Purpose: to discuss the tools and techniques for debugging
Tcl/Tk/etc. applications making use of Tcl's introspection
capabilities.

   * Tools to leverage Tcl's native introspection

      1. [TkInspect] (the [Tcl Dev Kit] has an enhanced version)
      1. [TkCon]
      1. [XotclIDE]
      1. [TclTalk] uses introspection to present all namespaces, variables and procedures of the running interperter.


   * Techniques

   1. [info] is your friend. ''[escargo]'' is fond of using a proc containing '''puts [[lindex [[info level -1]] 0 ]]'''

[[I'd love to see pointers to tutorials, white papers, etc. on
how to make use of tkinspect, tkcon, etc. for debugging
Tcl/Tk applications].

''So would I''  :-)

[[[PT]]] 21-Jun-03: I've added a tkinspect tutorial to the [Tkinspect] page.

[[[tb]]] 2008-07-30: '''Debugging with TclTalk'''

Allthough there is no real debugger in TclTalk, its browser always allows a live view into variables. To halt a script at a certain line, use ''vwait ::MySemaphore'', or what you like to name the variable. Also you could output a string to the transcript saying, that your program is halted. Then you may inspect your variables of interest (or even change them :) using one browser and another one to reset you semaphore and go on with your script.

When debugging a Tk app, then it might be usefull to do a ''wm withdraw .mywindow'', to hide your app and not change the state of it by GUI events, which might occur accidently. Use ''wm deiconify .mywindow'' afterwards, to make your application visible again.

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[Category Debugging]