Inspecting variables

The IBM® Debugger offers a Variables view, which provides easy access to the variables in your program. In this view, you can observe and edit variables.

About this task

When a thread suspends, the top stack frame of the thread is automatically selected. When a stack frame is selected, the visible variables in that stack frame are displayed in the Variables view. Complex variables can be expanded to show the elements that make up the variable.

Note: C and C++ support the aggregate display of arrays and structures on one line (where the top node of the array displays the values for the elements beneath it).

Variable values can be changed in the Variables view by clicking the value of the variable in the Value column and changing the value inline - or by performing these steps:

Procedure

  1. Right-click the variable that you want to edit and select Change Value from the pop-up menu.
  2. In the resulting dialog, change the variable value.
  3. Click OK.
  4. To indicate that the variable value has changed, its indicator will have a delta symbol next to it. All variables affected by the change will also have a delta symbol next to their indicators.

Results

The Variables view displays all variables for a selected stack frame. It dynamically shows the variables in the current scope and they will appear and disappear as the program is stepped or resumed. As an alternative to the Variables view, you can monitor variables in the Monitors view - where the debugger always shows their value (if it can be obtained). To view and inspect one or multiple variables at a time, right-click the variable or variables and select Monitor Local Variable from the pop-up menu to work with the variables in the Monitors view.

Depending on the language that you are debugging, you can filter the Variables view to display certain variables only. To do this, right-click in the Variables view and select an entry from the Filter Locals submenu.

Note: The filtering options available in the Filter Locals submenu depends on the language you are debugging. For information about filtering options, see the related topic.

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