I uploaded a new beta version of the Flex Trace Panel - some people asked me to resurrect the "clear" button so here it is again :) Also, I added a "save to log file" function which allows you to dump the content of the text area to a text file on your local machine.

The download is available here.

Dirk.

I finally found some time to update the Flex Trace Panel. Actually, I've rewritten it completely and added some more functionality. All messages are now held within a message buffer which allows to filter the messages after they are received. Also, the object introspection mechanism has been improved and cyclical references are no longer causing the Trace Panel to freeze.

The core functionality of the Flex Trace Panel is still implemented within a SWF file but I've decided to embed it into a Zinc shell as this will enable me to add more features in the future.

Please go ahead and test it and let me know if this works for you.

Download Flex Trace Panel 1.5b

Dirk.

Kai just asked me if it's possible to let the Flex Trace Panel always stay on top (i.e. in front of all other windows). I hacked together a litte starter application (win only, sorry folks) that starts the Flex Trace Panel as a always-on-top application. This starter is not very smart, so please follow the instructions below:

• download this zip file
• extract the starter.exe to the directory where the panel.exe resides
• make sure the Flex Trace Panel is not running
• start the starter.exe

The Flex Panel now should be a frontmost window. Again, this all depends on the execution of the starter.exe - the panel.exe is not patched in anyway, you'll always have to use starter.exe

Happy Tracing!

Dirk.

Sven.

UPDATE: Version 1.5b2 of the Trace Panel is available here!

UPDATE: I also coded a little helper app, that starts the Trace Panel "always-on-top" - more info here.

The archive consists of the updated panel as a standalone exe and the Dumper class file (inside the "src" folder). To make the Dumper class available to all your MXML applications extract it into the [YourInstallDir]\Flex\WEB-INF\flex\user_classes directory and leave the folder structure intact.

The Dumper class is a static class and provides five methods (four of them are just shortcuts actually) and three different log levels. The levels are 2 (or Dumper.INFO), 4 (Dumper.WARN) and 8 (Dumper.ERROR).

• de.richinternet.utils.Dumper.dump(message:Object, level:Number):Void
  takes the passed Object (any type) and routes it to the Flex Trace Panel, the 2nd paramter is optional and refers to the different log levels of the Dumper class (the default is Dumper.INFO)

• de.richinternet.utils.Dumper.trace(message:Object):Void
  takes the passed Object (any type) calls the Dump.dump() method with log level Dumper.INFO (2).

• de.richinternet.utils.Dumper.info(message:Object):Void
  takes the passed Object (any type) calls the Dump.dump() method with log level Dumper.INFO (2).

• de.richinternet.utils.Dumper.warn(message:Object):Void
  takes the passed Object (any type) calls the Dump.dump() method with log level Dumper.WARN (4).

• de.richinternet.utils.Dumper.error(message:Object):Void
  takes the passed Object (any type) calls the Dump.dump() method with log level Dumper.ERROR (8).

import de.richinternet.utils.Dumper;
   
   function traceTest() {
    Dumper.dump("a normal message");
    Dumper.info("also a normal message");
    Dumper.warn("oops, a warning message");
    Dumper.error("Houston we have a problem!");
    Dumper.dump("this is also an error!", Dumper.ERROR);
   }

Together with the updated Flex Trace Panel you are now able to filter the messages, if you select the "ERROR" radiobutton control for example only messages with a level of Dumper.WARN will be displayed. This is what it looks like if you run the above example with a filter setting of "ALL":

BTW: The filter does not work on the already displayes messages in the Panel but only on all future messages.

I also put an experimental method into the Dumper class called Dumper.setHook() that adds shortcut functions to the Application.application scope. After you called Dumper.setHook() the dump(), warn(), and error() functions are available directly in the application's main scope - the only thing you have to do is declaring the functions, otherwise the compiler will throw a warning.

Dirk.

I have further plans for this tool, so stay tuned - and if you have ideas or feature requests please drop a comment.

Usage is quite simple: first, you'll have to include the debugUtils.as file into your mxml file:

Second, compile your app and display it in a browser, then open up the Flex Trace Panel. All calls inside your Flex app to the dump() function will be routed to the Flex Trace Panel. For example you could output the content of a TextInput when a Button is clicked:

Of course the data to be dumped can be more complex than this - you can pass any data type to the dump() function. If you do not see any output in the Panel (especially if the Panel is open prior the Flex application is loaded or you reloaded the mxml in the browser), click the 'reconnect' button to rebuild the connection.

You may download a zip archive containing the Panel, the dumpUtils.as and a mxml sample file here.