Debugging basics | Adobe Developer Connection

Part 1: Debugging basics | Adobe Developer Connection

Debugging is the process of finding and fixing bugs, or problems, in your application. Debugging is often a difficult and frustrating task but it can be greatly facilitated with the use of a debugger, a software tool that enables you to monitor and control the execution of the program, step through your code, and monitor and change the values of variables.

Flash Builder 4 beta has a built-in debugger and debugging perspective that you will learn to use in this three-part tutorial series.

In Part 1, you will:

• Import the ending project and see how the application should work.
• Import the starting project and review the code for the initial, broken Flex drawing application.
• View runtime error messages in the debugger version of Flash Player and in the Flash Builder Console view.
• Use trace() to output debugging information in the Console view.

In Part 2, you will:

• Use breakpoints to halt code execution when a specific line of code is reached.
• Use new conditional breakpoints.
• Use the Breakpoints view to manage breakpoints.
• Control code execution by suspending, resuming, and terminating the application.
• Step through code using the Step Into, Step Over, and Step Return commands.

In Part 3, you will:

• Use the Variables view to inspect the values of variables.
• Change the values of variables during a debug session to test fixes.
• Use the Expressions view to watch the values of specific variables and expressions.
• Use new watchpoints to halt code execution when the value of a specific variable changes.
• Break out of loops and jump to lines of code using the new Run to Line command.