Microsoft Script Debugger

August 10, 2004 2:02 PM

Microsoft Script Debugger - Has anyone actually gotten this thing to work properly? I've got some JavaScript (that I didn't write) that is completely bisbehaving in IE (although it produces no errors...it works fine in FireFox, so my usual line of attack doesn't work). I've used the View | Script Debugger | Break at Next Statement and then refreshed the page. It opens the debugger app but doesn't open any source files and it most certainly doesn't break. Has anyone seen this behavior and overcome it?
posted by mmascolino to computers & internet (4 answers total)

Has anyone actually gotten this thing to work properly?

No. If you have a version of Mozilla available, take a look in that. The JavaScript console (under Tools) will give you actual meaningful feedback (as opposed to "Line 1: Object Expected"). If that's not enough, you can add on the Venkman Debugger to versions of Moz. I know you're trying to debug an IE issue, but this is my advice as someone who's spent hundreds of hours debugging JavaScript. IE and it's debugger are worse than useless.
posted by yerfatma at 2:38 PM on August 10, 2004

Agreed, MS Script debugger is often worse than useless - it has led me down a number of dead-ends before, or worse, just given me a blank stare - sounds like what you get. Try venkman, or line-by-line hand-tweaking, They will lead you to the root cause.
posted by kokogiak at 9:51 PM on August 10, 2004

I just re-read the question and realize the Firefox debugger won't help if it doesn't break in Moz. Venkman might be some help. Otherwise it's a question of how well-written the JS currently is. If it's shitty, like a bunch of spaghetti code, you might spend some time turning it into functions/ classes (not sure if it's big enough to warrant that) to try to lock down where the problem is occurring and then work from there. Plus it'll be easier to fix/ maintain once you find the problem.
posted by yerfatma at 4:22 AM on August 11, 2004

Thanks for the suggestions. Before I lost all my hair, I tried doing a magic reboot and the debugger actually works (although to say that it is easy to use or useful would be an understatement).
posted by mmascolino at 6:36 AM on August 11, 2004