Variables not showing while debugging in Eclipse

Question

I am running Eclipse Galileo for developers.

When I run in debug mode, the current variables and their values are not coming up in the Variables window. The window remains empty when I step through my code after a breakpoint.

Last night it was working, so I'm perplexed. Any reason why this might be happening and any tip on troubleshooting?

It happened to me and I just restarted Eclipse and it worked again. — Michal Krasny, Nov 04 '14 at 09:58

score 146 · Accepted Answer · edited Nov 05 '15 at 08:05

146

I ended up trying something easy by resetting the Debug perspective, which seemed to work:

Window => Perspective => Reset Perspective...

Thanks for the comments.

edited Nov 05 '15 at 08:05

uvsmtid

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answered Mar 30 '11 at 18:41

well actually

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I keep running into this same issue, and resetting the perspective has been working for me. thanks for posting this. – stephenbayer Jun 06 '11 at 15:53
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Actually, either this or the additional step from @tonyeva did it, but it didn't work immediately (ie., in the current stack), so thought the problem didn't go away. However, when the debugger stopped at a different place, the variables started showing up. – haridsv Mar 20 '13 at 12:03
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Sometimes you need to click the thread again to get the Variables pane to update. In the Debug pane, find the thread with (Suspended) beside it, expand it, and click the top stack frame. – Stephen Kidson Feb 20 '15 at 22:28
Thank you! It helped to resolve my problem with vars values! I use Eclipse NEON – user1697575 Feb 02 '17 at 15:57
I'm using Nsight Eclipse Edition, 8.0. The Variables tab shows global variables instead of local ones. I did 2 things to fix that: Window => Preferences => General => Preferences => Debug => Restore Defaults and then Window => Reset perspective. Alas, nothing changed in the Variables tab, only the layout of tabs got rearranged. Anything else I can try to make the Variables tab show the local vars? – Michael Feb 13 '18 at 17:35

score 32 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 06 '13 at 17:28

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Window --> Show View --> Variables

answered Jun 06 '13 at 17:28

jaciefan

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Window --> Show View --> Debug --> Variables – ermanno.tedeschi Nov 07 '14 at 10:09

score 19 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 16 '15 at 18:06

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My problem was that I couldn't see variables names, but just the value. After trying quite a while I got the solution: Click on the down arrow (in degub Variables tab) --> Layout --> show columns

It did the trick!

answered Sep 16 '15 at 18:06

lfvv

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thakns, it helped me too with eclipse Mars. Down arrow is at upper right corner of Variables Tab bar. – tworec Sep 17 '15 at 07:57
This also helped me in Eclipse Mars, even though restarting and removing the view didn't helped at all. – Dave Nov 02 '15 at 15:57

score 15 · Answer 4 · answered Aug 01 '11 at 13:09

Resetting the perspective wasn't quite enough for me, I had to first delete the "Variables" tab and then reset the perspective (which reinstated the Variables tab in a working state). One other thing not mentioned above which might help others - when the variables tab is not working, the tab title is in italics (whatever that signifies). When it's working it goes back to normal font.

score 6 · Answer 5 · answered Nov 04 '14 at 09:58

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I restarted Eclipse and it worked again.

answered Nov 04 '14 at 09:58

Michal Krasny

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Me too. Closing and reopening the "Variables" window did not work, but exiting Eclipse and restarting did. – Mark Madej Mar 01 '15 at 06:14
I had to close the project, restart eclipse, re-open the project, and then the Variables window began to work again. Super strange. – Max Apr 04 '18 at 03:01

score 6 · Answer 6 · edited Jul 18 '16 at 17:59

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Windows -- > showView --> variable

or you can reset the perspective

windows -- > preferences -- > perspective --> restore Defaults

edited Jul 18 '16 at 17:59

Moumit

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answered Jul 18 '16 at 16:54

Lova Chittumuri

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score 3 · Answer 7 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:10

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I found I needed to remove static declarations if I wanted to see the variables, but this works better...

