[wingide-users] Missing breakpoints & projects

[Tom Stambaugh]

>> The bug/feature/phenomena occurs when I do the following:
>> 1. Open projectA.
>> 2. During debugging, open class B.Foo, contained in projectB.
>> 3. Set a breakpoint somewhere in B.Foo
>> 4. Save projectA.
>> 5. Terminate the current debugging thread
>> 6. Open projectB.
>> 7. Start a new thread, hoping to stop on the breakpoint created at  step 
>> (3),
>> above.
>>
>> To my surprise, the thread created in step 7 will NOT stop. This is 
>> because
>> it appears that the breakpoint I created is visible only to projectA.
>
> This is because breakpoint definitions are stored in the project  file. 
> Switching projects clears the breakpoint list and replaces it  with the 
> ones defined in the newly loaded project file.
>
> Project files are text files, containing python code. The structure 
> defining breakpoints is called 'debug.breakpoints', at least in my 
> current Wing 3 project files.

Aha. As nearly as I can tell, this is not mentioned in any of the 
documentation. I just read through section 3.3 "Project Manager" and section 
3.6 "Debugger", and found no discussion of this. Surely this is at least a 
documentation bug.

Further, I think that this "per-project" breakpoint behavior, if desired at 
all, should surely be optional and should surely NOT be the default. A 
"breakpoint" is all about a particular method in a particular *file*. 
Fortunately, there is not one file per project. In my view, the most 
intuitive (and therefore useful) decision is to have one breakpoint 
definition per file. When I click in the margin to set a breakpoint, I'm 
surely don't want to think about what project contains it, do I?

This is particularly true given the ease with which one can open and close 
various project files while debugging. Does the "Breakpoints" tab of the 
"Wing Tool Box" show what is actually happening, or does it show the 
definitions in whatever project is open? When I have a file open, does it 
change the definition list in the project that created it, or does it 
instead change the currently-open project?

It seems to me that per-project breakpoint definitions create a host of 
user-interface and useability problems, with little corresponding 
productivity gain.