About Debugging

Debugging is the process of identifying and removing errors that prevent the project from functioning correctly. It is recommended to perform debugging during the design stage of the automation project, at activity, file and project level.

Debugging can be performed using several options, defined in the ribbon and explained in the Debugging Actions page.

By default, debugging is performed on the local robot. You can run or debug your projects using a robot on a remote machine by enabling remote debugging.

Several panels make it easier to view the debugging process, add values or monitor variables and arguments.

Start Debugging

The options for running and debugging a file or project are available both in the Design and Debug tabs.

Option	Description
Debug	Click Debug or use F5 to debug the whole project.
Run	Click Run or use Ctrl + F5 to run the whole project.
Debug File	Click Debug File or use F6 to debug the current file.
Run File	Click Run File or use Ctrl + F6 to run the current file.

The default action under Run/Debug ribbon button can be configured from Backstage View > Settings > Design tab. Pick from Debug File, Run File, Debug Project, or Run Project, as the default action when clicking the button.

During debug, click the Break button to pause. The activity which is being debugged remains highlighted when paused. Once this happens, you can choose other debug actions like Step Into or press Stop to exit and return to design mode. The keyboard shortcut for the Stop button is F12.

It is recommended to use Break along with Slow Step so that you know exactly when debugging needs to be paused.

The Continue option is available when the debug process is paused.

Changing activity properties, variables, and arguments

When debugging is paused by a breakpoint, an error, or by manually pausing execution, you can modify an activity's properties or user-defined variables and arguments either from the Locals Panel or directly from the Designer panel or the Properties panel of the current activity.

To change activity-specific properties from the Designer panel or the Properties panel when debugging is paused:

1. Select the activity you want to modify.
2. Navigate to the desired property and change its value from the Properties panel or directly from the designer.
3. Continue debugging with the updated property value.

At the end of the debugging process or when debugging is manually stopped, a message window will ask whether to keep the changes performed during debugging. Discarding the changes will revert any modified properties to their original values.

Note: You cannot edit the properties of read-only project files without first making the files writable.