The debugger provides a set of views and features to inspect the
execution (including its history) of your processes and User Dialogs.
Akin to a debugger in an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) such
as Eclipse, NetBeans or VisualStudio it is possible to set breakpoints
to pause an execution, to iterate through executions step-by-step and to
examine the history and the current state of the execution in depth.
For each request to the engine the current state (i.e. the currently
executed process step) are shown and can be manipulated individually
with the following buttons on the toolbar:
Resume
Resumes the execution of the selected process/request until the end
of the process to the next breakpoint
Terminate
Terminates the execution of the selected process/request
Step Into
This can be used to step into a (callable) process element. The
current step is executed and then execution is suspended on the next
step again.
Step Over
This can be used to step over a (callable) process element. The
current step is executed and then execution is suspended on the next
step in the current process.
Step Out
This can be used to step out of the current process, the execution is
suspended again on the caller process element.
If you select a stack element then the process editor shows the process
element that is executed at this stack element. Moreover, the
Variables View will display the current values of the
process data at the process element of the selected stack element.
In this view you see the values of your process data (the in
variable) during all runs of the currently selected process element in
the process editor. The topmost tree entry shows the data of the first
execution of the selected element during the first request whereas the
entry at the bottom corresponds to the most current execution.
The following buttons on the toolbar can be used to navigate to process
elements and to configure the history:
Go to process element ()
Marks the process element in the process editor whose history is
currently displayed.
Go to next process element ()
Shows the history of the next process element.
Go to previous process element ()
Shows the history of the previous process element.
History view preferences ()
Opens the preference page with the settings for the history.
Note
In case of memory shortage during simulation or due to history
settings process data snapshots may be discarded. This is indicated
by the message “history data no longer available”.
You can configure and control the View with the toolbar and menu:
Remove Breakpoints ()
You can remove either the selected process(es) or all processes.
Show Breakpoints Supported by Selected Target ()
Shows only the breakpoints in the list which are included in the
process start under execution.
Go to File for Breakpoint ()
Opens an editor with the file containing the breakpoint or sets the
focus on the corresponding editor window.
Skip all Breakpoints ()
If set, all breakpoints are skipped.
Tip
This is helpful when you need to debug only some executions of a
process steps. You can skip the breakpoints at the beginning and
switch this button off, when the execution reaches the part you
are interested in.
Expand All / Collapse All ()
If you have grouped the breakpoints together, you can quickly expand
or collapse the whole tree
Link with Debug View ()
Links this view together with the Debug View.
Add Java Exception Breakpoint ()
Adds a breakpoint for a type of Java Exceptions, which will be used
whenever this Java Exception is thrown throughout the execution.
Warning
Use this feature only if you are familiar with the Java
programming language and its exception handling mechanism
Toolbar Menu ()
Here you can group the breakpoints according to some categories,
select whether you want to restrict the view on a specific working
set and set whether you want to see fully qualified names for
breakpoints in Java code.
This view shows a list of all variable in the context (or scope) of the
currently executed process step. You are able to examine the structure,
the types and the values of variables and it is even possible to change
the values of variables which have a simple data type (such as
String, Number, Boolean, Time, Date or
DateTime). The view is divided into a variable tree showing the
structure, value and type of each variable (including its members) and a
detail pane that displays the values for deeper examination.
Collapse the whole variable tree to its root items.
Toolbar Menu ()
Layout
You can switch on and off the detail pane, set its orientation
(vertical or horizontal) and set whether and which columns should
be displayed.
Detail pane
Setting for the size of the buffer for the detail pane, the higher
the longer values you can examine (e.g. very long strings) but the
more memory you use.
Wrap Text in Details Pane
Wrap text in details pane when it does not fit in the available
space
Popup Menu
Select All
Selects all elements in the list.
Copy Variables
Copies all selected variables into the clipboard (e.g. for use in
the Expressions View).
Find …
Allows to find a specific variable with a filter string.
