Debug Unsubmitted Interview Values

Sometimes you need to debug behavior that occurs on an interview screen before the screen is submitted. For example, validation rules that prevent the screen from being submitted, or a visibility condition on a single-screen interview that doesn’t have a next button. To do this, you can select the Debug unsubmitted interview values checkbox in the Debugger (available for Latest Version interviews only).

While this mode is enabled, all of the input values on the current interview screen are visible in the Data tab and the Decision tab for further examination, including all the inferred values derived from those input values. Additionally, the screens and controls shown on left hand pane of the Interview tab, including the Details window, reflect the partially entered values, so the effects on visibility, relevance, default values and so on can be seen.

For example, in the Loan Advisor example project, there is a screen Your Loan Options that dynamically displays:

• Your minimum monthly repayment

• The amount of any extra repayments

• The total interest

• How long it will take to pay the loan off

• The total monthly repayment

based on data entered earlier on this screen (and on the previous screen).

The default behavior in the Debugger is that these inferred attribute values are displayed on this screen, however, they are not visible in other areas of the Debugger because they have not yet been submitted (that is, until the user clicks the Check Eligibility button). For instance, on the Data tab, you can see that these values are Unknown.

By enabling the Debug unsubmitted interview values feature, these unsubmitted values and their effects can now been seen in other areas of the Debugger, for example, on the Data tab.

Note that when the Debug unsubmitted interview values checkbox is selected:

• Unsubmitted input controls that are blank will have an uncertain value, even if they are marked as mandatory.
• Attributes that fail input validation will be uncertain.
• The interview values that are included in the inferencing include all changes to relationships and entity instances that may have occurred on the screen. For example, deleted and created entity instances (including any attributes set for each instance).
• Interview values override all manually set values in the Debugger, and therefore you are blocked from setting any attributes or relationships except via the Interview tab. If necessary, you can deselect the checkbox to allow values to be set, but setting a value manually will cause the current interview screen to be refreshed and partially entered data will be lost.
• If the screen is submitted correctly without errors, values become a part of the session, even if the Debug unsubmitted interview values checkbox is later deselected.
• Error events triggered via unsubmitted interview values will display error banners and the values that triggered them will show as values throughout the Debugger. This allows the conditions of the error event to be examined to see what triggered it.
• When a signature is attached to a Submit button, viewing the submitted signature will always show the signature as it was when the screen first appeared, not the signature that is about to be submitted.

If the Debug unsubmitted interview values checkbox is deselected:

• All input values will be restored to their original value before the screen was displayed.

The Debug unsubmitted interview values checkbox setting is saved between debug sessions, on a per-project and per-user basis. In other words, if you open another project, the checkbox will be in whatever state it was in when they last debugged that project.