Warning, MS Edge copy problem [Fixed]

[James Bott]

Everyone,

I have been having problems with code copied from the forum. I copied some code and saved it as a PRG. When trying to compile this code I got lots of errors on lines that looked to be coded properly.

I another thread I mentioned this and Enrico wrote that MS Edge was the problem and that IE worked fine. I just confirmed that MS Edge is the problem.

I copied the code from message in this forum from Win 10 MS Edge and the compiler shows 66 errors.

I copied the same code from Win 10 IE and it compiles without any errors.

Note that you cannot see any errors in the lines showing errors by the compiler. That is because all the errors are caused by invisible characters. I probably spent 6-8 hours in the last couple of weeks because of this.

I have been using Edge for a couple of years and didn't have this problem until recently (the last few weeks). I suspect that this is a new bug introduced by a Edge update.

I haven't yet found any mention of this issue on the Internet.

Make a note to yourself.

Thank you Enrico!

Regards,
James

[James Bott]

You will see lots of these types of errors:

Preceptron1.prg(5) Error E0016 Syntax error: ' '

The character within the quote marks is Hex A0 and is invisible. It is decimal 160. Visually, it appears to just be a space (Hex 20), but it is not.

James

[rhlawek]

I went looking and I found that there is a bug opened for this exact issue, opened on Feb 18, 2017.

https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/platform/issues/11004541/

It is marked as "Needs root cause" rather than confirmed. I wonder who they expect to provide a root cause.

Robb

[Enrico Maria Giordano]

I already reported this problem here:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=33805&p=199756&hilit=edge#p199756

EMG

[TimStone]

Hi James,

I encountered this problem many times when pasting into Ultra Edit. So first I contacted that company. Then I also posted it here, and on the Microsoft forums.

The problem is with Edge. It adds that character to every line. I've had interaction with Microsoft on it, and I can assure you they just don't care. It's like so many other fixes they need to make. The only way to get their attention ( seriously ) is through the CEO's office. Then an actual overseer is appointed who pushes engineers for solutions. I share this comment from ongoing experience.

The reason you don't see anything on the net ( although there are some notes about it ) is because if you post it on a Microsoft forum, staff ignores it. If you post it on the Feedback, it goes into the "keyword pool" and disappears. The bottom line is that it has been reported, but no one is about to spend time trying to fix it. They just don't do that at MSFT. Their focus ( as stated in Satya's memos to staff ) is "creativity" even when it fails to work.

The problem does not occur if you use Internet Explorer, so you will need to use that browser on this forum if you wish to copy code. You will then see there is no problem at all.

And so my rant is done ... as I wait for a callback from MSFT on two issues I have pending with their engineers.

Tim

[James Bott]

Tim,

Thanks for posting.

I notice that you said this in your original posting about this:

There is an embedded ASCII character 225 ( Hex E1 ) detected on every line that is pasted

Strange, since I cannot find Hex E1 anywhere in my copies using Edge. I do find Hex A0 in mine which is what is giving the problems. If I do a search and replace changing A0 to 20, then the program compiles fine. I suppose this may mean that they have changed the added character. When was the last time you checked for the E1 character?

It does seem strange that this is happening. The Windows copy routine has been in place forever, so in order to mess it up they have to create a new copy routine just for that app.

Regards,
James

Let us be thankful for the fools. But for them the rest of us could not succeed. -Mark Twain

[TimStone]

James,

A0 is a non-breaking space ( HTML ) and E1 is a small a with acute. In my case, the Microsoft compiler ( C++ ) was reporting the E1 and displaying it in the error code. However, nothing I have other than the compiler was actually seeing it.

I found it was always placed at the end of the code line.

I can't find any reference on the net as to where or why it would be used.

Tim

[Enrico Maria Giordano]

This problem has been fixed in the last W10 update.

EMG

[TimStone]

I recently moved over to an iMac and am using Safari so I haven't re-visite the issue. Thanks for the update.