Friday, June 6th, 2008
NitobiBug: Cross browser debugging
Nitobi has released a cross browser debugging script, NitobiBug:
It's a browser-based JavaScript object logger and inspection tool - similar to Firebug. NitobiBug runs across different browsers (IE6+, Safari, Opera, Firefox) to provide a consistent and powerful tool for developing rich Ajax applications.
With it you can:
JAVASCRIPT:
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// inspect an object
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var myObject = {a:234523, something:'else', mylist:[32423,4556,'sdfs']}; nitobi.Debug.log(myObject);
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// inspect a DOM element
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var myDomObject = document.getElementById('someID'); nitobi.Debug.log(myDomObject);
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// output text
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nitobi.Debug.log("This is a test");
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The location of the window itself is remembered, and if you click on the "show me" link of a DOM debug window, you will see the element highlighted (if possible).
2.9 rating from 30 votes
A real debugger allows for stepping through code and inspecting everything through the life of the code.
People should really stop calllng every single logger a ‘debugger’
I don’t think it’s unfair to call this a debugger at all. it’s a close as you’re gonna get to real debugging in a lot of browsers, and it looks really useful. i never got on with firebug lite. i’m gonna give this a go.
Well, from what I can tell, every major browser, except Safari (and that’s because I don’t have a Mac) has its own debugger.
Firefox - firebug, venkman
IE - MS Script Editor, MS Script Debugger
Opera - Dragonfly
So you are pretty much covered when it comes to debugging in the lot of browsers.
I used this last night. It helped, because I’ve had a heck of a time getting debuggers to work in some older versions of browsers, and in the PC version of Safari.
>>People should really stop calllng every single logger a ‘debugger’
And be fair–he doesn’t call it a debugger, as far as I can tell. “It’s a browser-based JavaScript object logger and inspection tool…”
@urandom: Safari does have a debugger - its part of WebKit - called Drosera…
@blove: Until they make it available (in working conditio) to Windows users, a lot of web developers won’t be able to use it. Even webkit nightly’s drosera.exe throws a fatal exception.
Well, I think this is a nice little tool, and the developer should be encouraged. No, it doesn’t compete with the more comprehensive debuggers, but it does some pretty basic stuff and the main point is that it works cross-browser.
For heavy-duty debugging, you’re probably going to use your favorite dedicated debugger. But I can see where this would be really convenient for quick checks across a bunch of browsers. You don’t have to try to remember how each of the different dedicated debuggers works in all the browsers.
Besides, this is a 1.0 release. The cross-browser concept is sound and, over time, a lot more features will probably be added.
Yeah, every time I try drosera on the PC it’s a disaster. I’ve given up, waiting for the “all clear.”