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Debug Mode (Window)

Each Flash chart is FusionWidgets XT provides a debug mode or debug window. It helps you look into what is happening behind the chart scenes. It also lists out any errors, if present. You can use the debug window to troubleshoot all your charts. The debug window lists errors like:

  • Error in loading data - reasons.
  • No data to display - possible reasons.
  • Invalid XML data - 10 possible reasons.
  • If invalid style names are specified for Chart OBJECTS.
  • If invalid macros are used for animations using Styles.
  • Notifies you when real-time update starts.
  • If there's any error retrieving data from the real-time data provider page, it lists the error.
  • Notifies you when JavaScript communication takes place.
  • and a few more...

Important Note: Debug window is not available in JavaScript charts.

In each chart, you can activate the debug mode by just enabling the debug flag.

A typical debug window for a chart that rendered successfully using Data URL method looks as under:
 
Here, you can see a Real-time Line 2D Chart with its Debug Window. The Debug Window contains a lot of information about the chart. The contents of the above debug window can be listed as under:
  
Info: Chart loaded and initialized.
      Initial Width: 500
      Initial Height: 350
      Scale Mode: noScale
      Debug Mode: Yes
      Application Message Language: EN
      Version: 3.2 (XT)
      Chart Type: Real-time Multi Series 2D Line Chart
      Chart Objects: 
         BACKGROUND
         CANVAS
         CAPTION
         SUBCAPTION
         XAXISNAME
         YAXISNAME
         DIVLINES
         VDIVLINES
         YAXISVALUES
         HGRID
         VGRID
         DATALABELS
         DATAVALUES
         REALTIMEVALUE
         TRENDLINES
         TRENDVALUES
         DATAPLOT
         ANCHORS
         TOOLTIP
         VLINES
         VLINELABELS
         LEGEND
INFO: XML Data provided using Data URL method.
        Data URL provided: Data.xml
        Data URL invoked: Data.xml
        XML Data: <chart caption="Stock Price Monitor" subCaption="Google" dataStreamURL="StockPrice.asp" refreshInterval="60" numberPrefix="$" setAdaptiveYMin="1" xAxisName="Time" showRealTimeValue="1" labelDisplay="Rotate" slantLabels="1"><categories /><dataset seriesName="Google" showValues="0" /><styles><definition><style type="font" name="captionFont" size="14" /></definition><application><apply toObject="Caption" styles="captionFont" /><apply toObject="Realtimevalue" styles="captionFont" /></application></styles></chart>
        data Stream URL provided: StockPrice.asp
        INFO: Setting the chart to update its data in 60 seconds.
        INFO: Setting the chart to re-draw itself in 60 seconds.

From the above Debug Window, you can get the following information:

  • A message when chart is loaded and initialized properly.
  • Specified width and height.
  • Scale Mode, Debug Mode, Application Message Language.
  • Chart Version - Which version of chart you're using.
  • Chart Type that you're using - Real-time Multi Series 2D Line Chart in this example.
  • Objects supported by the chart - This is to help you quickly refer to a chart object without going through individual Chart XML Sheets.
  • Method using which XML data has been provided - Can be Data URL or Data String.
  • If the Data URL method is used, then link to the original Data URL provided and the invoked. There could be a difference between the two, if your Data URL is URL-Encoded. In that case, FusionWidgets XT converts it into normal form before invoking it. If you get an error in loading data, you can see here if FusionWidgets XT is invoking the right URL. You can also click on the URL to open the page in browser to see any errors thrown by your server-side scripting language.
  • The XML data retrieved is also shown for your reference.
  • Additionally, if it's a real-time line chart, the debugger also shows the real-time initialization messages.

To hide the debug window and see the chart below, in Debug Mode, you can click inside the respective chart and then press Shift + D. To show it back, again press Shift + D.
Enabling the debug Mode

To enable the debug mode for any of your charts, you just need to set the debugMode flag to 1.

If you're using FusionCharts JavaScript Class to render a chart, you can set the debugMode flag to 1 as under:

 
<div id="chartdiv" align="center">The chart will appear within this DIV. This text will be replaced by the chart.</div>
<script type="text/javascript"><!--
   var  myChart = new FusionCharts("RealTimeLine.swf", "myChartId", "600", "300", "1", "0");
   myChart.setXMLUrl("Data.xml");
   myChart.render("chartdiv");
// -->
</script>

See it live!

The parameter after chart width and height is the debugMode flag. Set it to 1 and run the chart. You'll now see it with Debug Window.

Use the debug window when building the chart. Once the chart runs fine, set the flag back to 0, so that your end users just see the chart and not the debug window.

Note: Debug Mode error won't help you solve problems relating to path of chart SWF file, as the debug mode is a module inside the chart SWF file. So, unless the SWF file path is correct, you cannot switch debug mode on.

If you're using direct HTML embedding mode, you can provide it as under:

 
<object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" 
	codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=8,0,0,0" 
	width="500" height="300" id="Line2D"> 
      <param name="movie" value="RealTimeLine.swf" /> 
      <param name="FlashVars" value="&dataURL=Data.xml&debugMode=1" /> 
      <param name="quality" value="high" /> 

      <embed src="RealTimeLine.swf" flashVars="&dataURL=Data.xml&debugMode=1" quality="high" 
			width="500" height="300" name="Line2D" 
			type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" />

</object>

See it live!

Shown below are a few example errors show in debug mode:
 
dataURL and Data String missing
 

In this chart, we've:

  • NOT specified either Data URL or Data String. So you can see the Warning above.
  • NOT placed a default Data.xml file in the folder. So, FusionWidgets XT tries to look for a Data.xml file, but it cannot find it. So, you get an "Error in Loading Data" message and the debug window lists the possible reasons for it.
 
Invalid path to Data URL
 
 
Here, we've specified Data URL as an XML file, which is non-existent.
 
Invalid XML Provided
 
In this example, we provide invalid XML to the chart.
 

You can see the reason for Invalid XML data above. FusionWidgets XT detects it for you and then shows the appropriate message.

To get more information about the error, you can click the Data URL Invoked link and open the XML file in browser.
Real-time data provider page errors
 
In a real-time chart, if any error occurs while retrieving data from real-time data provider page, it shows up in the debugger too.
 
 
Here, we've provided invalid path to data-provider page (or FusionWidgets XT is unable to access to page due to network problems).
 
 
Here, we've provided invalid output data from the real-time data provider page.
 
Invalid Style definition Errors

FusionWidgets XT Debug Window can also capture the following errors in your Style definitions:

  • Invalid Style types
  • Invalid Macro Names in animation parameter
  • Invalid Chart Object Names
  • Usage of undefined Style Objects by Chart objects

As you can see, all our errors got caught in the Debug Window and now you can use this effectively to correct your style XML.

There are more errors and messages that the debug window can trap, which we've not shown here. Examples: when you update your chart's data at client using AJAX, all transfer messages are logged so that you easily debug into the application process.

The Debug Window is aimed at making your lives simpler as developers.