Hi,
I use MathScript probe to debug MS nodes. It's powerful tool, but inconvinient
for monitoring more than one variable. Currently the variables together with
their dimension are displayed in the upper part of the window. If you select
one variable it's contents is displayed in the lower part. It is impossible to
watch the contents of more than one variable. To improve debugging I have
several suggestions:
1) In case of scalar variables display the value instead of the dimension in
the upper part of the probe window. This way the values of more than
one variable can be monitored. Actually, this is exactly the way how
Matlab presents in variables in the Workspace window.Please note that
variables of interest are often scalar (e.g. indices).
2) Allow to reorder the variables in the upper part of the probe window.
This way you can lump all variables of interest together and avoid a lot
of scrolling. If this is not possible provide an extray Watch window which
can be populated with variables of your choice (like in LabWindows CVI).
3) If the user select one of the variables please automaticaly adjust the
data type in the combo box below the variable list. If you currently
select a string variable the data type is set to 'numerical' by the default.
So each time you select a string you have to change the data type in order
to read the string.
4) Another place to present the variable values could be the context help window.
(like described in the MathScript Nuggest #2). If you hover over a variable
display the value instead of the data type (or both) in the context help window
(or alternativly in some tooltip). This is common practice in Mathlab, LabWindows CVI,
Visual Studio, etc. For me the value is much more important than the data type.
Particularly as variables can chage their type in MathScript easily.
Ulf Seidel
