PL/I debug configurations

General tab

The General tab options common for PL/I Application, PL/I Attach to Application and PL/I Wait for Application Attachment are listed and described below:

PL/I Project

The project that will be used while debugging.

Connection Properties

Enter values for these fields if you want to debug your project or the application when it is running on a remote machine.

Remote Host

The name or IP address of the remote machine.

Specify the port on which cobdebugremote process will listen on the remote host

When you are debugging an application on a remote machine, the cobdebugremote (Windows) or cobdebugremote32 (UNIX) process (or cobdebugremote64 for a 64-bit process) needs to be running on that machine.

If you are developing the application on the remote machine

If you are using Micro Focus Enterprise Developer UNIX Components, the IDE starts the cobdebugremote (Windows) or cobdebugremote32 (UNIX) process (or cobdebugremote64 for a 64-bit process) automatically on the remote machine when you start debugging. You do not need to select a port as a random one is picked when the process starts, but if you select this option you can assign a specific port in the cobdebugremote port field. If you do specify a port, the process starts automatically on that port.

If you are developing the application on the local machine and debugging remotely

You must first start the cobdebugremote (Windows) or cobdebugremote32 (UNIX) process (or cobdebugremote64 for a 64-bit process) from a command prompt.

The process takes the following options:

no options

Starts the process and opens a random port for remote connections. The port number is displayed in the console.

machine=name

Specify the machine that the process is running on. Only valid with the stop option.

port

port=nnnnn: Specify the port to use to listen for connection requests.
port=nnnnn-yyyyy: Specify the range of ports to use. If port nnnnn is in use, the next port is tried until a free port is found. If no free ports are found in the range, the utility returns an error.
Note: You must enter the same number you set as the port option in the cobdebugremote port field of your debug configuration.

repeat

After the debug session has been completed, start listening for another connection. If no option is specified, the process exits after the debug session has completed.

stop

Causes the process that is listening on the port to exit. Must be used with the port option. This is only valid when the process is waiting for a connection.

If you run the process with no options, you must enter the port number displayed in the console in the cobdebugremote port field.

X Server (DISPLAY)

If you are debugging an application on a remote UNIX machine using Micro Focus Enterprise Developer UNIX Components, enter the identifier for the X server that will display the remote program output on a local Windows machine. The default value is client machine name:0.0.

Before debugging, make sure that the X server is running and that the remote machine xhost configuration has the correct access permissions. You can use the xhost + command to add your host or username to the list of those permitted.

The following settings are only applicable to PL/I Application debug configurations:

Main Program: Select the main executable in your project. If you have already selected this in a build configuration you only need enter the build configuration name, otherwise you can browse to the program's location in your project.
Start Options: Enter the arguments to pass to the program when it starts. You can also indicate the working directory of the application if the project doesn't explicitly specify its location.
Run Options: Check Pause after running the application to prevent the application terminal from automatically closing once it has completed running. This option gives you time to note any terminal output. Press Enter to close the terminal.

The following settings are applicable to PL/I Attach to Application and PL/I Wait for Application Attachment debug configurations:

Debug Options

Use these options to further control the debugging process.

To ensure debugging works correctly, you must indicate when the application you are debugging is 64-bit or graphical.
For PL/I Wait for Application Attachment you can select the Return to waiting state when debugger disconnects option. this means the debugger will wait until a debuggable program attaches to it again. If you do not select it, debugging terminates when it disconnects from the program.

The following settings are only applicable to PL/I Wait for Application Attachment debug configurations:

Matching Options

Specifies which programs the debugger attaches to when the program starts:

Any - the debugger attaches to any process that is enabled for debugging. For instance, using the environment variable COBSW=+A or by a call to CBL_DEBUG_START.
Note: This option is only available when debugging applications running on Windows.
Debug session identifier - specify the identifier of the program the debugger should attach to.
Executables stored in directory:
- On Windows platforms, specify the directory which contains the main executable used to start the process.
- On UNIX platforms, specify the current directory of the process.

Source tab

The options common to the Source tab in the Debug Configurations dialog box for these configurations are:

Source Lookup Path

Enables you to specify the locations and order in which the debugger looks for source files.

Click Add to add locations:

File System Directory: Click this to specify a specific file system folder to be searched that may exist outside the workspace.
Environment Variable: Click this to select one or more variables that include the folders that must be searched.
PL/I Project: Click this to choose the projects to search. Any folders and dependent projects specified on the Micro Focus > Build Path tab in the projects' properties is also searched.
Project: Click this to enable folders in a specific project to be searched.
Working Set: Click this to add the source lookup path for all the visible projects defined in a working set, see Working Sets.
Workspace: Click this to search all folders within the current workspace.
Workspace Folder: Click this to enable you to specify a specific folder within your workspace as a source lookup path.

Environment tab

This tab is only available for PL/I Application.

Add, modify or remove environment variables using the Add, Edit or Remove buttons.

You can also select to use an environment script or inherit values from the build environment of the associated project.

Common tab

On this tab you can specify some launch configuration settings:

Save As: Lets you select whether to save the launch configuration as a local file or a shared file in a workspace project.
Display in favorites menu: Lets you select the menus where this configuration will appear as a favourite. The options for PL/I Application are Debug and Run. For the other three PL/I debug configuration types there is only one option, Debug.
Encoding: Lets you select the type of encoding.
Launch in background: If this option is selected, the configuration will be launched in the background.

Debug Symbols tab

In this tab you can specify the location in which the debugger looks for debug symbols (.idy) files.

Click Add to add locations:

Environment Variable: Click this to select one or more variables that include the folders that must be searched.
File System Directory: Click this to specify a specific file system folder to be searched that may exist outside the workspace.
Project: Click this to enable folders in a specific project to be searched.
Workspace Folder: Click this to enable you to specify a specific folder within your workspace as a source lookup path.