Re: Question for you?

"7stud" <[email protected]> Sat, 23 Oct 2004 19:19:28 -0600
Newsgroups	gmane.comp.mozilla.devel.jsdebugger
Message-ID	<[email protected]>
"David Huynh" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> getStore() is actually defined in piggy-bank.js, which is linked in
> through the first <script> element.
>
> It turned out that there was an exception thrown in getStore().
> Regardless, Venkman didn't help me locate that. Half of the times I
> wasn't sure if the debugger was quirky or my code was erroneous.
> Consequently, I have abandoned Venkman altogether and resorted to
> alert() and incremental code writing. It's a shame, really, and I can
> sympathize with your experience with Venkman.
>
> Best regards,
>
> David
>

Hi,

I have tried that same tutorial you linked, and nothing seems to work
according to the way the tutorial says it should.  For instance, on page 3
of the tutorial

http://www.svendtofte.com/code/learning_venkman/basics.php

 you step through this example:

3) <script>
4) var a = 1;

5) function test(a) {
6)    var t = "passed : ";
7)    return t + a;
8) }

9) var b = test(a);
10) document.write("<p>" + b + "</p>");
11) </script>

When I stepped from line 4 to line 5, and then typed 'a' into the
Interactive Session input line, and hit return, I got this:

< 001: a
>$[0] = [void] void

The tutorial says I should get a value of 1 for a.  I've used other
debuggers before, and I would expect the value of a to be 1, not undefined.
Does that happen to you too?



>
> 7stud wrote:
> >><html>
> >><head>
> >><script type="application/x-javascript"
> >>src="piggy-bank.js"/>
> >><script language="javascript">
> >>function getStore2() {
> >>debugger
> >>getStore();
> >>}
> >></script>
> >></head>
> >><body>
> >><span onclick="alert('a'); getStore2();">click me</span>
> >></body>
> >></html>
> >
> >
> > Here, I'll be Venkman for you:
> >
> > Error: line 8: GetStore() does not exist.
> >
> > The rest of your post is unintelligible, although I too have used
debuggers
> > before, and Venkman does not work for me with Firefox1.0 on Win98.  If I
> > have two lines like this:
> >
> > 1)var a=10;
> > 2)var b = 10;
> >
> > After I step from line 1 to line 2, the debugger says a is undefined.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > "David Huynh" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> > news:[email protected]...
> >
> >>Hi,
> >>
> >>I'm having problem using the JS debugger. I'm reading this guide
> >>http://www.svendtofte.com/code/learning_venkman/basics.php
> >>to find out how to use the debugger, and although I've used plenty of
> >>debuggers in the past, I can't figure out how this Venkman thing works.
> >>
> >>I have a pretty simple HTML file here:
> >>
> >>
> >>And I followed these steps:
> >>1. start Mozilla
> >>2. open the JS debugger and click on the Stop button (gosh, I didn't
> >>expect to click "stop" to _start_ my debugging task)
> >>3. load the HTML file in Mozilla browser
> >>4. go to the JS debugger and set the right evaluation context
> >>5. refresh the browser. The JS debugger does break into the script file
> >>piggy-bank.js (containing a bunch of functions) and I let it runs
through.
> >>6. click on the span "click me". The alert "a" comes up but then nothing
> >>else happens. It doesn't matter if I set any breakpoint in getStore2()
> >>or getStore(). The debugger keyword doesn't help either.
> >>
> >>Then I got clever and put in a function call to getStore() at the end of
> >>piggy-bank.js so that step #5 above would let me debug the function
> >>getStore(). The debugger does go into getStore(), which is something
> >>like this:
> >>
> >>function getStore() {
> >>debugger
> >>var RDF = Components.classes['@mozilla.org/rdf/rdf-service;1']
> >>.getService(Components.interfaces.nsIRDFService);
> >>...
> >>}
> >>
> >>I hit F11 to step into at every point, but then when it reaches the
> >>assignment statement (RDF = ...), F11 seems to behave like F5--Venkman
> >>does not stop at the next statement. Frankly I don't know where it goes
> >>after I hit F11 at the assignment statement.
> >>
> >>Then I got even more clever and tried to paste the body of getStore() in
> >>the middle of step #5 above. But alas, the little textbox in Venkman
> >>only takes one line of text!
> >>
> >>I'm running Mozilla 1.7.2, Venkman 0.9.81. Venkman seems to be choking
> >>the daylight out of Mozilla.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>So I have 2 questions:
> >>
> >>1. What should I do if I want to debug the function getStore()?
> >>
> >>2. How did those folks that develop various Mozilla-based applications
> >>refrain from killing themselves with this kind of debugging support?
> >>Seriously, I have great respect for the Mozilla product from an
> >>engineering standpoint, but the documentation and developer support
> >>are... Are they using some other tricks to debug their JS code?
> >>
> >>Forgot to mention, the HTML file was originally a XUL. But Venkman
> >>doesn't even seem to handle XUL...
> >>
> >>Thanks in advance!
> >>
> >>David
> >
> >