14.6 Testing and Debugging

With the first stages of the project completed and all parts in working order, the application should be tested . In the case of our ScriptRepository.as file, some built-in methods of the application and the objects used in the application make our life easier. We have defined toString( ) methods of the two main objects, and also a test( ) method to make sure that the object coming back from remote services has been cast to the correct datatype.

To use the toString( ) method, simply sprinkle the code with the following, substituting the object name :

 trace(   myObject   .toString( )); 

This can even be used in the init( ) method of your constructor to make sure your objects are being instantiated properly and at the right times:

 trace(this.toString( )); 

The test( ) method is used in the responder onResult( ) method. Simply call the test( ) method on the result coming from the remote service. If the result has been cast to the correct object type, the test( ) method will fire. If it hasn't been cast properly, the method will not fire:

 ScriptObject.prototype.onResult = function (result) {   result.test( );   // more code... } 

During testing we also set up a special server-side logging method to log each object that was being created on the server. The server-side code is shown in Example 14-16 and shows how easy it is to create a custom log file for a custom object.

Example 14-16. Server-side logging code

 <cffunction access="remote" name="objToString"  output="false" returntype="string" >   <cfargument type="any" name="obj" />   <cfloop collection = #obj# item = "i">     <cfset temp = '#temp##i#: #obj.get(i)##chr(13)##chr(10)#'>   </cfloop>   <cfreturn temp /> </cffunction> <cffunction name="logScript" access="remote" returntype="any">   <cfargument name="scriptobj" type="any" />   <cffile action="append" file="c:\log.txt"    output=#this.objToString (ScriptObj)#> </cffunction> 

This method is called directly from another server-side service with a simple line, passing an object to the logScript( ) method:

 <cfset temp = logScript(scriptObj)> 

Additionally, this logging routine will work with any flashgateway.IO.ASObject object.

The server-side services all contain try / catch blocks around the portions of the method that may throw an error. During debugging, you may want to comment out the try / catch blocks (using <!--- and ---> comment delimiters, as shown in bold) so that your errors are not captured; that way you can see the original error message as the server generated it:

  <!---  <cftry>  --->  <cfquery name="rsScripts" datasource="ScriptRepository">     SELECT * FROM Scripts     WHERE ScriptID =     <cfqueryparam cfsqltype="cf_sql_numeric" value="#ScriptID#">   </cfquery>  <!---  <cfcatch type="any">     <cfthrow message="There was a database error" />   </cfcatch> </cftry>  --->  

Another good source of information while debugging can be found in the flash.log file created in the ColdFusion_root \logs directory.