5 Vocal Debugger

Vocal Debugger allows you to step through your source code and view the state of VoiceXML variables during the call. This tool helps you understand the flow of the VoiceXML application step by step. The Trace tool described in Chapter 3, Trace Tool lets you watch the flow of a call and the caching of resources in real time, but it does not allow you to stop the flow nor does it provide you with state information. These things are provided by Vocal Debugger. Use these tools together to debug your application.

Note: To use the BeVocal tools, you must have the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 1.5.7 installed on your computer.

Click Vocal Debugger in the Tools & File Management menu to start the debugger. The left portion of the debugger contains the VXML Source Area; the right portion contains the Variables Area; at the bottom is the Command Area.

If no application is actively running, the display is clear, as shown above. When you have an active application running, the Vocal Debugger displays the source code for your active application on the left and the variables and their values on the right.

Debugging a Call

To debug a call, simply select the call you want to debug.

1.	Click the List of Active Calls button to view the list of currently active calls. If there are currently no active calls, you'll see a message to that effect. If this is the case, call an application on the system.
	Note: You may have to click the Reload button to update the display initially after the call begins.
2.	Click the View debugger link for the call that interests you.

While the call is in progress, the display continually updates to show the current state of the application. The line of code being executed is highlighted in the VXML Source display:

The Variables display is divided into sections for variables of different scopes--dialog, document, application, and session:

As long as your application is executing, the status box in the Command Area says Running; when the application terminates, the status box changes to Stopped.

Controlling the Progress of Your Application

You use the buttons in the Command Area to control your application.

•	To temporarily stop a running application, click Pause. The application pauses at the next executable statement.
	An executable statement is either executable content or a form item such as `<field>`. Examples of non-executable statements are `<property>` and `<grammar>`. If you are listening to a paused application, you hear audio wallpaper indicating that the application is paused.
•	To start a paused application at the next line of code, click Resume.
•	To step through a paused application a line at a time, click Step.
	Each step executes the next statement and then pauses. If the application is paused for more than 5 minutes, the execution terminates.
•	To update the Vocal Debugger window after a call session has ended and a new call session begins, click Reload.

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