I’m facing a tricky debugging situation and wondering if anyone has dealt with something similar before.
I have a JavaScript file that needs to be debugged, but here’s the catch - it’s not running in a regular browser environment. Instead, there’s an external C++ application that uses the SpiderMonkey JavaScript engine to execute my script file.
What I’m trying to achieve is connecting my Eclipse IDE to this running process so I can step through the JavaScript code and see variable values during execution. Basically I want to attach Eclipse’s debugger to the external application (let’s call it myApp.exe) and debug the JavaScript that SpiderMonkey is currently processing.
Has anyone managed to set up this kind of debugging workflow before? I’m open to any suggestions or alternative approaches that might work for this scenario.
yeah, this is a pain to set up right. I’ve been down this road before and just ended up throwing console.log everywhere in my JS and capturing it from C++. not pretty, but sometimes that’s what works with embedded JS engines. check if SpiderMonkey has any debug flags you can flip on - might save you some headaches.
I had a similar issue and got it working with the Remote Debugger Protocol - assuming your SpiderMonkey integration supports it. Make sure your C++ app has debugging hooks enabled when SpiderMonkey starts up. Check that myApp.exe was compiled with debugging symbols and exposes remote debugging ports. Another thing that worked for me was building a simple debug server into the C++ side that sends debugging events over a socket. Then Eclipse can connect to your custom protocol. If you control the build process though, I’d just add breakpoint support directly in the C++ wrapper around your JavaScript execution calls. Won’t give you full IDE integration, but you’ll at least have some debugging capability.
Debugging JavaScript in a C++ application like SpiderMonkey can indeed be challenging. If Eclipse can’t directly connect due to the lack of a standard debugging protocol, consider embedding a debugging interface within your C++ application. SpiderMonkey provides APIs that can facilitate this. For instance, implementing a TCP debug server can allow communication with external debugging tools. Alternatively, enable SpiderMonkey’s built-in debugging capabilities by adjusting your C++ app accordingly. If modifying the C++ code isn’t feasible, you might need to resort to extensive logging to track variable values and flow, although this won’t provide the full debugging experience.