LebGeeks

rolf

Member

Debugging website on Android Chrome

I honestly cannot believe how difficult that is.

So I download the Android SDK from google (APK) which is like almost 1 GB. Fine. It contains virtual machines. Fine.
I install and start a virtual machine. After 1/2 hour it is still stuck at the "ANDROID" boot screen. I spend 1/2 day trying performance tips found on the net. No luck.
I try another older older version of Android. Oh, that one works! Wait, it crashed. Then again. And again. It is too unstable.

I try running Android for x86 in VirtualBox. Also painfully slow and unstable.

OK I give up. I ask my cousin to lend him his Samsung phone, plug it to my computer. It doesn't show up in the Chrome remote devices tab (chrome://inspect) go online again and search... I try to install the drivers bundled with APK, still non luck.

I try Bluestacks, which is the only android implementation that has good performance on PC. It runs fast and stable. Great! It even show up in the Chrome remote device tabs, but I can't click on it. Again, it seems that you have to do some "adb connect"  incantations from the command line to get that to work. I try that. There is an app (several actually) in Google store that should enable you to connect your device to your Chrome browser on your PC to be able to remotely debug websites on Chrome for android. It's an app with a big button, and all I have to do is click that button (and it produces a nice "bong" sound). Fine. Of course it says that I should be able to connect now but it doesn't work.

I got something else to work, actually, it is called "Weinre", and it's a Javascript/node remote debugging system which offers a similar remote debugging interface, but more limited and slower. It took me about 1/2 hour to set up. It helps but doesn't fully suit me, although I guess I'm gonna have to contend with this.

I don't get it. Android is supposedly the most popular system for mobile devices now (right?). Most of the bugs I see nowadays, and also the nastiest ones are on Chrome (and some on Safari to be fair). Not Firefox, and please let me point it out: not the latest versions of IE, which have exemplary behavior now. Chrome for mobile is not an exception. So, don't people test and debug websites for Android devices?

nuclearcat

Member

Re: Debugging website on Android Chrome

Run Atom Android emulation image. It should be faster.

rolf

Member

Re: Debugging website on Android Chrome

Run Atom Android emulation image. It should be faster.

I did, long time ago, along with the intel service that would make it faster.

In the meantimes I tried installing the latest version of Chrome on Bluestacks. It doesn't work, the main area of the browser (HTML viewport) stays black for some reason. So that's one or two more hours trying to get that to work.

I'll probably try the emulator again, that was the closest I got to success. I even got remote debugging to work once, for a little time, but then it froze.

I think Google should pay me a salary.

Hey, perhaps I can sue them! Ah, wait, that must be why they made me agree to this disclaimer that nobody really reads.

venam

Member

Re: Debugging website on Android Chrome

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Last edited by venam (September 9 2016)