Illegal argument in isolate message

[frankvollebregt]

Hello,

Since updating to the latest version of Drift (which resolved my previous issue) I get the following error when I run a background function. I struggle a bit to more minimally reproduce what's wrong here, and I hope it is possible to determine from the stack trace below whether this is a mistake in my code, in Drift or even a version mismatch between some of these...

I have two different methods (one which fetches specific updates over http and upserts them, the other which just clears and re-fills the whole database with fetched data). In both cases, I use Drift from a DriftIsolate (connectport is provided by Provider from main).

In the case of throwing away the whole thing, I get the following stacktrace:

full reset stack trace

I/flutter ( 6012): [OUT]: Request (id = 0): EnsureOpen(26, null)
E/flutter ( 6012): [ERROR:flutter/lib/ui/ui_dart_state.cc(209)] Unhandled Exception: Invalid argument(s): Illegal argument in isolate message : (object is a regular Dart Instance)
E/flutter ( 6012): #0      _SendPortImpl._sendInternal (dart:isolate-patch/isolate_patch.dart:249:43)
E/flutter ( 6012): #1      _SendPortImpl.send (dart:isolate-patch/isolate_patch.dart:230:5)
E/flutter ( 6012): #2      _rootRunUnary (dart:async/zone.dart:1436:47)
E/flutter ( 6012): #3      _CustomZone.runUnary (dart:async/zone.dart:1335:19)
E/flutter ( 6012): #4      _CustomZone.runUnaryGuarded (dart:async/zone.dart:1244:7)
E/flutter ( 6012): #5      _BufferingStreamSubscription._sendData (dart:async/stream_impl.dart:341:11)
E/flutter ( 6012): #6      _BufferingStreamSubscription._add (dart:async/stream_impl.dart:271:7)
E/flutter ( 6012): #7      _SyncStreamControllerDispatch._sendData (dart:async/stream_controller.dart:733:19)
E/flutter ( 6012): #8      _StreamController._add (dart:async/stream_controller.dart:607:7)
E/flutter ( 6012): #9      _StreamController.add (dart:async/stream_controller.dart:554:5)
E/flutter ( 6012): #10     _rootRunUnary (dart:async/zone.dart:1436:47)
E/flutter ( 6012): #11     _CustomZone.runUnary (dart:async/zone.dart:1335:19)
E/flutter ( 6012): #12     _CustomZone.runUnaryGuarded (dart:async/zone.dart:1244:7)
E/flutter ( 6012): #13     _BufferingStreamSubscription._sendData (dart:async/stream_impl.dart:341:11)
E/flutter ( 6012): #14     _DelayedData.perform (dart:async/stream_impl.dart:591:14)
E/flutter ( 6012): #15     _StreamImplEvents.handleNext (dart:async/stream_impl.dart:706:11)
E/flutter ( 6012): #16     _PendingEvents.schedule.<anonymous closure> (dart:async/stream_impl.dart:663:7)
E/flutter ( 6012): #17     _rootRun (dart:async/zone.dart:1420:47)
E/flutter ( 6012): #18     _CustomZone.run (dart:async/zone.dart:1328:19)
E/flutter ( 6012): #19     _CustomZone.runGuarded (dart:async/zone.dart:1236:7)
E/flutter ( 6012): #20     _CustomZone.bindCallbackGuarded.<anonymous closure> (dart:async/zone.dart:1276:23)
E/flutter ( 6012): #21     _rootRun (dart:async/zone.dart:1428:13)
E/flutter ( 6012): #22     _CustomZone.run (dart:async/zone.dart:1328:19)
E/flutter ( 6012): #23     _CustomZone.runGuarded (dart:async/zone.dart:1236:7)
E/flutter ( 6012): #24     _CustomZone.bindCallbackGuarded.<anonymous closure> (dart:async/zone.dart:1276:23)
E/flutter ( 6012): #25     _microtaskLoop (dart:async/schedule_microtask.dart:40:21)
E/flutter ( 6012): #26     _startMicrotaskLoop (dart:async/schedule_microtask.dart:49:5)

