723556 - Add breakpoints to Scratchpad

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(DevTools Graveyard :: Scratchpad, enhancement, P3)

Description

[Mihai Sucan [:msucan]]

Once the debugger lands we should have a way to quickly add breakpoints to scratchpads.

Comment 1

[Rob Campbell [:rc] (:robcee)]

We need a Debugger Client in the Scratchpad. Debugging could happen either directly in the scratchpad itself or in the tab. TBD.

Filter on BLACKEAGLE?!

Comment 3

[Panos Astithas (he/him) [:past] (please ni?)]

One way this could work that provides additional benefits is to display the currently loaded scratchpads in a separate group in the debugger source list (content scratchpads in the content debugger, chrome scratchpads in the browser debugger). This way open scratchpads become visible in the debugger as first-class citizens, so breakpoints etc. will Just Work.

This could be implemented by having the debugger request the list of scratchpads from ScratchpadManager and refresh it any time a newSource event arrives for a client-initiated eval[InGlobal[WithBindings]]. I might be missing some details until bug 825039 is finalized, but this approach should be way simpler than adding all of the debugger's inspection abilities (line/conditional breakpoints, etc.) to scratchpad. It will also retain Scratchpad's current intuitive behavior as an editor, with the debugger as the inspection tool.

Lastly, I should point out that this approach does not preclude making the Scratchpad window more debugger-like with breakpoints, etc., in case we see real value in that. Chrome devtools have a similar concept called snippets that seem to work like our scratchpad and they also display them in the debugger sources pane, in a separate tab.

Comment 4

[Adrian Aichner [:anaran]]

(In reply to Panos Astithas [:past] from comment #3)

> real value in that. Chrome devtools have a similar concept called snippets
> that seem to work like our scratchpad and they also display them in the
> debugger sources pane, in a separate tab.

Hi Panos! One disadvantage of Google Chrome snippets is that they have to be created in the Source Snippets tab. That's why I wrote https://github.com/bgrins/devtools-snippets/tree/master/import-export/chrome to ease the import/export chore.

Comment 5

[Alex Bell]

+1. This would be especially useful for education, when a longer snippet does something unexpected.

Comment 6

[iformas]

+1 this is a basic feature that sholuld be implemented

Comment 7

[danshunfenthal]

+1. I'd like to be able to add code for a page in the scratchpad, and be able to set breakpoints. Similar to Chrome's snippets feature.

Comment 8

[Nicolas Chevobbe [:nchevobbe]]

Scratchpad was removed in Bug 1519103 (Firefox 72). You can check the alternative in https://wiki.developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Tools/Deprecated_tools#Scratchpad .

The Scratchpad bug list was reviewed and I think this bug can be safely closed.