Notice: this Wiki will be going read only early in 2024 and edits will no longer be possible. Please see: https://gitlab.eclipse.org/eclipsefdn/helpdesk/-/wikis/Wiki-shutdown-plan for the plan.
DSDP/DD/MultiContext UnlinkViewContextProposal
Contents
Overview
This is a proposal to change the workflow of selecting the context for data displayed in standard debug views. This includes: Variables, Registers, Expressions, Memory, and possibly the Console views. This proposal builds on the previous efforts to implement "pin and clone" functionality in these views.
Goals
- To make it possible to switch the active context of a debug view without exiting the view.
- To make it possible to switch the active context of a debug view and without having to have the Debug view visible.
- To make it possible to have multiple instances of debug views open and showing data from different contexts side-by-side.
- To avoid violating any established UI paradigms with respect to views' interaction.
New UI Components and Workflow changes
Debug context selection dialog
A modal new selection dialog would allow user to choose the input context. When the debug context selection dialog is opened it shows a tree viewer where the top nodes are the participating debug context providers. Platform will provide the Launch Manager as the standard debug context provider, but others, such as Target Manager could also be shown. User can select the desired context in the dialog and press OK.
The debug context selection dialog should have a dedicated key binding and possibly a tool-bar button.
Link button
The debug views all have a link toggle button on their toolbars. If the link button is down (default), the view context follows the active debug context as is does currently. If the link button is up, the input context into the view does not change unless it is explicitly changed by the user with the input selection dialog.