ooRexx Debugger Files

Release 1.33 - Bug fixes and enhancements

The main work in this release has been to improve the logging in the console window. Many of these enhancements apply across the board but some may not apply when using direct launch, just when launching from rexxdebugger

• All messages from the debugger (should) include the prefix <-> which is defined as a constant so it can easily be changed in one place if needed

• Syntax errors along with runtime errors during pre-main code (e.g. in class initializers) will now be logged rather than replacing the contents of the source window

• If a debugged program returns a value on exit / return this will be logged and the result displayed if it is a string.

• When a conditional breakpoint is hit and the condition is satisifed causing a break this event is logged

• All debug session start events, along with session end events, whether normal or due to an error or user exit are logged

There have additionally been some fixes and minor enhancements as follows

• An inifinite error loop caused by using the ::OPTIONS NOVALUE SYNTAX directive in debugged programs has been fixed

• Conditional breakpoints will always break if they are hit by an automatic break request

• Some small performance improvements have been made to the code which receives all trace output and to the main processing loop which determines when to pause the debugged program.

• Incorrect ordering of "auto breakpoint" log messages in the Windows UI have been fixed

• Some typos in the readme have been addressed

Older releases are detailed below

Release 1.32 - Usability enhancements

• In this release the ability to set conditional breakpoints has been added. This can be done whenever the selected row in the source view already has a breakpoint set. Right-clicking anywhere in the source view will activate the Breakpoint Settings context menu, which can be used to show a dialog where the breakpoint can be modified to either break always (the default), or only when a specified Rexx expression (e.g. x=5) evaluates to true.

Release 1.31 - Usability fixes and enhancements

• Methods for initializing classes such as activate or (class) init can now be stepped through when debugging programs launched from within the rexxdebugger application. In previous releases it was necessary to modify the code to add debugging directives and launch the program directly in order to do this

• For programs launched within the rexxdebugger application there is better reporting of unhandled runtime errors and it is now possible to reuse the debugging session when such errors occur

Release 1.30 - Usability and performance enhancements

• The README.md documentation has been rewritten to improve clarity and reflect new features added
• A file finder has been added to the New Debug Session dialog, with a filter for several known Rexx file types
• The performance when logging output to the debugger console window has been dramatically improved
• The rexxdebugger shell script for Linux now supports MacOS so "rexxdebugger" can be run on any platform to start a debug session
• On MacOS the debugger window no longer automatically closes at the end of every debug session (*)
• An issue with the main window sometimes disappearing behind another window when using the New Debug Session dialog has been addressed
• There are better checks for an active debugging session when the closing the main window
• Some regressions for self-debugging programs caused by the addition of the New Debug Session dialog have been identified and fixed
• Compatibility checks have been carried out with bsf4oorexx version 641 and this version is now supported

(*) This only applies to debug sessions launched with the rexxdebugger command. For programs run directly having been modified to launch the debugger themselves, the debugger window will still close when the program ends

Release 1.29 - Usability enhancements

The main enhancement in this release is that when the rexxdebugger command is used to launch the debugger there is now an Open button that can be used to start a debug session. This button is enabled before a program has been selected for debugging and after it has finished running i.e. whenever there is no active debug session. This makes it easy to get started without knowing the command line and also possible to run additional debug sessions, with the understanding that file handles, resources etc that were not released in a previous session may still be open in the new session. File find dialogs are not yet available in the Open dialog but may be added in a future release.

The following enhancements are also included:

• If there is an error when attempting to start a debug session for a specific Rexx program the debugger will now be launched with the error detail shown in the source list as well as in any command prompt/terminal
• The source list is no longer disabled when it is displaying informational or error text
• The name of the active source file is now displayed at the top of the main dialog
• Copy of the row selected in the various list boxes with the usual keyboard shortcuts has been added to the ooDialog UI. This was already possible with the Java IU

Release 1.28 - Fixes, enhancements and some code refactoring

In this release some refactoring of the UI code (mostly for lists) has been carried out to make the Windows and Java code UI more similar. This should make future UI enhancements more straightforward but please look out for any regressions.

