IE developer toolbar: How to debug javascript?

Question

How can I set a break point in a javascript function and have the IE toolbar break on it like I can do with Firebug? Or can I even do this in IE?

Answer 1

The best solution for IE script debugging that I have found is this.

I am assuming that you need free tools and don't already have a recent version of Visual Studio.

I know it's not really what you asked for, but from what I have found, the IE Developer Toolbar is a bit limited compared to Firebug.

Answer 2

Sometimes when I debugged some IE6 applications in the past I had bad experiences since the Script Debugging isn't too precise.

If somehow you can't make any IE Toolbar or component (like Firebug Lite) work on your environment, you can always use "alert()" calls in specific places in your code that you want to debug.

Is not an optimal solution, you have to be careful in not forgiving alerts when stopping debugging, it's an "old school" technique that may be obsolete for some people but it works when everything else fails.

Answer 3

Try using firebug light

http://getfirebug.com/lite.html

Answer 4

If I can find the error in firefox using firebug then that's the easiest way. If it's an IE only problem what I do is enable script debugging in Internet Options,

1. Go to Tools->Internet Options…->Advanced->Disable Script Debugging (Internet Explorer)

2. Go to Tools->Internet Options…->Advanced->Disable Script Debugging (Other)

   then attach Visual Studio Debugger when an error occurs.

If you're using IE 8, install the developer toolbar because it has a built in debugger.

Answer 5

You Javascript should be in a seperate js file and you should turn Script Debugging ON explicitly in your set of IE Internet Options.

Let me know if you need elaboration.