Re: [xsl] Do you run your XSLT code from a debugger? What debugger do you use?

["Michael Kay mike@xxxxxxxxxxxx" <xsl-list-service@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I use interactive debugging all the time with Java, but very rarely with
XSLT.

Debuggers are useful because they tell you which branches are taken in your
code, and what the values of variables are. They're not much use for two of
the key problems with XSLT debugging, which are working out why your path
expressions didn't select anything, and why your match patterns didn't match
when you expected them to (or vice versa). I tend to find that printing out a
copy of the context item at the relevant place, and then looking hard at the
path expression or match pattern in conjunction with that display, is the best
way to solve those problems.

Michael Kay
Saxonica

> On 23 Aug 2022, at 16:01, Eliot Kimber eliot.kimber@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
<xsl-list-service@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> Ibm with MartinbI find the XSLT debugger in Oxygen to be less useful
than for other languages. This may in part be because I do a lot of my work in
DITA Open Toolkit which doesnbt lend itself to easy debugging but I also get
a lot of mileage out of using messages to see whatbs happening where.
>
> This is also true for my work with XQuery, whether in BaseX or MarkLogicbI
find it effective to just use messages to debug my code.
>
> Cheers,
>
> E.
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> Eliot Kimber
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> From: Martin Honnen martin.honnen@xxxxxx <mailto:martin.honnen@xxxxxx>
<xsl-list-service@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:xsl-list-service@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>>
> Date: Tuesday, August 23, 2022 at 9:34 AM
> To: xsl-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:xsl-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
<xsl-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:xsl-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>>
> Subject: Re: [xsl] Do you run your XSLT code from a debugger? What debugger
do you use?
>
> [External Email]
>
>
> Am 23.08.2022 um 16:10 schrieb Roger L Costello costello@xxxxxxxxx:
> > Do you run your XSLT code from a debugger? If so, what debugger do you
use?
> >
>
> Sometimes I (need to/tend to) use the debugger in oXygen.
>
> But often, I try to find my way around with adding e.g. xsl:message or
> <debug><xsl:sequence select=".."/></debug>.
>
> Even now more than previously as I often run XSLT 3 through SaxonJS,
> where I don't know of a debugger.
>
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