Empty Text leading online experiment not initializing

Online experiments
1

URL of experiment: https://run.pavlovia.org/RL/repro_error_emptytxt

Hi all,

I noticed an issue with the Builder to JS tranlation when running on pavlovia: when having an empty text routine, the experiment is not working on pavlovia with a similar error as in https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/experiment-stuck-initializing-the-experiment/13149=.
From the JS debug mode, it seems to be the following out of place comma poses the problem but I don’t experience using JS:

function experimentInit() {
  // Initialize components for Routine "trial"
  trialClock = new util.Clock();
  text = new visual.TextStim({
    win: psychoJS.window,
    name: 'text',
    text: /*  */
  ,
    font: 'Arial',
    units: undefined, 
    pos: [0, 0], height: 0.1,  wrapWidth: undefined, ori: 0,
    color: new util.Color('white'),  opacity: 1,
    depth: 0.0 
  });
  1. Is the experiment stuck on initializing due to this comma out of place? How to fix it?
  2. I use empty texts in my experiment to span the time occurring between trials, is there another way of doing it?
2

I have found a simple pragmatic way out: I wrote a text in grey so that it does not appear on a grey background.

3

Hey @BilNumbers, I believe the issue has been addressed in the latest version of PsychoPy? Are you on 2020.2.4 already? Here to help, thanks, s.

1 Like
4

Hi @sotiri,
thanks for answering, yes the issue occurs with the latest Psychopy 2020.2.4 Builder version.
(I have just read your answers to similar issues at PsychoPy 2020.2.3 is not uploading on Pavlovia).

5

I just noticed this issue is listed in the crib sheet of @wakecarter: https://docs.google.com/document/d/13jp0QAqQeFlYSjeZS0fDInvgaDzBXjGQNe4VNKbbNHQ/edit#

6

@JensBoelte @BilNumbers You’re absolutely right, it’s a bug! I have now raised the issue on GitHub. For now, would it be possible to follow Crib Sheet advice and set your text to ’ ’ or correct the JS in place? Many thanks, s.

7

I had the same problem and downgraded to version 2020.1.3 to fix it. Correcting the Javascript manually is very tiresome and errorprone while still developing/testing.