Introduction

Script debugging is a powerful tool that may help you to understand script work and find errors if something works wrong.

To get access to debugging menu, run the script editor from the main menu: Designer > Edit Database Scripts. The debugging option will be disabled if the script editor is opened from another place.

Description

The Debug menu contains the following options:

• Start - used to run the script;
• Start Debug - used to execute the script, but the script execution stops before the first command. This option allows watching the script work step by step.
• Toggle Breakpoint - used to create or delete a breakpoint for the selected script line. While executing the script, but before running a line with a breakpoint, the program will stop so that you can check variable values or change the script execution order.
• Stop on BreakPoints - if this option is not selected, there will be no stops at breakpoints while script execution. It is convenient to disable this option if you want to see the script work in the normal mode, but you don't want to delete the created breakpoints.

Script debugging

When the script execution is stopped at a Breakpoint, or it has been executed via the Start Debug option, a debugging window will appear on the screen:

This window is similar to Script Editor, but is used for analysis of a script work. The command, before which the script has been stopped, is shown in red. Note that this command has not been executed yet.

In the left part of the window a list of local and global variables, used in the script, is shown, together with their values.

At the top of the window there is a debugging control panel:

• Continue - used to continue script execution starting with the current command.
• Next Line - used to execute the current command and stop the script for debugging. This button is useful when you need to check how the command affects variable changes.
• Skip Line - used to skip the current line and go to the next one.
• Skip Sub - used to end the current cycle or activated user function.
• Stop - used to stop script execution and return to the script editor.

Be careful using the Skip Line/Sub command in debugging. Skipping a part of the script will affect its functionality.