small updates stack trace

E/flutter ( 2616): [ERROR:flutter/lib/ui/ui_dart_state.cc(209)] Unhandled Exception: Invalid argument(s): Illegal argument in isolate message : (object is a regular Dart Instance)
E/flutter ( 4147): Invalid argument(s): Illegal argument in isolate message : (object is a regular Dart Instance)
E/flutter ( 4147): #0      _SendPortImpl._sendInternal (dart:isolate-patch/isolate_patch.dart:249:43)
E/flutter ( 4147): #1      _SendPortImpl.send (dart:isolate-patch/isolate_patch.dart:230:5)
E/flutter ( 4147): #2      new IsolateChannel.<anonymous closure> (package:stream_channel/src/isolate_channel.dart:100:36)
E/flutter ( 4147): #3      _RootZone.runUnaryGuarded (dart:async/zone.dart:1620:10)
E/flutter ( 4147): #4      _BufferingStreamSubscription._sendData (dart:async/stream_impl.dart:341:11)
E/flutter ( 4147): #5      _BufferingStreamSubscription._add (dart:async/stream_impl.dart:271:7)
E/flutter ( 4147): #6      _SyncStreamControllerDispatch._sendData (dart:async/stream_controller.dart:733:19)
E/flutter ( 4147): #7      _StreamController._add (dart:async/stream_controller.dart:607:7)
E/flutter ( 4147): #8      _StreamController.add (dart:async/stream_controller.dart:554:5)
E/flutter ( 4147): #9      _RootZone.runUnaryGuarded (dart:async/zone.dart:1620:10)
E/flutter ( 4147): #10     _BufferingStreamSubscription._sendData (dart:async/stream_impl.dart:341:11)
E/flutter ( 4147): #11     _BufferingStreamSubscription._add (dart:async/stream_impl.dart:271:7)
E/flutter ( 4147): #12     _SyncStreamControllerDispatch._sendData (dart:async/stream_controller.dart:733:19)
E/flutter ( 4147): #13     _StreamController._add (dart:async/stream_controller.dart:607:7)
E/flutter ( 4147): #14     _StreamController.add (dart:async/stream_controller.dart:554:5)
E/flutter ( 4147): #15     _StreamSinkWrapper.add (dart:async/stream_controller.dart:826:13)
E/flutter ( 4147): #16     _GuaranteeSink.add (package:stream_channel/src/guarantee_channel.dart:125:12)
E/flutter ( 4147): #17     DriftCommunication._send (package:drift/src/remote/communication.dart:117:19)
E/flutter ( 4147): #18     DriftCommunication.request (package:drift/src/remote/communication.dart:103:5)
E/flutter ( 4147): #19     ServerImplementation._handleRequest (package:drift/src/remote/server_impl.dart:99:19)
E/flutter ( 4147): #20     ServerImplementation.serve.<anonymous closure> (package:drift/src/remote/server_impl.dart:54:41)
E/flutter ( 4147): #21     DriftCommunication.setRequestHandler.<anonymous closure> (package:drift/src/remote/communication.dart:144:31)
E/flutter ( 4147): #22     _RootZone.runUnaryGuarded (dart:async/zone.dart:1620:10)
E/flutter ( 4147): #23     _BufferingStreamSubscription._sendData (dart:async/stream_impl.dart:341:11)
E/flutter ( 4147): #24     _BufferingStreamSubscription._add (dart:async/stream_impl.dart:271:7)
E/flutter ( 4147): #25     _SyncStreamControllerDispatch._sendData (dart:async/stream_controller.dart:733:19)
E/flutter ( 4147): #26     _StreamController._add (dart:async/stream_controller.dart:607:7)
E/flutter ( 4147): #27     _StreamController.add (dart:async/stream_controller.dart:554:5)
E/flutter ( 4147): #28     DriftCommunication._handleMessage (package:drift/src/remote/communication.dart:86:25)
E/flutter ( 4147): #29     _RootZone.runUnaryGuarded (dart:async/zone.dart:1620:10)
E/flutter ( 4147): #30     _BufferingStreamSubscription._sendData (dart:async/stream_impl.dart:341:11)
E/flutter ( 4147): #31     _BufferingStreamSubscription._add (dart:async/stream_impl.dart:271:7)
E/flutter ( 4147): #32     _SyncStreamControllerDispatch._sendData (dart:async/stream_controller.dart:733:19)
E/flutter ( 4147): #33     _StreamController._add (dart:async/stream_controller.dart:607:7)
E/flutter ( 4147): #34     _StreamController.add (dart:async/stream_controller.dart:554:5)
E/flutter ( 4147): #35     _RootZone.runUnaryGuarded (dart:async/zone.dart:1620:10)
E/flutter ( 4147): #36     _BufferingStreamSubscription._sendData (dart:async/stream_impl.dart:341:11)
E/flutter ( 4147): #37     _BufferingStreamSubscription._add (dart:async/stream_impl.dart:271:7)
E/flutter ( 4147): #38     _SyncStreamControllerDispatch._sendData (dart:async/stream_controller.dart:733:19)
E/flutter ( 4147): #39     _StreamController._add (dart:async/stream_controller.dart:607:7)
E/flutter ( 4147): #40     _StreamController.add (dart:async/stream_controller.dart:554:5)
E/flutter ( 4147): #41     _StreamSinkWrapper.add (dart:async/stream_controller.dart:826:13)
E/flutter ( 4147): #42     _RootZone.runUnaryGuarded (dart:async/zone.dart:1620:10)
E/flutter ( 4147): #43     CastStreamSubscription._onData (dart:_internal/async_cast.dart:85:11)
E/flutter ( 4147): #44     _RootZone.runUnaryGuarded (dart:async/zone.dart:1620:10)
E/flutter ( 4147): #45     _BufferingStreamSubscription._sendData (dart:async/stream_impl.dart:341:11)
E/flutter ( 4147): #46     _BufferingStreamSubscription._add (dart:async/stream_impl.dart:271:7)
E/flutter ( 4147): #47     _SyncStreamControllerDispatch._sendData (dart:async/stream_controller.dart:733:19)
E/flutter ( 4147): #48     _StreamController._add (dart:async/stream_controller.dart:607:7)
E/flutter ( 4147): #49     _StreamController.add (dart:async/stream_controller.dart:554:5)
E/flutter ( 4147): #50     _RawReceivePortImpl._handleMessage (dart:isolate-patch/isolate_patch.dart:192:12)

