Please Stop Posting Your Entire: Program, Module, Composer File ...

Getting Started Newbie Questions
#1

Dear new folks.  I’ve noticed recently that a lot of you are asking for help and this is good.

Unfortunately, some of you (not naming anyone here) are not doing it in a way that will get you help.

To keep this short, you can get better help from the staff (and we who help for free) if you do this:

DO NOT post your whole program, module, composer file, etc.  Do one of these three things instead:

GOOD

  1. Identify the part of your code that is malfunctioning and post it in a nicely formatted code block.

BETTER

  1.  Start a new project and re-write just the section that is giving you problems.  Then post this tight example to the forums instead.  
  • Avoid referencing files we obviously don’t have like graphics and sound files, or if that is core to the problem try #3 below.
  • KISS - None of us has time to dig through long and complex code to solve what is usually a simple problem.

BEST (if you can)

  1. Zip up (see ZIP note below) the standalone project from #2 and put it on a git, drop box, or something and share a link in your question.  Then, we can more easily help by actually running and examining your code.

formatyourcode.jpg

Zip Note - ZIP or RAR?

If you are a RAR user, please compress your code as a ZIP file.  The tool can do it, and ZIP is a more common format. This way, everyone (RAR or ZIP user) can decompress the file.

Bonus Section

If you really want to learn how to get the most and the best help, go here and read my longer post on asking questions: https://forums.coronalabs.com/topic/55780-ask-a-better-question-get-a-better-answer/

#2

Hi all,

I will echo this statement from the Corona staff’s perspective. In particular, it’s best if you do not post an entire Composer scene’s code into a forum post. While Composer scenes typically revolve around “many moving parts,” it’s best if you attempt to identify a more precise area or a specific behavior and thoroughly describe it. If we (staff or community) are presented with 150 lines of scene code, and the description of the issue is something like “My scene objects are not appearing!”, it’s difficult to dig through all 150 lines and attempt to determine why that is happening. Essentially, as @roaminggamer suggests, you should try to isolate your code down to a more simple sub-set.

Just to be clear, we are definitely here to help you and we want to solve issues in a timely fashion, but the more “help” you give us, the faster and easier the process is.

Best regards,

Brent

#3

If I can just add my 2 cents.

If you are getting an error message, please post it exactly as it appears in the terminal, along with your code!

I’ve seen on more than one occasion where someone posts:

“this code is giving me a runtime error”

*300 lines of code*

The end

…what is the error exactly? Even if it seems like useless info to you and doesn’t point to a particular line or variable, someone more experienced may spot the error straight away based on the error message.

Similarly, if the error message says something like “runtime error on main.lua: 984” - we need to know which line of the code you post here corresponds to line 984 in main.lua.

#4

Hi all,

I will echo this statement from the Corona staff’s perspective. In particular, it’s best if you do not post an entire Composer scene’s code into a forum post. While Composer scenes typically revolve around “many moving parts,” it’s best if you attempt to identify a more precise area or a specific behavior and thoroughly describe it. If we (staff or community) are presented with 150 lines of scene code, and the description of the issue is something like “My scene objects are not appearing!”, it’s difficult to dig through all 150 lines and attempt to determine why that is happening. Essentially, as @roaminggamer suggests, you should try to isolate your code down to a more simple sub-set.

Just to be clear, we are definitely here to help you and we want to solve issues in a timely fashion, but the more “help” you give us, the faster and easier the process is.

Best regards,

Brent

#5

If I can just add my 2 cents.

If you are getting an error message, please post it exactly as it appears in the terminal, along with your code!

I’ve seen on more than one occasion where someone posts:

“this code is giving me a runtime error”

*300 lines of code*

The end

…what is the error exactly? Even if it seems like useless info to you and doesn’t point to a particular line or variable, someone more experienced may spot the error straight away based on the error message.

Similarly, if the error message says something like “runtime error on main.lua: 984” - we need to know which line of the code you post here corresponds to line 984 in main.lua.