[CODAP] console errors when checking variables while in continuous mode

[Nancy-Salpepi]

Test device MacBook Air M1 chip

Operating System 14.5

Browser Safari 17.5

Problem description For https://github.com/phetsims/qa/issues/1099, if I check and uncheck variables while data is being collected I get an Unhandled Promise Rejection error in the console.

Steps to reproduce

1. With Console open in PSD select a sample size of 15
2. Select continuous mode
3. Press Launch button
4. Check and uncheck variables

Visuals

[samreid]

@matthew-blackman and I investigated and found that CODAP has a 2000ms timeout in this code: https://github.com/phetsims/phet-io-sim-specific/blob/f4af064e9eb502c1763f046b39bb33f19c59413a/repos/projectile-data-lab/wrappers/codap/dependencies/iframe-phone-1.3.1.js#L205-L215

So when 500+ actions are being sent, or when the user tabs away for more than 2 seconds, we trigger this error. For the part that updates hundreds of projectiles in the table, we do not need the return value and we believe CODAP will correctly process it in time (there is no indication of the timeout interrupting any of the processes in CODAP). So it could be safe to ignore.

We discussed these strategies:

• Boost the timeout threshold
• Batch the commands so each one is <2000ms
• Ignore the problem since it is likely a safe symptom since CODAP is not left in an inconsistent state and we do not need the return value.