Step 4: Debug the Application

The debugger in the Workshop products is an extension of the Eclipse debugger to allow JSP debugging. In this step, we will set a break point in our JSP and see how you can debug JSPs as easily as Java files.

The tasks in this step are:

Set a Breakpoint

The Design/Source view shows you when HTML tags are mismatched or badly formed. However if you have logic errors in the JSP, you may want to debug your file with standard debugging tools. Workshop extends the Eclipse debugger to allow you to debug JSP code.

To set a breakpoint:

  1. Right-click in the gutter of the Source view and select Toggle Breakpoints.

    2. In this case, we have only two lines of JSP tags, so set breakpoints on both lines.

    set2

Debug the JSP

To debug the application:

  1. Right-click in Source view and select Debug As > Debug on Server. The process is the same as for running an application.

    Note that since the server was started before in non-debug mode, you will be prompted to restart the server.
  2. Click OK to restart in Debug mode.

  3. In the JSP Debugger dialog click Yes.

    2
  4. The application starts to run. When it hits a breakpoint, it switches to Debug perspective automatically and you can proceed as for a normal debugging session, viewing variable values, stepping through, etc.

Related Topics

Special Considerations When Debugging JSPs

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