xadbGUI on Mac unreliable

Targets Android
1

I’m debugging a xojo 2026 R1.2 Android project on a Sequoia Macusing the xadbGUI bridge to a connected Android device. This works, but very unreliably; the percentage bar on the xadbGUI usually gets stuck at

“Intiliazing Android Debugger”

on the Xojo IDE I do see Xojo Debugger connected to Android Debugger.

If it manages to pass that, the

“Building symbol table”

which takes a long time or simply never completes.

Only when I retry a Run for 3 or 4 times it actually launches the app and I get debugger output.

Is this behavior normal? Can anything be done to improve this? Do things get even worse when upgrading MacOS?

2

Unfortunately, my experience is similar - my success rate for getting a build running on the emulator is about 1 in 3. I’m using MacOS Tahoe and the latest Xojo. I used to have to uninstall and reinstall Android Studio about once a month, but that seems better now (I know I just jinxed myself). A much more descriptive log entry (where the failure/hang is occurring) would be very helpful.

3

Good to know it’s not just me, Kevin. Although I still hope that this issue will be addressed in a future update, I have managed to find a workable solution to debug. I fully compile the app (which always works, even if the debugger fails 3 out of 4 times) and have included a textarea that I write the messages to I would normally put in debug log. Because I often need to copy parts of that log or the full log, I run scrcpy on my Mac, so that I can copy from that view. Apart from breakpoints, that allows me to at least get some information for debugging. Maybe this method is useful to other people struggling with the same Android debugger issues.

4

Some tips:

  • Use an actual Android device connected via USB. I’ve found this is far, far more reliable than Emulators.
  • Keep Android Studio reasonably up-to-date and be sure to apply Emulator updates.
  • You can disable Android debugging with Project->Breakpoint->Ignore All. Apps will start much faster with Run, but you cannot drop into the debugger.
  • You may want to delete and recreate the Emulator VM if it starts acting badly.
5

Thanks Paul, I agree that using a physical device is much better than an emulator and essential when you want to use features like the camera. To me having a debugger that at least successfully connects all the time and not sometimes, would be useful. My workaround using a compiled version and scrcpy works, but compared to desktop or iOS debugging the current debugger stands out poorly. But having said that, I’m glad I can now at least develop for Android too.