Sunday 19 July 2009

Problems upgrading to Firebug 1.4.0

Problems with Firebug and Javascript Code Highlighting

UPDATE
Please read the following post for details about a resolution for this problem.
http://blog.strictly-software.com/2009/07/firebug-140-and-highlighterjs.html
You can view the original article along with the original file at the following link: http://www.strictly-software.com/highlight-problem.htm

I have recently started using a javascript include file from software maniacs called hightlight.js to highlight my code snippets that I use in my blog articles. It uses a callback function fired on page load that looks for CODE tags specified in the HTML source and then re-formats them by applying in-line styles appropriate for the code snippet. However I have just found a lot of my articles when viewed in Firefox 3 are not displaying the formatting correctly and most of the code disappears. For example if you view the code below and you can see that it shows a small JS function then that's okay. However if all you can see is closing tag } then I would ask one question. Have you just upgraded to Firebug 1.4.0 ??

function myJSfunc(var1,var2){
return (var1==100) ? var1 : var2;
}
I myself have just upgraded my laptop version of Firebug from 1.3.3 to 1.4.0 and since that update I have noticed that all my highlighting has gone haywire mainly where I am trying to output literal values such as > and <. For example the following code snippet should appear like this:

-- Look for open and close HTML tags making sure a letter or / follows < ensuring its an opening
-- HTML tag or closing HTML tag and not an unencoded < symbol
WHILE PATINDEX('%<[A-Z/]%', @CleanHTML) > 0 AND CHARINDEX('>', @CleanHTML, CHARINDEX('<', @CleanHTML)) > 0

SELECT @StartPos = PATINDEX('%<[A-Z/]%', @CleanHTML),
@EndPos = CHARINDEX('>', @CleanHTML, PATINDEX('%<[A-Z/]%', @CleanHTML)),
@Length = (@EndPos - @StartPos) + 1,
@CleanHTML = CASE WHEN @Length>0 THEN stuff(@CleanHTML, @StartPos, @Length, '') END



However when using the hightligher and viewed in Firefox 3.0 with Firebug 1.4.0 it comes out as:

) END

( another test for Firebug 1.4.0 users, can you see the colourful code below?)

-- Look for open and close HTML tags making sure a letter or / follows < ensuring its an opening
-- HTML tag or closing HTML tag and not an unencoded < symbol
WHILE PATINDEX('%<[A-Z/]%', @CleanHTML) > 0 AND CHARINDEX('>', @CleanHTML, CHARINDEX('<', @CleanHTML)) > 0

SELECT @StartPos = PATINDEX('%<[A-Z/]%', @CleanHTML),
@EndPos = CHARINDEX('>', @CleanHTML, PATINDEX('%<[A-Z/]%', @CleanHTML)),
@Length = (@EndPos - @StartPos) + 1,
@CleanHTML = CASE WHEN @Length>0 THEN stuff(@CleanHTML, @StartPos, @Length, '') END



Now I have checked the problematic code examples in other browsers such as Chrome and IE 8 as well as in Firefox 3 with Firebug 1.3.3 and it only seems to be Firefox 3 with Firebug 1.4.0 that causes the formatting problems.

I don't know why Firebug 1.4.0 is causing the problems but it seems to be the only differing factor between a working page and a broken page. Maybe there is some sort of clash with function names when both objects are loading. I have inspected the DOM using Firebug and the actual HTML has been deleted from the DOM so something is going wrong somewhere.

Anyway I thought I should let you know in case you are having similar problems or just wondering why all my code examples have gone missing. If you are experiencing the same problem but do not have Firebug 1.4.0 installed please let me know.

I am unaware of any other issues with this version of Firebug but will keep you posted.

5 comments:

Adders said...

Works fine for me with the following:
* Firefox 3.0.11 and Firebug 1.4.0 on Linux.
* Firefox 3.5.1 and Firebug 1.4.0 on Windows

Must be one of your other plugins causing problems.

Rob Reid said...

Well I have tested this by disabling Firebug 1.4.0 and then the page loads up and displays fine. Enabling the add-on causes the problem, disabling it solves the problem. Unless its a case of Firebug re-acting with another plug in.

Rob Reid said...

I notice you haven't tried it with the combo that is causing me problems which is Firefox 3.0.11 and Firebug 1.4.0 on Windows.
Can you try that and let me know the outcome.

Anonymous said...

i have the same problem. anyone has a solution ? firefox 3.0.11 and firebug 1.4

Anonymous said...

updating to firfox 3.5 doesnt solve the problem. not highlighting at any page with firefox 3.5 and firebug 1.4 on windows. i will downgrade to 1.3 if this wont get fixed. someony any idea how to fix it ?