Examine suspended program

Filter out library frames

The Frames tab displays both the frames that come from libraries (by default, highlighted in yellow) and the frames from your source code. If the library frames distract you from the debugging process, you can hide them.

• To hide/show library frames, click on the toolbar:

Copy stack to clipboard

• To copy the call stack for the current thread, right-click anywhere on the Frames tab and select Copy Stack.

Copy variables

When examining variables, you may need to copy a variable name or value to paste it somewhere else or to compare it with another variable.

• To copy the value that a variable holds, right-click the variable and select Copy Value ⌃ C. For types other than String, the description representation is copied.

• To copy the name of a variable, right-click the variable and select Copy Name.

Compare variables with clipboard

When you need to compare a variable value with some other value, use the Compare Value with Clipboard option. This is helpful, for example, when a variable holds a long string, and you need to compare it with another long string.

1. Copy the content you are going to compare (for example, from a text file).

2. In the Variables tab, right-click the variable which you are going to compare with and select Compare Value with Clipboard.

3. Examine the differences in the Diff Viewer that opens. For additional information on how to efficiently use the Diff Viewer, refer to the Comparing Files and Folders topic.

View variables in a dedicated dialog

AppCode allows you to inspect variables in a dedicated dialog. This is useful when you need to keep track of some variable (or the object whose reference it holds) and at the same time be able to navigate between frames and threads.

• Right-click a variable on the Variables tab and select Inspect.

  

Set variable values

If there is a need to test how the program would behave in certain conditions or fix its current behavior at runtime, you can do that by setting/changing the variable values.

1. Right-click a variable on the Variables tab and select Set Value, or select the variable and press F2.

2. Enter the value for the variable and press ⏎.

   

Alternatively, you can set a variable value using the inline hint popup. Click the hint that corresponds to the desired variable, expand the tree if required, and select Set Value:

Navigate to source code

If you need to look into the source code where some variable or class is declared, you can move there right from the Variables tab.

• To navigate to the code where the variable is declared, right-click a variable and select Jump to Source F4.

  To open the variable source code in a new window, press F4.

Mute variables

When stepping through the programm, the variable values are recalculated on every step and shown in the Variables tab of the Debug tool window and inline in the editor. This may cause performance degradation, especially in case of large structures or arrays. To avoid unnecessary calculations and improve the stepping performance, you can mute variables and load thier values only when needed.

• To mute variables, in the Debug tool window, go to the Variables tab, right-click inside the tab and select Mute Variables.

• To unmute variables, deselect Mute Variables from the context menu of the Variables tab.

• To load the value of a variable when variables are muted, click Load next to this variable on the Variables tab:

  

  The value will be calculated for the current step only.

Show hexadecimal values for numerical variables

For numerical variables of integer types, you can examine hexadecimal representation instead or alongside the original formatting.

1. Go to Preferences | Build, Execution, Deployment | Debugger | Data Views | Objective-C.

2. Select the Show integers as hex values checkbox. If you want to have the hex values alongside the original ones, select Display alongside the original value.

   

The hexadecimal formatting will be shown both on the Variables tab of the Debug tool window and in the editor's inline variables view.

Add an Inline Watch

If you want the result of some expression to appear on a particular line, you can set up an inline watch for that. Inline watches are persistent and remain active after session restart.

1. Click the inline hint referring to the object whose field you want to track.

2. In the popup, select the field and click Add as Inline Watch.

   

3. Fine-tune the watch if needed. You can use any valid expression as a watch.

   

Inline watches you set in the editor are also shown under Inline Watches in the Variables tab of the Debug tool window:

To remove an inline watch, hover over the watch and click the cross near it.

Show the Watches tab

1. Click in the top right corner of the Debugger tool window.

2. Select Watches in the list that opens.

Add a watch

1. Click New Watch on the Watches tab.

2. Enter the variable or expression to be evaluated. In expressions, you can evaluate method calls, lambdas declare variables, and so on, as long as this is in the local context.

   

After you have added a variable/expression to Watches, it stays there and is evaluated for each step, providing you with the result in the current context.

Edit a watch

• Right-click the desired watch and select Edit.

Copy a watch

1. Select the watch you are going to copy.

2. Click Duplicate Watch on the Watches tab or press ⌃ D.

Change the order of watches

For convenience, you can change the order in which the watches appear on the Watches tab.

• Use the Move Watch Up/Move Watch Down buttons on the Watches tab or ⌥ ⇧ ↑ and ⌥ ⇧ ↓ keyboard shortcuts.

Delete a watch

• To remove a single watch, right-click it and select Remove Watch ⌦ on the Watches tab.

• To remove all watches, right-click anywhere on the Watches tab and select Remove All Watches.

Do one of the following:

• From the main menu, select Run | Debugging Actions | Show Execution Point.

• Press ⌥ F10.

• Click on the stepping toolbar of the Debug tool window.