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javaeclipsedebuggingremote-debugging

While debugging in eclipse the code navigation buttons get disabled, the stackframe also is not visible

Its a very common problem that I face, when I a debug a large Java application and on pressing the resume button I face this issue that the "step over", "step into" and "step return" all seems to be disabled.

1: Here is the picture of my debug view in eclipse, the navigational buttons are disabled.

What could be the issue here?

How to fix this?

Solution

  • After pressing resume, and until some breakpoint is reached by at least one running thread, the step * buttons are not available, since they can only be used when a thread has been interrupted by a breakpoint.

    There are other possibilities, but only if you have clicked somewhere in the Debug window of the Debug perspective: when a thread is stopped because it has reached a breakpoint, then clicking on another stack frame for the same thread in the Debug window may disable step into and step return, and clicking on the same window in any frame of another thread that has not reached a breakpoint will disable everything instead of suspend and terminate.

    As a global rule, you need to take into account the state of the specific thread you select in the Debug window of the Debug perspective, and the frame you select in the stack frame of this thread, to anticipate which buttons are enabled/disabled. Because the state of the buttons depend on those choices.