this is failing, but I have no windows machine to test this one (it's a little hard to debug when I can't try anything =P )

Anyway, here's my theory:
Currently protractor uses repl, and breakpoints, to run commands. (https://github.com/angular/protractor/blob/master/lib/debugger/clients/explorer.js#L28). I think the target might not be resolving properly on windows.

Can anyone try to replace target: 'selenium-webdriver/executors.js', with target: '.*executors\.js', and give it a try?

[gopandago]

That works after changing target: '.*executors\.js' in explorer.js and wddebugger.js. However there's a noticeable 30 seconds to a minute delay for elementExplorer to perform something (I've tested it on sendKeys() and exiting elementExplorer). Invoking elementExplorer from Node or Protractor seems to have similar issue. Does anyone else have the same issue or is it just me?

[hankduan]

Thanks @sipanda84 I've submitted a PR here #1850 to address this. Waiting for someone to confirm the latency issue (@sipanda84, the latency isn't there when you use 1.6.1 right?)

[gopandago]

I just switched back to 1.6.1 and confirmed no latency.
Please note when I run elementExplorer on 1.6.1, I usually do webdriver-manager start first to initiate selenium server and on separate cmd prompt I do node elementexplorer.js http://xxxxx. With Ptor 1.7.1 doing node elementexplorer.js http://xxxxx seems to automatically initiate the selenium server so I didn't have to do webdriver-manager start again. Not sure if the way I did it causes the latency issue.

[hankduan]

It shouldn't, but fyi:
node elementexplorer.js http://xxxxx (before)
is equivalent to
protractor --elementExplorer --baseUrl http://xxxxx --seleniumAddress http://localhost:4444/wd/hub (now)

[thinkjones]

I noticed severe latency issues when updating, plus hangs a lot. 1.6.1 was great. Same for directConnect mode. Plus I get lots of these type errors "TypeError: Converting circular structure to JSON", with statements that previously worked.

[hankduan]

Alright, there are two issues at hand here. One is "Converting circular structure to JSON". That's when there are circular references in the response. It's an easy fix and I will address that soon.

The second (and more problematic imo) is the latency. I just spent the whole day trying to figure out what is wrong with that, and have just figured it out. See nodejs/node-v0.x-archive#9319. So, let's wait and see what joyent says about that issue.

Meanwhile, sorry about the issues. You can downgrade to 1.6.1 for now, or I believe if you just copy the element explorer shell from 1.6.1 to 1.7.0, it should work as well.

by the way: @thinkjones can you let me know what environment you are running this under? So far I think the latency issue is Windows and Ubuntu (as my Mac which I develop with suffers no such issue, and that why I haven't noticed this until now).

[thinkjones]

@hankduan Thanks for the awesomely quick response! Mac here too. Will downgrade and wait.

[hankduan]

Ok this issue is too overloaded. I'm going to break it up.

Issue 1) Cannot start element explorer on windows
Already addressed in #1850

Issue 2) "Converting circular structure to JSON"
I created a PR to address this and should be fixed soon: #1889

Issue 3) latency issue
I'm going to track it in this issue: #1890

Please comment in the corresponding issue/PR. Thanks!