My Script works on and off? what could cause this?

[Gary Reisman]

I made a UI script, which worked great at first, now it works on and off!?  what might cause this?
same version of AE, same project, same script.  But all of a sudden it seems to not fully work (and then occsaionlly it does) Any idea?  (tried it on a second machine ,and no luck)

It's a script that renames comp names based on user input (plus changes type layers).

I used ChatGPT, and it was working great.  Then it was like AE didn't like it anymore (or even earlier versions that I knew were working).  Something in AE seems to be fickle.  I'm going to try to start from scratch again. 

But is there a way perhaps someone can test it out, or some kind of extra code I could insert to kind've "reset" something in AE that the script is interatcting with when it reads comp names?

Thanks,

Gary

[Gary Reisman]

sorry,  forrgot to mention this is using AE 2024. (24.5.0).

script is working fine this very moment, but I don't trust it!!

[Dan Ebberts · Accepted solution]

Hard to say without seeing the script, but I doubt it's an issue with AE. One of the issues of using AI-generated code is that ChatGPT has no way to test the code, so if it's of any complexity, there can be pathways through the code that only get executed under certain conditions. So there can be hidden surprises lying in wait. The only way to flush them out is to exercise every path through the code, which can be a challenge.

[Gary Reisman]

Thank you for the reply Dan.  Yes, the script got a little complex/messy I imagine  (900 lines long),   would be happy to share the script/.aep if you were curious, tho imagine you've got plenty on your plate.  But it was rather frustrating, as i had been working with the same exact test .aep project for weeks,  saving versions of the script that worked..
then all of suddent,  none of the versions of the script  worked at all on the same exact project. (and the script didn't have any settings saved or anything). so it was was like AE just said "I don't like you anymore"..   
And then today I tried the original script out again, and it worked again!@#  go figure.
But I did go back to kin've start over (wiht the same UI code) , and in the 2nd round, I actually figured some improvments and a beter way to do a few things, so worked out ok in the end.  <whew>  (and gaining more knowledge on how to make/debug scripts in the process).
thanks!