You can access instances of user-defined classes, as well as the following types of elements that make up a class:

  • Data members, which define instance data of a class
  • Properties, which are similar to data members, and also provide GET and/or SET accessors containing ABL code that executes implicitly when a property is read or written
  • Methods, which define the behavior of a class

The data members, properties, and methods that a class comprises are statically defined in a class and scoped to an instance of that class, and they are available inside or outside of the class hierarchy depending on their access mode (PUBLIC, PRIVATE, or PROTECTED). When accessing data members and properties, or stepping through methods, the Debugger honors their access mode.

Note: PRIVATE members only appear when the class is the current execution frame on the ABL stack. PUBLIC and PROTECTED members appear from any execution frame that references them.

For more information about user-defined classes, and their data members, properties, and methods, see Develop Object-oriented ABL Applications.

The Debugger displays the object reference for an instance of a user-defined class as an INTEGER value followed by the name of the instance (in parentheses). For example "1101 (Class MyClass)".

You can examine and edit the value of data members and properties for an instance of a user-defined class in the variables pane, the watches pane, or the Dataview dialog box.