 Spying variables

The "Spy lists " command in the "Spy" menu of the Debugger window enables the user to build non-contiguous lists of variables which are refreshed with their current values. Lists are built when debugging the application. The lists can be stored on the disk and opened again during other debug sessions. A list may contain up to 32 variables. Variables of different types may be mixed in the same list. Global and local variables can be inserted in a list. A list of variables is dedicated to one particular project. Lists of variables are very useful for the functional testing of an application. They allow the user to watch the changes of a limited part of the controlled process, independent of the corresponding source code in the application programs. Lists of variables are also useful while debugging ST and IL text programs. The user can easily group in a list the set of variables used in a program, in order to control or monitor the execution of the programmed instructions.

Saving lists on hard disk

Inserting variables in the list

Changing the selected variable

Dump display

For each variable of the list, ISaGRAF displays its name, its current value and its comment text. Columns can be resized by dragging separation lines with mouse in the list title bar.


Saving lists on hard disk

The commands of the "File" menu are used to create, open and save the lists of variables. The number of lists for one project is not limited by ISaGRAF. While naming the lists of variables to be saved on disk, the rules shown below have to be followed:

•	name cannot exceed 8 characters

•	the first character must be a letter

•	the following characters can be letters, digits or underscore character

•	naming of lists is case insensitive

The list editor cannot display more that one list of variables at a time in the same window. However, the list editor can be run more than once, in order to spy different lists simultaneously.


Inserting variables in the list

The "Edit / Insert" command inserts another variable in the list. The variable name is selected in the list of objects defined in the project dictionary. This way the user does not have to manually enter the identifier. The variable is inserted before the variable currently selected in the list. The list cannot contain more than 32 variables. The same variable cannot appear more than once in the same list.


Changing the selected variable

The "Edit / Modify" command replaces the selected variable by another variable. You can also use the "Cut" command to remove the selected variable from the list.


Dump display

At any time, you can swap viewing mode between list and "Dump" view. Press the "zoom" button in toolbar or use "Options / Dump" command to swap viewing mode.

In "Dump" mode, only one variable value is displayed. Its value is displayed in numerical/symbolic format at the top of the window, and is also displayed in binary "dump" format. This mode allows you to spy hexadecimal value of each byte in the variable value.

"Dump" display is very useful for spying and understanding message strings containing non printable characters.