Tridion Gui Extension Error Message: Unable to get unique id for element. What is the cause?

Question

I'm trying to build a GUI Extension to 2011. One of my requirements is that there be a 'settings' page for this extension that a Tridion user can access from the Ribbon.

When Tridion loads, the GUI does not complete loading, and the console shows this error message:

Unable to get unique id for element. Dashboard_v6.1.0.55920.8_.aspx:22

Below is a snippet from my configuration file. I'm trying to understand what the issue is and where it originates. Is it my configuration, my JavaScript, or both?

<ext:deckpages>
       <ext:add>
         <ext:extension pageid="ToolsPage" name="CrocodocSettingsPage" assignid="CrocodocSettingsPage">
           <ext:control>~/Controls/CrocodocSettings.ascx</ext:control>
           <ext:pagetype>crocodoc.SettingsPage</ext:pagetype>
           <ext:dependencies>
             <cfg:dependency>crocodoc.Resources.Settings</cfg:dependency>
           </ext:dependencies>
         <ext:apply>
           <ext:view name="DashboardView">
             <ext:control id="DashboardToolbar" />
           </ext:view>
         </ext:apply>
         </ext:extension>
       </ext:add>
     </ext:deckpages>
     <ext:tabpages />
     <ext:toolbars />
     <ext:ribbontoolbars>
       <ext:add>
         <ext:extension pageid="ToolsPage" groupid="MaintenanceGroup" name="croc" assignid="croc">
           <ext:command>crocodoc</ext:command>
           <ext:title>Crocodoc Configuration</ext:title>
           <ext:dependencies>
             <cfg:dependency>crocodoc.Resources.Settings</cfg:dependency>
           </ext:dependencies>
         <ext:apply>
           <ext:view name="DashboardView">
             <ext:control id="DashboardToolbar" />
           </ext:view>
         </ext:apply>
         </ext:extension>
       </ext:add>
     </ext:ribbontoolbars>
   </ext:editorextension>
 </ext:editorextensions>
    <ext:dataextenders/>
</extensions>

crocodoc.Resources.Base

Update

I've updated the configuration, But I'm still having the same error. It's on line 22. The Console shows me these full details of the object:

anonymous(object{..}) anonymous(object{..}) k(object{..}) j() anonymous(array[2]) c() anonymous(function: anonymous(){var c="IsPopupBlocker",b="Non fatal error: {0}";if($display._viewConstructor!=null){$display._view=new >$display._viewConstructor;var a=window.opener;try{a&&a.Tridion&&a.Tridion.Controls&&a.Tridion.Controls.Popup&&a.Tridion.Controls.ExternalPopup.registerView($display._view,window)}catch(d){$log.message(b,d.message)}var a=window.parent;try{a&&a.Tridion&&a.Tridion.Controls&&a.Tridion.Controls.Popup&&a.Tridion.Controls.ModalIframePopup.registerView($display._view,window)}catch(d){$log.message(b,d.message)}Type.isFunction($display._view.initialize)&&$display._view.initialize();$display.fireEvent("start")}$log.debug("DisplayController.start: Time taken to load and initialize everything was {0}ms.",Date.getTimer());if($dom.isChrome&&opener&&!window.outerHeight){try{if(opener.$display){opener.$display.showModalError($localization.getCoreResource(c));return}}catch(d){}$display.showError($localization.getCoreResource(c))) anonymous() anonymous() anonymous("Tridion.Cme.Views.DashboardBase", "initialize") anonymous() anonymous() anonymous(array[1], "Tridion.Controls.Stack") anonymous("Unable to get unique id for element.") Dashboard_v6.1.0.55920.8_.aspx:22

<ext:deckpages>
      <ext:add>
        <ext:extension pageid="ToolsPage" name="CrocodocSettingsPage" assignid="CrocodocSettingsPage">
          <ext:control>~/Controls/CrocodocSettings.ascx</ext:control>
          <ext:pagetype>crocodoc.SettingsPage</ext:pagetype>
          <ext:dependencies>
            <cfg:dependency>crocodoc.Resources.Settings</cfg:dependency>
          </ext:dependencies>
          <ext:apply>
            <ext:view name="DashboardView" />
          </ext:apply>
        </ext:extension>
      </ext:add>
    </ext:deckpages>
    <ext:tabpages />
    <ext:toolbars />
    <ext:ribbontoolbars>
      <ext:add>
        <ext:extension pageid="ToolsPage" groupid="MaintenanceGroup" name="croc" assignid="croc">
          <ext:command>crocodoc</ext:command>
          <ext:title>Crocodoc Configuration</ext:title>
          <ext:dependencies>
            <cfg:dependency>crocodoc.Resources.Settings</cfg:dependency>
          </ext:dependencies>
          <ext:apply>
            <ext:view name="DashboardView" />
          </ext:apply>
        </ext:extension>
      </ext:add>
    </ext:ribbontoolbars>

Answer 1

As it turns out, my issue was further up in my configuration file. (maybe I should post the whole thing next time)

The issue was actually in the resource groups which I had set up.

down in my extension to the tools page I had a reference to crocodoc.Resources.Settings

<ext:extension pageid="ToolsPage" groupid="MaintenanceGroup" name="Crocodoc Configuration" assignid="crocodoc">
          <ext:command>crocodoc</ext:command>
          <ext:title>Crocodoc Configuration</ext:title>
          <ext:dependencies>
            <cfg:dependency>crocodoc.Resources.Settings</cfg:dependency>
          </ext:dependencies>
          <ext:apply>
            <ext:view name="DashboardView" >
              <ext:control id="DashboardToolbar" />  
            </ext:view>
          </ext:apply>
        </ext:extension>

The issue traces back to the dependencies I had written for my resource group:

<cfg:group name="crocodoc.Resources.Base">
  <cfg:fileset>
    <cfg:file type="script">/Scripts/jquery.min.js</cfg:file>
  </cfg:fileset>
</cfg:group>
<cfg:group name="crocodoc.Resources.Settings">
  <cfg:fileset>
    <cfg:file type="script">/Scripts/CrocodocSettings.js</cfg:file>
    <cfg:file type="style">/Styles/crocodoc.css</cfg:file>
  <cfg:file type="reference">crocodoc</cfg:file>
  </cfg:fileset>
<cfg:dependencies>
  <cfg:dependency>crocodoc.Resources.Base</cfg:dependency>
  <cfg:dependency>Tridion.Web.UI.Editors.CME</cfg:dependency>
  <cfg:dependency>Tridion.WebUI.Editors.CME.commands</cfg:dependency>
</cfg:dependencies>
</cfg:group>

The issue was actually with that first dependency crocodoc.Resources.Base

Once I removed that, the error went away. So it looks like you can't make one group a dependency in another.

Answer 2

I see there is an answer to this post, but i'm putting my 2 cents in as it might be useful...

I normally 'see' this error message when I make a mistake in my javascript file (typically missing the ; on the end of a line).

Should anyone see this post and still load their JS files, it's worth commenting out some chunks of your js and see if it loads.

Answer 3

Remove <ext:control id="DashboardToolbar" />

Replace this

<ext:view name="DashboardView">
         <ext:control id="DashboardToolbar" />
</ext:view>

with this

<ext:view name="DashboardView" />

It's worth in reading Setting up a SDL Tridion 2011 GUI extension in 8 steps