PhpStorm 2018.2 Help

Run/Debug Configuration: JavaScript Debug

Run | Edit Configurations | icons general add svg | JavaScript Debug


Use this dialog to create a configuration to be used for debugging JavaScript in applications running on the built-in or on an external web server and for debugging Dart web applications.

PhpStorm supports debugging applications running on the built-in or an external web server. Debugging can be performed only using Google Chrome and other browsers of the Chrome family. Debugging applications running on the built-in server is supported for Firefox, version 36 an higher, through the Firefox Remote debug configuration. Debugging applications running on external web servers in Firefox is not supported at all.

JavaScript Debug-specific configuration settings

Item

Description

URL

  • Debugging JavaScript:

    In this text box, specify the URL address of the HTML file that references the JavaScript to debug. For local debugging, type the URL in the format http://localhost:<built-in server port>/<project root>. The built-in server port (1024 or higher) is specified on the Debugger page of the Settings dialog box.

  • Debugging a Dart web application:

    In this text box, specify the URL address of the HTML file that references the Dart code to debug in the format: http://localhost:<built-in server port>/<project-name>/<relative path to the HTML file>. Make sure the port in this URL address is the same as the Built-in server port on the Debugger page and the port from the Chrome extension settings.

Browser

From this list, select Chrome or another browser from the Chrome family where your application will be debugged. For Dart applications, the Dart code will be compiled into JavaScript through the dart2js or dartdevc tool. The tool is invoked automatically when you run or debug a Dart web application.

Ensure breakpoints are detected when loading scripts

Select this checkbox to make sure that the breakpoints in the code executed on the page load are hit immediately. Note that this may slow down initial page load.

Remote URLs of local files

  • Debugging JavaScript:

    PhpStorm displays this area only when you create a permanent debug configuration manually. For automatically generated temporary configurations the area is not shown.

    In this area, map the local files to be involved in debugging to the URL addresses of their copies on the server.

    • File/Directory - in this read-only field, select the desired local file or directory in the project tree.

    • Remote URL - in this text box, type the absolute URL address of the corresponding file or folder on the server.

    These mappings are required only if the local folder structure under the project root differs from the folder structure on the server. If the structures are identical, PhpStorm itself "retrieves" the paths to local files by parsing the URL addresses of their copies on the server.

  • Debugging a Dart web application:

    PhpStorm displays this area only when the port specified in the URL field is different from the port of the built-in Web server specified on the Debugger page of the Settings dialog box.

Common options

When you edit a run configuration (but not a run configuration template), you can specify the following options for it:

Item

Description

Name

In this text box, specify the name for the run/debug configuration. The name will help you identify the created configuration when you choose to edit it later, or when you invoke it, for example. from the Run popup (Shift+Alt+F10).

Share

Select this check box to make the run/debug configuration available to other team members.

The shared run/debug configurations are kept in separate xml files under .idea\runConfigurations folder, while the local run/debug configurations are kept in the .idea\workspace.xml.

Toolbar

The tree view of run/debug configurations has a toolbar that helps you manage configurations available in your project as well as adjust default configurations templates.

Item

Shortcut

Description

icons general add svgAlt+Insert

Create a run/debug configuration.

icons general remove svgAlt+Delete

Delete the selected run/debug configuration. Note that you cannot delete default configurations.

icons actions copy svg

Ctrl+D

Create a copy of the selected run/debug configuration. Note that you create copies of default configurations.

icons general settings svg

Edit Templates

View and edit the default template for the selected run/debug configuration. The templates are used for newly created configurations.

icons actions moveUp svg/icons actions moveDown svg

Alt+Up/Alt+Down

Move the selected run/debug configuration up and down in the list.

The order of configurations in the list defines the order, in which the configurations appear when you choose a run/debug configuration.

Default templates of run/debug configurations are always sorted alphabetically.

icons actions newFolder svg

Move into new folder / Create new folder

You can group run/debug configurations by placing them into folders.

To create a folder, select the configurations within a category, click folder, and specify folder name. If only a category is in focus, an empty folder is created.

Then, to move a configuration into a folder, between the folders or out of a folder, use drag-and-drop or icons actions moveUp svg and icons actions moveDown svg buttons.

To remove grouping, select a folder and click icons general remove svg.

icons objectBrowser sorted svg

Sort configurations

Click this button to sort configurations in the alphabetical order.

