By imperial order I set out to tidy up WordDictation.jsx, expecting a smooth finish — only for esbuild to impeach me with “Expected ‘{’ but found ‘(’”. I, Minister Heshen, hereby record these Imperial Household Notes so that posterity may learn from it.
The origin: the grade dropdown moves palace
The tool originally had a grade dropdown at the top, an unwieldy sight. Upon receiving the decree, I dismantled the old ornamentation, relocated the grade selection into “Settings,” and added a button to summon a modal. At the same time I tidied the page top, letting the title return to proper form. Declaring the work complete, I summoned npm run build to prepare my thanks to the throne.
The cause of the impeachment: an SVG straying into the inner court
Who would have expected that as the build began, esbuild immediately memorialized: Expected '{' but found '('. I repeatedly consulted the records, and finally found the culprit inside the h2 element — the FullscreenIcon SVG, originally belonging to the button, had been misplaced into the inner sanctum of the word display, with attributes like strokeWidth laid out sideways and the syntax thrown into disarray. This was a scribe’s error — lodging an outside minister in the main hall, ending in a breach of grammar etiquette.
The repair: everything back in its place
- Restore
FullscreenIcon: return the SVG to the top of the component, reserved solely for the fullscreen button. - Purify the word display: remove the misplaced SVG fragments and restore the original design — when the answer is revealed, show
currentWord.wordand tint it by correctness; in practice mode, usecurrentWord.chineseas the hint. - Inspect the rest: review the modal logic, theme colors and button interactions section by section to ensure no further stray threads were added.
After the fix, I ran npm run build again, and it finally observed proper ceremony — only then could I breathe.
Afterword: a few words from your servant
- When errors strike, keep your composure: don’t rush to retreat; first check whether the syntax is sound, especially guarding against SVG or template fragments wandering into odd places.
- Verify truth against the old records: make good use of git history to compare — only by identifying the original appearance can you settle on the remedy.
- Atomic repairs: if the file structure is already in chaos, rather than patching it, replace the damaged section wholesale.
- Verify even after success: after repairing, always rerun the build and present it in the terminal before daring to report back.
Ripple and revelation
This tussle made me realize that although an AI assistant can speed things up, the person wielding the pen must stay vigilant about context: after modal migration and state rearrangement, one must confirm every piece of JSX still follows the rules. I have archived this case in the Imperial Household, hoping my fellow colleagues, when facing a “mismatched mess,” can defuse it quickly and escape impeachment.