HEADS UP: Server.downloadFile() issue on macOS Sequoia - and a solution

[aaronventure]

@d-healey Ah I see your point. Also I figured if you're making a channel strip plugin or something and a user just happens to have 100 instances in a project, it could get interesting on load.

I did some more digging. On macOS, it appears that

/usr/sbin/scutil -r $? 

will check your internet connection without sending any packets. It returns "Reachable" or "Not Reachable".

If you call

/usr/sbin/scutil -r -W $? 

the task will run until terminated and will respond with Reachable or Not Reachable whenever the network status changes (I just tested it), which is pretty much like a broadcaster.

@Christoph-Hart you can implement this instead of having to clean room that module. I'm sure Windows has a similar mechanism.

[d.healey]

@aaronventure said in HEADS UP: Server.downloadFile() issue on macOS Sequoia - and a solution:

I did some more digging. On macOS, it appears that

Oh that's nice and simple.

I bet ChatGPT knows the magic spell for Windows too, I'll ask it tomorrow if you don't get there first :)

[aaronventure]

@d-healey said in HEADS UP: Server.downloadFile() issue on macOS Sequoia - and a solution:

I bet ChatGPT knows the magic spell for Windows too, I'll ask it tomorrow if you don't get there first :)

Hah, sure, but I'm too lazy to go test it right now.

So here's the reply :

One-shot check (returns Boolean, no packets sent)

$nlm = [Activator]::CreateInstance([type]'Microsoft.Windows.NetworkList.NetworkListManager')
$nlm.IsConnectedToInternet   # $true = online, $false = offline

Continuous monitoring (no polling)

$nlm  = [Activator]::CreateInstance([type]'Microsoft.Windows.NetworkList.NetworkListManager')

Register-ObjectEvent -InputObject $nlm `
                     -EventName   'ConnectivityChanged' `
                     -SourceIdentifier NLM `
                     -Action { 
                         if ($Event.SourceEventArgs.IsConnectedToInternet) {
                             Write-Host 'online'
                         } else {
                             Write-Host 'offline'
                         }
                     }

# keep the session alive
while ($true) { Start-Sleep -Seconds 3600 }

HISE-native integration of this might be better than manually launching Background Task as then it can just start a process and every instance of the plugin can read from the process instead of having every plugin instance start its own monitoring process through BackgroundTask (as I don't think BackgroundTask can connect to an existing one?)

[tomekslesicki]

@Christoph-Hart is this a part of the latest develop branch commint?

[tomekslesicki]

Ok, a quick update on the subject - the XCode transport solution only works for some users. For others, the download callback returns this.data.finished = true && this.data.sucess = false even before anything can be downloaded. This is happening both on Windows now, and macOS, for about 0.5-1% of users, for everyone else things are working fine.

Here's a very simplified overview of my download logic:

At the beginning of the scrip, I call:

Server.setBaseURL("https://");

which is used for POST calls, and then this download callback, with the url aprt being the rest of the url, after the https part.

inline function startDownload()
{
	// Download samples and content
	for (i = 0; i < plugincontent.length; i++)
	{
		local files = workingFolder.getChildFile(plugincontent[i]);
		downloads[i] = Server.downloadFile(url + plugincontent[i], p, files, downloadCallback);
	}	

	// There's just one zip file and it's always the first in the plugincontent array
	zips[0] = workingFolder.getChildFile(plugincontent[0].replace(subfoldernamefull).replace(subfoldernamedemo));
	
	// Show update progress panel
}


function downloadCallback(obj)
{
	if (this.data.finished != true)
	{
		// Show and update download progress
	}

	// Connection lost
	if (this.data.finished && this.data.success == false)
	{
		// Show error message
	}

	if (this.data.finished && this.data.success == true)
	{
		// Update downloaded files count and extract zips
	}
}

As said, this works 100% for POST calls for all users. The problem is for 1% of users with the download callback. I remember having a similar issue with GET when I started this project.

Save me, please!

[tomekslesicki]

The p part is the authorization that’s getting passed to the server. I was having an issue using that with GET - again, very inconsistent and on some systems only, and I can’t reproduce it on any fo the 3 macs I have around - as though the parameter was not being passed to the server properly. So maybe it’s about that, but then I have no clue on how to troubleshoot this further.

[d.healey]

@tomekslesicki Nothing in particular stands out to me. Here's my downloader if you want to compare.

[tomekslesicki]

Is there any way to print the final url with the parameter part? The docs https://docs.hise.dev/scripting/scripting-api/server/index.html#callwithget say that "The parameters have to be a non-nested JSON object and will automatically change the URL to embed these parameters". What does the final url look like after the change?

[d.healey]

@tomekslesicki said in HEADS UP: Server.downloadFile() issue on macOS Sequoia - and a solution:

The issue was only present on macOS Sequoia,

Have the three customers tested other versions of MacOS?

[tomekslesicki]

@d-healey of course not ;-) But I also have one guy on Windows experiencing this now.

[d.healey]

@tomekslesicki said in HEADS UP: Server.downloadFile() issue on macOS Sequoia - and a solution:

of course not ;-) But I also have one guy on Windows experiencing this now.

What is the common link between all the people who have the issue?

[tomekslesicki]

@d-healey none, but I suspect the problem is with the parameter part of the url called by HISE. The reason I suspect this is that the POST calls are made to a different server, and they work fine. The download callback works fine wherever I test it and - again, works for the vast majority of users - but I guess it's possible that the parameter part is not attached to the call properly, and the server rejects it because it doesn't pass the authorization.

HEADS UP: Server.downloadFile() issue on macOS Sequoia - and a solution

Is there any way to print the final url with the parameter part? The docs https://docs.hise.dev/scripting/scripting-api/server/index.html#callwithget say tha...

Forum (forum.hise.audio)

[d.healey]

@tomekslesicki said in HEADS UP: Server.downloadFile() issue on macOS Sequoia - and a solution:

I suspect the problem is with the parameter part of the url called by HISE.

If that was the case wouldn't it fail for all users?

[tomekslesicki]

@d-healey maybe it works on some systems but not others, for whatever reason? Is there a way to get the final url of the call affected by the parameter property?

[d.healey]

@tomekslesicki said in HEADS UP: Server.downloadFile() issue on macOS Sequoia - and a solution:

maybe it works on some systems but not others, for whatever reason?

That's why we need to find the common factor. Then you can recreate the system in a VM and debug it.

What OS are they using?
What DAW are they using?
Are you able to make a standalone app that just does the download call so that it can be tested in isolation?
Do they have a firewall?
Do they use a VPN?
Who is their internet provider?
What country are they in?
etc.

Find out everything that they have in common and build a VM to match.

@tomekslesicki said in HEADS UP: Server.downloadFile() issue on macOS Sequoia - and a solution:

Is there a way to get the final url of the call affected by the parameter property?

Only on your server I think.