Intuitively, it seems like this might have something to do with the last point in the most recent changelog, namely

• Drift isolates no longer serialize messages into a primitive format. This will reduce the overhead of using isolates with Drift.

Versions

Flutter 2.8.1 • channel stable • https://github.com/flutter/flutter.git
Framework • revision 77d935af4d (4 days ago) • 2021-12-16 08:37:33 -0800
Engine • revision 890a5fca2e
Tools • Dart 2.15.1

Drift 1.1.0

Debug log

I just set isolateDebugLog to true in the isolate.connect() and got the following additional output that occurs before the error (from when the table is updated through the Drift isolate)

[OUT]: Request (id = 215): StatementMethod.insert: INSERT INTO ~ some insertion query ~
[OUT]: Request (id = 216): StatementMethod.insert: INSERT INTO ~ some insertion query ~
[IN]: SuccessResponse (id = 215): 0
[OUT]: Request (id = 217): Instance of 'NotifyTablesUpdated'
[IN]: SuccessResponse (id = 216): 0
[OUT]: Request (id = 218): Instance of 'NotifyTablesUpdated'
[IN]: Request (id = 3): Instance of 'NotifyTablesUpdated'
[OUT]: SuccessResponse (id = 3): null
[OUT]: Request (id = 219): StatementMethod.select: SELECT ~ some selection query ~
[IN]: SuccessResponse (id = 217): null
// error occurs immediately after this statement //

[kuhnroyal]

How do you clear the database?

Drift isolates no longer serialize messages into a primitive format. This will reduce the overhead of using isolates with Drift.

This is actually based on a Dart 2.15 change which allows passing non-primitive Dart objects between isolates.
It does not work if the isolates are in different Dart VMs, which should not be the case, because then you wouldn't find the DriftIsolate either.
There are still some limitations on the objects being sent, so need to figure out what you are sending when executing the delete all query. Maybe some parameters?

[frankvollebregt]

Thanks for your reply! I've been able to clear the database in a manner similar to how it's described in this older issue. That has worked fine, and so have other queries.

The strange thing now is that the error occurs right after the ensureOpen query is made to Drift, making me suspect I am either not initializing something properly, or Drift gets somehow confused. A few weeks back an issue related to isolates was resolved, but now that I'm using that, something else seems to be misbehaving.

This is actually based on a Dart 2.15 change which allows passing non-primitive Dart objects between isolates.
It does not work if the isolates are in different Dart VMs, which should not be the case, because then you wouldn't find the DriftIsolate either.

Alright, that's probably not related then, thank you

If you have any other ideas, please let me know!

[kuhnroyal]

Well it is related. Drifts implementation was changed because of the new feature in Dart.

Maybe merge this discussion with the newly created issue #1593 - seems to be the same problem.

[frankvollebregt]

I think that's a good idea. Their setup seems a bit clearer too, so I suggest continuing the discussion in the issue thread.