An inspector window is a separate window frame that allows you to enter in any expression that you wish to evaluate and then inspect or modify the resulting value. The inspector window contains an expression combo field that lets you enter new expressions to evaluate or to select a previously evaluated expression to evaluate again. There a three different tabs available in the Inspector: an Evaluate tab that will display the value of the expression evaluated in a scrollable text view; an Inspect tab that allows you to inspect the fields of the value of the expression; and a Modify tab that allows you to enter a constant or an expression to evaluate and then assign to the expression listed in the expression combo field.
To open a new Inspector window, select Tools | New Inspector. Right-clicking on any node in the Variables, Watch, or Inspector window itself will display a popup menu with the option Inspect in New Window which when selected will open a new Inspector for the node you selected.
Every Inspector window is associated with a debug session. You can tell which debug session an Inspector is for by looking at the Inspector's window title; it will contain the name of its session. When the Inspector window's debug session ends, the Inspector window will automatically close because the values that are being inspected are no longer available one the session ends.
Using the Inspector window is useful if you would like to retain the value of some expression so that you can later compare that value with another expression in another window from the same or different debugging session.
Evaluate
The Evaluate tab lets you display the value of the evaluated expression in a scrollable read-only text view. This tab is useful if the result of the expression is a very long String.
Pressing the Evaluate button will evaluate the expression entered into the expression combo field. If this field is empty, nothing is done. Pressing the Clear button will clear the contents of the Evaluate tab's text view.
If the expression could not be evaluated, a message indicating this will be displayed in the text view instead of the evaluated value. A explanation as to why BugSeeker was unable to evaluate the expression may also be displayed.
Note that if the value of the expression evaluates to an object, the contents displayed in the text view is not the value of a toString() call but rather the text displayed is a custom object representation string. To actually display the toString() value of the object you will need to add the toString() method call to the expression itself.
Inspect
The Inspect tab allows you to view the value of the evaluated expression in a component identical to the Variables debug tab. If the value of the evaluated expression is an object, you will be able to inspect its fields.
Pressing the Evaluate button will evaluate the expression entered into the expression combo field. Pressing the Clear button will clear the contents of the Inspect tab's table view.
Modify
The Modify tab allows you to enter in a constant or an expression to evaluate and then assign to the expression listed in the expression combo field. Using the Modify tab to edit an expression's value is much more powerful than double-clicking on the value table cell in the Variables debug tab and editing the value inline. Expressions you enter in the Modify tab's editable text area will be evaluated first and then assigned to the expression listed in the expression combo field. If either the modify expression or the expression whose value is about to be modified cannot be evaluated, a message indicating this will be displayed in the Modify tab's text area.
Pressing the Modify button will perform the modification. Press the Clear button to clear the Modify tab's text area.