The following enhancements have made been made to Watch windows:

• The .Local and .Environment collections have been added so that they are readily accessible
• The initial size has been increased but the windows can be resized to the previous minimum size if needed
• Expandable items are indicated with a plus (+) sign
• Windows for nested watch items have titles starting with the name of the item followed by the containing ones

The following changes have also been made:

• Multiple command line switches for RexxDebugger e.g. /JAVAUI etc can now be specified in any order
• Filename case and quoting for non-Windows platforms should now be correct
• Memory consumption / turnover should be lower when large amounts of data are being sent to the console output window
• Some code switches have been added to the Java UI to assist with troubleshooting a reported TRACE instability issue in ooRexx 5.1

Release version 1.27 - Fixes and enhancements

This release includes the following fixes and usability enhancements for the debugger:

• Fix regression where the presence of the ooDialog UI library was not being checked on Windows
• Improvements to threading code to improve stability
• On Windows allow the default ooDialog UI to be overridden with a ::REQUIRES statement in code or a new /JAVAUI command line option.
• (Development) Changes to permit most of the RexxDebugger and UI library code to be traced if required for troubleshooting purposes

NOTE: Some stability issues (occasional crashes or hangs) have been observed with ooRexx 5.1 when running the cross platform Java interface. These issues are believed to predate this debugger version as they have been seen occasionally with earlier releases but have been most commonly observed during this release cycle in sessions where debugger tracing has been activated. They will continue to be investigated.

Release version 1.26 - Fixes and enhancements

This release includes the following fixes and usability enhancements for the 1.2 release:

• Fix a debugger failure when attempting to switch between source files in the cross platform interface
• Add the ability to launch and debug Rexx programs with a "#!" as their first line e.g. some of the ooRexx samples
• Allow the cross platform interface to be forced on Windows with a ::REQUIRES statement in the source code
• Allow capture of some (not trace or error output) when the debugger has been modified to generate trace output for itself
• Ensure that any .TraceObject~option for formatting trace output (N,T,S,F) is respected.
• Change the main dialog title to say ooRexx, and for the Windows version add an indicator for the UI version
• Add /NOCAPTURE command line option to leave all output with the traced program's console
• Add NOCAPTURE debugger command to stop capturing output and return it to the traced program's console
• Change the behaviour of the Next button when there is a debugger command in the entryfield to ignore the command and carry out a single step
• Add HELP debugger command

Release Version 1.250 - Support for ooRexx 5.1

This release adds support for ooRexx 5.1 with the inclusion of a fix for an issue related to tracing enhancements in 5.1 that could cause crashes in a variety of scenarios.

Release version 1.203 - Maintenance for the cross platform 1.200 release

This is a maintenance release for the 1.200 cross platform release described below. Changes in this release are as follows:

• Fixed the text on the Exec button (incorrectly showing as Next) for the cross platform interface
• Removed erroneous 'Event Double Clicked' messages showing up in the debug output of the cross platform interface
• Fixed an issue where manual breakpoint setting on lines in the cross platform interface was not detecting if the line started with a comment
• Fixed an incorrect comment indicator in the Help text
• Moved copyright information in the tutorial because having this at the top of the file meant that the line number references were wrong
• Added notes to the README regarding Mac OS support

Release version 1.200

This release adds full cross platform support (with the minor exception of initial debugger window placement) for environments with an installed Java JRE/JDK supporting Swing + AWT and where BSF4ooRexx version 850 has been installed along with ooRexx 5.0. The existing ooDialog interface for Windows is retained as the default for that platform.

A minor enhancement to the Windows/ooDialog version in this release is expandability of StringTable objects in Watch windows if ooRexx 5.0 or later is being used. This is also included in the cross platform interface which should always be running ooRexx 5.0 or later.

There are some deployment changes compared to the 1.0x release and on Windows to use the standard ooDialog user interface, RexxDebuggerWINUI.rex must be installed in addition to RexxDebugger.rex

The cross platform interface requires RexxDebuggerBSFUI.rex to be installed in addition to RexxDebugger.rex, with a convenience bash script rexxdebugger available for platforms such as Linux. See the README.md file for more information

Note! There have been structural changes to the code Windows/ooDialog interface to support the cross platform interface so release 1.007 should be used if serious problems are found in this release.