Suggested Uses for the Debugger
At this point, you have learned about the mechanics of the ILF debugger: how to invoke it, what information is provided on the screen, how to clear and set TRAPs dynamically, and how to execute portions of a routine. How and under what circumstances you make use of the debugging facility is up to you, but the following are some suggested ways to make the most effective use of this tool.
Perhaps the most fundamental use of the debugger occurs when execution of a process produces results known or suspected to be erroneous. The debugger allows you to evaluate statements individually or in groups, to examine exactly how the values were generated. Most of the other uses of the debugger supplement this basic principle.
You can set the value of a field(s) in the current statement to watch how this value affects subsequent processing. You usually set a field to a known or desired value and evaluate its effect on the remainder of the process. You may need to subsequently enter the ILF editor and make one or more modifications to statements in other ILF routines, based on the results of your testing.
You can directly enter another ILF routine to examine the logic in a previous or subsequent event point that may affect the routine you are testing with the debugger.
If you suspect a problem is within a particular event point, you can set a TRAP in that routine and enter the debugger. By using Return, you can effectively test the entire routine (and only this routine), and evaluate the results to see if they meet your expectation.
As you test and evaluate a particular ILF routine, you may not uncover a logic problem. You may want to proceed with the testing, even if you failed to set break points in subsequent routines. By using Step/End with Return, you can continue testing from one event point to the next without leaving the debugger.
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