Breakpoints

Toggling breakpoints

Line breakpoints can be set and removed as usual in Eclipse: Perform Toggle Breakpoint from the context menu of the left marker bar in an open source editor. BS2IDE will then enter the %INSERT command for you, using the proper line reference as extracted from the compiler listing. Line breakpoints are marked with a blue dot in the marker bar. (comment)

You can set breakpoints before starting debugging. Then BS2IDE will enter %INSERT commands immediately after the configured load command has been executed and before resuming execution (%RESUME) the first time. However breakpoints cannot be set for not yet loaded modules, e.g. if the application is dynamically bound and some modules will be lazily loaded.

Furthermore, breakpoints cannot be set for any line in a source. In most cases it is not known in advance where breakpoints can be set. AID will reject %INSERT commands for inappropriate lines, and only at that time you will get informed that this line is inappropriate for setting breakpoints. If AID accepts %INSERT for one of the 5 following lines, the breakpoint will be shifted to this line. Otherwise the breakpoint will be disabled.

Configuring breakpoints

When you start a debug session, you can get a list of the currently defined breakpoints in the Breakpoints View (

Window > Show View > Other... > Debug > Breakpoints) where you can enable, disable or remove one or all breakpoints. If you mark a breakpoint, the detail pane contain some information about the breakpoint:

(Optional) custom name of a Breakpoint
source file and line number of a Line Breakpoint or
source file and variable of a BS2000 Watchpoint or
event type (and event code) of an Event Breakpoint and
the aid command BS2IDE set for this breakpoint
the button Edit Breakpoint Properties which leads you to the Breakpoint Properties Page

Breakpoint Property Page

On the Breakpoint Property Page you can configure the specified breakpoint as follows:

You can specify the custom name of the breakpoint, which will be only visible in Eclipse Breakpoints view (since version 2.17 value is passed to AID)
You can enable or disable the breakpoint with the Enabled checkbox
By default the breakpoint is configured as type simple breakpoint
You can choose one of the other types of breakpoint: Hit count, Conditional or Free form AID sub command

For Hit count you must insert a number n. Then the program is only stopped at this breakpoint when it was hit for n times.

For Conditional You must insert an aid condition into the condition field. The program is stopped at this breakpoint if the condition is true. (Sample: COUNTER EQ 354)

For Free form AID sub command You must insert an aid sub command surrounded with angle brackets, which is executed when the program is stopped at this breakpoint. (Sample: <TEST: (COUNTER EQ 354): %SET 500 INTO COUNTER>)

BS2000 Watchpoints

A BS2000 Watchpoint (short name for BS2000 Watch Breakpoint) is a special breakpoint that interrupts the BS2000 application whenever the content of a BS2000 variable is modified. It can be defined for a BS2000 variable within the Variables view or within the Expressions view by selecting the related variable and activating the context menu command Toggle BS2000 Watchpoint. If it already exists for the related variable the BS2000 Watchpoint will be removed.

If expression in Expression View cannot be evaluated (debuged program doesn't stop at breakpoint or variable doesn't exist in this context), menu command "Toggle BS2000 Watchpoint" is disabled.

The BS2000 Watchpoint mechanism is realized using the AID command %ON %WRITE. AID only allows one active %ON %WRITE command at a time. Thus, if a second BS2000 Watchpoint is defined for the same application, the currently active one will be disabled and the new one is becoming the active BS2000 Watchpoint for that application.

The BS2000 Watchpoints are displayed in the Breakpoints view together with the common breakpoints. They are marked with . As common breakpoints, defined BS2000 Watchpoints are stored by Eclipse, so that they are available in future Eclipse sessions. In contrast to a common breakpoint, a BS2000 Watchpoint can only be set inside the context of its specific stack frame.

Thus, all BS2000 Watchpoints defined for an application will be disabled automatically when the debug session for that application starts. A BS2000 Watchpoint can then be enabled by the user within the Breakpoints view when the program is suspended and the top-level stack frame is sufficient for that BS2000 Watchpoint.

Event Breakpoints

An Event Breakpoint is a special breakpoint that interrupts the BS2000 application whenever a special event occurred. Event breakpoints are displayed in the Breakpoints view together with the common breakpoints. They are marked with

. As common breakpoints, defined Event Breakpoints are stored by Eclipse, so that they are available in future Eclipse sessions. They can be defined within the Breakpoints view by clicking

(Add BS2000 Event Breakpoint) or pressing CTRL+ALT+E.

With the BS2000 Event Breakpoint Property Page you can configure an Event Breakpoint. The drop down menu for Event Type offers all event types that are supported in BS2IDE. For some event types you can specify an Event Code as offered in the drop down menu. For the event types SVC and ERRFLG it is also possible to define the event code as numeric value according to the AID syntax. For LPOV you can specify the name of a load module. Additionally you can configure the Event Breakpoint like common breakpoints (see Breakpoint Property Page).

The Event Breakpoint mechanism is realized using the AID command %ON <event>. For detailed information see

AID "Core Manual", chapter 10.13 "Event for %ON" for possible event types and term modes (event codes of event type %TERM)
AID user guide "Debugging Cobol Programs", AID Command %ON and
BS2000 user guide "Executive Macros", Macro "STXIT" for interrupt weights (event codes of event type %ERRFLG)
BS2000 user guide "Executive Macros", Appendix for SVC numbers (event codes of event type %SVC)

If an Event Breakpoint (without event code specified) is disabled, all specific Event Breakpoints of the same event type are disabled too. When re-enabling the unspecified Event Breakpoint, they are enabled too.

Showing the reached location

When an application is suspended, e.g. since a breakpoint is reached, the current location is shown in a source editor. This can only be done if the source is available, has been compiled during a build of the project, and symbolic information is available and has been loaded (check the %SYMLIB command in the debug configuration, see Run and Debug Configurations).

The Debug view shows the current call stack. Double-clicking an entry in the call stack also shows the location in a source editor.

Exporting and Importing Breakpoints

Exporting

To export breakpoints, open context menu of one breakpoint in the Breakpoints View and choose Export Breakpoints...:

(Alternatively you can select menu File > Export > Run/Debug > Breakpoints)

In the next window select which breakpoints should be exported and the target file:

Importing

Importing breakpoints can be done in similar way as exporting, by either selecting context menu of one breakpoint and choosing option Import Breakpoints... or menu File > Import .

In the next window select exported breakpoints file and optionally you can select to update existing breakpoints (if any):

If you click Finish, all breakpoints from this file will be imported.

If you click Next, you can select which breakpoints should be imported, but due to the Eclipse issue, all breakpoints from the export file might be duplicated after restarting Eclipse.