Tech Notes

Faster Debugging

New features in FutureBASIC 4 (and even later releases of FutureBASIC 3) have made it possible to handle things in running applications that were previously impossible. For instance, we can now check to ensure that all toolbox calls will execute without crashing. We can rebuild the name tables - those tables that handle bold facing of keywords - at startup.

Normally, the time required to carry out this kind of operation is so small that it wouldn't disturb a cat's whisker. But during debugging, your application will appear to hang forever and you are stuck with your nose against the monitor wondering, "What in the heck is going on in there?"

There are some simple steps that you can take which will speed things up. They involve changing a couple of preferences:

Under the Debugger tab, uncheck... Verify that toolboxes exist during program startup.

Under the Advanced tab, uncheck... Rebuild toolbox name tables at init.

These simple steps will make your debugging operations start quickly. No more delays!