Starting the debugger

To open the debugger

Do one of the following:
- In the System Tree, highlight a target and select Debug
  from the pop-up menu
- Click the Debug or Select and Debug button on the
  PowerBar
- Select Run>Debug or Run>Select and Debug from the
  menu bar
The Debug button opens the debugger for the current target.
The current target displays in bold in the System Tree and its
name displays in the Debug button tool tip. The Select and Debug
button opens a dialog box that lets you select the target to be
debugged.

Views in the debugger

The debugger contains several views. Each view shows a different
kind of information about the current state of your application or the
debugging session. The following table summarizes what each view shows
and what you can do from that view.

View	What it shows	What you can do
Breakpoints	A list of breakpoints with indicators showing whether the breakpoints are currently active or inactive	Set, enable, disable, and clear breakpoints, set a condition for a breakpoint, and show source for a breakpoint in the Source view.
Call Stack	The sequence of function calls leading up to the function that was executing at the time of the breakpoint, shown as the script and line number from which the function was called	Examine the context of the application at any line in the call stack.
Instances	Instances of remote objects and their current status	Change the context of the debugging session to a different instance. This view has content only if you are debugging a remote component.
Objects in Memory	An expandable list of objects currently in memory	View the names and memory locations of instances of each memory object and property values of each instance. This view is not used if you are debugging a remote component.
Source	The full text of a script	Go to a specific line in a script, find a string, open another script, including ancestor and descendant scripts, manage breakpoints, and use TipWatch and QuickWatch.
Source Browser	An expandable hierarchy of objects in your application	Select any script in your application and display it in the Source view.
Source History	A list of the scripts that have been displayed in the Source view	Select any script in the Source History and display it in the Source view.
Variables	An expandable list of all the variables in scope	Select which kinds of variables are shown in the view, change the value of a variable, and set a breakpoint when a variable changes. You cannot change the value of a variable in a remote component.
Watch	A list of variables you have selected to watch as the application proceeds	Change the value of a variable, set a breakpoint when a variable changes, and add an arbitrary expression to the Watch view.

Changing Variable views

The default debugger layout contains a separate view for each
variable type in a stacked pane. You can combine two or more Variables
views in a single pane. For example, you might want to combine local
and global variables in a single view that you keep at the top of the
stacked pane.

To display multiple variable types in a single view

Display the pop-up menu for a pane that contains a Variables
view you want to change.
Click the names of the variable types you want to
display.

A check mark displays next to selected variable types. The
pop-up menu closes each time you select a variable type or clear a
check mark, so you need to reopen the menu to select an additional
variable type.

When you select or clear variable types, the tab for the
pane changes to show the variable types displayed on that
pane.

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Powerbuilder Documentation 2022

August 21, 2023

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