[BUG]: Extension startup crash - error: "Cannot convert undefined or null to object"

[C-512L]

Tested on VSCodium 1.106.37943

2025-11-29 11:52:00.012 [error] Activating extension ycodetech.automatic-comment-blocks failed due to an error:
2025-11-29 11:52:00.012 [error] TypeError: Cannot convert undefined or null to object
	at Object.keys (<anonymous>)
	at /home/c512l/.vscode-oss/extensions/ycodetech.automatic-comment-blocks-1.1.11-universal/out/src/configuration.js:332:28
	at Array.forEach (<anonymous>)
	at /home/c512l/.vscode-oss/extensions/ycodetech.automatic-comment-blocks-1.1.11-universal/out/src/configuration.js:329:19
	at Map.forEach (<anonymous>)
	at Configuration.setLanguageConfigDefinitions (/home/c512l/.vscode-oss/extensions/ycodetech.automatic-comment-blocks-1.1.11-universal/out/src/configuration.js:327:38)
	at new Configuration (/home/c512l/.vscode-oss/extensions/ycodetech.automatic-comment-blocks-1.1.11-universal/out/src/configuration.js:72:14)
	at Object.<anonymous> (/home/c512l/.vscode-oss/extensions/ycodetech.automatic-comment-blocks-1.1.11-universal/out/src/extension.js:12:21)
	at Module._compile (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1714:14)
	at Module._extensions..js (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1848:10)
	at Module.load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1448:32)
	at Module._load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1270:12)
	at c._load (node:electron/js2c/node_init:2:17993)
	at e._load (file:///usr/share/codium/resources/app/out/vs/workbench/api/node/extensionHostProcess.js:402:6573)
	at t._load (file:///usr/share/codium/resources/app/out/vs/workbench/api/node/extensionHostProcess.js:220:28755)
	at r._load (file:///usr/share/codium/resources/app/out/vs/workbench/api/node/extensionHostProcess.js:212:24901)
	at TracingChannel.traceSync (node:diagnostics_channel:328:14)
	at wrapModuleLoad (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:244:24)
	at Module.require (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1470:12)
	at require (node:internal/modules/helpers:147:16)
	at xX._doLoadModule (file:///usr/share/codium/resources/app/out/vs/workbench/api/node/extensionHostProcess.js:251:1632)

[yCodeTech]

@C-512L This crash happens because it can't parse a JSON file for whatever reason, which returns undefined or null to it's calling function and then the subsequent code causes the Cannot convert undefined or null to object error. I will add error handling and log errors to the Output Channel, and show a user dialog to check the output.

However, I think it'll be best to let the extension crash on startup when these errors occur since parsing JSON files is vital for it's functionality.

[yCodeTech]

@C-512L I've released v1.1.12. It now logs JSON parse errors to our dedicated Output Channel, and throws the error at the point of parsing so the extension will still crash, however it will be easier to see what's going on.

Once you've updated to the new version, and the extension still crashes, please can you reopen the issue and provide the full errors from the Auto Comment Blocks Output Channel.

[C-512L]

I have found a few example of files failing to parse:

https://github.com/bpruitt-goddard/vscode-mermaid-syntax-highlight/blob/master/mermaid-language-configuration.json

https://github.com/hyperupcall-projects/vscode-assorted-languages/blob/main/language-configuration/digrc.language-configuration.json (emtpy file, writting {} fixes it)

[C-512L]

Also found parsing syler.sass-indented fails with:

[error] Error: ENOENT: no such file or directory, open '/home/c512l/.vscode-oss/extensions/syler.sass-indented-1.8.33-universal/sass.configuration.json'

[yCodeTech]

@C-512L
Mermaid Language:
Apparently the JSON file was saved as UTF-8 with BOM encoding, the BOM part of the file fails the parsing with an Invalid Symbol error. I've fixed this by removing the BOM character codes from the file output before parsing.

Any empty JSON files:
I can see the parsing fails for empty files with Value Expected error. The parse method does have an option to allowEmptyContent, so I have added this option to prevent it from erroring out, and then the extension will just return an empty object {} as already implemented. (Note: empty objects will render the language as unsupported.)

syler.sass-indented:
This error indicates that the path is wrong and it doesn't exist. Please can you confirm if this exact path exists or not.