5 ms·

Venkman: JavaScript Debugger from Mozilla

15 points by mcxx 18y ago

pmjordan 18y ago
Has anyone here used this in anger? I'd be interested to know if it works better than, say, Firebug? The latter tends to have problems with dynamically loaded iframes (like those used with Google Gadgets), and will often miss breakpoints in event handlers. If Venkman were better in this respect, that'd be fantastic.
- flatline 18y ago
  I used it a number of years ago before I'd heard of firebug, and I couldn't get anything done. Breakpoints would be hit inconsistently and it was not exactly a user-friendly interface, but most infuriatingly the thing would freeze up constantly, locking all of firefox with it. Maybe it has improved since then, but my experience with firebug has been much better.
  - flashgordon 18y ago
    actually it has improved (in terms of reliability) since then but the UI is still heavy and woeful... firebug is simple (though cant figure out how to debug firefox plugins (chrome) with it...
  - smwhreyebelong 18y ago
    +1 I had similar experience with it a few years ago. Given that the laptops weren't as powerful back then, it was a big pain trying to debug using Venkman but that was the only decent debugger available then (that, and the "alerts") I heard that it didn't get a lot of attention from mozilla back then. Firbug wouldn't have existed if Venkman wasn't slow and had an easy-to-use UI.
- flashgordon 18y ago
  actually i am having similar problems with firebug... and venkman sometimes doesnt even know there are breakpoints... i heard venkman does a better job when debugging firefox plugins but I am yet to see that.
- latortuga 18y ago
  Not out of anger but rather convenience. It turns out venkman is pretty much the only choice you have when developing xulrunner-based applications and for that, it's pretty darn good. My biggest complaint is that it's difficult to get venkman to break in code that it doesn't think will execute (often inside xul bindings).
mpk 18y ago
For small stuff I'll just use Firebug, but for the heavy lifting it's still Venkman for me. You can debug chrome with it, set breakpoints, read the stack, set it to trigger on errors or exceptions, etc.
midnightmonster 18y ago
Chromebug is Firebug for XUL applications and extensions. http://getfirebug.com/extensions/index.html#chromebug http://getfirebug.com/extensions/index.html#chromebug
ynniv 18y ago
I'm often disappointed that Venkman is implemented as an in-process debugger. Doing so requires manipulating the main thread's event queue when you're paused (so that Venkman itself responds), allowing new event handlers to fire and generally mucking up complicated situations. For debugging simple web pages, Firebug has the same problems but a cleaner interface and fewer bugs. For heavier XUL development, Venkman is the option option, but I would much prefer an out of process debugger capable of debugging threads (which I think is a js/jsd limitation).
bogdank 18y ago
IE8 has not a bad js debugger. At least it is stopping for me on breakpoints and is more stable than firebug. In Beta it was crashing/hanging, but it seams they improved something.

15 points by mcxx 18y ago

Has anyone here used this in anger? I'd be interested to know if it works better than, say, Firebug? The latter tends to have problems with dynamically loaded iframes (like those used with Google Gadgets), and will often miss breakpoints in event handlers. If Venkman were better in this respect, that'd be fantastic.

flatline 18y ago
I used it a number of years ago before I'd heard of firebug, and I couldn't get anything done. Breakpoints would be hit inconsistently and it was not exactly a user-friendly interface, but most infuriatingly the thing would freeze up constantly, locking all of firefox with it. Maybe it has improved since then, but my experience with firebug has been much better.
- flashgordon 18y ago
  actually it has improved (in terms of reliability) since then but the UI is still heavy and woeful... firebug is simple (though cant figure out how to debug firefox plugins (chrome) with it...
- smwhreyebelong 18y ago
  +1 I had similar experience with it a few years ago. Given that the laptops weren't as powerful back then, it was a big pain trying to debug using Venkman but that was the only decent debugger available then (that, and the "alerts") I heard that it didn't get a lot of attention from mozilla back then. Firbug wouldn't have existed if Venkman wasn't slow and had an easy-to-use UI.
flashgordon 18y ago
actually i am having similar problems with firebug... and venkman sometimes doesnt even know there are breakpoints... i heard venkman does a better job when debugging firefox plugins but I am yet to see that.
latortuga 18y ago
Not out of anger but rather convenience. It turns out venkman is pretty much the only choice you have when developing xulrunner-based applications and for that, it's pretty darn good. My biggest complaint is that it's difficult to get venkman to break in code that it doesn't think will execute (often inside xul bindings).

mpk 18y ago

For small stuff I'll just use Firebug, but for the heavy lifting it's still Venkman for me. You can debug chrome with it, set breakpoints, read the stack, set it to trigger on errors or exceptions, etc.

midnightmonster 18y ago

Chromebug is Firebug for XUL applications and extensions. http://getfirebug.com/extensions/index.html#chromebug http://getfirebug.com/extensions/index.html#chromebug

ynniv 18y ago

I'm often disappointed that Venkman is implemented as an in-process debugger. Doing so requires manipulating the main thread's event queue when you're paused (so that Venkman itself responds), allowing new event handlers to fire and generally mucking up complicated situations. For debugging simple web pages, Firebug has the same problems but a cleaner interface and fewer bugs. For heavier XUL development, Venkman is the option option, but I would much prefer an out of process debugger capable of debugging threads (which I think is a js/jsd limitation).

bogdank 18y ago

IE8 has not a bad js debugger. At least it is stopping for me on breakpoints and is more stable than firebug. In Beta it was crashing/hanging, but it seams they improved something.