Templates

Under the Templates node in the tree view of run configurations, you can select a run configuration template and edit its default settings. This will not affect the configurations that are already created, but will be used as defaults when creating new configurations of the corresponding type.

When you select the Templates node itself, you will be able to adjust general settings that apply to all run/debug configurations:

Item

Description

Configurations available in Run Dashboard

In this section you can create a list of run configurations available in the Run Dashboard — a tool window that helps you execute and manage multiple run/debug configurations.

Note that the dashboard will only display the configuration types for which you have created one ore more configurations.
Thus, if you add a configuration type for which no configurations exist in the project, this type will not be displayed on the dashboard until you create a configuration of this type.

Confirm rerun with process termination

The behavior of this checkbox depends on whether the Single instance only option is selected for a particular run/debug configuration.
  • If this checkbox is selected, in case of a single instance, launching a new process (for example, by clicking icons toolwindows toolWindowRun on the main toolbar) while another process is still running, results in showing a dialog box prompting to terminate the current process before launching a new one.

  • If this checkbox is not selected (or in case of multiple instances), PhpStorm starts the new process silently.

Temporary configurations limit

Specify the maximum number of temporary configurations to be stored and shown in the Select Run/Debug Configuration drop-down list.

Before Launch options

In this area you can specify tasks that must be be performed before starting the selected run/debug configuration. The tasks are performed in the order they appear in the list.

Item

Shortcut

Description

icons general add svgAlt+Insert

Click this icon to add one of the following available tasks:

  • Run External tool: select to run an external application. In the dialog that opens, select one or multiple applications you want to run. If it is not defined in PhpStorm yet, add its definition. For more information, see Configuring Third-Party Tools and External Tools.

  • Run Another Configuration: select to execute another run/debug configuration. In the dialog that opens, select the configuration to be run.

  • Run File Watchers: select this option to have PhpStorm apply all the currently active file watchers.

  • Run Grunt task: select this option to run a Grunt task. In the Grunt task dialog box that opens, specify the Gruntfile.js where the required task is defined, select the task to execute, and specify the arguments to pass to the Grunt tool.

    Specify the location of the Node.js interpreter, the parameters to pass to it, and the path to the grunt-cli package.

  • Run Gulp task: select this option to run a Gulp task. In the Gulp task dialog box that opens, specify the Gulpfile.js where the required task is defined, select the task to execute, and specify the arguments to pass to the Gulp tool.

    Specify the location of the Node.js interpreter, the parameters to pass to it, and the path to the gulp package.

  • Run npm Script: select this option to execute an npm script. In the NPM Script dialog box that opens, specify the npm run/debug configuration settings.

  • Run Phing target: add this task to execute the specified Phing target prior to running or debugging. To appoint a Phing target, click Browse browse and select the desired target in the dialog that opens.

  • Compile TypeScript: select to run the built-in TypeScript compiler and thus make sure that all the changes you made to your TypeScript code are reflected in the generated JavaScript files. In the TypeScript Compile Settings dialog that opens, select or clear the Check errors checkbox to configure the behaviour of the compiler in case any errors are detected:
    • If the Check errors checkbox is selected, the compiler will show all the errors and the run configuration will not start.

    • If the Check errors checkbox is cleared, the compiler will show all the detected errors but the run configuration still will be launched.

  • Generate CoffeeScript Source Maps: select this option to generate the source maps for your CoffeeScript sources. In the dialog that opens, specify where your CoffeeScript source files are located.

  • Run Remote External tool: adds a remote SSH external tool.

icons general remove svgAlt+Delete

Click this icon to remove the selected task from the list.

icons actions edit svg

Enter

Click this icon to edit the selected task. Make the necessary changes in the dialog that opens.

icons actions moveUp svg/icons actions moveDown svg

Alt+Up/Alt+Down

Click these icons to move the selected task one line up or down in the list. (The tasks are performed in the order that they appear in the list.)

Show this page

Select this checkbox to show the run/debug configuration settings prior to actually starting the run/debug configuration.

Activate tool window

If this checkbox is selected, which it is by default, the Run or the Debug tool window opens when you start the run/debug configuration.

Otherwise, the tool window isn't shown. However, when the configuration is running, you can open the corresponding tool window for it yourself by pressing Alt+4 or Alt+5.

Last modified: 21 November 2018

See Also