Debug Service FAQ

Table of Contents

1. What does the debug service have to offer?
2. How do I remove the debug code from the production release?

What does the debug service have to offer?

Debug Service provides the following features:

• Debug messages can be logged and displayed later in a popup window.
• Allows easy debugging of events where debugger is too intrusive.
• Used by the message router to signal that the sent message was discarded.

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How do I remove the debug code from the production release?

Powersoft documentation recommends using the debug service only during development. There are couple of different ways to eliminate the debug service calls from the production version of the application. First one is never to instantiate the debug service in production code. IsValid() function call should be added before each call to debug service.

IF IsValid(gnv_app.inv_debug) THEN
	gnv_app.inv_debug.of_message("Three lines of code&
	to display a single message! ")
END IF

Second method involves adding a special comment marking the debug code section:

//@debugstart
IF IsValid(gnv_app.inv_debug) THEN
	gnv_app.inv_debug.of_message("Oh great!&
	Now it takes five lines! ")
END IF
//@debugend 

Later a utility can be written to remove all the code between the marker comments.

The final method takes advantage of the "conditional compile" behavior of the IF statement:

IF FALSE THEN
	... The code here will be optimizes out by the compiler
END IF

This behavior remains the same when the "false" literal is replaced by a constant variable.

IF CON.IB_DEVELOPMENT THEN
	IF IsValid(gnv_app.inv_debug) THEN
		gnv_app.inv_debug.of_message("Cool trick,&
		but it's still five @#!% lines! ")
	END IF
END IF

---

Finally to satisfy our agitated programmer all of this could be encapsulated in an n_cst_appmanager function:

public function integer of_debugmsg (string as_debugmsg);

IF CON.IB_DEVELOPMENT THEN
	IF IsValid(inv_debug) THEN
		return inv_debug.of_message(as_debugmsg)
	ELSE
		return -1
	END IF
END IF

return 1

To add a debug message to the log from anywhere in the application: 

gnv_app.of_debugmsg("Now that's much better!")

 

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Contributed by PFCGuide staff, except where noted otherwise.
PFCGuide is sponsored by Dynamic Technology Group.
The information provided is for advice only and not to be considered a contract or a liability against Dynamic Technology Group.

Last revised: February 15, 2004 03:58 AM.