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Studio User Guide

Last updated Dec 17, 2024

The Breakpoints and Bookmarks Panel

Breakpoints

Breakpoints are used to purposely pause the debugging process on an activity which may trigger execution issues. Setting a condition and/or hit count turns the simple breakpoint to a conditional one. Adding logging results turns the conditional breakpoint in a conditional tracepoint. Adding only a logging message transforms the breakpoint to a simple tracepoint.

You can place and modify a breakpoint on any activity as follows:

  • from the context menu, right-click an activity and select Toggle Breakpoint;
  • by selecting the activity, and clicking the Breakpoints button on the Debug tab;
  • by pressing F9 while the desired activity is selected.

A single activity needs to be selected for a breakpoint to be toggled. You can, however, toggle as many breakpoints as you see fit. Make sure that the order of activities in the workflow is not changed after the breakpoint is set.

Each breakpoint or tracepoint receives a specific icon based on its state. The icon is set on the activity and visible in the Breakpoints and Bookmarks panel.



Type

Description

Breakpoints

Breakpoints pause the debugging process before the activity is executed. Breakpoints can have the following states:

  • Enabled - docs image
  • Disabled - docs image

Conditional Breakpoints

Conditional breakpoints are breakpoints that depend on a set condition and/or a hit count. Conditional breakpoints can have the following states:

  • Enabled - docs image
  • Disabled - docs image

Tracepoints

Tracepoints are breakpoints with set logged messages. When the tracepoint is reached during debugging, the message is logged at trace level. Tracepoints can have the following states:

  • Enabled - docs image
  • Disabled - docs image

Conditional Tracepoints

Conditional tracepoints have a set condition or hit count, and a logged message. The message is logged when the condition is met the number of times stated in the hit count field. Conditional tracepoints can have the following states:

  • Enabled - docs image
  • Disabled - docs image

To modify the state of a breakpoint or tracepoint select the activity and press F9, click the icon in the Breakpoints and Bookmarks panel, or use the Designer or Breakpoints and Bookmarks panel context menus. You can also click the Breakpoints button on the Debug tab, open the drop-down menu and click Toggle Breakpoint.

Note: Breakpoints set during design time persist when reopening the automation project. Breakpoints don't persist at runtime, only at debugging.

Select a breakpoint in the panel and click the Delete button to remove it. The Delete all breakpoints option enables you to delete all the breakpoints in the current project. The Enable all breakpoints option helps you enable all breakpoints in the currently opened project. Consequently, the Disable all breakpoints option disables all breakpoints. Multiple selection is available in the Breakpoints and Bookmarks panel.

Breakpoint Settings

The Breakpoints and Bookmarks panel comes with a set of settings that can be individually adjusted for each toggled breakpoint part of the automation project. Click the icon to open the window.



Note: Please take into consideration that any expression added in the Condition field is not validated.

Field Descriptions for Breakpoint Settings

The Breakpoint Settings window has the following options:

Option

Description

Condition

The condition for the breakpoint. If the condition is met during debugging, the execution breaks and the activity is highlighted.

Hit Count

Specifies the number of times the condition must be met before the execution breaks. If the hit count is higher than the number of times the condition can be met, the execution does not stop upon encountering the breakpoint. The maximum hit count value is 32,767.

Log Message

Specifies the message to be logged at trace level when the condition is met. The message is visible in the Output panel. If a condition is not set, the message is still logged.

Continue execution when logging

If selected, the execution is not paused when the condition is met and the specified message is logged. Available only if a log message was previously set.

Settings for any breakpoint in the project are visible upon hovering the breakpoint in the Designer panel.

Context Menu for Breakpoints

Right-click an item in the Breakpoints and Bookmarks panel to open the context menu with the following options:

Option

Description

Delete

Deletes the selected breakpoints.

Focus

Jumps to the breakpoint in the Designer panel.

Enable

Enables the selected breakpoints.

Disable

Disables the selected breakpoints.

Settings

Opens the Breakpoint Settings window for adding a condition to the breakpoint.

Note: Breakpoint conditions are not evaluated when using Validate File or Validate Project.

Known Limitations in Windows - Legacy Projects

Execution does not pause when a breakpoint is hit if the workflow contains:

  • A UI Automation activity where any option is selected for the Wait for page load property.
  • Two variables of different types that are called using the same expression.

Bookmarks

Bookmarks enable you to mark and quickly jump to specific activities inside workflows. To place and modify a bookmark, simply right-click any activity and select Toggle Bookmark. This labels the activity with a bookmark [insert icon] icon.

You can filter between breakpoints and bookmarks in the panel by using the filter button. Similarly to breakpoints, selecting a bookmark in the panel and clicking the Delete button removes it from the project. The Delete all bookmarks options enables you to delete all the bookmarks in the current project. The Enable all bookmarks option helps you enable all bookmarks in the currently opened project. The Previous bookmark and Next bookmark options let you navigate between bookmarked activities.

Right-click a bookmark in the Breakpoints and Bookmarks panel to open the context menu with the following options:
OptionDescription

Delete

Deletes the selected bookmarks.

Focus

Jumps to the bookmark in the Designer panel.

Enable

Enables the selected bookmarks.

Disable

Disables the selected bookmarks.

Deleting a bookmarked activity also deletes its corresponding bookmark. Similarly to breakpoints, bookmarks can be added during debugging.

The Breakpoints and Bookmarks Panel



The Breakpoints and Bookmarks panel displays all breakpoints and bookmarks in the current project, together with the file in which they are contained.

The Locations column shows the activity with the toggled breakpoint or bookmark, as well as conditions set to breakpoints.

The File Path column displays the file and its location.

For breakpoints, the Message column shows messages to be logged if the condition is met. Hover over the breakpoint tag on an activity to view its condition and log message. For bookmarks, the Message column lets you type messages that appear when hovering over the bookmark tag on an activity.

The Filter button hides or reveals the Breakpoints or Bookmarks sections in the panel.

Double-click on a breakpoint or bookmark to see the activity highlighted in the Designer panel. Use context menu options in the ribbon to enable or disable breakpoints or bookmarks.

To delete multiple breakpoints or bookmarks, select them and click Delete in the context menu. This removes the breakpoints or bookmarks from the current file.

The Delete all, Enable all and Disable all breakpoints or bookmarks buttons perform actions on all breakpoints or bookmarks listed in the panel, regardless if they are selected or not.

The Delete the selection button only deletes the selected elements. Deleting the Breakpoints or Bookmarks sections also deletes all breakpoints or bookmarks from the current file.

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