Java Debugging Tips

Debug Messages

To debug a Java class:

• Add messages to the debug log using

Logger.info("message text", "message type");

(The message type can be used for searching, when needed.)

• Open the debug log in a separate page:

• Go to > Developer Resources > Debug Log
• After running the code, refresh the page by clicking Debug Log in the sidebar.

• Display a note at the top of the user's page:

Functions.showMessage("message text");

• Abort processing and display an error message:

Functions.throwException("message text");

Learn more:

• See the Class Template for code that uses many of those techniques.

Invoking Methods

The Unit Test Framework is great for automated testing of Java methods, but note that database changes don't persist. That's a highly desirable feature in a test harness, but it means you can't run a test and then look for changes interactively, in the GUI.

To view changes interactively, the code can be launched by Rule. For example, use an Event Rule that runs when a record is added. (As a precaution, you can set up a condition so that the rule is triggered only when some flag is set.)