Debugging your application

After you enabled the debugger in the ColdFusion Administrator and configured the debugger in ColdFusion Builder, you can debug projects in ColdFusion Builder.

    Create or edit launch configurations

    When you debug a project in your application, ColdFusion Builder creates a project-specific launch configuration for the first time that you debug. The launch configuration automatically defines a project name (based on the project that you are debugging), main application file, and the path to debug the application.

    Launch configurations are managed through the Create, Manage, and Run Configurations dialog box.

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    Debug configuration

    You can edit the default launch configuration that ColdFusion Builder creates.

    1. Select the project to debug in the Navigator view.

    2. You can access the launch configuration in the following ways:

      • Select Run > Debug or Run > Debug Configurations

      • Select in the workbench toolbar.

      • Right-click the project and select Debug As > Debug Configurations.

    3. Select the launch configuration to edit in the Debug Configurations dialog box.

      You can also create a launch configuration or base a new configuration on an existing configuration.

    4. Click the Perspectives link to modify the launch configuration preferences, as required.

    Run the application

    Run the application that you want to debug before setting any breakpoints. Running the application before debugging compiles the application and improves performance during debugging.

    1. Select the project to run in the Navigator view.

    2. Select or modify the Run configuration using the Run Configurations dialog box. You can access this dialog box in the following ways:

      • Select Run > Run configurations.

      • Right-click the project and select Run As > Run Configurations.

    3. Select the configuration to run or modify, if necessary.

    4. Click Run.

    The application is run in your computer’s default browser. To specify a different external browser, do as follows:

    • (Windows) Right-click the project and select Properties. Go to ColdFusion Server Settings, and select a a web browser installed on your computer.

    • (Mac) In the Preferences dialog box, select General > Web Browser, and select a web browser installed on your computer.

    Set and remove breakpoints

    You use breakpoints to control the running of your application so you can inspect your code and debug your application. You add breakpoints in the code editor and then manage them in the Breakpoints view. You can also set breakpoints as you write code or while you debug.

    For more information about managing breakpoints using the Breakpoints view, see Breakpoints view.

    ColdFusion breakpoints

    ColdFusion breakpoints have the following four states in the ColdFusion debugger:

    Enabled and Valid
    This state indicates that the breakpoint is at a valid location. The breakpoint appears as a solid blue circle in the left margin of the CFML Editor. Code execution stops when this breakpoint is encountered.

    Unresolved
    ColdFusion sets the breakpoint for the page that is loaded in its memory. If you modify the page and do not run it, the source is no longer in sync with the page on the server. In this situation, ColdFusion sometimes does not know whether the line where you want to set the breakpoint is valid. A question mark (?) represents this type of breakpoint.

    Invalid
    If ColdFusion determines that the CFML that you are editing in ColdFusion Builder is the same as the CFML in its memory, and that the breakpoint you have set is at an invalid line, the breakpoint appears as a red X.

    Disabled
    This state indicates that the breakpoint is disabled.

    Set a breakpoint in the code editor

    1. Open the ColdFusion Builder project that contains the code in which you want to set breakpoints.

    2. Locate the line of code where you want to set a breakpoint, and do one of the following:

      • Double-click in the marker bar along the left-edge of the editor.

      • Select Run > Toggle Breakpoint or Run > Toggle Line Breakpoint.

        Note: Toggle Method Breakpoint and Toggle Watchpoint are not supported in ColdFusion Builder.

    3. You can set breakpoints in your CFML file to stop executing the page at particular points. When you set a breakpoint on a line, the CFML stops executing just before that line. For example, if you set a breakpoint on the third line in the following CFML page, execution stops before <cfset myName = "Wilson">.

      <cfset yourName = "Tuckerman"> 
<cfoutput>Your name is #yourName#.</cfoutput> 
<cfset myName = "Wilson"

    A blue dot appears before the line on which you set the breakpoint.

    You can also view a list of breakpoints set in the current project in the Breakpoints view of the ColdFusion Builder Debugging perspective.

    Skip all breakpoints in the code editor

    After setting breakpoints in your code, you can ignore all breakpoints at the time of debugging.

    1. Open the ColdFusion Builder project that contains the code with breakpoints.

    2. In the Breakpoints view toolbar, select Skip All Breakpoints.

    Remove a breakpoint in the code editor

     In the marker bar along the left-edge of the editor, double-click an existing breakpoint.

    The breakpoint is removed from the marker bar and the Breakpoints view of the ColdFusion Builder Debugging perspective.

    To remove all the breakpoints in the file, select Run > Remove all Breakpoints from the main toolbar menu.

    Start a debugging session

    1. In the Navigator view, select the project or file to debug.

    2. You can start the debugging session in the following ways:

      • Select Run > Debug

      • Click in the workbench toolbar.

      • Right-click the project and select Debug As > ColdFusion Application.

    The Debug launch configuration is automatically created and launched.

    Note: If you are debugging a page and then try to browse to or refresh that page, it can result in unexpected behavior in the Debugger.

    Manage the debugging session

    Use the Debug view to control the debugging of the application, to suspend, resume, or terminate the application, or to step into or over code.

    For information about the various views in the ColdFusion Debug perspective, see ColdFusion Debugging perspective.

    Run code line by line

    You can use the Step Into, Step Over, and Step Return buttons to proceed through your CFML application line by line.

    For the stepping process to work properly, clear the cache of compiled classes. To do so, recompile all CFML pages compiled with an earlier version of ColdFusion.

    In large files, you sometimes find that stepping and breakpoints are slow. To improve performance, do the following:

    1. In ColdFusion Builder, select Windows > Preferences.

    2. In the tree view, select ColdFusion > Debug Settings

    3. Deselect all scopes for which you do not require information.

    Step Into

    Use Step Into for UDFs, CFCs, custom tags, and included files.

    Avoid using Step Into on CFML tags such as the cfset tag. Step Into is more performance intensive than Step Over.

    When stepping into functions, tags, and files, the file must be displayed in one of the open projects. The file that you are stepping in must be in an open project.

    Step Over

    Use Step Over to proceed through your CFML application, bypassing included files, such as UDFs or CFCs.

    Step Return

    Use Step Return to return to the original page from which you entered the included file, such as UDFs or CFCs.

    Inspect variables

    As you run CFML code, you can see the values and scope of variables in the Variables view. Only variables whose scopes are what you selected in the Preferences dialog box appear in the Variables view. For more information about using the Variables view, see Variables view.

    Watch expressions

    Watch expressions are useful to watch critical variables that sometimes go out of scope when you step into a different function. You can create your own expressions to watch and evaluate. You can modify the expressions during the debugging session.

    You can do the following in the Expressions view:

    • Create a watch expression by right-clicking and selecting Add Watch Expression. You can then enter the expression in the Add Watch Expression dialog box.

    • Ignore a watch expression that you’ve added by right-clicking the expression and selecting Disable.

    • Edit a watch expression by right-clicking the expression and selecting Edit Watch Expression. You can then modify the expression.

    For more information about using the Expressions view, see Expressions view.