PL/I Advanced Monitoring Features › Set and Remove Conditional Breakpoints

Set and Remove Conditional Breakpoints

Conditional breakpoints are breakpoints that take effect when a specific condition is met, such as when a counter exceeds a value. These breakpoints can help you isolate complex problems.

The chapter "Using CA InterTest for CICS to Debug Programs" shows how easy it is to set an unconditional breakpoint directly on your source listing. All you do is type a u to the left of the statement where you want to set the breakpoint.

To set a conditional breakpoint, type a c to the left of the statement where you want to set the breakpoint, as shown in the following screen, and press Enter.

CA InterTest for CICS Release 9.1.00   - PROTSYM FILE  SOURCE LISTING DISPLAY            
COMMAND ===>                                                                    
Program= PLIDEMO  Option #       Stmt #                             Margin= 01  
                                        Search=                                 
---------+--------------------------------------------------------------------- 
 _   599.1     1            GOTO SENDSCR1;                                      
 _   600.1                                                                      
 c   601.1     1      WRITETSQ:                                                 
 _   602.1               TS_SWITCH = ' ';                                       
 _   603.1               /* EXEC CICS WRITEQ TS QUEUE   (TSQ_NAME)              
 _   604.1                                      LENGTH  (TS_LEN)                
 _   605.1                                      FROM    (TS_AREA)               
 _   606.1                                      MAIN */

CA InterTest for CICS then displays the menu on which you define the condition. In the following example, the breakpoint halts program execution only if TS_SWITCH is equal to 3.

        CA-InterTest MONITORING COMMAND BUILDER - CONDITIONAL BREAKPOINT       
                                                                                
 Enter LEFT SIDE of condition (select one):                                     
     Data Name ts-switch_______________________________________________________
     Special keywords:                 ______   Register # __    COBOL BLL # __
                                                                                
 Enter OPERATOR (EQ, NE, GT, LT, GE, LE):  eq    Length:  Left  ___    Right ___
                                                                                
 Enter RIGHT SIDE of condition (select one):                                    
     Data Name ________________________________________________________________
     Special keywords:                 ______   Register # __    COBOL BLL # __
     Literal 3_________________________________________________________________
                                                                               
 Optional offset:  Enter + - @ OR % followed by a value.                       
     Left side  _________________________   Right side ________________________
                                                                               
 _ ENTER  S  to Drop monitoring on a true condition                            
                                                                               
 For location:                                                                 
              601.1     1      WRITETSQ:                                       
                                                                               
    Use Help or documentation for use of special keywords                      
 PF1 Help       2            3 End        4 Return     5            6          
  PF7            8            9           10           11           12          

Conditional breakpoints are indicated by a C next to the line of code in your Source Listing.

You can easily remove a conditional breakpoint from where it displays in your Source Listing or from the Monitoring Status report.