Abstract:
A method of creating and maintaining debug points in an integrated development environment (IDE) includes receiving a first query at a computing device coupled to the IDE, the first query identifying one or more actions; searching the source code with the computing device to locate locations where the one or more actions occur; forming an initial result set that includes locations of the one or more actions; receiving a desired behavior action for some or all of the locations; associating the initial result set and the desired behavior actions to form a first mapping; and storing the mapping and the first query as a first dynamic query based debug point map.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
       [0001]    The present invention relates to debugging computer programs and, more specifically, to generating and maintaining breakpoints for use in the debugging process. 
         [0002]    As the size of and complexity of software applications has increased, it has become more and more common for large groups of individuals (developers) to split the development of these applications into pieces amongst themselves. An integrated development environment (IDE) is a software application that provides comprehensive facilities to these individuals and allows for all of them to work together during the development process. A typical IDE can include a source code editor, a compiler and/or an interpreter, a builder, and a debugger. 
         [0003]    As developers become accustomed to debugging in such environments, the developers are relying more and more on the IDE&#39;s source visualization and search features to understand their program while debugging. For example, developers commonly use a Call Hierarchy view to locate all callers of a function, or use a search view to perform a language-aware search to find all modifications of a variable. Once the developer has the results of any particular search, the developer can manually define a debug point for some or all of the results. A debug point defines an action to be taken for an asynchronous debug event. Examples of actions include suspending execution, logging data, running a script, etc. Examples of asynchronous debug events are: execution reaching a desired line of code, program changing an area of memory, the program loading a new module. An example of a debug point is a breakpoint, which suspends execution when a debug event occurs. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0004]    According to one embodiment, a method of creating and maintaining debug points in an integrated development environment (IDE) is disclosed. The method of this embodiment includes: receiving a first query at a computing device coupled to the IDE, the first query identifying one or more actions; searching the source code with the computing device to locate locations where the one or more actions occur; forming an initial result set that includes locations of the one or more actions; receiving a desired behavior action for some or all of the locations; associating the initial result set and the desired behavior actions to form a first mapping; and storing the mapping and the first query as a first dynamic query based debug point map. 
         [0005]    According to another embodiment, a method of creating and maintaining debug points in an integrated development environment (IDE) is disclosed. The method of this embodiment includes: receiving a first query at a computing device coupled to the IDE, the first query identifying one or more actions in the source code; searching the source code with the computing device to locate locations where the one or more actions identified by the first query occur; forming an initial result set that includes the locations; receiving a second query identifying one or more actions in the source code; searching the source code to locate locations where the one or more actions identified in the second query occur; forming a secondary result set that includes locations where the one or more actions identified in the second query occur; combining the initial result set and the secondary result set to form a hybrid result set; receiving a desired behavior action for some or all of the locations in the hybrid result set; associating the hybrid result set and the desired behavior actions to form a first mapping; and storing the first mapping and the hybrid result set as a dynamic query based debug point map. 
         [0006]    According to another embodiment, a system for creating and maintaining debug points in an integrated development environment (IDE) is disclosed. The system of this embodiment includes a query builder configured to receive a first query identifying one or more actions of interest in the source code in the IDE and provide the first query to a query engine and a debug point mapper configured to receive a first result set from the query engine, the first result set including locations in the source code where the one or more actions of interest occur and to associate some or all of the instances with a desired behavior to form a mapping result that, in combination with the first query, form a dynamic query based debug point map. The system of this embodiment also includes a monitor configured to cause the query engine to query the source code with the first query after determining that the source code has changed. 
         [0007]    Additional features and advantages are realized through the techniques of the present invention. Other embodiments and aspects of the invention are described in detail herein and are considered a part of the claimed invention. For a better understanding of the invention with the advantages and the features, refer to the description and to the drawings. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0008]    The subject matter which is regarded as the invention is particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the claims at the conclusion of the specification. The forgoing and other features, and advantages of the invention are apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which: 
           [0009]      FIG. 1  illustrates an integrated design environment in which embodiments of the present invention can be implemented; 
           [0010]      FIG. 2  is a data flow diagram showing a system and the method it performs while creating a breakpoint according to an embodiment of the present invention; and 
           [0011]      FIG. 3  illustrates how the mapping is applied to the result set to define the actions to be taken at each of its entries. 
           [0012]      FIG. 4  is a conceptual representation of a breakpoint according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0013]    While the prior art does allow for the creation of debug points for specific entries in a search result, it has one or more drawbacks. For example, a developer (or other user) can create a search and receive a list of locations in the source code that satisfy the criteria of the search. The developer must then manually create debug points for some or all of the locations on the list individually. Furthermore, after the debug point is created, the developer has to manage them individually. In addition, as the source code (e.g., software code being debugged) changes, there is currently no easy way to know whether the debug points are valid, with respect to the semantic meaning of the original search query, any longer. 
         [0014]    With reference now to  FIG. 1 , an IDE  100  is illustrated. The IDE  100  includes an editor  102 , a compiler  104 , a builder  106  and a debugger  108 . The IDE  100  can be used to develop source code  120  that includes one or more sub-programs  122 . The editor  102 , compiler,  104 , and builder  106  can be the same as or similar to standard editors, compilers or builders either now known or later developed. Furthermore, except as otherwise noted herein, the debugger  108  can also be the same as or similar to prior art or later developed debuggers. 
