Live Preview relaunch message needs better wording

[softineer]

Original Subject: Live Preview is not working - message keeps saying Chrome needs to be relaunched with remote debugging

Brackets (Release 38 Win)
OS = Windows 7 Enterprise SP1 64-bit
Chrome = Version 34.0.1847.131 m (installed with multiple users as described here - https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/2364824?hl=en)

I have never been able to get the Live Preview to work at all. I tried installing Brackets Release 37 and then uninstalled and recently installed Brackets Release 38. I created a new folder and a test html page. Clicking on the Live Preview lightning bolt button always results in the message "In order for Live Preview to connect, Chrome needs to be relaunched with remote debugging enabled. Would you like to relaunch Chrome and enable remote debugging?"
I click on the "Relaunch Chrome" button and nothing happens. Chrome does not shut down and relaunch and after a few moments the same exact message appears asking me if I want to relaunch Chrome and enable remote debugging.

I have tried all of the troubleshooting steps listed at the link below and none of these have resolved this issue.
https://github.com/adobe/brackets/wiki/Troubleshooting#livedev

Screenshot of this message as follows:

[redmunds]

Did you use File > Open Folder... to select the folder that contains your HTML file? This sets the "project" folder.

[softineer]

hi redmunds, yes, I tried File > Open Folder... and it still does not work. Just to be sure, I rebooted again, and tried File > Open Folder... again and it still does not work.

[redmunds]

You can receive that message if system/network is slow and doesn't respond in time Are you using default built-in server, or did you specify a URL Prefix to use your own server?

[softineer]

Since I'm new to trying Brackets out, I'm uncertain of the difference in configuration between using a default built-in server vs specifying a URL Prefix. I'm assuming that if I didn't do anything but the below steps, that I would be using the default built-in server, correct? If that's the case, then I'm using the default built-in server.

The only steps that I took were the following:

1. Install Brackets
2. Create a folder and a basic HTML file
3. File> Open Folder...
4. Click on Live Preview

I did not change any settings in Brackets or attempt to change the configuration.

When I click on File>Project Settings, I see that the "Live Preview Base URL" is blank. Does this mean that I'm using the default built-in server?

[peterflynn]

@softineer If you completely quit Chrome and then launch Live Preview, does that eventually cause Chrome to open? Or does Chrome remain shut down until you manually re-launch it yourself?

I'm also curious if you tried the "Check Windows Registry" step in the troubleshooting guide - and if so, what's the value of that registry key?

[softineer]

hi @peterflynn

Yes, I had originally tried all of the troubleshooting steps in the troubleshooting guide to no avail including checking the registry. I had also tried restarting Chrome and Brackets, leaving Chrome open, etc. in many different ways. If I completely shut Chrome down, and then opened Brackets and then tried to launch the Live Preview, Chrome would not automatically relaunch. Therefore, I'm so glad that you asked me to check this specific "Windows Registry" troubleshooting step once more as this was a very logical suggestion since Chrome would not launch automatically when clicking Live Preview.

Apparently, my work computer has two very similar user profiles and in my initial rush to check on this registry value, I overlooked that the path was pointing to the other user account and not to the user I was currently logged in as.

Therefore, I directly edited this path using regedit to match the current Windows user profile that I'm logged into with Brackets installed. Once I did this, I opened Brackets again and clicked on the Lightning Bolt, and to my delight, Chrome launched and Live Preview works BEAUTIFULLY! Live Preview is a great feature now that I'm getting to try it out for the very first time.

Here's a screenshot of the registry value that I changed (the blacked out part is what was wrong and what I edited to match my current user account):

Perhaps this is a rare instance where a profile is named differently? Or since it's listed in the troubleshooting steps, perhaps it's not such a rare issue? I'm just thinking out loud here... would it make sense to do the following to prevent this frustration for future users?

•check this registry path with the installation to ensure it's the same profile path that Brackets is being installed in and then ask the user if they want to change it if incorrect or install Chrome if it doesn't exist? (please excuse my lack of knowledge in this area ahead of time if this idea doesn't make sense)

Also, a question, I didn't test this yet, but what if I login to my other Windows user profile now and then try to use Live Preview? Will it then attempt to open the other profile path and no longer work on the other Windows account? What to do then for multiple users on Windows?

Thank you!

[softineer]

Also, another possible recommendation. The error message did not really match the issue. The issue here was that Chrome could not be launched because the path that Brackets uses to launch Chrome was pointing to a different Windows user profile than the one that I was logged into.

So an error message stating that "Chrome needs to be relaunched with remote debugging disabled" should be changed in this case to something describing the fact that Chrome could not launch due to the fact that it could not be found in the default launch path - with the default launch path listed out and an option to edit that path.

[njx]

@softineer Is it possible that you installed Chrome for a single user account as opposed to multiple user accounts? The symptoms you describe sound like that might have been the problem.

This bug should be left open for changing the error dialog, since as @softineer points out everything in that dialog is basically wrong at this point :) We should reword it and add a link to the Troubleshooting doc. However, if we switch to the new live dev architecture this will become obsolete (or at least the place at which we would want to pop it up and the problem we would report would be different), so we shouldn't fix the dialog yet until we know whether we're going to do that.

[njx]

(Marked medium priority for 1.0, but only if we don't transition to the new architecture, as mentioned above)