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Sometimes when I'm debugging some javascript in Chrome and I have the javascript paused, if I try to reload the page, chrome instead just "continues" the debugger, stepping to next breakpoint.

There doesn't seem to be any way to force the javascript to stop running completely, and let chrome just reload the page. Every press of -R or click of the reload button simply continues to the next breakpoint.

My make-shift solution right now is to

  1. copy the url bar address
  2. close that tab
  3. open a new tab
  4. and then open the url in the new tab.

This is rather brute-force but its the only way I get Chrome to actually load a fresh copy of that page, instead of just continuing the existing running one. Emptying the cache has no affect because its not even trying to reload the page.

p.s. I also notice there is no "stop" button for the javascript debugger as well. How do I just tell chrome to stop executing the javascript, no need to continue. The only controls are "continue", "step-over", "step-in", "step-out". How is there no "stop" or "cancel".

DragonFax
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5 Answers5

9

When I want to do this I close the debugger (letting the scripts finish running), then re-open it and hit refresh.

McGarnagle
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  • If I recall, closing the debugger window and reloading did work. – DragonFax Feb 15 '13 at 22:32
  • This assumes the scripts will finish—figuring out why the scripts aren't finishing (e.g. infinite loops, expensive processes, etc) are likely exactly what you're trying to debug if you're in the situation described in the question! – accidental_PhD Dec 21 '16 at 22:38
3

I found the issue that was causing this for me was that I had accidentally hit a button in the bottom left to "pause on JavaScript exceptions". It was blue - I clicked on it twice to bring it back to grey, and the debugger stopped pausing altogether.

hughsk
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1

you could just deactivate all the breakpoints, reload the page, and reactivate them, its the last button (the fifth one starting from pause)

Google Chromes debugger is amazing, but it isn't like gdb where you can just start it or kill it, though you can enable/disable it by calling up the dev tools, think of it more like a monitor or manager for the interpreter, since JS for the most part is always running or running when JS needs to be parsed, the debugger simply interacts with the interpreter, thats how I've interpreted, if Im wrong I apologize.

Samy Vilar
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  • Both good answers are good, but dbaseman was straight to the point with a simple quick solution. – DragonFax Jun 14 '12 at 08:12
  • no problem, I've had to do this several times, I will say this the debugger is AMAZING by far one of the best, and has saved my life so many times, I feel like buying the guys who developed it some beer. – Samy Vilar Jun 14 '12 at 08:15
1

If you want to actually stop all activity in the tab without actually closing it or the developer tools window, you can force it into the "Aw, snap!" state (with a handy reload button) via Chrome's Task Manager (More Tools -> Task Manager, select the tab, hit "End Process").

This way you can reload the tab immediately without waiting for all the scripts to finish. And the developer tools window will automatically reconnect when you hit refresh.

accidental_PhD
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-7

Google chrome debugger doesn't turn off, EVER. Once I created 1 breakpoint, but now there is no breakpoints but its still pauses and there is no breakpoint where it paused. I highly recommend not using the debugger at all, if you did, just uninstall chrome and reinstall and never set any breakpoints.

user2073497
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