Debugging commands and options

Stepping over individual statements can be a time consuming process. You can animate the debug process so that it automatically steps through the statements. To animate debugging, click The Animate icon

. Alternatively, press F10. You can adjust the time delay between steps, increasing or decreasing the delay between steps. To adjust the animate speed, click The Animate speed down arrow

, and then select the option you require:

Slowest - Alternatively, press Alt+Z, 1.
Slow - Alternatively, press Alt+Z, 2.
Medium - Alternatively, press Alt+Z, 3.
Fast - Alternatively, press Alt+Z, 4.
Fastest - Alternatively, press Alt+Z, 5.

Each animate step is equivalent to a step into command but does not suspend the execution. You can suspend the animated debug process, click Pause animation icon , and then resume again by clicking Resume animation icon (F8) to continue. You can terminate at any point, click the red cross.

Note: You can reverse the animated debug if your platform supports reverse debug.

Run > Toggle Breakpoint or double-click in the left margin.

Tip: To set or toggle a program breakpoint, double-click in the left margin next to the Procedure Division heading, or use the Breakpoints view. Program breakpoints are supported in native COBOL only, and are not supported with nested programs.

By default, a program breakpoint causes execution to stop on any entry point to the program and on return to the program from a call. To specify that a program breakpoint causes execution to stop only when the Procedure Division entry point is called, open the launch configuration of the project (click Run > Run Configurations), and check Program breakpoint on main entry point only on the General tab of the configuration.

To display a data item's value, you can hover over it, or alternatively right-click it and click Inspect item.

Run > Debug Configurations. You can have multiple debug configurations and swap between them. These settings here override the project run-time settings

Run > Debug. On the General tab, specify the main program file.

Moves the execution point to the cursor position. The shortcut key is Alt+F12, R.

Window > Preferences > Micro Focus > COBOL > Debug. Among other things, you can choose to display hexadecimal and byte values of data items.

You can position your cursor anywhere in your code to instruct the debugger to run from the current execution point to the line on which the cursor is positioned. The feature can save time when debugging as you do not have to use the step functions to step through individual lines of code. You can use Run to line in both the main source code and copybook code. To use, position the cursor in the code and the click Run > Run to line or use the shortcut CTRL+R.

Important: Reverse Debug and Live Recording functionality is licensed and installed separately from undo.io. You can enable reverse debug functionality by downloading the extension from the Micro Focus Marketplace.

This functionality is only supported on the following platforms:

Red Hat Linux (x86 and x64)
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 12 SP2 (x64 only)
CentOS 8.2 (x64 only)
Ubuntu Linux 20.04.x (LTS) (x64 only)

Additional restrictions apply. For details, see the Reverse Debug and Live Recording topic in the Known Issues and Restrictions section of this documentation.

Windows Platforms: To use this option, you must connect to Visual COBOL Development Hub running on one of the supported UNIX platforms listed above.

When the Enable reverse debug box on the Debug Configurations dialog is checked for the active debug configuration, the Visual COBOL debugger records your debug session as you step forward through a program or application. You can then access the recorded information by stepping backwards through the application. Stepping backwards puts you into reverse mode where what you see is from a recording, and is not live. Therefore, input is not accepted when running in reverse mode. You can also step forwards within the recorded session, and proceed in live mode when you reach the point at which you first stepped back. Once in live mode, input is again accepted.

When in reverse mode, the debugger behaves much the same as it does in live mode, showing program position, stage of debugging, and variable names and values.

Run > Terminate. You can also click the red square at the top

Run > Toggle Watchpoint or double-click in the left margin. Alternatively, in the working-storage or procedure division right-click, and then click Toggle Watchpoint.

Restriction: This feature is not supported for JVM COBOL.

Allows you to inspect COBOL variables. The cursor in the editor has to be positioned on a data item, or a data item can be selected. Inspecting works like Expressions view - any text can be selected in the editor (COBOL Editor or Copy View) for evaluation.

For native (local and remote projects): Run > Inspect item
For JVM COBOL projects: Run > Inspect

Inspect can also be triggered from a context menu in the editor or by using the Ctrl+Shift+I shortcut.

Restriction: Only inspection of data items is supported. More complex expressions like arithmetic operations or method calls are not currently supported.

F5 = Step into the next statement at the current line of code and suspend execution. Equivalent of clicking .
F6 = Step over the next statement at the currently executing line of code without entering it, and suspend execution. The method will be executed normally. Equivalent of clicking .
F7 = Return from a method or paragraph that has been stepped into, and suspend execution. The remainder of the code inside the method is executed normally. Equivalent of clicking .
F8 = Resume execution of the program from a suspended line of code. Equivalent of clicking .

You can also click the Drop to Frame button drop to frame icon

to reposition you at the start of the current method.

Important: Reverse Debug and Live Recording functionality is licensed and installed separately from undo.io. You can enable reverse debug functionality by downloading the extension from the Micro Focus Marketplace.

This functionality is only supported on the following platforms:

Red Hat Linux (x86 and x64)
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 12 SP2 (x64 only)
CentOS 8.2 (x64 only)
Ubuntu Linux 20.04.x (LTS) (x64 only)

Additional restrictions apply. For details, see the Reverse Debug and Live Recording topic in the Known Issues and Restrictions section of this documentation.

When the Enable reverse debug Debug Option is checked, the following shortcuts are also available:

Ctrl+F5 = Step into the previous statement at the current line of code. Equivalent of clicking .
Ctrl+F6 = Step over the previous statement at the current line of code without entering it. Equivalent of clicking .
Ctrl+F7 = Return from a method or paragraph that has been stepped back into in reverse mode. Equivalent of clicking .
Ctrl+F8 = Resume execution in reverse mode. Execution stops when it reaches the start of the recording or encounters a breakpoint. Equivalent of clicking .

Hold the mouse pointer over a data item or internal file name and the current value or file status displays as a Text Hover. The values of variables and file statuses of internal file names contained on the current execution line and previous line are displayed in Variables View (usually displayed in the top right of the IDE).

If the debugger steps on a line with an unassigned linkage item (for example, if you are debugging only a part of your application and no memory has been allocated to that linkage item), debugging terminates. To assign linkage to that data item and continue debugging, you need to select the data item, right-click it and click Inspect item. When prompted, confirm and assign a value to the data item. Alternatively, to assign linkage, you can right-click the data item in the Variables view and click Change Value.