Redirected IR Wave Flashes when Greenhouse Gas Levels Change

[Nancy-Salpepi]

Test device
MacBook Air M1 chip

Operating System
14.4.1

Browser
Safari and Chrome

Problem description

For phetsims/qa#1080 and seen in published, on the Waves Screen the center IR wave redirecting back to the surface will flash when increasing greenhouse gas levels from None to Lots.
It is easier to see this using keyboard navigation but happens with the mouse as well.

Not sure if this falls in the "artifacts" category that was discussed in #84.

Steps to reproduce

1. On the Waves Screen, press Start Sunlight
2. With keyboard nav, move the Greenhouse Gas slider to None
3. With keyboard nav, move the slider to Lots --keeping an eye on the center IR wave redirecting back to the surface

Visuals

irWaveFlashes.mp4

[arouinfar]

Good find @Nancy-Salpepi.

The flickering looks a bit odd, but I don't think it's particularly harmful. @jbphet if there's not a clear solution, I'm fine with closing as wont-fix.

[jbphet]

The problematic behavior was due to the intensity changes that are tracked on each wave getting a little out of order. I believe I've corrected this.

@Nancy-Salpepi - Could you please test this on main? I'd like to verify that it's fixed on whatever platforms and in whatever use cases you were using.

[samreid]

I observed that CT indicated 86d9389 caused this error:

greenhouse-effect : migration : 1.2->main : assert
http://128.138.93.172/continuous-testing/ct-snapshots/1715204138894/phet-io-wrappers/migration/?sim=greenhouse-effect&oldVersion=1.2&phetioMigrationReport=assert&locales=*&phetioDebug=true&phetioWrapperDebug=true&fuzz&migrationRate=5000&&wrapperContinuousTest=%7B%22test%22%3A%5B%22greenhouse-effect%22%2C%22migration%22%2C%221.2-%3Emain%22%2C%22assert%22%5D%2C%22snapshotName%22%3A%22snapshot-1715204138894%22%2C%22timestamp%22%3A1715205857681%7D
Uncaught TypeError: this.intensityChanges.updateOrder is not a function
TypeError: this.intensityChanges.updateOrder is not a function
at updateOrder (Wave.ts:285:26)
at step (WavesModel.ts:188:41)
at Array.forEach
at forEach (PhetioGroup.ts:183:65)
at forEach (WavesModel.ts:188:19)
at stepModel (GreenhouseEffectModel.ts:74:11)
at step (Sim.ts:432:21)
at apply (PhetioAction.ts:162:16)
at execute (Sim.ts:1048:30)
at stepSimulation (Sim.ts:1038:11)

[jbphet]

Thanks @samreid. This error is due to some phet-io complications with some changes that I made that I felt would improve the maintainability of this code and prevent problems like this from creeping in again. However, my changes create a new type, which has to be handled in phet-io, and because this new type extends Array, I wasn't at all sure how to handle it in phet-io. I was also concerned that it would also create migration problems. So, I'm just going back to a simpler solution and hope that future developers see and adhere to the documentation about maintaining the order of the intensity changes.

@Nancy-Salpepi - assuming CT clears up, this is ready for you to test as described above.

[Nancy-Salpepi]

Looks fixed on main.
Not sure if I should close or not, so assigning back to you @jbphet.

[jbphet]

I'll leave it open and have it double-checked during the next RC test.

[jbphet]

This issue can and should be closed once verified by QA on an RC version.

[Nancy-Salpepi]

Looks good in 1.3.0-rc.1! Closing.