Buggy Syntax Coloring in Zend Studio 9.0.1

[plurotech]

Seems like with every upgrade, this software is regressing into a bigger pile of crap.

zendcolors.gif (2.81 KiB) Viewed 936 times

[ganoro]

Using the same source code has not resulted in the same broken coloring issue.
Could you plea let us know the full scenario? If its better for you try contacting our support (http://www.zend.com/en/support-center/).

Thanks for sharing we will be fixing this once we find exactly the root cause of this issue.

[karakonjul]

Unfortunately it seems like this is not caused by the code that's been edited itself, but by the actions of the developer while they're editing it. As such, it's much more difficult to reproduce it reliably.

I have recorded a video of this while it happens - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYoERl_9A_g, using a trial version of Zend Studio 9.0.2

Usually it happens right after I press "Enter" to accept a code-assist option, or just using ctrl+space to insert the only proposal automatically. It can also happen after I delete/cut/paste a piece of code. In the above video, I couldn't cause the coloring to break until I added a parameter to method2. Once the corruption starts, it begins to move around while the code is edited, changing colors seemingly randomly accross the file. Cut and paste of the whole file contents doesn't fix it, somehow the corruption is preserved after the file has been emptied and then reappears after the content is pasted back again. It usually takes reopening of the file to fix the problem.

That's the code from the video:

Code: Select all

<?php

class A {

   public function method1(){
      $this->method2($param);
   }

   public function method2($param){
      echo $param;
   }

}


[sylvie6713]

Hm ... I also could not reproduce this (even after watching the video).
What is your OS? Anything specific that you set in preferences?

[karakonjul]

Sorry for not being around for so long...

OS is Windows 7 32bit with Java 7, and btw the same thing keeps happening with PDT 3.0.2 as well. I thought AnyEdit might be interfering (by removing trailing spaces and converting leading spaces to tabs, etc.), but it kept happening even after AnyEdit was removed from Eclipse. I haven't installed anything else to the package downloaded from Zend.

The issue seems to be progressing in the course of working on a project. One time the syntax coloring breaks consistently, even after reopening the file - doing the same simple modifications (adding a phpdoc comment by typing /** and pressing enter) triggered the bug every time. Removing and recreating the project (including deletion of the project files from the source folder - .settings, .buildpath, .project) didn't do anything. Starting with a brand new workspace seemed to fix it - maybe it has to do with my preferences, as you suggested. I change a lot of stuff though, so I'm not sure where to start looking... Right now I'm on vanilla PDT 3.0.2, I'll try to change only one setting every morning and then spend the day working as normal until it breaks again.

[sylvie6713]

OK let me know when you find something more specific because otherwise it is a bit of shooting in the dark ... noone have reported such problems for a long time.

Thanks

[zend-pit]

Unfortunatelly, I can't contribute to find a possibility to reproduce the bug. But I wanted to tell you that this happens quiet often.
In our company we have 6 installations up and running every day. We started using Zend Studio 7 at August 2011. Only one of our developer had this issue. I have to mention that all of us had windows xp(x86) at that time. We were unable to reproduce it on other installations and so tried to live with it. We bought Zend Studio 8 on Oktober 2011 and got Zend Studio 9 for free short time later. The problem persisted and even a second developer got those wired syntax highlighting. But not always, just sometimes in some files randomly. In March 2012 we upgraded to Window 7 (x64). Starting from scratch solved the issue for a month or so. Over the last few months now 3 of our 6 developers are working without syntax highlighting (Zend Studio 9.0.4).

Even I really love Zend Studio (syntax highlighting works for me) our next budget rounds are upcoming and it seems that I have to recommend that it's not going to Zend Technologies due to this issue.

My point is, you may want to spend more time for trying reproducing it, since this is a basic feature which has to work reliably. This is not an issue a few customers have, but a lot of people out there. Only a minimum percentage is writing in a forum or calling the support for that issue. Just imagine how many are using the trial version and simply not bying this great product because they think "Ouch, it seems this IDE can't handle syntax highlighting correctly".

If I can help in any way, let me know. May you want the whole settings/workspace of one of our "infected" developers.

[sylvie6713]

Hi
I guess settings would be a good start. Thanks in advance.
Sylvia