DbugIntf unit

Unit to send commands to a debug server process.

Use dbugintf to add debug messages to your application. The messages are not sent to standard output, but are sent to a debug server process which collects messages from various clients and displays them somehow on screen.

The unit is transparent in its use: it does not need initialization, it will start the debug server by itself if it can find it: the program should be called debugserver and should be in the PATH. When the first debug message is sent, the unit will initialize itself.

The FCL contains a sample debug server (dbugsvr) which can be started in advance, and which writes debug message to the console (both on Windows and Linux). The Lazarus project contains a visual application which displays the messages in a GUI.

The dbugintf unit relies on the SimpleIPC mechanism to communicate with the debug server, hence it works on all platforms that have a functional version of that unit. It also uses TProcess to start the debug server if needed, so the process unit should also be functional.

Procedures and functions

`FreeDebugClient`	procedure
`GetDebuggingEnabled`	function	Check if sending of debug messages is enabled.
`InitDebugClient`	function	Initialize the debug client.
`SendBoolean`	function	Send the value of a boolean variable.
`SendDateTime`	function	Send the value of a TDateTime variable.
`SendDebug`	function	Send a message to the debug server.
`SendDebugEx`	function	Send debug message other than informational messages.
`SendDebugFmt`	function	Format and send a debug message.
`SendDebugFmtEx`	function	Format and send message with alternate type.
`SendInteger`	function	Send the value of an integer variable.
`SendMethodEnter`	function	Send method enter message.
`SendMethodExit`	function	Send method exit message.
`SendPointer`	function	Send the value of a pointer variable.
`SendSeparator`	function	Send a separator message.
`SetDebuggingEnabled`	procedure	Temporary enables or disables debugging.
`StartDebugServer`	function	Start the debug server.

Types

`TDebugLevel`	enumeration	Level of the message.
`TErrorLevel`	type	Integer array type with error levels as integer.

Resource strings

`SEntering`	resource string	String used when sending method enter message.
`SExiting`	resource string	String used when sending method exit message.
`SProcessID`	resource string	String used when sending identification message to the server.
`SSeparator`	resource string	String used when sending a separator line.
`SServerStartFailed`	resource string	String used to display an error message when the start of the debug server failed.

Variables

`DebugServerExe`	variable	Name of default debug server executable.
`DefaultDebugServer`	variable	Name of default debug server.
`RaiseExceptionOnSendError`	variable
`SendError`	variable	Last error in the debug system.

Topics

debugservers topic Writing a debug server.

Uses

dbugmsg

An experiment, built from development snapshots. Not the official Free Pascal or Lazarus documentation.