Generated code bypassing server side scripts when debugging

Robert Francis

I have been developing a process using Metastorm BPM v9 where I have written server side scripts.  I wanted to debug the script to verify that the logic was working as expected.  I was able to set a breakpoint within the code and run the application but the process would not stop at the breakpoint.  I have since discovered that when Metastorm generates the code it may insert a C# #line statement which causes the debugger to ignore all of the following code until another #line statement is encountered.    This has been very frustrating for me because I was working with the help desk and this was not communicated to me.  I had to discover this on my own.  It also does not make since to me why the code is ignored by the debugger but is still executed.   I am not sure that the perceived benefits of using this tool is worth the pair and frustration associated with trying to develop applications using the tool.    Can someone explain to me why the #line statements are generated?

Tony Wheeler

Those preprocessing directives shouldn’t be there. A defect has been identified and will be corrected in a future release. This, however, only affects code that is in a code activity. If you move your code into a server side script that then gets called from your code activity, you should be able to step through as expected.

Robert Francis

I moved the code from code activity to a server side script and put a call in the code activity, the directives are still being generated and the debugger does not stop on the call.   Are there any other work arounds that I might try?

Tony Wheeler

Are you putting a breakpoint in the server side script or are you still trying to break in the code activity?

Robert Francis

Breaking in Code Activity.

Robert Francis

I moved the break point to the server side script instead of the code activity but debugger is still not stopping.

Tony Wheeler

It sounds like you may have something else going on in your code preventing the breakpoint from getting hit. Can you try removing all your code and simply call into a static method in a server side script that returns an empty string? Try breaking on the return ""; line in the server side script.

Paul Lawrence

I have noticed that you cannot use break-points in server-side code of libraries in recent versions (9.1.2.2/3). I do not recall that this was a restriction with earlier versions and it does rather make dubugging of server-side script in libraries useless. Is this part of the same defect that has been identified?