We've considered it, but all of the benefit of DevMode (avoiding recompile) goes out the window. If you change code, you have to recompile, so the whole edit-refresh cycle takes a lot longer.
If you really just want source-level debugging of compiled GWT apps, this can be done with SourceMaps: http://code.google.com/p/google-web-toolkit/wiki/SourceMaps With sufficient integration with the IDE, you could hook up a Firefox or V8 external Javascript debugger, reverse-map any Javascript position to source Java/Line Number, and have the IDE show that line. You could forward-map break points to the correct JS breakpoint setting (although this may require turning off optimizations to prevent making the entire program 1 single line). This is all pretty straightforward and has been done for Closure Compiler already. The real difficulty is dealing with Expression Evaluation, if you evaluate a Java expression in the debugger, it would have to be 'compiled' on the fly to JS. -Ray On Mon, Oct 3, 2011 at 3:39 PM, Eric Ridge <[email protected]> wrote: > Not real fresh, but still edible... > > I send the below to the [email protected] list last > week, but I can't find a link to it via groups.google.com. Maybe it > got held for moderation? > > eric > > ------- > > Anyways, I think it's entirely possible. > > Here's the solution -- ditch the plugins entirely. > > Instead, develop a Java applet that functions as a JPDA server that > knows how to translate the state of the running GWT app into the JPDA > protocol so a remote Java debugger can understand it. The applet > would be embedded into the module's primary .html page. > > The concept of "devmode" basically goes away and instead the GWT > compiler would have a "DEBUG" output format which would include code > that passes state information to the JPDA Java applet as the > javascript executes. > > Have youse guys considered anything like this? The JPDA applet is > just a SMOP, but I'd have to guess adding a "DEBUG" output format to > the GWT compiler would be pretty big. "F5/Refresh" performance would > need consideration in this too. > > It's a totally half-baked idea right now, but I wanted to toss it out > to see if the smarties at google think it's worth further thought. > > > On Mon, Oct 3, 2011 at 6:22 PM, Tomasz Gawel <[email protected]> wrote: > > Fresh idea. > > and what about implementing debugger in an applet? :) > > > > -- > > http://groups.google.com/group/Google-Web-Toolkit-Contributors > > > > -- > http://groups.google.com/group/Google-Web-Toolkit-Contributors > -- http://groups.google.com/group/Google-Web-Toolkit-Contributors
