Javascript: debugging on mobile - javascript

I've created a simple app using requirejs, angularjs and ui-grid. All it does is to get some data from an excel file and show it on the grid.
It works nicely when I view it on my desktop, but on mobile (Samsung Galaxy S3) it gives an error (shows the {{myBoundVar}} as if angualr app has not started). On Nexus 4, it shows the site, but with an empty grid (although I can see it has taken the data, since I see the grid's headers which are taken from the excel).
I can't seem to debug it, since using remote debugging shows the site correctly (just like it shows it correctly on desktop).
Is there a way to debug directly on mobile (e.g. just see the JS errors)?

You are looking for Remote Debugging on Android with Chrome which allows you to open a live Chrome DevTools window for your website on your android from your Chrome Desktop isntallation as long as you are running Android KitKat or above.
Simply enable developer options on your device, connect it's USB to your computer and visit chrome://inspect in your Chrome browser. More detailed instructions are at https://developer.chrome.com/devtools/docs/remote-debugging.

Related

Web app mobile version after deploy is rendering with bugs [duplicate]

An AngularJS application works fine on desktop, but is not rendering properly on mobile (actual code is showing). This is on an Android phone.
I would like to see what errors are showing in the console.
Is it possible to open JS console on chrome app on mobile (like it is on desktop)?
You can do it using remote debugging, here is official documentation. Basic process:
Connect your android device
Select your device: More tools > Inspect devices* from dev tools on pc/mac.
Authorize on your mobile.
Happy debugging!!
* This is now "Remote devices".
When you don't have a PC on hand, you could use Eruda, which is devtools for mobile browsers https://github.com/liriliri/eruda
It is provided as embeddable javascript and also a bookmarklet (pasting bookmarklet in chrome removes the javascript: prefix, so you have to type it yourself)
To use remote debugging first activate developer mode in Android.
In Android go to Settings, search build number, then click on it several times to activate developer mode
In Android go to Settings > Developer Options > Enable usb debugging
Connect to computer with usb cable
In desktop Chrome type chrome://inspect , then press enter
In mobile open url then check it, on this page on desktop chrome://inspect/#devices
The original answer doesn't seem to be valid anymore. From the current Chrome developer docs, these are the basic steps you need to go through:
Open the Developer Options screen on your Android. See Configure On-Device Developer Options.
Select Enable USB Debugging.
On your development machine, open Chrome.
Go to chrome://inspect#devices.
Make sure that the Discover USB devices checkbox is enabled.
After that, open Chrome on your Android device (and confirm the USB Debugging prompt in case it pops up). Switch back to your PC and you should see the currently open browser tabs:
If your device tabs do not appear, you might need to trigger the USB Debugging prompt by activating file transfer on your mobile device.
Kiwi Browser is mobile Chromium and allows installing extensions. Install Kiwi and then install "Mini JS console" Chrome extension(just search in Google and install from Chrome extensions website, uBlock also works ;). It will become available in Kiwi menu at the bottom and will show the console output for the current page.
Edit 2022:
It's even better now. The console is built-in and available in the menu.
Please do yourself a favor and just hit the easy button:
download Web Inspector (Open Source) from the Play store.
A CAVEAT: ATTOW, console output does not accept rest params! I.e. if you have something like this:
console.log('one', 'two', 'three');
you will only see
one
logged to the console. You'll need to manually wrap the params in an Array and join, like so:
console.log([ 'one', 'two', 'three' ].join(' '));
to see the expected output.
But the app is open source! A patch may be imminent! The patcher could even be you!
I you only want to see what was printed in the console you could simple add the "printed" part somewhere in your HTML so it will appear in on the webpage. You could do it for yourself, but there is a javascript file that does this for you. You can read about it here:
http://www.hnldesign.nl/work/code/mobileconsole-javascript-console-for-mobile-devices/
The code is available from Github; you can download it and paste it into a javascipt file and add it in to your HTML
The Kiwi browser not only allows you to use Chrome dev tools but you can also view the page at the same time.
If you use Android split screen you can open a window and move the dev tools to a new window.
Use Kiwi Browser app
Allows you to install all chrome extensions as well as access dev tools (console, ...)
Or
to access and test all the consoles of different mobile browsers, you can use the following similar websites:
https://www.browserstack.com/
Remotely debugging Firefox is another option. the steps are mentioned here

Remote debugging javascript on iPad from a Windows machine possible?

