Xwatch doesnt update nodes/Values set correctly

[jokester01au]

Hi,

when you type an xwatch expression and press enter, the "nodes/values set" pane does not update.

To workaround this, it is possible to force the "nodes/values set" pane to update by selecting a different xwatch expression and then selecting the new one once more, however this is obviously not desirable behavior.

Additionally, it appears that XWatch expressions always evaluate to a node set, and hence never give any useful information in the value column. For example, the xwatch expressions

1

or

't'

both evaluate to node sets. While it is possible to see their atomic value in the "nodes/values set" pane, this is not ideal.

I am using:
Oxygen 8.0
XSLT 2.0
Saxon 8
Eclipse 3.3M3
Windows Vista
Sun JDK1.6.0RC

[sorin_ristache]

Hello,

Does it happen also with a stable version of Eclipse, for example 3.2.1 (build M20060921-0945) ? I see that you use Eclipse 3.3 milestone 3 but we do not support milestone releases as specified on the Download page and in the User Manual, the Requirements section.


Regards,
Sorin

[jokester01au]

Fair enough that you don't support milestone releases.

Both of these issues also occur using 3.2.1.

[sorin_ristache]

The expressions 1 and 't' are presented as node sets in the XWatch view only if you run the transformation with Saxon 8. This happens because in XSLT 2.0 they are evaluated as sequences.


Regards,
Sorin

[jokester01au]

The expressions 1 and 't' are presented as node sets in the XWatch view only if you run the transformation with Saxon 8. This happens because in XSLT 2.0 they are evaluated as sequences.

I understand that in XPath 2.0/XSLT 2.0 everything is a sequence. However, given that this is the case, it would be great if Oxygen was able to identify when a sequence can be displayed in a single line, and in those cases display it in the XWatch/Variable pane. This would make debugging substantially easier.

Resolving the xwatch pane updating issue mentioned in the previous post is also something that would make debugging much easier.

Regards,
Joe.

[sorin_ristache]

I understand that in XPath 2.0/XSLT 2.0 everything is a sequence. However, given that this is the case, it would be great if Oxygen was able to identify when a sequence can be displayed in a single line, and in those cases display it in the XWatch/Variable pane. This would make debugging substantially easier.

We think that all sequences should be displayed the same even if they contain a single value. If some sequences are displayed in a different way the user is confused about the data type of that value.

Resolving the xwatch pane updating issue mentioned in the previous post is also something that would make debugging much easier.

I think the Value column is not updated because the debugger is not started when you enter the XWatch expression. If you enter the expression when the debugger is started the evaluation is done when you press enter in the Expression column. XWatch expressions are evaluated only if the debugger is started.


Regards,
Sorin

[jokester01au]

We think that all sequences should be displayed the same even if they contain a single value. If some sequences are displayed in a different way the user is confused about the data type of that value.

I can see the logic behind this. However it substantially increases the complexity of the UI. What about modifying it so that all expressions and variables always display in the xwatch or variables panes (respectively), but you can expand them as a tree view as required. (In fact this is exactly the same as eclipse's java debugger variable view, which is excellent).

Perhaps you can even reuse a lot of the eclipse code?

I think the Value column is not updated because the debugger is not started when you enter the XWatch expression. If you enter the expression when the debugger is started the evaluation is done when you press enter in the Expression column. .

No, this is not the case. I am entering the XWatch expression when the debugger is paused at a breakpoint.

Regards,
Joe.

[sorin_ristache]

What about modifying it so that all expressions and variables always display in the xwatch or variables panes (respectively), but you can expand them as a tree view as required. (In fact this is exactly the same as eclipse's java debugger variable view, which is excellent).

We will consider your suggestion. Thank you.

No, this is not the case. I am entering the XWatch expression when the debugger is paused at a breakpoint.

I am sorry, I cannot reproduce the problem. Can you send us sample files and specify the line number of the breakpoint and the expression entered into the XWatch view ?

Regards,
Sorin

[jokester01au]

If I use this XML

<root>
<anotherElement>
<element attribute="true"/>
</anotherElement>
</root>

and this stylesheet

<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version="2.0">
<xsl:output method="text"/>
<xsl:template match="/">
<xsl:variable name="element" select="root/anotherElement"/>
<xsl:variable name="blah">
<lala/>
</xsl:variable>
<xsl:apply-templates select="$element"/>
<xsl:apply-templates select="$blah"/>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

with Saxon8B, in Oxygen 8.1 standalone edition, Windows XP, JRE1.5.0_04, I get the problem.

Enter the debugger by pressing "step into" once, then type "1" into the XWatch expression box.

When you hit enter, the expression becomes unselected, so you don't get to see the result of your expression.

Then overwrite the 1 with "2". Hit enter. Again, the expression is deselected, and "Nodes/Values Set" is not updated. Only once you click on the expression to reselect it do you get to see the result in "Nodes/Values Set".

This obviously isn't a critical problem, but having to select the expression twice each time quickly becomes annoying.

When you repeat the process inside eclipse 3.2.1, the expression does stay selected, but "Nodes/Values Set" still doesn't update.

Then, press step-into, switch to the variables view, and select "element". Press step-into again. Substantially worse, the "element" variable stays selected, but the nodes/values set view re-displays the result of the xwatch expression. This appears to be new in 8.1, I don't believe that it happened in 8.0.

Regards,
Joe.

[sorin_ristache]

This obviously isn't a critical problem, but having to select the expression twice each time quickly becomes annoying.

We will fix that.

Then, press step-into, switch to the variables view, and select "element". Press step-into again. Substantially worse, the "element" variable stays selected, but the nodes/values set view re-displays the result of the xwatch expression.

Yes, I can reproduce it in the Eclipse plugin. Thank you for the steps for reproducing it.


Regards,
Sorin

[sorin_ristache]

Hello Joe,

We fixed the problems with the expressions entered in the XWatch view and the refresh of the Nodes/Values Set view. The version 8.2 which will be released in a short time should work fine.


Regards,
Sorin

[jokester01au]

Hi Sorin,

Great! Thanks. I look forward to the new version.

Regards,
Joe.