Starting an Application in Debug Mode

The JADE development environment includes a debugger that enables you to analyze how your application behaves. Debugger features include the following.

To debug all or part of a Workspace, the current method in the JadeScript class, or unit test independently of your application, press Shift+F9. (Running a JadeScript method always starts a new application copy.) Alternatively, select the Jade menu Debug command. (The Unit Test Debug command replaces the Debug command in the Jade menu when the JADE unit test framework is active.)

To debug a non-GUI application (for example, a server application initiated when the application server is started in JADE thin client mode), you must first change the application type to GUI, No Forms, by using the Application Type combo box in the Application sheet of the Define Application dialog.

Transient methods cannot be debugged, as transient objects created by one process cannot be accessed by another process. If a transient method is executed by an application that is being debugged, the debugger will not display any details of this method; that is, it is not displayed in the call stack, breakpoints cannot be set in a transient method, and variables cannot be inspected.

Inspection of properties from within the JADE debugger (either directly or via the bubble help inspector) will invoke user mapping methods, if defined. However, you should be aware that debugging may fail if the mapping method performs actions not suitable for situations where the execution of the user application is suspended. For example, the creation and display of a form, showing a form modally, display of a message box, deletion of an object in use by the current call stack, and so on.

For details about initiating a JADE unit test in debug mode, see "Running Unit Tests", in Chapter 17 of the JADE Developer's Reference.

When debugging a method created from a Workspace, the debug execution initially stops on the first line of execution. Use JADE debugger to set debug breakpoints in the method. You can then step through the logic or debug and run it to meet your requirements.

If you want to add additional debugging code at run time when an application is being debugged, you can call the Application class isBeingDebugged method to determine whether the application is currently being debugged.

To start an application in debug mode, call the debugApplication method, specifying the name of the schema and the application in the respective schemaName and applicationName parameters. An exception is raised if the JADE development environment is not already running in the same session (using the same jade exe environment). Alternatively, to initiate an application in debug mode, passing a specified object to the initialize method defined in the application, call the Application class debugApplicationWithParameter method.

By default, the line of the source code that is currently executing is highlighted in blue and the lines on which breakpoints are set are highlighted in yellow. You can change these display colors in the Editor sheet from the Preferences dialog (accessed from the Options menu Preferences command), by using the Debug Step Line or Debug Line color option, respectively.

The Save settings on exit check box in the Debugger Options dialog (accessed by selecting the Preferences command from the Options menu) enables you to save the size and position of windows that you resize or reposition.

If you have repositioned or resized windows within the main window and you want to return to the default layout, select the Restore Default Layout command in the View menu. This command is disabled if the windows are already in the default layout positions. In the default layout mode, resizing the JADE Debugger window retains the relative default layouts of the three windows. The current left, top, width, and height of the main JADE Debugger window are retained.

To enable you to debug packages and peer schemas, watches and breakpoints are visible across schemas.