Modify/view static variables while debugging in Eclipse

edited May 23 '17 at 12:10

Community

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answered Apr 11 '14 at 20:26

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This was the simplest answer: hit the drop down arrow on the far right of the "variables, breakpoints, Expressions window -> Java -> Show static variables. – djm May 29 '15 at 15:22

score 3 · Answer 8 · answered Mar 30 '11 at 18:30

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try a right click on the variable and select inspect, then it should come up in a popup window

answered Mar 30 '11 at 18:30

Fender

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this works for me (in Neon) and is easier and less disruptive than resetting the perspective – Paul 'Sparrow Hawk' Biron Sep 14 '18 at 19:28
I work with this only. "ctr + shift + I" is the shortcut or mouse over to the variable and its value shows up. Unfortunately, this is not working for me. – Hemant Nagpal Jan 18 '21 at 16:54

score 2 · Answer 9 · answered Aug 13 '15 at 03:37

What worked for me is the following: I had a blank Variables view for the top stack frame. I selected a lower stack frame, then reselected the top one, and the Variables view refreshed itself somehow. Note: I'm using Eclipse Mars, so this bug appears to have returned in this version (or perhaps it's a different one, with the same symptoms?).

score 2 · Answer 10 · answered Dec 10 '20 at 11:25

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Go to Eclipse Menu --> Window ==> Show View ==> Variables

This should bring back your variables window in eclipse

answered Dec 10 '20 at 11:25

LearnerForLife

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score 1 · Answer 11 · answered Jan 26 '16 at 17:39

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In my case, the variable didn't show up because in the settings of the debuger (in my case xdebug) I changed Max children / max data / max array depth to big values ... I reset the config and it worked

answered Jan 26 '16 at 17:39

Reda

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score 1 · Answer 12 · answered May 12 '16 at 09:07

If you are able to jump on breakpoints, it is ok to Reset Perspective.

On Eclipse Version: Luna Service Release 2 (4.4.2) Build id: 20150219-0600 I notived that not only the Variable View was empty, but also the buttons to navigate the execution (F5, F6, F8 functionality buttons) were disabled. In this case, go to Debug View, right click to the row with the yellow pause symbol, and choose an option like "Resume". On the next breakpoint, Variable View will be automagically fullfilled and execution navigation buttons will be enabled. Can't explain why

score 1 · Answer 13 · answered May 30 '17 at 15:07

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Also: your process needs to be suspended for Eclipse to show variables. If it is running, Eclipse won't show any variable.

To suspend a thread, select a thread in the "debug" view, and hit "Suspend"

answered May 30 '17 at 15:07

Vic Seedoubleyew

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score 1 · Answer 14 · answered Aug 29 '17 at 10:10

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Did not find a solution after trying the above answers - Maybe this is very specific to my case - Solution was to ensure that the option "Skip All Breakpoints" is not enabled in Eclipse Run - > Skip All Breakpoints (ctl-alt-B) (toggle)

answered Aug 29 '17 at 10:10

cool_display_name

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score 1 · Answer 15 · answered Jul 07 '18 at 07:20

It's possible your Java compiler is configured not to preserve variable information. Right-click on the project in Project Explorer, then select Properties > Java Compiler > Add variable attributes to generated class files (used by the debugger). Without this option set, you will only see fields in the Variables view, not local variables.

score 1 · Answer 16 · answered Mar 14 '21 at 00:51

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Nothing above worked for me. What did work was this (from menu) :

Window -> Perspective -> Close Perspective

then

Window -> Perspective -> Open Perspective -> Debug

answered Mar 14 '21 at 00:51

theRiley

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score 0 · Answer 17 · answered Aug 29 '13 at 17:50

I was running into this problem because eclipse thinks that the code that is executing is commented out. There is an #ifndef wrapper, and the condition evaluates to false in part of the project. Unfortunately, CDT wasn't quite smart enough (Helios or Keppler) to realize that it's not always false, and when stepping through that portion of the code, the variables window doesn't work. I can still inspect individual variable values.

score 0 · Answer 18 · answered Nov 16 '13 at 06:33

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I had the same issue and after I installed MinGW I could see the variables.

answered Nov 16 '13 at 06:33

Wuschelbeutel Kartoffelhuhn

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score 0 · Answer 19 · answered May 14 '14 at 18:27

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I used Fender's style above, but selected to "Watch" a variable. Once in the Expressions tab, I just moved over to the Variables tab and Voila - variables back in business.

answered May 14 '14 at 18:27

capacitor24

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This does not provide an answer to the question. To critique or request clarification from an author, leave a comment below their post - you can always comment on your own posts, and once you have sufficient [reputation](http://stackoverflow.com/help/whats-reputation) you will be able to [comment](http://stackoverflow.com/help/privileges/comment) on any post. – Lal May 14 '14 at 18:44
The original question was: Any reason why this might be happening? The other answers, including the accepted answer, do not provide an answer to the question either, but do explain how to fix the issue. My answer does the same: here is what works on my system. But I'm sure you're just trying to help me along. Thanks! – capacitor24 Aug 01 '14 at 21:56
Thanks for the ban, Lai. You're one classy act. – capacitor24 Aug 22 '14 at 20:59

score 0 · Answer 20 · answered Aug 07 '15 at 16:21

None of the solutions worked for me. What solved my problem was under the drop down arrow in the Variable window. On the Layout option, I had to choose "Variables View Only" and then I could see the variable's values again.

