Stepping Into a Method

The Step Into command executes a single program statement at a time. If the execution point is located on a call to a method, the Step Into command steps into that method and places the execution point on the method's first statement.

If the execution point is located on the last statement of a method, choosing Step Into causes the debugger to return from the method, placing the execution point on the line of code that follows the call to the method you are returning from.

The term single stepping refers to using Step Into to run successively though the statements in your program code.

You can step into a method in any of the following ways:

Select Debug Step Into.
Press F7.
Click from the toolbar.

Unlike previous JDeveloper releases, you cannot start debugging by pressing the Step Into button. Step into will only cause stepping on an already-started debugging process.

See Setting the Debugger Start Options to set how you want the debugger to run when executed. When you set it to start by stepping into, the debugger will let the program you are debugging execute until a method in a tracing-enabled class is reached.

As you debug, you can step into some methods and step over others. If you are confident that a method is working properly, you can step over calls to that method, knowing that the method call will not cause an error. If you aren't sure that a method is well behaved, step into the method and check whether it is working properly.