Bugs in the Makecode editor - updating extensions

micro:bit
1

The beta of the Makecode editor is very problematic if you are updating extensions which other extensions are dependent on.

For some fun I experimented with some assembler code. I therefore have an extension (the “main extension”) which has a ts file and some C++ in a .cpp file and also this is dependent on another extension (the “second” extension) which houses the assembly and .ts file with the appropriate shim functions.

In order to alter the second extension I seem to need to push the changes to the Github repository and then do “refresh” in the main extension and also with any project that uses these extensions.

I can’t edit the assembly from within the project - I have to go to the editor project list and edit the second extension directly and then go back and reload the project.

So, I have a project and I add the main extension to it and it correctly loads the second extension too because I have set the appropriate dependency. I then need to edit the assembler code for some reason. I load the second extension to edit it, commit it and try and reload the project. The Makecode editor sometimes hangs indefinitely. Project code therefore lost forever.

In order to get round this, I first deleted the main extension from the within the project code, went to edit the assembler, pushed the changes, updated the main extension and then went back to the project and reinstantiated the main extension (which also adds the second).

But sometimes the act of deleting the main extension from the project results in the deletion of the entire project code!

Ouchh

2

If you plan to edit various extensions locally, make sure to add import a copy of each extension; then add the local copy as a reference. Open each repository in a separate tab to edit them at the same time.
I might do a video about getting this right.
As for the bugs, do you have a precise list of steps where we can reproduce the problems?

3

A video would be very helpful, good idea. I will see if I can replicate the situation in which the project code is deleted when removing an extension. It didn’t appear to be systematic.

4

By the way, the project itself is not in Github, it’s just local. When it crashes I just start again from a local copy in a text editor on my PC, since I’m not changing the project much whilst messing about with the extensions.