Ladebug GUI FAQ
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ladebug support
GUI Questions
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How do I change fonts?
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Can I put the debugger output area in its own window?
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I closed the Source Viewer Panel. How do I get it back?
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How do I resize panels?
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Why are + and - buttons used instead of window shade controls to resize panels?
- How do I get the best known fonts and window sizes for the window system I display the GUI on?
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How can I retain my main window size?
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How do I turn off tool tips?
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How do I set breakpoints using the GUI?
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Why does the GUI beep when I type in a command?
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What are the F2 and F3 buttons in the Source Viewer?
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How do I graphically view an array?
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I'm debugging a multithreaded application and have multiple Source
Viewers displayed. When I print from the command input area, I don't get
the result I expect. Why?
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I get the message "Error: Can't open display:" when I try to run
the debugger. What's wrong?
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When typing in the GUI, the backspace key doesn't work as expected.
How can I fix this?
You can choose specific fonts for areas of the GUI; for example, you
can choose a font to be used in the Source Viewer content
area or the Debugger Output area. Be aware, however, that the chosen
font may not work across platforms. To change the font, perform
the following steps:
- Choose Edit->Preferences from the menu bar in the main window.
- In the preferences dialog, choose the Fonts radio button.
- Click on the Browse button next to the text field for the font that
you want to change (for example, Source viewer font, or
Debugger output font). A font selection dialog appears in which you
can choose the font.
- Click on Apply in the preferences dialog. The Source Viewer and/or
Debugger Output Area currently displayed will be updated with the chosen font.
- You may need to do this several times until you get a
font that looks good on your display platform.
- When you find one, click on Cancel to remove the dialog.
Note that you could have clicked on OK in step 5, but if the font wasn't
what you wanted, you would have to start at step 1.
The preferences dialog modifies an X resource file called
~/ladebugresource.
The debugger output area (and the command line input area) can be put in a separate
window. To do this, perform the following steps:
- Choose Edit->Preferences from the menu bar in the main window.
- In the preferences dialog choose the Panels radio button.
- Choose Debugger Output from the option menu (a widget like a combo box).
- Check the box that says "Always create panel in new window" and
click on OK or Apply.
- Close the Debugger Output Panel under the Source Viewer Panel (click on the X
button in the top left corner of the panel).
- Choose View->Debugger Output from the main window. The Debugger Output Panel
now displays in its own window.
Choose View->Current Source from the menu bar in the window.
There are two ways to resize a panel:
- If the panel is in its own dialog, you can simply stretch the window.
- If the panel is within the main window, there are buttons with + and - on them. These buttons will increment or decrement the height of the widget they are near (typically lists or text output areas). The width can always be changed by stretching the window.
The GUI uses the Motif widget set. Implementation issues prevent us from taking advantage of the window shade controls that are in Motif. Specifically, the use of window shade controls require that the panels be pre-built before being displayed. Our implementation relies on run-time building of panels. Major rework of the layout management software would be necessary to allow the use of window shades.
Many panels that make use of these controls have preferences you can use to change the preferred height, as follows:
- Size the Source Viewer, stack frames list, and/or the Debugger Output Panel using the +
and - buttons.
- Choose Edit->Preferences from the menu bar in the main window.
- In the preferences dialog, choose the Panels radio button.
- The Debugger Output and the Source Viewer options should already reflect the settings you chose.
- Click on OK or Apply.
By default the GUI tries to use the best known fonts and window sizes for Tru64 (Motif). However,
if you are displaying to a Linux system, or through eXcursion, for example, the fonts and window
sizes may not be optimal. To select the best known fonts and window sizes for a particular
"windowing system":
- Choose Edit->Preferences from the menu bar in the main window.
- In the General pane (it should already be visible), you will see an option menu labeled
Window System Settings. It should be set to As is, which indicates the current settings.
- You can choose another window system (Linux, ReflectionX, Exceed, eXcursion, or Tru64). When a
different setting is chosen, fonts and/or window sizes may be changed in some of the other panes.
- Click on OK or Apply. The main window will reflect the changes in font and/or window size. Remember that you can
further tailor your settings by choosing the other radio buttons and changing the settings in those panes.
- Size the main window to the desired width and height. Position the window where you want it to
initially be displayed.
- Choose Edit->Preferences from the menu bar in the main window.
- Choose the Windows radio button. The window position, size, and height you
resized/moved to should be reflected.
- If you want the window position to be saved, you must check the toggle that says
"Set position of main window"
- Click on OK or Apply.
- Choose Edit->Preferences from the menu bar in the main window.
- Choose the General radio button (it may already be selected).
- Clear the toggle that says "Enable tool tips".
There are two ways to set breakpoints through the GUI:
- Click on the breakpoint buttons in the Source Viewer.
- Use the breakpoint creation wizard.
There are two ways to access the breakpoint creation wizard:
- Choose File->New Breakpoint to display the wizard.
- Choose View->Breakpoints to display existing breakpoints. When
that dialog appears, click on the New button to display the wizard.
This only happens when running the debugger under eXcursion. At this time, the reason is undetermined.
The F2 and F3 buttons are "free" buttons that you can customize. For example, enter the
following commands in your .ladebugrc or .dbxinit file, or
on the command line:
alias F2 "print *"
alias F3 "whatis"
Now you can choose a pointer variable in your Source Viewer, click on F2, and the GUI will execute
print * on the selection.
Only two-dimensional numeric arrays can be graphically viewed at this time. To do so, enter the
following in the command input area where <2-d array> is the array you want
to view:
view <2-d array>
If you have more than one Source Viewer displayed on different threads and only one Debugger
Output area in its own window, printing variables from the command input area may not yield the
expected result. This is because the debugger engine's notion of the current thread and frame
is dependent upon what the current thread and frame was during the last debugger event.
The current workaround is to click on the selected frame in the Source Viewer where you want to print.
Then issue the command.
Your DISPLAY environment variable is not set. Do one of the following:
Another common problem is that, even though your display variable is set, the host you are trying
to display to refuses the connection. To correct this problem, do the following:
- Telnet to the machine you want to display to (if not already logged in there).
- Enter:
xhost +the-host-you-are-running-from
To date this problem has only been encountered when displaying the debugger
to a PC via eXcursion. However, since the odd behavior is caused by X server
configuration settings, it seems likely a user could encounter this problem
under other PC X server applications.
To resolve this problem for the eXcursion v7 X server:
- Open the control panel for eXcursion via the Windows Start menu.
Start->Programs->eXcursion v7->eXcursion Control Panel
- At the top of the Control Panel, click on the XWindow tab.
- In the Window Management group box, check the "Allow
Foreign Window Managers" checkbox.
- Click on the Apply button (found on right side of panel).
- Click on the OK button (found on bottom of panel).