I have an iPad with iOS 6.1 connected to a windows 8 machine. I would like to be able to debug some javascript code running on the iPad.
The safari on iPad has a web inspect option that needs the iPad to be connected by wire to computer and then can be accessed in Safari for desktop's develop menu. I installed Safari 5 for Windows but don't see the iPad detected in the develop menu.
Any other ideas ?
The Firefox Tools Adaptor allows one to use Firefox DevTools for Safari on iOS.
https://github.com/mozilla/valence#debugging-safari-firefox-and-other-webviews-on-ios
For remote debuggin I use Weinre.
Weinre has almost everything you need, but lacks a JavaScript debugger.
It has a WebInspector for DOM manipulations, network traffic, timeline, resources and a console.
Checkout this project on GitHub: weinre-remote-debug to setup weinre locally.
Another option described on this page is jsconsole.com. By appending a <script> tag to your page (or running a bookmarklet on your device) you get access to a JS console.
To start, go to jsconsole.com and run :listen in the prompt. This will give you a unique session ID and a script tag that you insert into your mobile web page.
Now, any console output that your mobile page generates will be streamed to the console open in your desktop web browser, including any errors!
It is certainly no replacement for a full web inspector, but it can get you out of trouble when you don’t have access to a Mac.
Source: https://blog.idrsolutions.com/2015/02/remote-debugging-ios-safari-on-os-x-windows-and-linux/

Debugging javascript on Android tablets/phones?

How do I enable the debug view like I can in Safari on iOS? I simply need to see if a Xoom that I'm testing a page on is generating javascript errors. I was trying to find how to enable the dev tools in the Android browser like I do for iOS but can't seem to locate it.
I've worked on an Android app in the past where the java developer set it to alert JavaScript errors - caught an extra bug that we didn't catch in the iOS version because of it. So, if you have access to the java layer, I'd check that out. I asked him what he did specifically and he said:
"There's a callback from the WebView class that lets me know when the JS code throws an error. I implemented that callback to display an android dialog."
There's two solutions other ideas on top of this that I use for debugging (ios/android). These are especially useful for embedded web views in games where you don't have access to the built-in console:
1) Weinre a still beta, but functional, remote debugger. It'll give you a faux inspector on your desktop that you can query / see errors on your remote device with. Has a whole dom inspector and anything. The guy that develops it is pretty responsive, too.
2) I write a javascript log function that hits my servers error log. Just tail your log file and you're good to go. My javascript function looks something like this:
function hlog(){
var s = Array.prototype.slice.apply(arguments).join('¶');
document.createElement('img').src = 'http://yourdevbox/debugger/?m=' + encodeURIComponent(s);
}
That way I can take any number of arguments.
My php page that recieves this request looks like this:
# ensure this can't be used in production
if (strpos($GLOBALS['HTTP_HOST'], 'devboxhostname') < 0) die(':(');
error_log($_GET['m']);
Hopefully in the future, mobile devs will have way better debugging tools.
Android doesn't (currently) have a WebInspector like Chrome/Chromium does.
You can still look at any console.log() messages fired under window.console in logcat.
Source: http://developer.android.com/guide/webapps/debugging.html
Also, whilst Firefox 4 is available for Android, Firebug currently isn't supported on the mobile version of the browser.
type about:debug into the url field and validate, a javascript console will then be available (same method to remove it)
a bit more on this page: https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/5999/android-browsers-aboutdebug-what-do-those-settings-do
The best you can do is use console.log() (like firebug), and then install a log viewer on your phone, filter based on browser, and you can see all the console messages. (source)
Try
Weinre: Web Inspector Remote / Watch demo
"Weinre is a debugger for web pages, like FireBug (for FireFox) and Web Inspector (for WebKit-based browsers), except it's designed to work remotely, and in particular, to allow you debug web pages on a mobile device such as a phone. "
You may have a look some other remote debugging tools: jsconsole or
Aardwolf
Opera mobile has remote debugging:
http://dev.opera.com/articles/view/remote-debugging-with-opera-dragonfly/
The Android default doesn't seem to have a debugger, although you can debug on chrome/chromium on a pc, which uses the same webkit rendering. (There's even a emulate Android option, but it doesn't have all the quirks of Android tablets, image/memory constraints etc.)
Firebug Lite is also a possibility:
http://getfirebug.com/firebuglite
You don't have to install any software or try to debug in your tiny mobile screen.
First enable USB debugging in your device in the "Developer settings" and then use your desktop chrome to connect and debug the mobile browser.
I found the easiest way is to enabled USB debugging on the phone/tablet and in your desktop navigate chrome to
chrome://inspect/#devices
Enable discover usb devices and then on the list of apps click "Inspect"
Voila! Remote debugging! Now you can debug your phone from the comfort of your desktop

Best way to debug Javascript on an iPhone app?

