For assert macros in my iPhone project, I'm looking for a way to programmatically break into the debugger. On Windows (MSVC++), I can use __debugbreak() for this purpose. Invoking this function will stop my program, launch the debugger, and display a callstack of the line that called __debugbreak().
Is there anything similar to __debugbreak() for the iPhone? I've tried Debugger(), but that gives me a linker error.
Thanks, Claus
edit
Turns out this also works:
#define Debugger() { raise( SIGINT ) ; }
I think it's the same principle.
I use this:
#define Debugger() { kill( getpid(), SIGINT ) ; }
I think it works in the simulator and on the device.. no assembly required!
A helpful person on Apple's developer forum gave me the tip to use asm("trap") when running on the device and asm("int3") when running on the simulator. This makes the program break into the debugger if you started your programm in debug mode (Option-Command-Y).
(__builtin_trap() also breaks into the debugger, but you can't continue afterwards. assert(false) terminates the program with a message, but doesn't break into the debugger.)
First Add -DDEBUG to OTHER_CFLAGS on your debug target; this will define the DEBUG symbol when building a debug build.
Then add a simple assert macro to your prefix header:
#ifdef DEBUG
#define MyAssert(val) _MyAssert(val)
#else
#define MyAssert(val) do { } while(0)
#endif
Next create a _MyAssert function in a module somewhere:
#ifdef DEBUG
void _MyAssert(int expression)
{
if (expression == 0) {
NSLog(@"Assertion failed!"); // Place breakpoint here
}
}
#endif
Finally create a breakpoint on the NSLog line.
I just set a breakpoint at the place I want to stop. Xcode remembers breakpoints persistently, so any time I run the app with gdb, it'll stop at that point.
If you want to break on assertion failures, a good place to set a breakpoint is on the function objc_exception_throw, in the Objective-C runtime, which is what actually throws an exception. Use the Run > Show > Breakpoints window and double-click the "Double-click for symbol" row, then type the name.
Is there something wrong with the simple assert() macro? Something like
assert(pointerToTest != nil);
will halt your process at that point if the condition is not true. If running under the debugger, you'll be presented with a stack trace of calls that led to the failed assertion. If you want to trigger it every time you hit a certain code path, you could do
assert(false);
I find these assertions extremely useful for verifying that all IBOutlets are non-nil when a window or view is brought up from a NIB.
While an ancient thread, found this while researching same topic for Xcode 7. What solved this for me was a feature called "Create Exception Breakpoint..."
Debug > Breakpoints > Create Exception Breakpoint...
This puts a special breakpoint in the Breakpoint Navigator (under View > Navigators > Show Breakpoint Navigator).
This breaks on the actual throw of the exception:
[ exception raise ]
without terminating your code execution. You can just continue if that is how your code is structured.
Double-clicking the break point marker next to "All Exception" lets you adjust where and how the exception break point stops:
If you run your program in debug, your app should launch the debugger when it reaches an invalid assertion.
For it to stop, as Jens Alfke tried to say, you need to enable "Stop on Objective-C Exceptions" (under the Run menu).
For more info about debugging vs. releasing and asserts, read http://myok12.wordpress.com/2010/10/10/to-use-or-not-to-use-assertions/
Check out conditional breakpoints:
http://www.cocoabuilder.com/archive/message/xcode/2008/10/22/25358
