To inspect the value of a variable point the simplest way is just to hold the mouse cursor over it to invoke a tooltip. We can also put the mouse cursor on it in the debug window and click the right mouse button to bring up a context menu. This has an Evaluation option and a Display Variable option.

The workbench also provides 3 windows that allow us to view variables.

• Current Variables - A list of variable that reside on the current or former statements.
• Local Variables - A list of variables defined at the current stack level.
• Watch Variable - A list of variables explicitly set by the user for watching.

Evaluating

If you chose Evaluate, by just clicking again or by pressing RETURN, the variable name will be copied to the Evaluate Window and a LIST DIM style operation executed upon it.

For strings and string array elements the strings will be displayed as quoted strings if printable or in HEX() otherwise. Characters above HEX(80) are not considered printable unless byte 50 of $OPTIONS RUN is set to indicate a non-English locale.

Detailed Display

We can call up a more detailed context sensitive display. This is done by pressing CTRL-F2 with the cursor under the variable, or by right clicking the variable to get a context menu and picking the display variable option. This can be very useful when you need a more detailed look at the more complex data types. It will for example allow you to see each unpacked FLD value from a DEFRECORD.

Depending on the variable type the window displayed can differ.