         [0015]    The IDE  100  also includes a tool set  112  that can be used to access or otherwise manipulate the source code  120 . In some cases, the tool set  112  can perform various searches of the source code  120 . The tool set  112 , as such, includes a query engine  113 . In one embodiment, the query engine  113  is a standard part of the IDE  100 . The searching capabilities of the query engine  113  can include, but are not limited to, language aware searches and call hierarchy searches. A language aware search can be used, for example, to find locations in the source code  120  where a particular variable is modified or otherwise processed (e.g., passed) during execution of the source code  120 . A call hierarchy search locates, for example, all functions or other methods that call a particular function or method. As discussed above, after the results of a particular search is returned, in the prior art, a developer had to include separate debug events or watch instructions for each returned location the developer was interested in. 
         [0016]    In one embodiment, the debugger  108  includes a debug point module  110 . The debug point module  110 , generally, allows a developer to specify a query and then transform the results of the query into a dynamic query-based debug point map. The query, the current result set, and the action to be taken at each of the entries in the current result set are stored as properties of the dynamic query-based debug point map in one embodiment. It shall be appreciated, however, the not all of the query, the current result set and the action need to be included in the dynamic query-based debug point map. For example, in one embodiment, only the query and information from which the actions to be taken at each location can be derived (e.g., the debug mapper described below) need to be stored as properties of the dynamic query-based debug point map. The actions can include, but are not limited to, creating logs or other outputs when certain actions occur or locations are reached or causing the program to suspend when certain locations are reached. Of course, any other known or later developed debugging actions could be included in the list of desired behaviors as will be readily realized by one of skill in the art. In one embodiment, and as illustrated in  FIG. 1 , the debug point module  110  is part of the debugger  108 . In such a case, the debugger  108  includes further capabilities than those of the prior art. Of course, the debug point module  110  could be separate from the debugger  108 . In such a case, the debugger  108  can operate as in the prior art. Of course, in such an embodiment, the debugger  108  can be configured to receive a debut point and cause the desired behavior actions to occur when the particular locations are reached during execution. 
         [0017]    The IDE  100  illustrated in  FIG. 1  can be generally operated as follows. The developer(s) utilizes the editor  102  to create or modify the source code  120  or one or more of the sub-programs  122 . At a certain point in the development of the source code  120 , the developer can utilize the builder  106  and compiler  104  to create executable runtime code from the source code  120  that can be executed by a runtime engine (not shown). The debugger  108 , in combination with a runtime engine tracks position in the source code  120  corresponding to the location being processed by the runtime engine, and can affect the defined actions associated with debug events. 
         [0018]      FIG. 2  illustrates a data flow diagram showing the creation of a dynamic query based debug point map  202 . A breakpoint module  110  is utilized to create the dynamic query based breakpoint  202 . The breakpoint module  110 , as described above, can be part of the debugger  108  ( FIG. 1 ) or a standalone unit. 
         [0019]    The debug point module  110  includes a query builder  204 . The query builder  204  can be used to create queries provided to the query engine  113 . The query engine  113  searches the source code  120  to find locations in it that satisfy the query. The locations are provided in a result set  206 . The result set  206  can include, in one embodiment, a query description  208  that caused the retrieval of a particular result set  206 . 
         [0020]    In one embodiment, the result set  206  is provided to the query builder  204  (or other viewing mechanism) for the developer to examine the results. In some cases, the result set  206  can be too large and may need to be pruned or otherwise made more manageable. One way to achieve such pruning is to combine the result set  206  with a different result set to form a hybrid result set  210  that can include, for example, results that appear in both result sets. To that end, in embodiment, the query builder  204  can include a query store  212  that stores result sets and the queries that generated the results and a query combiner  214  that combines queries. Of course, if the result set  206  is satisfactory to the developer, the result set  206  and the hybrid result set  210  can be same. In one embodiment, the hybrid result set also includes a hybrid query description  211  of the one or more queries used to form the hybrid result set  210 . Again, if no queries were combined, the hybrid query description  211  can be the same as the query description  208 . 
         [0021]    Examples of queries that can be created by the query builder  204  can include, but are not limited to, searches for: source code lines changed by a change set; source code lines were a variable&#39;s value is changed; source code lines where basic code blocks begin. Of course, the type of query is only limited by the capabilities of the query engine  113 . 
         [0022]    Regardless of how formed, the hybrid result set  210  is provided to a breakpoint mapper  210 . The breakpoint mapper  210  provides a location where, in one embodiment, a particular type of behavior action can be applied to each instance in the hybrid result set  206 . For example, if the query was for all changes in a change set, a trace-point could be specified to indicate when program execution passed a particular location. In one embodiment, a developer may be provided with the ability to override the general behavior action with a specific behavior action for a particular instance. 
