Using the ColdFusion debugger (Windows only)

If you’re a ColdFusion developer using Macromedia ColdFusion as your Dreamweaver testing server, you can view ColdFusion debugging information without leaving Dreamweaver.

NOTE

This feature is not supported on the Macintosh. Macintosh developers can use Preview in Browser (F12) to open a ColdFusion page in a separate browser. If the page contains errors, information about the possible causes for the errors appears at the bottom of the page.

If you’re running ColdFusion MX 6.1 or earlier, make sure debugging settings are enabled in ColdFusion Administrator before you begin debugging. For more information, see the ColdFusion documentation in Using Dreamweaver (Help > Using ColdFusion). If you’re running ColdFusion MX 7 or later, Dreamweaver enables the settings for you.

Also, make sure your Dreamweaver testing server is running ColdFusion. For more information on the Dreamweaver testing server, see Specifying where dynamic pages can be processed.

TIP

To ensure the debug information is refreshed every time a page is displayed in the internal browser, make sure Internet Explorer checks for newer versions of the file every time the file is requested. In Internet Explorer, select Tools > Internet Options, select the General tab, and click the Settings button in the Temporary Internet Files area. In the Settings dialog box, select the Every Visit to Page option.

To debug a ColdFusion page:

Open the ColdFusion page in Dreamweaver.
Click the Server Debug icon on the Document toolbar.
Dreamweaver requests the page from the ColdFusion server and displays it in an internal Internet Explorer browser window. If the page contains errors, possible causes for the errors appear at the bottom of the page.
At the same time, a Server Debug panel opens. The panel provides a large amount of useful information, such as all the pages the server processed to render the page, all the SQL queries executed on the page, and all the server variables and their values, if any. The panel also provides a summary of execution times.
If an Exceptions category appears in the Server Debug panel, click the Plus (+) icon to expand the category.
The Exceptions category appears if the server encountered a problem or problems with the page. Expand the category to find out more about the problem.
In the Location column of the Server Debug panel, click the page’s URL to open the page in Code view and fix it.
If Dreamweaver can locate the page, the page opens with the problem line or lines highlighted. If Dreamweaver cannot locate the page, it asks you for the location.
Fix the error, save the file to the server, and click browse.
Dreamweaver renders the page in the internal browser again and updates the Server Debug panel. If there are no more problems with the page, the Exceptions category does not reappear in the panel.
To leave debug mode, switch to Code view (View > Code) or Design view (View > Design).