Anyone using transaction SWF_DEBUG?

[Gavin Mooney]

Hi Sue,
I believe you can set instance-level breakpoints or definition-level
breakpoints which are valid for all instances of that definition. The path
you have described sets an instance breakpoint.
I only found the transaction last month (and there doesn't seem to be any
documentation on it at all) and only used definition breakpoints that I set
before kicking off the workflows, I didn't think about setting breakpoints
in errored instances like you describe?

They did indeed make the workflow stop - in the tech log on the Step History
tab you get a message saying that the breakpoint has been reached
(technically speaking, the workflow instance gets set to this status - in
table SWP_HEADER, field TECH_STATE there is now a value 06 for breakpoint
reached).

However, we had problems restarting the workflows that had reached their
breakpoints. You do this from SWF_DEBUG and it worked a few times, but the
whole thing was too buggy to play around with it properly (hence the OSS). A
bit of a struggle like you say.

It's a shame SAP doesn't intend to continue it though, it would be nice to
be able to debug task methods without having to change background tasks to
dialog, etc.

Regards,
Gavin



On 08/01/2009, Keohan, Susan <keohan at ll.mit.edu> wrote:
>
>  Hi Gavin,
>
> I have been struggling with just how useful this transaction is… I have
> tried to set the breakpoints from within the workflow log (change> Set
> breakpoint) when a workflow goes into error.  But you say you have used it?
> Can you share some tips – even if this is not supported?
>
> Thanks,
> Sue
>
>
>
> ----
>
> Susan R. Keohan
>
> SAP Workflow Specialist
>
> Enterprise Applications
>
> Information Services Department
>
> MIT Lincoln Laboratory
>
> 244 Wood Street, LI-200
>
> Lexington, MA. 02420
>
> 781-981-3561
>
> keohan at LL.MIT.EDU
>
>
>  ------------------------------
>
> *From:* sap-wug-bounces at mit.edu [mailto:sap-wug-bounces at mit.edu] *On
> Behalf Of *Gavin Mooney
> *Sent:* Wednesday, January 07, 2009 7:33 PM
> *To:* SAP Workflow Users' Group
> *Subject:* Anyone using transaction SWF_DEBUG?
>
>
>
> Hi everyone,
>
> Has anyone used transaction SWF_DEBUG? I was using it for some unit testing
> last month and once I got used to it I found it quite useful.
>
> However, I found a bug when the breakpoint is set in a sub workflow and
> reported it on OSS, and just had the following response. I'd be interested
> to know if other people have already heard that the transaction was a
> "mistake" - especially as we have some folks from SAP in the WUG who might
> be able to shed some light.
>
> I personally was disappointed to hear that it is not supported.
>
> Regards,
> Gavin
>
> Dear Customer,
>
> sorry for the delay. Due to public holidays today is the first day
> all colleagues are available.
>
> Unfortunately I've bad news. The transaction SWF_DEBUG was delivered
> but is not released for customer. The development of a workflow debuggerwas
> stopped due to other projects with higher priority and so the
> debugger was not finished. It was a mistake to deliver it. I've
> discussed it with my development manager but we are not able to
> support it. Sorry for that. Please do not use SWF_DEBUG.
>
> Best regards,
>
> _______________________________________________
> SAP-WUG mailing list
> SAP-WUG at mit.edu
> http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/sap-wug
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.mit.edu/pipermail/sap-wug/attachments/20090109/6b44aa16/attachment.htm