         [0023]    Regardless, the affects of the dynamic query-based debug map  202  at each entry in the result set is defined by the debug point mapper  210 . Reference is now made to  FIG. 3  where an example of the effects of debug point mapper  210  are illustrated. The debug point mapper  210  receives the current result set  250 . The current result set  250  can be a combination of one or more result sets (e.g., a hybrid result set) in one embodiment. As illustrated, the current result set  250  includes a listing of locations (L 1 , L 2  . . . Ln) in the source code that satisfied the query (or queries) formed by the user. The debug point mapper  210  includes a set of rules that causes it to create an action to be performed at each of the locations (L 1 -Ln) in the result set  250 . The set of rules can cause the same action to be performed at one or more of the locations, different actions to be performed at some or all of the locations, or any combination thereof. 
         [0024]    As illustrated, the actions to be taken are contained as a mapping result  252 . In one embodiment the mapping result  252  includes an action to be performed at each location (L 1 -Ln) in the result set. In the illustrated example, the mapping result  252  causes the same action (Action  1 ) to be performed at both L 1  and L 2 , no action to be performed at L 3  and for Action  2  to be performed at L 3 . 
         [0025]    Referring again to  FIG. 2 , the debug point module  110  produces a dynamic query based debug point map  202  that includes, in one embodiment, the (hybrid) query, the current result set generated by the (hybrid) query, and the mapping to be applied to the result set to define the action to take a each location. As described above, the actual contents of the dynamic query based debug point map  202  can vary. When a debug session begins, the actual actions that will apply in it are created by applying the mapping to the current result set. The dynamic query based debug point map  202   202  can be stored, in one embodiment, as a separate document that can be accessed, for example, by debugger  108  or other element in IDE  100 . 
         [0026]    In one embodiment, the dynamic query based debug point map  202  is provided to debugger  108 . The debugger  108  then causes the behavior action (normal or special) to happen at locations in the dynamic query based debug point map  202 . For example, if the dynamic query based debug point map  202  includes locations where a variable is changed, a line break could be inserted that causes execution to stop at the location of the instances. 
         [0027]      FIG. 4  shows a conceptual view of a dynamic query based debug point map  202 . The dynamic query based debug point map  202  can include a semantic name  302 . The name can be descriptive of the dynamic query based debug point map  202  and can be assigned, for example, based on information received from the developer. For example, assume that the query  209  that generated the result set requested the line location of entry to all compiler-generated basic blocks. In such a case, the name  302  could be, for example, code block entry breakpoint. 
         [0028]    The dynamic query based debug point map  202  can also include a mapping  304 . In one embodiment, unless otherwise specified, the mapping  304  can be, for example, the set of rules that created the mapping result  252  of  FIG. 3 . To that end, in one embodiment, the query based breakpoint  202  can also include, the query  209  that generated the result set  250  and the mapping result  252 . 
         [0029]    Referring again to  FIG. 2 , in one embodiment the debug point module  110  also includes a monitor  218 . The monitor  218  monitors the source code  120  and determines if it changes. The changes can come, for example, from a developer adding new or modifying existing sub-programs. Such modification can include, without limitation, when a file or line is either added or deleted. The monitor  218  can also monitor when a new build of the source code  120  occurs. In one embodiment, after determining that a change or build has occurred, the monitor  218  can provide the one or more queries  209  that created the existing dynamic query based debug point map  202  to query builder  204  in order to create a new breakpoint in the same manner as described above. 
         [0030]    In view of the above, it shall be appreciated that embodiments of the present invention can have the technical effect of creating breakpoints that occur while debugging across different iterations of source code during its development without requiring a developer to recreate the breakpoints. 
         [0031]    The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. 
         [0032]    The description of the present invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the invention in the form disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. The embodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and the practical application, and to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the invention for various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. 
         [0033]    Further, as will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the present invention may be embodied as a system, method, or computer program product. Accordingly, aspects of the present invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment (including firmware, resident software, microcode, etc.) or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may all generally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module” or “system.” Furthermore, aspects of the present invention may take the form of a computer program product embodied in one or more computer readable medium(s) having computer readable program code embodied thereon. 
         [0034]    Any combination of one or more computer readable medium(s) may be utilized. The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer readable storage medium would include the following: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. In the context of this document, a computer readable storage medium may be any tangible medium that can contain, or store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. 
         [0035]    A computer readable signal medium may include a propagated data signal with computer readable program code embodied therein, for example, in baseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated signal may take any of a variety of forms, including, but not limited to, electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. A computer readable signal medium may be any computer readable medium that is not a computer readable storage medium and that can communicate, propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. 
         [0036]    Program code embodied on a computer readable medium may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless, wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination of the foregoing. 
         [0037]    Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of the present invention may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language such as Java®, Smalltalk, C++ or the like and conventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C” programming language or similar programming languages. The program code may execute entirely on the user&#39;s computer, partly on the user&#39;s computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user&#39;s computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user&#39;s computer through any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider). 
         [0038]    Aspects of the present invention are described above with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. 
         [0039]    These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer readable medium that can direct a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readable medium produce an article of manufacture including instructions which implement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. 
         [0040]    The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, other programmable apparatus or other devices to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide processes for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. 
         [0041]    The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementations of systems, methods, and computer program products according to various embodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portion of code, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be noted that, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions.