Starting the Debugger from an ABL procedure using the DEBUGGER or SESSION system handle runs the Debugger in either application or stand-alone mode.

The DEBUGGER system handle provides attributes and methods that allow you to start and control a debugging session from an ABL procedure. It is intended for experienced ABL programmers who want to:

  • Control breakpoints at specific points in their code, regardless of how the surrounding code is modified, or set breakpoints in include files that might appear in many different procedures.
  • Develop their own ABL or OpenEdge development tools, and initialize and control Debugger interaction from those tools.
  • Debug applications deployed on an application server instance.

The SESSION system handle allows you to specify whether you want alert dialog boxes to include a Help button that provides access to a Stack Trace dialog box and the Debugger. For more information on starting the Debugger from alert dialog boxes, see Debug from alert dialog boxes.

For information on using the DEBUGGER and SESSION system handles, see Use System Handles for Debugging.