15.4. Enabling Internet Explorer for Debugging

Debugging JavaScript has proven to be somewhat of a challenge and has resulted in many developers resorting to "alert-style" debugging to better understand how an application is working. Fortunately, Internet Explorer 6 or higher includes integrated debugging functionality that can be used to start a debug session and step through ASP.NET AJAX code with a debugging tool such as Visual Studio 2008. Learning how to leverage Internet Explorer debugging features can enhance your productivity and significantly minimize the amount of time you spend hunting down bugs and other issues.

The debug capabilities in Internet Explorer 6 or higher are disabled by default but can be turned on by going to Tools Internet Options Advanced. The Advanced tab defines two items that need to be unchecked (a check means you can't debug):

  • Disable script debugging (Internet Explorer)

  • Disable script debugging (Other)

Also, check the Display a notification about every script error checkbox below these items so that you're notified as errors occur in a page. If this box isn't checked, an icon appears in the lower-left corner of the browser; unless you click it, you may miss noting that a client-side error occurred. A side effect of checking this checkbox is that ...

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