Working in debug mode

In debug mode, you can use several options to examine your processes and find out error cases and identify critical conditions.

To use the debug options:

  1. Load the process. You can load an existing process from an application database of the farm to which you are connected. Alternatively, load a process file from a folder.
  2. In debug mode, use breakpoints to check your processes. Breakpoints interrupt the execution of a process at a certain statement. To insert a breakpoint, set the cursor in a code line and press SHIFT+F9 or click the left hand side of the line number.
    A brown bullet shows that you have inserted a breakpoint. The background of the code line is changed to brown. To remove the breakpoint, set the cursor in the marked code line. Press SHIFT+F9 or click again on the left hand side of the line number. To remove all breakpoints from the process, select Debug > Delete All Breakpoints from the menu.
  3. Click Test Process on the toolbar or select Tools > Test Process from the menu, to start the test mode.
    If any compiler messages are displayed after you click Test Process, then the Errors tab is activated on the right side.
  4. On the Parameters tab, in the pane on the right side, parameters of the process and their types are shown. If defined, these parameters must be passed to the process. In test mode, the Parameters tab is activated and you can specify parameter test values. For each parameter, you must specify a test value. To specify a test value, click the cell in the Values column.
    Note: You can predefine default parameter values in the Process Editor before you start running or debugging a process. Use the ParameterDebuggerValue statement to predefine the default parameter values. They are automatically displayed on the Parameters tab of the loaded process after you click Test Process. The ParameterDebuggerValue statement is a part of a process, but the values are used only for running or debugging a process from the full client.
  5. On the Watch tab, in the pane on the right side, you can specify the variables of the process that you want to inspect. To specify a variable, click the cell in the Variable column.
  6. To start the debug mode, select Debug > Start Debugging from the menu or click Start Debugging on the toolbar.
    The process is executed until the first breakpoint. The execution is paused at the line of the breakpoint. The next statement to execute is highlighted yellow.
    If you click Run or Start Debugging on the toolbar, then the Output tab is activated and you can see messages or an output from the process.
  7. To jump to the next breakpoint in the process, select Debug > Continue from the menu.
    The cursor jumps to the next breakpoint. The process is resumed and executed until the next breakpoint.
  8. To jump to the next defined statement in the process, select Debug > Step Over from the menu.
    The cursor jumps to the next statement, which is highlighted yellow. The highlighted statement is executed and the process pauses before the next statement.
  9. To stop debugging the process, select Debug > Stop Debugging from the menu.