I'm doing some rough development on the iPhone. I'm writing a native iPhone app, which uses an UIWebView object to load web sites with javascript. I find very difficult to debug the javascript code on an iPhone.
What are the methods/techniques available for this matter?
Since Safari on the iPhone is using webkit, you could use the debugger built into desktop Safari's web inspector. While there will probably be some quirks that are different between platforms, it will give you a pretty good idea of what's going on in the interpreter.
If you have access to an Android phone, you can debug your application using desktop Chrome's full developer tools and a USB cable (very convenient).
That means the debugger, profiler, HTML inspector, etc, all running on your mobile phone, but accessed through chrome running on your laptop/desktop computer.
Android Chrome and iPhone Mobile Safari are usually more similar to each other than Desktop Safari is to Mobile Safari, the screen format will be similar, the layout similar, and you'll be able to try real touch events, etc.
https://developers.google.com/chrome/mobile/docs/debugging
It'll require Chrome, an Android device able to run the android Chrome app, and a USB cable.
You have to install and use the ADB console command, but once its working, you'll have the full chrome developer tools interface available for debugging mobile.
Similar to Adrian Harris, it is possible to debug any website on the iphone by creating a dummy project in dashcode, clicking on "Mobile Safari" and then "Run"
Once the iPhone Simulator opens and safari opens with the dummy project website, click on the url bar of safari, enter any public url, and when you are at the site, you can click "Pause" and the debugger will pop up after any javascript code runs. At this point, variables can be inspected, breakpoints set, etc.
I know this is an old question, but wanted to update the answers with the latest info ->
The new safari (for mac) has a way to use the web inspector on an actual iphone or ipad in real time if you have the latest software (safari, iOS6, and MacOS) and an attached (with a cable) iDevice.
You access it by enabling it in the "advanced" safari preferences on the iphone, then under the develop menu in safari on the mac. See here for more info: http://developer.apple.com/library/safari/#documentation/AppleApplications/Reference/SafariWebContent/DebuggingSafarioniPhoneContent/DebuggingSafarioniPhoneContent.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40006515
You can also access the simulators in the same way (installed with xCode).
I agree with pjbeardsley. I would add to use your web page within http://www.testiphone.com/ just so you can see what the dimensions will be like. I would definitely use Safari and the Web Inspector for it as well
I have had mixed success using Dashcode which has a javascript debugger paired with the iPhone Simulator. It is a bit tricky to get working because you can't launch it without opening a project. But as I recall, I posted the project on the web, launched a placeholder project, and then debugged the placeholder project in Dashcode. Then I navigated to my url in the Simulator and was able to set breakpoints. There were probably a few other hoops to jump through, but once it was working, it was like I had a real debugger within Mobile Safari, which was great.
Good luck

Is there a way to enable the JavaScript Error/Debug Console for Safari within Android?

I'm developing a JavaScript application that needs to run on the Google Android Phone OS. Is there a way to enable the JavaScript Error/Debug console within Safari on either the Android Emulator or an actual device? If so any instructions on how to do so would be appreciated.
It looks like, with the Android 2.0.1 SDK you'll need to filter on "browser" instead of "WebCore"
A quick Google turns up this blog post (posted after you asked your question), that should at least let you see any Javascript errors via the Android Debug Bridge using the command:
adb logcat WebCore:V *:S
Not quite the same as a full debug console though.
On Android write about:debug on the address line when the current page is the page you want to debug. you will get access to the console.
I know your question is about Safari, but you might want to look into using Chrome instead. You can now use Chrome's desktop developer tools to debug and profile apps on your Android device.
Here's how:
On Android Chrome, go to settings -> Developer tools and check "Enable USB Web debugging"
On the desktop, run adb forward tcp:9222 localabstract:chrome_devtools_remote
Now on Desktop Chrome, navigate to localhost:9222.
You should see a list of the pages you have open on your phone. Click the one you want to debug/profile.
Detailed instructions are here
I have discovered that you can get this debugging information on the phone itself, without needingn to use adb or plug it into a computer, just download a log viewer.
Check the link for more info.
You can view the log and much more with weinre
From the Weinre docs
weinre is a debugger for web pages, like FireBug (for FireFox) and Web Inspector (for WebKit-based browsers), except it's designed to work remotely, and in particular, to allow you debug web pages on a mobile device such as a phone.

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