Access
To access a program's variable monitoring feature, select the program in the top tab bearing its name, then select the Variable monitoring bottom tab in the Visual/Web debugger window's workspace.
symbolizes the variable monitoring tab.
Variable monitoring depends on the program selected (i.e. the current program in the debugger workspace).
The list shows all the variables, objects, object properties, etc. that have been selected by the user. The list lets you display and change the values of these variables when execution is suspended and the selected stack context corresponds to the current program.
The variable monitoring feature can display the following variable types:
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Simple (alpha, numerical, etc.) variables, object properties or reserved words, |
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Window (property list), |
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Graphical object (property list), |
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Menu option (property list), |
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Logical entity (logical property list), |
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One-dimensional array (list of cells), |
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Two-dimensional array (list of cells), |
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DS (DS fields), |
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Memory list (list fields), |
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View (view status). |
When program execution is suspended, the right-hand column displays the values of all the selected variables and object properties that are accessible in the stack context.
Any variables or object properties that are not accessible in the context (e.g. local variables not defined in, or object properties not used in, a server part) are shown shaded.
When the value of a variable is queried, the text "Loading…" is temporarily displayed in red instead of the value.
An icon located near the variable's icon characterizes the variable's value:
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Variable not visible in the context selected in the stack. |
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Variable whose value cannot be modified. (E.g. read-only reserved word.) |
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Variable whose value can be modified; however, the value is lost when the service returns to the client part (only if the context selected in the stack is a server part). |
No icon |
Variable whose value can be modified. |
Values can be changed:
- by an input field, called up by double-clicking on the value,
- by an editor (full page text editor or hexadecimal editor), via the context-sensitive menu's Modify option.
Any alphanumerical values longer than the value set in the debugger preferences are truncated, and end in "…". In addition, they can only be modified by one of the aforementioned editors.
Context-sensitive menu
This menu lets you access the management functions of selected variables.
Remove
This option removes the selected elements from the variable monitoring feature.
Keyboard shortcut: Del.
Hexadecimal display
This option lets you display the selected variable's value in hexadecimal form, as it is seen by the debugged process.
The option is only available when execution is suspended, and the variable's value must be an alphanumerical value displayed in character form.
Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl + H.
Note: Hexadecimal values are displayed as they are read in hexadecimal on the destination platform. This prevents problems relating to the interpretation of character coding systems on different platforms.
Put simply:
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- if execution is suspended on an AS/400 server, the hexadecimal string will represent the values of the EBCDIC character codes,
- if execution is suspended on a Windows server, the hexadecimal string will represent the values of the ANSI character codes,
- if execution is suspended on a Java server, the hexadecimal string will represent the values of the Unicode character codes (twice as long, because Unicode characters are coded on two bytes).
Character display
This option lets you display the selected variable's value as a character string.
The option is only available when execution is suspended, and the variable's value must be an alphanumerical value displayed in hexadecimal form.
Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl + C.
Modify
This option opens an editor letting you change an alphanumerical variable's value. If the variable is displayed in character form, a full page text editor is opened; otherwise, a hexadecimal editor is opened.
The option is only available when execution is suspended, and the variable's value must be an alphanumerical value.
Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl + M.
Move up all
This option lets you group all the selected elements at the top of the variable monitoring list.
Keyboard shortcut: Alt + Home.
Move up
This option lets you move all the selected elements up by one level in the variable monitoring list.
Keyboard shortcut: Alt + Up arrow.
Move down
This option lets you move all the selected elements down by one level in the variable monitoring list.
Keyboard shortcut: Alt + Down arrow.
Move down all
This option lets you group all the selected elements at the end of the variable monitoring list.
Keyboard shortcut: Alt + End.