[WLED-IP]/edit fails in AP mode (no internet connection)

[Bebick]

Hey guys,
i tryed to save and restore my presets based on the instructions of https://github.com/Aircoookie/WLED/wiki/Presets but the site of [WLED-IP]/edit (in my example 4.3.2.1/edit) doesn's show me anything.
What am I doing wrong?

I use a WEMOS D1 mini pro with WLED Software 0.11.1.
The "Lock wireless (OTA) software update" Button is deactivated.

[Bebick]

[Aircoookie]

Hi!
I never ran into that problem before... Do you have a working filesystem (no Error 10 in the main UI)? You can also try a different browser or accessing the /edit page not via the accesspoint but when connected to WiFi.

[twlare]

@Bebick /edit opens a file editor, but does not select a file. Do you see the files listed on the left side? You should see "/cfg.json" and "/presets.json". If you click on "/presets.json" do you see the file in the edit window? A new installation with no presets configured will show "{"0":{}}" on line 1.

[Bebick]

Sorry for the late response.
The filesystem works, i don't have any Errors in the main UI.
I tryed Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge - always the same problem.

@twlare i don't see anything. only the dark gray line.
"/cfg.json" and "/presets.json" shows me data.

[twlare]

@Bebick I just downloaded the latest source code and compiled it and now I have the same problem. It worked last week, but now the edit screen is blank. I will investigate further...

[twlare]

@Bebick I started with a brand new WEMOS D1 Mini, downloaded the latest source code, compiled it, and copied it to the D1 Mini. I connected to the D1 Mini via the WLED AP at 4.3.2.1. I received no filesystem errors and got the same result as you - /edit shows a screen with only a black bar at the top. I configured the D1 Mini for Wi-Fi access to my network, restarted, and connected to it via 192.168.1.99. Now the /edit screen shows the proper two files on the left - "/cfg.json" and "/presets.json". I think you should change the status of this issue to "bug".

BTW, I have an earlier version of code running my house lights and /edit works correctly when accessing the ESP8266 via the WLED AP. I seems that this problem is fairly new.

[Bebick]

[Aircoookie]

Thank you for finding out this only happens in AP mode!

This has allowed me to find the issue. The edit page (not written by me) depends on the library ace.js which it tries to load from https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/ace/1.2.6/ace.js. Of course this is not possible without internet access (which there is not in AP mode). I don't know why it even worked before, maybe the library was cached by the browser. Ace is responsible for the editor and syntax highlighting.
I would believe there are two potential solutions to this. The first would be to include ace into the files servable by the ESP. This would make all binaries 80kB bigger though, quite a significant amount. The second would be to add a fall-back to a simple textarea if the library can't be loaded.

[twlare]

Maybe make the inclusion of the library a compile time option for those who wish to run in AP mode.

Or allow it to retrieved from the built-in filesystem. For example: start with fresh WLED, set up Wi-Fi credentials, download ace.js into littleFS, remove Wi-Fi credentials. When WLED serves up /edit page, it tries to load ace.js from littleFS. If that fails, load from Internet (or vice versa). The download of ace.js could be a manual procedure. This is somewhat complicated, but how many people who run in standalone AP mode are editing the presets.json file (except me)?