• Chapter 1: Getting Started with Stylus Studio
• Chapter 2: Editing and Querying XML
• Chapter 3: Converting Non-XML Files to XML
• Chapter 4: Working with XSLT
• Chapter 5: Creating XSLT Using the XSLT Mapper
• Chapter 6: Debugging Stylesheets
• Chapter 7: Defining XML Schemas
• Chapter 8: Defining Document Type Definitions
• Chapter 9: Writing XPath Expressions
• Chapter 10: Working with XQuery in Stylus Studio
  • Getting Started with XQuery in Stylus Studio
  • Building an XQuery Using the Mapper
  • Debugging XQuery Documents
    • Using Breakpoints
    • Viewing Processing Information
    • Using Bookmarks
    • Profiling XQuery Documents
  • Creating an XQuery Scenario
• Chapter 11: Composing Web Service Calls
• Chapter 12: Accessing Relational Data as XML
• Chapter 13: Extending Stylus Studio
• Chapter 14: Stylus Studio GUI Reference

Home > Online Product Documentation > Table of Contents > Debugging XQuery Documents

Debugging XQuery Documents

Complex XQuery documents require robust debugging features.

With Stylus Studio, you can

In this section

This section covers the following topics:

Using Breakpoints

The Stylus Studio debugger allows you to interrupt XQuery processing to gather information about variables and XQuery expression execution at particular points.

Inserting Breakpoints

To insert a breakpoint:

Removing Breakpoints

To remove a breakpoint:

Alternative: In the Stylus Studio toolbar, click Breakpoints to display a list of breakpoints in all open files. You can selectively remove one or more, remove them all, or jump to one of them.

Start Debugging

When your XQuery has one or more breakpoints set, start processing by clicking Start Debugging or pressing F5. When Stylus Studio reaches the first breakpoint, it suspends processing and activates the debugging tools. After you examine the information associated with that breakpoint (see Viewing Processing Information) you can choose to

Viewing Processing Information

Stylus Studio provides several tools for viewing processing information. The tools become active when processing reaches a breakpoint. This section discusses the following topics:

Watching Particular Variables

Use the Watch window to monitor particular variables. To display the Watch window, click Watch in the Stylus Studio toolbar. This button is active when Stylus Studio suspends processing because it reached a breakpoint. Stylus Studio displays the Watch window only when processing is suspended.

Enter the names of the variables you want to watch. You can enter as many as you like. When Stylus Studio suspends processing, it displays the current values for any variables listed in the Watch window. You can expand and collapse complex structures as needed.

During XQuery debugging, you can enter XPath expressions in the Watch window fields. Stylus Studio uses the current context to evaluate these expressions, and displays the results with the same kind of interface Stylus Studio uses for nodeList and node variables.

Evaluating XPath Expressions in the Current Processor Context

When you suspend processing, you can evaluate an XPath expression in the context of the suspended process. You do this in the Watch window. Click in the Stylus Studio toolbar to display the Watch window. Click in an empty name field and enter an XPath expression. As soon as you press Enter, Stylus Studio displays the results of the evaluation in the Value field of the Watch window.

Obtaining Information About Local Variables

Display the Variables window to obtain information about local variables. To display the Variables window, click Variables in the Stylus Studio toolbar. This button is active when Stylus Studio suspends processing because it reached a breakpoint. Stylus Studio displays the Variables window only when processing is suspended.

Information displayed in the Variables window includes:

Also, you can navigate the structure associated with a variable, a parameter, or the current context if it is a node list or a node.

Displaying a List of Process Suspension Points

Display the Call Stack window to view a list of the locations at which processing was suspended. For XQuery documents, Stylus Studio displays the XQuery document name and line number.

To display the Call Stack window, click Call Stack in the Stylus Studio toolbar. This button is active when Stylus Studio suspends processing because it reached a breakpoint. Stylus Studio displays the Call Stack window only when processing is suspended.

When processing is complete, the call stack is empty.

When execution is suspended you can use the Call Stack window to jump directly to the XQuery source. Double-click on a stack line to go to that location. A green triangle appears to indicate this location in the source file.

Displaying XQuery Expressions for Particular Output

After you create an XQuery, or during XQuery debugging, Stylus Studio can display the XQuery expression that generated a particular part of a result document. This can be particularly helpful when the result is not quite what you want.

In the Preview window, click on the output for which you want to display the XQuery expression. You can do this while either the text view or the browser view is active. Stylus Studio flags the line in the XQuery source that contains the expression that generated the output you selected.

Using Bookmarks

When you are editing or debugging a long file, you might want to repeatedly check certain lines in the file. To quickly focus on a particular line, insert a bookmark for that line. You can insert any number of bookmarks. You can insert bookmarks in any document that you can open in Stylus Studio.

Inserting

To insert a bookmark:

Removing

To remove a bookmark:

To remove all bookmarks in a file, click Clear All Bookmarks .

Moving Focus

To move from bookmark to bookmark, click Next Bookmark or Previous Bookmark .

Profiling XQuery Documents

In addition to debugging tools for XQuery, Stylus Studio provides the XQuery Profiler, a tool that helps you evaluate the efficiency of your XQuery. By default, the performance metrics gathered by the XQuery Profiler are displayed in a preformatted report, like the one shown here:

The report format is controlled by the default XSLT stylesheet, profile.xsl, in the \Stylus Studio\bin directory. You can customize this stylesheet as required. You can save XQuery Profiler reports as HTML.

In addition to generating the standard XQuery Profiler report, you can save the raw data generated by the Profiler and use this data to create your own reports. See Enabling the Profiler for more information about this procedure.

About Performance Metrics

The XQuery Profiler can record three different levels of performance metrics:

Enabling the Profiler

The XQuery Profiler is off by default. You enable the Profiler on the Profiling Options tab of the XQuery Scenario Properties dialog box.

To enable the XQuery Profiler:

The next time you preview the XQuery results, the performance metrics you selected are available to you in the XQuery Profiler report (and as raw data if you selected that setting and specified a file).

Displaying the XQuery Profiler Report

To display the XQuery Profiler report:

The XQuery Profiler report appears in the Preview window.