[gvd-users] GVD 1.2.4 considerations

[Arnaud Charlet]

> I've found GVD a professional look, and powerful features that make a handy
> and convenient tool for debugging, clean, fast and solid.

Thanks.

> Double-clicking on the source view in order to select an identifier doesn't select
> any identifier containing at least a '_' (underscore) in its name.
> I mean that if I double-click on a variable named "myVariable", it select it OK then
> I can display/print it, and so on. But, double-clicking on a variable named "my_variable"
> will only select "my" or "variable" (following where I've clicked). Is this intentional?

That's the default behavior of the text widget. You actually do not need to
select anything, by default, the current word (including underscores) will
be chosen, so the answer here is simply: do not double click ;-)

In the long run, we use replace the source viewer by a new text editor.

> 1) (UI: minor)
> the left side tree shows the source files and their functions. What about showing the main()?
> I was not able to return to the main(), except by scrolling the source file, or with the
> "show current location" if only the current location is in the main() :-).

Well, main is just another function that can be found in a file. If you
open the file that contains main(), you will see it.

A trick to display main directly is to type "list main" in the debugger
console.

> 2) (data display: major) 
> debugging a C++ program, GVD was not able to display _some_ objects content.
> The display was empty, or if I try casting the pointer with the "display expression"
> feature, the data window shows a pointer (0x..) and double-clicking on it does
> nothing (DDD was able to display the content, as expected).
> Are there some known limitation in data displaying?
> I think this problem has to be digged a lil' bit. Should I provide more info about the
> object (screenshot, class info, etc.)?

It would be nice to provide a reproducer including sources for this
problem.

> 3) (sessions: major)
> Okay it seems that GVD has problems with long strings sent to gdb? But it doesn't
> report verbose info, then crash after some strange behaviour :-\.

As far as we know there is no such limitation in GVD, so a reproducer would be
welcome.

> - I open GVD, then "File".. "Open session".. I click in the left pane on the session
> I want to load. The right pane shows one entry (as expected).
> - I click on OK then I get the error describbed above.
> - I want to retry this: "File".. "Open session".. I click in the left pane on the
> session I want to load again. The right pane then shows nothing!
> - I click on OK, then GVD disappears (probably segfault), nothing reported on the
> term.
> Confusing isn't it?

Well, as soon as you get an internal error, GVD is no longer in a stable state,
so things might or might not work properly after that. The important thing
is to identy the initial cause of the internal error and to fix it.

> 4) (sessions: minor)
> When loading a session, it plays back the saved status. I mean that everything is restored,
> including playing the command history.
> Could it be possible to _optionally_ restore the tracing status?
> Sessions are very handy to save open file/args, data displayed and breakpoints, but
> it could be helpful to be able to choose if loading a session will "play" the whole
> command history, or only restore data/breakpoints/views/etc.

That's on our todo list, among many other things as you can guess ;-)
It's all a matter of time and priorities.

> 5) (sessions: minor)
> Loading a previously saved session doesn't automatically restore the left-side tree
> view. I mean that the pane shows "list of files" and that's all. Of course right-clicking
> on it and "reload files" works but it doesn't restore this tree's status (must be unsaved
> so).
> Could this be done automatically (or optionally), when loading a session?

Sure, everything is possible with free software ;-)

> 6) (sessions: request)
> Would it be possible to use a command line option in order to load a session at startup?

Same answer.

These are all very valuable suggestions, and hopefully they will all appear
in a future version of GVD or GLIDE 2 (the complete IDE that incorporates
GVD that we're working on), it is more a matter or who will do it and when.
Of course, contributions, suggestions are very welcome.

Arno