Change Value …
The values of primitive Java data types may be changed here.
Changing the value may cause exceptions or introduce undesired side
effects with very weird behaviour in the continuation of the
execution. Please use this feature with precaution!
In this view you can define expressions, evaluate them and examine their
values (similar to the Variables View). In
the expression you can use all valid IvyScript operators and language
elements and at a certain point of time, only variables which are in the
scope of the currently executed process step can be evaluated.
Shows the type names of the variables in the front of the variable.
Collapse All ()
Collapse the whole expression tree to its root items.
Remove Selected Expressions / Remove All Expressions ()
You can remove either the selected or all expressions.
Toolbar Menu ()
Layout
You can switch on and off the detail pane, set its orientation
(vertical or horizontal).
Detail pane
Setting for the size of the buffer for the detail pane, the higher
the longer values you can examine (e.g. very long strings) but the
more memory you use.
Wrap Text in Details Pane
Wrap text in details pane when it does not fit in the available
space.
Popup Menu
Select All
Selects all elements in the list.
Copy Expressions
Copies all selected expressions and their state into the
clipboard.
Find …
Allows to find a specific variable with a filter string.
Add Watch Expression …
Adds a watch expression into the expression view.
Reevaluate Watch Expression
Computes the current value of the expression (e.g. if expression
reads data which was manipulated by concurrent threads).
Disable / Enable
Disables or enables the automatic evaluation of expressions when
changes occur.
The Runtime Log view displays a list of events. This events occur during
the simulation. When you start the Axon.ivy process engine, this log
view is opened by default and all entries are cleared.
The following columns are displayed in the Runtime Log view:
First narrow column without name
In this column an icon is displayed that symbolizes the type of
logged event (info / warning / error message)
Request
The request (HTTP, etc. with its ID) is displayed in which the log
message occurred.
Project
The name of the project the log event was logged in.
Element
The identifier of the process element which logged the event.
Category
The log category refers to the Axon.ivy part which has logged the
event (e.g. user_code: ivyScript by user; process: log from/during
process model execution).
The following fields are displayed in this window:
Time
Time, when the event was logged.
Request
The request (HTTP, etc. with its ID) in which the log message
occurred.
Severity
Shows how serious the logged event is (debug, info, warning, or
error).
Project
The name of the project the log event was logged.
Category
The log category refers to the Axon.ivy part which has logged the
event (e.g. user_code: ivyScript by user; process: log from/during
process model execution).
Element
The identifier of the process element which logged the event.
Message
The log message is displayed here.
Stack
If an exception was logged with the event, and it contains a stack
trace (calling hierarchy), then it is displayed here.
On the right hand side the following buttons are located:
Previous event
Clicking on this button will open the previous event of the logged
events list.
Next event
Clicking on this button will open the next event of the logged events
list.
Goto User Dialog
This button is available only if the log event contains User Dialog
information. Clicking on this button opens a new editor showing the
User Dialog which that has logged the event.
Goto process element
If you click on this button a process is opened and the process
element that has logged the event is selected.
Copy event details to clipboard
If you click on this button all log event information are copied to
clipboard.
Save Error Report
If you click on this button an error report that contains information
about the error, the designer machine and the current state of the
Axon.ivy Designer.
The Process Performance View displays process performance statistics.
This allows to analyse the performance and to detect long running and
performance intensive process elements and processes. The view contains
detailed information of each executed process element.
On the Axon.ivy Engine there is the possibility to dump out
performance statistics to a comma separated value file (.csv). Check
the Engine Guide for more information: *Monitoring > Process Element
Performance Statistic and Analysis
All time values are in milliseconds. The execution of some process
elements are separated in two categories internal and external.
Internal Category
The internal category is used for the execution time in the process
engine itself without the external execution.
External Category
The external category is used for execution time in external systems.
In the table below the process elements are listed which use the
external category.
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Previous event
Next event
Goto User Dialog
Goto process element
Copy event details to clipboard
Save Error Report
