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Re: [StrongED] Testing StrongHelp 2.90b1 (Urgent)



In message <30ef682056.pnyoung@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
          Peter Young <pnyoung@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> On 21 Mar 2017  Fred Graute <fjgraute@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> 
> > In message <mpro.on4bwl004yfpf0vz7.pittdj@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
> >           David Pitt <pittdj@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> 
> > [snip]
> 
> >> I have now seen the crash after looking at the NeXTBar 1.30 StrongHelp.
> >> 
> >> It is a bit weird, it does not immediately crash !StrongHelp, that happens
> >> later on some other entirely innocent file.
> >>
> >> Paint gives a "Bad MODE" error but !StrongHlp can render it as can !Draw. A
> >> "corrected" version of the file can be extracted from !Draw after which
> >> there are no more crashes (yet?).
> 
> > The sprite itself is actually fine. It's the data in the squash file
> > that is corrupted, there's some spurious data at the end.
> 
> > StrongHelp allocates space based on the original length that's given in
> > the squash header. Because of the extra data the allocated output buffer
> > is overrun. This corrupts the list of free blocks so next time SH needs
> > to allocate memory (eg when opening a manual) it may hit the damaged
> > part of this list and abort.
> 
> > Extracting the sprite and re-squashing it gets rid of the spurious data.
> > This stops the corruption of the list of free blocks and therefore SH no
> > longer crashes on manuals opened after the NeXTBar manual.
> 
> Thanks again, Fred. I've been having a bit of a chaotic time with the 
> NeXTBar manual on this ARMX6 not always being willing to show its 
> contents,

You mean Shift-doubleclick doesn't work? It should provided that
StrongHelp is running.

> and I wondered how I would extract the sprite when all I got trying to
> open the sprite file was the "bad mode" message.

As David Pitt pointed out: unsquash the file then drop the sprite file
in Draw and save the sprite from there. The recovered sprite can then
copied back to the manual (squashed or not).

> I looked at the copy of NeXTBar on VRPC, where I could see the
> contents, and saw that the sprite there wasn't squashed. I then
> managed to open the manual on the ARMX6, and copied over the
> unsquashed sprite. This seems to let the manual open without the
> sprite's being squashed, so I wonder if the squash is necessary.

Squashing is not at all necessary but it does make the manual smaller.

> Anyway, the problem seems now to be solved, with many thanks.

Thanks for reporting it. Taught me that dodgy squash files can bring
StrongHelp down. Oh, and I found a bug in StrongED Dump mode handling
along the way. All in all it was a useful bit of digging around.

Cheers,
Fred.

-- 
StrongED Developer
http://www.stronged.iconbar.com/

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