This problem also suddenly appear out of nowhere. One moment Debug was working and the next it wasn't.

score 0 · Answer 21 · answered Feb 14 '17 at 13:44

I too have this problem: EclipseNeon + Tomcat8 doesn't show all the variables when in debug mode. I've tried above suggestions without success. Then I have debugged the same web project with NetBeans8 + GlassFish4 and all the variables are listed with values. Then I have debugged the same web project with NetBeans8 + Tomcat8 and not all the variables are listed. Then I've installed GlassFish4 for EclipseNeon and, debugging the same web project, all the variables are listed with values. So, the problem is in Tomcat8. A note: run Eclipse as administrator to install GlassFish4; with NetBeans is easier to install other servers.

score 0 · Answer 22 · answered May 09 '17 at 11:36

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My prbolem was that i used OpenMP, i disabled OpenMP then local variables appeared.

answered May 09 '17 at 11:36

Shadi Serhan

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score 0 · Answer 23 · answered May 15 '17 at 15:46

Resetting the view and re opening Eclipse did not help me, but this worked for me:

click on the arrow down button in the Variables window -> Layout -> Select Columns -> Check whichever columns you want.

Even though I already had both 'name' and 'value' checked, i unselected and selected them again, clicked 'OK' and the column appeared.

score 0 · Answer 24 · answered May 15 '18 at 08:13

In my case,I think the potential cause is Variables View did't initial properly. Alternative is enter another breakpoint before right code need to change variables.After entering the second breakpoint(above menthioned) added,eclipse will refresh the view and all things should be normal again.

score 0 · Answer 25 · answered Aug 22 '18 at 11:36

Like with every bad software the treatment for this wrong behaivier does not exist. What is good for one does not work for others.

I let the debuger to stop on a brakepoint once, then again second time and on the third time the beast has shown the Variable View with all data in it.

score 0 · Answer 26 · answered Nov 27 '18 at 17:14

Assuming you have your debug view just how you like it and don't want to have to reset it everytime this bug appears, try this. This assumes your "Debug View" has both "Expressions" and "Variables" views open.

Double-Click the Expressions tab (the actual tab with the text, not the 'window bar'). This will maximise it. Repeat to restore it to previous size/location. That should reset everything except Expressions. Repeat for the variables tab and it will reset expressions.

This worked for me on Windows 10 with Eclipse:
Version: 2018-09 (4.9.0)
Build id: 20180917-1800
Java: jdk1.8.0_171

score 0 · Answer 27 · answered Oct 22 '20 at 13:39

Most often you would have imported multiple eclipse projects and you have switched between Git Branch. And then, you build and import incorrect project where debugger is not expected to come!

If reset eclipse Perspective doesn't worked. Then do following things :

Delete eclipse project from disk.
Clean and Build the eclipse project (In my case I used ANT tool).
Note: Verify whether your are building the project in which the debugger is expected to come. The correct project name to be built can be found by hovering over a file where debug point is set.
Import that eclipse project again.
Also, Verify whether correct JDK is being selected at Preferences -> Installed JREs

M2014 · Answer 28 · 2022-03-23T14:46:55.587

There could be different reasons.
For my cases, variable value showing had been working for long time. Then one day, it just stopped working in same line of code. I found out the culprit was that aborted but still hanging JUnit test threads holding on Windows file resources.
After closing all Windows applications(including Eclipse), I found there were a couple of directories (under JUnit test resource directory) which I can't delete because some files there were locked for unknown reason.
So I tried a Windows reboot which fixed the Eclipse debug issue.

score -1 · Answer 29 · answered Jan 01 '17 at 19:14

-1

For me the solution of the problem was to configure xdebug properly. I added in the php.ini this lines of code :

zend_extension = "C:\xampp\php\ext\php_xdebug.dll"

xdebug.remote_enable = 1

xdebug.show_local_vars = 1

The important part I was missing : xdebug.remote_enable = 1

answered Jan 01 '17 at 19:14

GBV

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That has nothing to deal with Eclipse and java. Are you sure you are answering the question you wished to answer? – Vasily Liaskovsky Jan 01 '17 at 20:09

score -1 · Answer 30 · answered Aug 23 '17 at 19:38

If you are looking for a "live view of the object your are working with " when you hover over and all you see is the name make sure you place a break point on the method you are testing on. Otherwise when you hover over you will only get the method name.

Anyways I hope this helps someone. I tried all the above steps which are great! but I still could not view the object I was working with live. It may just be rookie mistake.

Best of luck!

Variables not showing while debugging in Eclipse

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